Samsung Galaxy Gear 2

Samsung touts 1,000 apps for Gear

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Pictured: Samsung Galaxy Gear 2

27 August 2014

Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatches have hit the 1,000-app milestone as the company reportedly prepares another two wearable devices.

An infographic on Samsung’s website highlights some of the better Gear apps, such as Drink Water, which lets users set drinking goals and get reminders when they fall behind. Samsung also calls out a baby monitor app, the fitness tracking app Runkeeper, a 38-language voice translator and a smartwatch version of the popular puzzle game 2048.

The timing of the infographic may not be a coincidence, as rumours suggest Samsung is readying one or two more smartwatches for the near future.

A report from PocketNow claims that one of the watches will be the the Gear 3. It’ll reportedly have a curved display and its own cellular radio for connecting to mobile networks without a smartphone, but may not have a camera this time around. Samsung could announce this watch at the IFA trade show in Berlin next week.

Meanwhile, SamMobile claims that Samsung is building another smartwatch with a circular face. But the site didn’t provide any other details, and said the watch may not debut for another few months.

Right now, Samsung is juggling two smartwatch operating systems. The company’s Galaxy Gear watches run Tizen, which has its own store with over 1,000 apps. But Samsung is also dabbling in Android Wear, Google’s own smartwatch platform, and launched the Wear-based Gear Live last month.

The two platforms take different approaches, with Tizen centered around standalone watch apps, and Android Wear focused more on simple voice commands and interactive notifications from your phone. The former requires more set-up but offers more functionality, while the latter is about just working straight out of box and letting you glance at important information. As Samsung keeps pumping more watches onto the market, time will tell which approach people prefer.

TechHive

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