Samsung Unveils Gear S3 Smartwatch

Samsung Gear S3
The Gear S3, in its classic (left) and frontier (right) versions

Samsung has unveiled its latest smartwatch, the Gear S3.

The S3 comes in two designs: Frontier, which promises a rugged outdoor look, and Classic, which aims for the elegance of a traditional wristwatch. In both versions, the watch is slightly bigger than its predecessor: a 46mm casing and 1.3″ display, compared to 44m and 1.2″ for the S2.

The S3 utilises that extra space to add a built-in speaker and GPS functionality, and the Frontier model boasts 3G/LTE connectivity. Both watches have 4GB internal memory, 768MB RAM and a 1.0GHz dual core processor. Like its predecessor, the watch runs on a Tizen-based OS.

The S3 also supports Samsung Pay – not only via NFC, as in previous models, but also via MST, the magnetic stripe technology that is Samsung Pays USP, enabling the watch to be used with swipe-only card terminals.