Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Having sold half a million Galaxy Gear smartwatches already this year, Samsung has claimed a whopping 71 percent of the global smartwatch market. The South Korean company’s wearables, often branded a “flop” by critics, are taking advantage of the lack of competition to gain an early lead over incoming rivals.
Galaxy Gear owners probably feared that their wearables would never see another software update after Samsung announced a second-generation Gear lineup at Mobile World Congress back in February, just five months after the South Korean’s first smartwatch made its debut. I certainly did — but that won’t be the case.
In fact, the original Galaxy Gear won’t just get a software update; it’s going to get a whole new operating system.
Samsung is developing a brand new Galaxy Gear smartphone that will be powered by Google’s exciting Android Wear platform, a company executive said this week. The device will be available “later this year,” and it will take on the first Android Wear devices from LG and Motorola that are scheduled to launch this summer.
LG paraded a prototype of its upcoming G Watch, one of the first smartwatches powered by Google’s exciting new Android Wear operating system, at a product showcase event in the U.K. this week. And according to one LG representative in attendance, you’ll be able to buy the new wearable before July for less than £180 ($300).
When Samsung launched the Gear 2 and the Gear Fit smartwatches last month, it was widely believed that these devices are running the Tizen OS. However, it has now come to light that only the Gear 2 is running Tizen while the Gear Fit runs on real-time operating system or RTOS.
