UPDATED 02:57 EDT / JULY 17 2015

NEWS

Samsung Gear A smartwatch: Rumored specs, design and release date

August is shaping up to be a very busy month for Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. In addition to the rumored launch of its new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ smartphones, it appears Samsung may also unveil its latest smartwatch, the Gear A, at the same event.

Codenamed ‘Orbis’, the Gear A will be Samsung’s first smartwatch to feature a round screen and, like previous offerings from the company, will run on the company’s own operating system, Tizen.

According to Samsung focused site SamMobile, the Gear A will come equipped with Samsung’s own Exynos 3472 dual-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz and the Mali-400 MP4 GPU clocked at 450 MHz, 768 MB of RAM, 4GB of onboard storage, and a 250 mAh battery.

In the connectivity department, the Gear A will have Bluetooth 4.1 to connect with smartphones, tablets, and other Bluetooth-enabled accessories, as well as support for 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi standards and Wi-Fi Direct.

For fitness and activity tracking, the Gear A will sport a built-in GPS, accelerometer, gyro, barometer and heart rate sensors.

A tweet by Samsung Exynos, spotted by SamMobile, hinted at a new Tizen user interface designed for the round screen.

The smartwatch will have a metal chassis housing a Super AMOLED display with a 360×360 pixels resolution at 305ppi.

Release notes from a Gear A software development kit (SDK) released in May revealed that the smartwatch will feature a “rotating bezel” similar to those found on conventional watches. The same SDK also pointed at a digital crown, much like the one found on the Apple Watch. Together, the bezel and digital crown will allow users to navigate and interact with the user interface.

Rumors also suggests that Samsung will be teaming up with artists and fashion accessory makers to design custom bands for the Gear A, including pop-up artist Romero Britto, menswear and accessory designer Z Zegna, jewelry and accessory brand Swarovski, smartphone case makers Tech21 and Incipio, and phone accessory maker Anymode.

Originally expected to launch at IFA taking place in Berlin in early September, it now appears Samsung will unveil the Gear A alongside its new phablets at an event slated to take place on August 12.

Image credit: Sham Hardy | Flickr

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