Samsung launched its highly anticipated (and much leaked) new wearable today at a pre-IFA launch event. Pragmatically described by Samsung as a “wearable device”, the Galaxy Gear is a wrist-watch-like device which features a built-in camera, speakers, and a 1.63” S-AMOLED screen. Galaxy Gear checks most of the boxes for what a wearable should offer, as well as adding a few surprises such as at least 70 third-party apps including Evernote, Path, Vine, E-Bay, and fitness apps. Most of the apps take advantage of the new device’s form-factor by recording exercise and health data which can be integrated with related applications on a smartphone, or use the integrated camera to record pictures and short videos.

Samsung has chosen to limit Galaxy Gear’s compatibility with mobile devices to just the newly launched Note 3 and Note 10.1, at least initially, before eventually extending support to the Galaxy S4 and, presumably, other Samsung devices.  The new wearable will go on sale beginning September 25th across much of the globe and will be priced at around $299, which should be slightly higher than the competing Sony Smartwatch 2.

Subscribers to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service can read an overview of the wearable technology market here in this report - Wearables: Will You Be Wearing Your Next Phone?