Samsung confirmed that Verizon would be one of the U.S. carriers to offer the Galaxy Note 3. Verizon will begin taking pre-orders for a Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy Gear bundle on September 6.
At Samsung's Unpacked event the company announced its flagship Galaxy Note 3 phablet and Galaxy Gear smartwatch. The smartwatch was designed to be the perfect accessory for the smartphone, to drive that point home; the company announced the Galaxy Gear only works with the Galaxy Note 3 at this time. Samsung said that it would be adding support to allow the Galaxy Gear to work with both the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S3 in the future.
The company further promised that all four major carriers in the U.S. would offer the Galaxy Note 3 in the near future. According to Samsung, the Galaxy Gear would be making its way to the U.S. in October and would be priced at $299. In a surprising move, Verizon announced that it would start taking pre-orders for a Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear bundle beginning at 9AM EST on September 6.
The Galaxy Note 3 features a 5.7-inch 1080p Full HD Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 386 pixels per inch (ppi) and runs Android 4.3 with Samsung's TouchWiz UI. It is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit (GPU) and 3GB of RAM.
Its camera capabilities include a 13-megapixel illuminated rear camera with "smart stabilization" and a 2-megapixel front facing shooter, with both cameras able to record 1080p HD video. The Note 3 will be offered in two storage capacities, 32GB and 64GB (Verizon does not list if it will offer both) and includes a microSD expansion slot that will support up to 64GB microSD cards. Its wireless connectivity options include a 4G LTE radio, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC, and an IR blaster to turn the Note 3 into a universal remote control and also features a dedicated program guide. Samsung has included a large 3,200 mAh removable battery and enhanced S Pen functionality.
When it comes to Samsung's new smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear features a 1.63-inch Super AMOLDED display with a resolution of 320 x 320 and runs a modified version of Android 4.3. It is powered by a single-core 800MHz Exynos processor with 512MB of RAM and includes 4GB of internal storage. It has a 1.9-megapixel camera with autofocus built into its strap and is capable of recording full HD video. It includes NFC and Bluetooth 4.3 LE to pair with the Galaxy Note 3. There is also a gyroscope, pedometer, and accelerometer on board. It's packing a 315 mAh battery that Samsung claims will last a full day with regular use.
Verizon does not list a price for the bundle, when it expects to ship the pair, or when customers will be able to pre-order the Galaxy Note 3 separately, if they don't feel like spending the extra cash to rock a Galaxy Gear on their wrist. It will be interesting to see if the other carriers will follow in Verizon's footsteps. We'll keep you updated.
