Home > Industry > Samsung Note 5 + Round Faced Watch Set For IFA Launch

Samsung Note 5 + Round Faced Watch Set For IFA Launch

Samsung Note 5 + Round Faced Watch Set For IFA Launch


The Korean Company who is fighting a head on battle with Apple despite recently signing a multibillion dollar manufacturing deal to produce memory, processors and display screens for their arch rival has apparently delayed the launch of a new round faced Samsung Gear A smartwatch that would gone head to head with the recent Apple offering. 

The Gear A is now expected to launch in the second half of the year – most likely at the IFA consumer electronics show in September.

The delay is to ensure Samsung can follow a “proper timetable” with its product launches, according to technology blog SamMobile, which cited anonymous sources.

The company has previously said it is planning to take its time with the next Gear smartwatch, in order to make sure it is “a more perfect product”. 

Unlike previous Samsung smartwatches, the Gear A is expected to have a round face and feature a bezel ring capable of rotating, although the purpose of this is unknown.

Samsung’s most recent smartwatch, the Gear S, has a curved rectangular face.

The watch will be powered by the Samsung developed Tizen OS, rather than Android Wear, this means it will probably only be compatible with other Samsung devices.

Samsung has been under growing pressure to develop a circular smartwatch, as most other consumer electronics manufacturers have now conceded that round faces are more popular than square ones.

However, the Apple Watch, which is the device that many are relying on to drive success in the smartwatch market, has a square face, so this trend may be short-lived.

Samsung’s latest smartwatch, the Gear S, has a curved 2.0 inch Super AMOLED screen and runs the Tizen operating system. It is one of the few smartwatches that can operate without a phone.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, this device which is tipped to be offered as a curved model isn’t expected to be unveiled until IFA.

Referred to internally at Samsung as Project Noble the device is set to be powered by the Exynos chipset which is the same chipset that Apple has expressed an interest in using. 

Currently the Exynos 7422 is being tested for use on the unit. This chip would go beyond the usual chipset and include the CPU, GPU, RAM, native storage, and a Samsung LTE modem in a single module.

The curved version of the new Note 5 curved screen prototype is being tested under the project name ZenZero. 

This model will reportedly come with curved glass on both sides of the 5.4-inch or 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The browser in recent testing scored 520, which is a very high score. 

To put it in comparison, a Nexus 5 using Chrome 42 with Android 5.1.1 just scored a 515 as did the same combination of Chrome 42 and Android 5.1.1 on the Pantech Vega Iron 2.

According to the HTML5test site, the data is merely an indicator of what is happening with a test version. It is not data from a final version of the Note 5.