Samsung Launches New Smartwatch: The Gear 2

Samsung Launches New Smartwatch: The Gear 2 

 

Barcelona (AFP) — Samsung on Sunday launched a new smartwatch, the Gear 2, after a first version won over few critics, adding new features and ditching Google’s Android in favor of its own operating system.

The South Korean electronics giant revealed the new watch in an unexpected announcement on the eve of the Feb. 24-27 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona.

Samsung is unveiling on Monday its new flagship smartphone, almost certainly the Galaxy S5, and it had been expected to show off the new watch at the same time.

Besides an array of features including sports tracking software and a heart-rate monitor, the Gear 2 marks an important and widely rumored step toward independence from Android.

The watch, available in two models — the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, which has no camera — will be powered by the Tizen operating system developed by Samsung with various partners to break free of the Android dominance.

Android powered 78.4 percent of smartphones worldwide last year, according to technology consultants Gartner Inc., making it easier for users to switch phones and harder for manufacturers to build customer loyalty. Apple’s iOS system accounted for another 15.6 percent of smartphones.

The Gear 2, which will be available worldwide in April, has a 1.63-inch screen, a 2.0 megapixel camera that can take high-definition video, a heart-rate sensor and pedometer, audio that can work with Bluetooth headphones, remote control for devices such as televisions, and an alert system for incoming text messages and emails. The wrist strap comes in black, orange and brown.

The first Gear, launched last September, was criticized by many for being unfashionable and unwieldy.

Samsung, like other device makers, is banking on smart devices to boost revenue as sales of smartphones slow in the mature, and most profitable, markets.

Though smartphone sales surged 42.4 percent to 968 million units last year, according to Gartner, the growth came from developing markets like Latin America, India and China, while mature markets such as Western Europe and the United States hit the brakes.

“We will see all of the handset companies responding to slowing growth in the smartphone market and the difficulty of making money,” said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst of electronics and media at research house IHS.

“They are going to launch a number of smart accessory devices including wearable devices that will give them opportunities in new markets to generate revenues and growth.”

Despite perceived difficulties in selling the first watch to a broad audience, Samsung appeared confident in its latest version.

“With the Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, we have enhanced everything consumers love about the Gear to offer unparalleled smart freedom in their everyday life,” J.K. Shin, head of the mobile division at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

The new watch has been designed to be compatible with a variety of Samsung devices, including the Galaxy range of smartphones.

The South Korean group sold 300 million smartphones last year, 31 percent of the nearly 1 billion sold globally and double arch-rival Apple Inc.’s 15.6 percent share, according to U.S. technology research house Gartner.

The Galaxy S5 is rumored to have a fingerprint scanner on the home button; a 5.24-inch, full high-definition display; a water- and dust-proof case, possibly metallic; and a 16-megapixel camera.

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Wifi in the sky looks set for takeoff

 
More airlines are rolling out new and improved services thanks to satellite technology.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Wifi in aircraft, hobbled in the past by slow speeds, could soon take off as new technology enables passengers to surf the web as if they were in a coffee shop, Internet executives say.
More airlines are rolling out new and improved services thanks to satellite technology, industry leaders said at the recent Singapore Airshow, with the public increasingly demanding wifi on planes.
US-based Honeywell Aerospace and Gogo, which supply inflight connectivity systems to airlines, are collaborating with satellite giant Inmarsat to implement the "first global high-speed broadband for the skies" dubbed the Global Xpress (GX) Aviation network.
Briand Greer, president of Honeywell Aerospace Asia Pacific, said inflight wifi could generate $2.8 billion for the company alone over the next 20 years.
He estimates that around seven to eight percent of airlines currently offer wireless connection, but says this number is expected to grow to 25 percent by 2018.
After years of being bogged down by weak demand due to poor signal quality, inflight wifi can now enable download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second, Greer said.
"How we describe it is it will be like you are sitting at Starbucks with your smartphone, your computer and your iPad," Greer told reporters.
Onboard wifi is not a new idea -- European carrier Lufthansa debuted Conexxion by Boeing's system in 2004.
But by 2006 the company announced its exit after the expected growth in the market did not materialise.
Recent surveys by Airbus and Honeywell, however, suggest that the market might now be ready as passengers increasingly expect airlines to have inflight wireless services.
Airbus published a report in February about the comfort demands of Asian passengers, carried out by global consultancy Future Laboratory.
One of the future trends highlighted was that Asian business passengers would expect wifi enabled cabins with telephone and conference calling facilities.
Honeywell also conducted a survey of 3,000 passengers from the United States, Britain and Singapore and nearly 90 percent would give up an amenity, such as drinks or a better seat, for a faster and more consistent wireless connection.
When flying over land, planes use telecommunication towers to transmit Internet signals but during long-haul flights, when they fly over large expanses of water, consistent connectivity becomes a problem.
In those cases, a satellite network is needed.
In December last year, Inmarsat launched the first of three satellites that will serve the GX network. Air China will be the first airline to test it, on its A330 fleet in the second quarter of 2015.
Singapore Airlines, which launched its $50 million inflight connectivity programme in September 2012, said it planned to finish equipping its aircraft with the hardware by 2015.
A Lufthansa spokesman said that it would also begin rolling out inflight wifi on all of its planes in the middle of this year.
Even no-frills airlines are catching on.
Thai budget airline Nok Air announced during the Singapore Airshow that it will equip its new Boeing 737 fleet with wifi.
Peter Andersson, general manager of aviation navigation company Jeppesen, also said that the technology could benefit cockpit and airport operation.
"If you have something that you need to repair, you can get the status check to the ground level so they can be prepared so they can actually do the maintenance quicker," Andersson told AFP.
"You can reduce the turnaround and maintenance (of airplanes) dramatically."
Sashangar Sreetharan, an analyst at McKinsey and Co. who flies twice a week, said that only airlines with wifi were considered "preferred carriers" for his firm.
But he admitted that although he often worked during flights, the wireless service quality so far has been sub-par.
"The speed is quite slow and every now and then you lose signal, but it isn't too bad. However, once you are on a Virtual Private Network (VPN), the speed is so slow that gateway timeouts occur," Sreetharan told AFP.
Sreetharan said he was not sure everyone would necessarily want wifi on planes.
"Honestly, if the wifi was better I'd rather have it. I mean that is because my bosses are reasonable and don't push me while I'm flying," Sreetharan told AFP.
"But if they started harassing me on flights, I guess I would swap to not having it, I don't want to be emailing back and forth during a long flight."

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