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Samsung Unveils Tizen-Powered Galaxy Watch That Lasts 'Several Days' On Single Charge (venturebeat.com) 82

Posted by BeauHD from the but-does-it-tell-the-time dept.
Alongside the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Home Speaker, Samsung took the wraps off its new Galaxy Watch wearable at its Unpacked event in New York City. VentureBeat reports: Beyond coming in rose gold, silver, and midnight black colors, it can be had in two sizes -- the prior Gear S3 size is now called "46mm" and will start at $349.99, while a smaller-sized model is called "42mm" and will start at $329.99. Both will be available starting August 24, solely in the specific size and color configurations shown below. Samsung is also using improved glass: Gear S3 watches used Corning's Gorilla Glass SR+ and were IP68 rated for 10-foot, 30-minute water and dust resistance. The Galaxy Watch upgrades to Corning Gorilla DX+ glass and promises to keep the AMOLED screen underneath fully water-safe; it's rated for 5 ATM (165-foot/50-meter) submersion with IP68 and MIL-STD-810G certifications.

A disappointment in the new model is a reduction in its payment capabilities. The Gear S3 included both NFC and swipe-style magnetic secure transaction (MST) support to enable a wide array of Samsung Pay wireless purchases, but the Galaxy Watch drops MST support and only works with NFC. Not surprisingly, however, it does support Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. While continuing the use of a Tizen operating system from the Gear S3, Galaxy Watch packs a more powerful dual-core Exynos 9110 processor running at 1.15GHz. As was the case with the Gear S3 Frontier, the Galaxy Watch is available in Bluetooth-only and LTE versions, now promising LTE support across over 30 carriers in more than 15 countries. On stage, Samsung promised that the Galaxy Watch can be used for "several" days between charges; a subsequent press release said that it's actually "up to 80+ hours with typical usage" on the 46mm model, which has a 472mAh battery, versus "45+ hours" from the 270mAh battery of the 42mm model. Each model promises at least twice the longevity "with low usage."
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Samsung Unveils Tizen-Powered Galaxy Watch That Lasts 'Several Days' On Single Charge More

Samsung Unveils Tizen-Powered Galaxy Watch That Lasts 'Several Days' On Single Charge

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  • Pathetic ! (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    My old Timex from the 1970's does at least 5 years on a single tiny cell battery.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by msk ( 6205 )

      My Casio solar has been on the original battery since I bought it in 2009. This watch also sets itself daily from WWV.

      I see no need for an expensive watch that runs at best a few days between charges. I already have a phone that's like that.

      • I used to have the same (still have) and loved it, however I bought a smart watch recently and I have to admit - it is useful and convenient. From just controlling my podcast player to pre-checking messages and agenda or weather without reaching for a phone, anyway have to plug the phone daily - might as well watch.

        However, I decided to buy this one ONLY because it auto-switches into low power mode, which can last months still showing time. It's not a disaster (there are clocks everywhere nowadays) - but s

      • I see no need for an expensive watch that runs at best a few days between charges. I already have a phone that's like that.

        Honestly, I was once on your train of thought....

        But, last year, I had a good bit of disposable cash, and got an apple watch, just as a toy.

        I'd not had a watch in a long time, and I'd actually wanted an old fashioned Mickey one, which I couldn't find that looked like the old style with the hands pointing at time, etc.....and the apple watch had that face with the tapping foot, etc.

        A

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by antdude ( 79039 )

        Too bad Casio Data Bank watches didn't have solar. That could had been useful!

    • Amazing. My watch doesn't last 72hours with its power reserve draining and it was really expensive. Your Timex must be worth a FORTUNE.

    • It also wasn't a security disaster waiting to happen. The same can't be said about the Tizen OS.

      https://www.androidauthority.c... [androidauthority.com]

    • My citizen watches never need to be recharged.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfsmith ( 960400 )
      My old Timex from the seventies needs to be wound every day (assuming I want to use it).

  • My Gear S3 already lasts several days? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Reverant ( 581129 ) on Friday August 10, 2018 @05:44AM (#57100878) Homepage
    Sounds like marketing talk. My Gear S3 currently lasts 3-3.5 days with typical usage, so that's "several days" already. It consumes between 25-30% of the battery per day, on average. I would not bother with upgrading if the 3-3.5 days figure didn't upgrade to 5-6 days.

    • I get 2 days off mine under normal use. How's yours configured that gives you that extra day, also do you run any apps on it?

      I won't be upgrading myself because I use the MST payment way too often, as 1/2 the retailers I go to don't support nfc payment.

      • WiFi disabled (bluetooth only), GPS disabled (the watch picks up the location from the phone anyway). No additional apps installed, just a handful of watch faces. I recall that a previous update made it terrible, like less than 2 days of battery, then another update fixed it (and the update did say so) and it was back to normal.

        • Ah, I run BT and WiFi on, along with GPS. I keep cell off because that just cuts it down to like 10 hours if I enable it. I turn that on if I know I need it but that's rare.

          I walk away from my phone for periods of time while in the same place that leave me not able to disable wifi, so I guess I'll stick with how I have it setup

    • Though I somewhat mired in ARM processor alphabet soup here, it looks to me like the new processor is a 64 bit V8 processor compared to the Gear's 32 bit A9, so it is a much beefier processor. To come in at about the same battery life is worthy of note. I am pretty sure that the new Exynos 9110 has considerably higher IPC and cache that the Gear's Exynos 4212. The process shrink to 10nm made that battery life possible.

  • which even includes GPS...
  • As expected from a company on fire.

  • Eh..."up to 80+ hours"?? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sbaker ( 47485 ) on Friday August 10, 2018 @08:53AM (#57101498) Homepage

    "up to 80+ hours"...what does that even mean? "Up to" (meaning less-than-or-equal-to) "80" (a conveniently rounded number) "plus" (presumably meaning greater than or equal to) hours. So basically, anywhere between 0 and infinity hours? Or maybe 80 hours PRECISELY?

    People who write this stuff really need to stop covering their asses because what they say has ZERO meaning. All I get out of this is "It has a battery that runs it for some completely unknown amount of time".

    • People who write this stuff really need to stop covering their asses because what they say has ZERO meaning.

      Only to pedants who can't determine the meaning from the sentence because they are too busy analyzing every individual word.

      It means if it sits there idle expect it to last 80 hours and don't expect anything from the watch beyond that but hey if it's brand new it may last longer, but if you use it it lasts less.

      • No you twat. The GP explained it clearly. Up to 80 hrs is already marketing bullshit. "40-80 hrs under normal usage" would be far more honest. "Up to 80+ hrs" is complete horseshit, doesn't mean anything, and is totally dishonest.

        If you're ok with that sort of language, you're part of the problem.

        • If you're ok with that sort of language, you're part of the problem.

          Actually I'm part of the solution since something was communicated and I understood it. The fact that you can't and the GP can't find meaning in it is part of the problem.

          But then I don't expect much of any thinking ability from someone who starts their post with an insult.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Eloking ( 877834 )

      "up to 80+ hours"...what does that even mean? "Up to" (meaning less-than-or-equal-to) "80" (a conveniently rounded number) "plus" (presumably meaning greater than or equal to) hours. So basically, anywhere between 0 and infinity hours? Or maybe 80 hours PRECISELY?

      People who write this stuff really need to stop covering their asses because what they say has ZERO meaning. All I get out of this is "It has a battery that runs it for some completely unknown amount of time".

      The way I understand it, 80 hours is the minimum but it can last longer.

      Of course, "At least 80 hours" would have been better, but it sound a little...negative.

  • If this was a smaller company that released a 4 day smartwatch, would slashdot give it coverage? How about supporting the little guy instead if just giving a free ad to the big guys.
  • Gets 3 days now, as it is. They had a Prime sale and picked it up about a month ago for around 200 dollars.

  • I know any camera in a smartwatch isn't going to light it up on DxOMark, but it'd be something. Samsung used to have one in an earlier watch.

    It seems like the strap is coming along for the ride, when it could be made to do something, maybe an e-ink screen, battery cells, or well, a camera.

    What's happening is that Samsung won't do it because Apple doesn't. They want to be innovative, but not too much. Ah well, they won't miss my $349.

  • Sure, lasting several days on a charge is a neat trick for a smartphone.

    What if they made a smartphone that gets security updates for several years?

  • Enlightenment lives long and prospers. Never mind how idiotic it is to abuse C like that. It works, because one alpha hacker camped out at Samsung HQ stuck with it and made it work.

  • Beat that, Samsung and other companies! :P

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