Release details for Samsung’s Gear S smartwatch have been a bit lacking since the device’s September 3 arrival at the IFA 2014 tech conference in Germany. But that changed a bit today, when Samsung announced that its standalone Gear S will be released by the four biggest U.S. mobile carriers within the next two months.
According to Samsung, the Gear S will be released by AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile, though the company did not provide any exact release date, nor did it announce other release details such as its price. For now, all we have to rely on is the promise that the device will be out in the U.S. market within two months, which could mean a release date just ahead of Black Friday, right in time for one of the busiest “retail holidays” of the year.
Unlike Samsung’s other smartwatch releases, and most other smartwatches available in the market, the Gear S is a standalone device that can be used without having to wirelessly pair it to a smartphone. Though it can also be used as a traditional companion device, its main come-on to buyers is the fact that users can operate it independently and use it to make and receive calls without any pairing required.
The Samsung Gear S’ basic spec sheet includes a 2-inch display with 480 x 360 resolution, a dual-core processor clocked at 1 GHz and mated to 512 MB RAM, a 300 mAh battery, Samsung’s Tizen operating system, and 4 GB internal memory. Its 3G modem facilitates its standalone capabilities, which also include using email and sending and receiving text messages with no need for pairing.