Samsung already had a winning formula with the Gear S2, and this time it's more of a refinement. The Gear S3 is similar to the previous model albeit with a larger display.
The Gear S3 comes in two variants, classic and the rugged frontier. The Gear S2 classic felt a bit smaller last year compared to Android Wear smartwatches from various manufacturers but this time around Samsung has taken the opposite route. On paper it doesn't seem much bigger with a 46mm casing and a 1.3-inch display compared for 44mm and 1.2-inch display last year. You also get IP68 rating for dust and water resistance for the watch, however the watch bands made of leather won't survive.
The displays on both the smartwatches are of the Super AMOLED variety and can remain always-on displaying all the beautiful colors of your watch faces. There's Gorilla Glass SR+ protection on top for added scratch resistance. There are a lot more extras under the hood too, a speaker and GPS come standard on both, but the Gear S3 Frontier also gets LTE connectivity. Everything is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor with 768MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, MST, WiFi come standard on both.
On the customization front you can choose any 22mm band with the Gear S3. The rotating bezel has received improvements as well with more functionality including the ability to rotate to accept and reject calls. There is an SOS functionality built in with the new Tizen OS 2.3.2 update. Both watches are also capable of making mobile payments both over NFC as well as magnetic stripe terminals.
Samsung has also increased the battery capacity on the new smartwatches and you now have a 380 mAh battery here which is expected to last upto 4 days on regular use. Then you have wireless charging for a quick top-up. All the fitness tracking functionality including sleep, steps, heart-rate are present here.
The Gear S3 Classic is expected to start at $399 whole there is no word on pricing of the Gear S3 Frontier. Both will be going on sale later this year.
