Samsung Galaxy Gear tests demand for smartwatches

Featuring a 1.63-inch (4.1-centimeter) screen and 1.9-megapixel camera, Samsung Galaxy Gear will go on sale Sept. 25, Shin Jong Kyun, head of Samsung’s mobile business, said at the company’s headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, according to the Bloomberg.

The device syncs with tablets and smartphones using Google Inc.’s Android software to make phone calls.

Samsung showed the Galaxy Gear yesterday at IFA, Europe’s largest consumer-electronics show, as it races Apple and Sony Corp. (6758) to carve a share of the market for wearable technology amid slowing growth in smartphones. The first companies to sell devices that multitask could lock customers into their platform and boost device sales, with researcher Strategy Analytics expecting 500,000 Galaxy Gears to be shipped this year.

“Device makers like smartwatches because they are personal devices that are highly visible to consumers,” Neil Mawston, an executive director at Strategy Analytics, said in an e-mail. “If you see your friend wearing a cool smartwatch on their wrist, you will probably want one, too.”

The Gear weighs 74 grams (2.6 ounces), is available in six colors - including orange, gold and lime green - and has an ultra-thin screen using organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, technology. Sales will begin in 140 countries, with the U.S. and Japanese debut in October.