Smartwatches are finally starting to look more like watches and the new Gear S3 should be able to do this better than most thanks to an always-on 16 million colour display. Samsung says it's designed the S3 as a watch first and fitted the tech in afterwards.
We've been at Samsung's Gear S3 press conference at IFA 2016 in Berlin, so here's the lowdown on the new handset.
1. There are two new versions of the Gear S3, the Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier. The Frontier is basically a more rugged version. The Gear S2 stays in the product line-up.
2. Samsung is clearly trying to make the Gear S3 more of a standard watch experience. The watch has a standard 22mm strap, which means you can add any strap you want. There are also some new Samsung-designed leather straps as well.
3. The Gear S3 is IP68 water resistant, meaning it can be submerged for up to 30 minutes much like the Note 7 and Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
4. The Gear S3 now has LTE connectivity as well as Wi-Fi, meaning it's always connected.
5. It can be used with almost any contactless terminal, so is great for use with mobile payments.
6. One of the best things is that the battery has been seriously ramped up, with 3-4 days of use. That should really set the cat among the pigeons in terms of competition between smartwatch vendors.
7. On board GPS opens up new applications, such as seeing your current altitude. The barometer and speedometer also enable you things like sudden changes in weather, distance traveled and speed.
8. The Gear S3featuresCorning Gorilla Glass SR+, toughened glass specifically designed for wearable devices
9.The rotating bezel has some new features for the S3 including the ability to accept or reject a call or snooze an alarm without touching the display. You can also write or draw on the display – your scrawl will automatically convert to (presumably equally illegible) texts and emojis.
10.Switzerland-based luxury watch designer Yvan Arpa, was involved in the Gear S3 design process.
Liked this? Check out all the rest of our IFA 2016.
