 "tech2 live: The latest from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear event")
Here’s a live stream of the Samsung Unpacked 2013 Episode 2 event:
We have the big one coming soon. Samsung will soon take the wraps off its Galaxy Note 3 phablet, but more exciting is the impending Galaxy Gear announcement.
The Gear will be Samsung’s first real punt at the smartwatch category and it’s sure to ignite a wearables race unlike any other with the iWatch and Google Glass supposedly hitting retail next year. The Gear will be first out of the gate and we have heard a bit about its specs, design and UI. There will be some variation of TouchWiz on there and a bunch of health apps to keep track of your fitness routine.
Coming to the Galaxy Note 3, the phablet to beat all others, here’s a quick look at what we can expect from this smartphone. We are certainly going to see some more software features being touted by Samsung and this one supposedly comes with support for 4K video recording.
As usual, we will be bringing you all the latest announcements and happenings from the Berlin stage. So stay tuned to our live blog and let us know what you expect from Samsung tonight.
To keep track of all the latest happenings at IFA 2013, make sure you bookmark our Buzz page. You’ll find all the live coverage, news and discussions right here under one roof.
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10:25pm - Minutes away
Samsung’s grand unveiling of the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Gear smartwatch is about to kick off in under five minutes. We will be bringing you all the news as it happens. Stay tuned. Let us know what you want to see in the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. A live orchestra is playing as we wait.
A familiar face on stage
10:30pm - Note is here
Samsung starts off with a short video of a notebook being made by hand. And Jason Bradbury is here to kick things off. He was also the MC at Samsung’s first Unpacked event earlier this year.
10:31pm - In New York too
Samsung has a simultaneous event happening in New York City’s Times Square. JK Shin, the President and CEO of Samsung’s mobile and IT division is on stage now talking about how Samsung introduced a new category with the original Note.
Here’s the Note 3
10:33pm - No time wasted
Samsung doesn’t beat around the bush much and here’s the Galaxy Note 3. Definitely a more squared-off design. It has a soft textured back. You can clearly see the seams of the stitching on the back. At least it looks like stitching.
10:35pm - Enhanced security
Note 3 will come with Samsung Knox built in for consumer and enterprise security solutions. This is the first Samsung smartphone to come with this feature built-in out of the box. In addition, there’s Category 4 LTE.
Will come in black, pink and white colours initially
10:37pm - Gear’s here
JK Shin wastes no time in bringing in the Galaxy Gear. It looks like a bigger Pebble smartwatch. It will work in sync with smartphones and tablets. Shin pulls a Steve Jobs and says ‘one more thing’ before showing us the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition.
That’s the Galaxy Gear
The Note 10.1 2014 Edition
10:40pm - Coming on Sept 25
Note 3 and Galaxy Gear are coming to 149 countries worldwide on September 25. And that was the brief introduction before we get an in-depth look at the new devices.
Coming soon
10:45pm - Customisation counts
Samsung says customers told them that they love the S-Pen and the large display. These are the things that Samsung focussed on the most. It’s 8.3mm thick and the width is the same as the last-gen Note. And yes, it has a leather back and Samsung has prepared several different colours for the back panel. The flip covers will have 10 options to choose from in terms for colours. Samsung has gone to great lengths to make your Note 3 stand out with options for designer and metallic back covers. The S-View cover has a larger window.
A world of colours
10:50pm - All new S-Pen
The S-Pen has been improved as was expected. “So much more than just a pen,” says Samsung. Of course. Navigation using the S-Pen has three featurss - Dot, Circle and Square. Samsung has built some new features for the S-Pen. When the stylus is hovering over the display, a Dot appears and gives you a circular menu for Air Command which lets you set actions to on-screen elements or your hand-written notes.
S-Pen in action
10:55pm - Stylus centric
If you thought the stylus functions of the Note 2 were great, you will love what Samsung has in store with the Note 3. The S Memo app has also been revamped. Certainly looks slick and there’s Evernote integration with perks for Note 3 users. Users will get something called Pen Window, which lets you chalk out a portion of the display to open another app on top on another app. Multi Window function now lets you use the same app on two windows. Users can drag and drop content between the two windows if the same app is running on both.
S-Pen in action
11pm - Multi Vision
Like the Group Play feature, Note 3 comes with Multi Vision letting users put two or three Note 3s together to create a bigger screen. That sounds great. We’ll have to see how it actually works in real life.
The many faces of Galaxy Gear
11:05pm - Smartwatch time
Pranav Mistry, the man behind the famous SixthSense Ted talk, is now on stage to talk about the Samsung Galaxy Gear. Will be available in six colours at launch and it looks quite nice, if slightly thick. Crafted with stainless steel and there’s a camera on the strap.
11:10pm - Synced world
Contacts, call logs, SMS, caller ID are all passed to the Gear from a companion smartphone. A great sounding feature is Smart Relay, which automatically unlocks your phone directly into the app which sent the notification to your Galaxy Gear.
The camera on Galaxy Gear
11:15pm - Talk to the hand
With Gear, users will be able to receive and make calls without using the phone. The receiver and microphone are built into the Gear’s buckle, allowing users to lift their hands to the ear and answer and incoming call.
11:19pm - App ecosystem
Samsung has already got a number of popular Android apps to the Gear app store. It will have a dedicated app store and redesigned apps for the smaller display.
Apps for the Galaxy Gear
11:23pm - Spec sheet
Here are some specs: 800MHz custom single-core CPU, a 320x320 AMOLED display and 25+ hours of battery life on a single charge. This is definitely good news for those worried about battery life.
Long battery life
11:25pm - Back to the Note
It’s time for some Note 3 specs. There’s a 13-megapixel camera on the back which supports 4K recording and it can shoot 1080p at 30fps. Samsung has added a High CRI LED flash on the back which lights up shots more naturally. This one is the first smartphone with 3GB of RAM. There’s a 3,200 mAh battery inside. This one runs Android 4.3 out of the box. Good on you, Samsung.
Galaxy Note 10.1’s specs
11:27pm - Tablet time
It’s time for the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. It looks sleeker and more squared-off just like the Note 3. It’s 7.9mm thick and the Wi-Fi version weighs a little over 500 g. The display has a 2560x1600 resolution, which is just like the Nexus 10. There’s also an LTE version in store. This one too will run Android 4.3 on launch. There are dual cameras - 8-megapixel on the back and 2-megapixel on the front.
11:30pm - Signing off
And that’s that from Samsung’s event in Berlin. Stay tuned to tech2 for all the specs and news about the Note 3 and Galaxy Gear.
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