All eyes on Samsung as smartwatch is finally unveiled

Samsung’s hotly anticipated smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, allows users to make calls, receive texts and emails, and take photos.

JK Shin, head of Samsung’s mobile division, predicted the Galaxy Gear — effectively a mobile phone you wear on your wrist — would become “a new fashion icon through the world” as he launched the device at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.

The smartwatch has a touchscreen of just over 4cm in a brushed-steel mount and wrist strap in six colours. Contrary to rumours, it does not have a flexible screen.

Samsung is not the first company to introduce a watch that connects via wifi to a smartphone, alerting its user to calls, texts, and emails — Casio, Sony, and Pebble already have similar products.

However, with arch rival Apple still to roll out its much rumoured iWatch, and the likes of Microsoft and Google not exhibiting at IFA, the South Korean giant has the field more or less to itself to wow the geeks.

Unlike its competitors, the Samsung device allows users to make calls without taking their phone out of their pocket — instead, they can hold their wrist up to their ear and use the built-in speaker and microphone.

Also featuring a tiny camera in its wrist strap, the Galaxy Gear goes on sale on Sept 25.

Gadget geeks from all over the world have converged on Berlin this week.

The IFA will open its doors to the general public from today with the latest state-of-the-art gadgets on 145,000sq m of exhibition space.

In addition to smartwatches, smartphones and tablet computers are certain to be a big draw for visitors, as the dividing line between the two becomes more and more blurred, as is demonstrated by growth of so-called phablets. Electronic household goods, such as state-of-the-art kitchen devices — from ceramic hot plates to refrigerators — as well as the latest in flat-screen television sets will also be on display.

Sales of flat-screen TVs are beginning to fall off in Germany, so manufacturers are looking to ultra-HD devices to spur consumer demand. Catering to the growing trend to inter-connect all gadgets, Sony will present a new camera lens that can be linked up to a smartphone to transform into a powerful camera.

In fact, organisers boast there will be more world premieres at this year’s IFA than ever before. And while many owners of internet-enabled TV sets still do not use their devices to surf the web, there is also an information campaign on so-called smart-TV.

If the rival fair, the CES in Las Vegas in January, grabs the headlines and consumers’ attention more with a rush of new products, IFA is still able to attract more visitors — a total 240,000 last year — and is a better gauge of what will be in people’s stockings for Christmas.

Meanwhile, a television that allows two people to watch different shows at the same time has been unveiled.

Samsung’s S9C, expected to cost around €8,000, features a 55in curved screen to give viewers a cinema experience in their living room.

Viewers wear special glasses that pick up one piece of content at a time, with audio delivered via a built-in earpiece.

Michael Zoeller, senior director of European sales and marketing, said: “Two people can watch two different programmes at the same time in full screen in full HD and even in 3D with Samsung MultiView glasses. “It is like having two televisions in one.”