Samsung has made no secret that it is working on many different types of wearable devices, from head to wrist – the latest being its popular Galaxy Gear smartwatch introduced as a companion device to its immensely popular Galaxy Note 3 smartphone…both started selling the first of October. Samsung was hoping to sell two – three Galaxy Gears for every 10 Galaxy Note 3 devices, which seems like a reasonable estimate. Well, we know that Samsung claims that they have already sold over 5 million Galaxy Note 3’s so does that mean there are 1-1.5 million Galaxy Gears out there…we may never know since Samsung has not released sales figures on them.
We do know that people thought they were getting an all-in-one wearable wrist device, but those in the popular exercising community were more than a little disappointed in the Galaxy Gear. Oh, it has a built-in Sensor Hub, Gyro, and Accelerometer, but only Runkeeper comes close to a “fitness” type app that the Galaxy gear can use. While the Galaxy Gear is more like a notification device of what is on your smartphone, the Samsung Sport may be more in line with what athletes and exercise/fitness buffs were hoping for – to compete with the iOS compatible Nike+ Fuelband SE.
According to a filing with the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO), Samsung filed for the brand name, Samsung Sport. The description reads:
Accessories for mobile phones and tablet computers, namely, head phones, earphones, armbands, cases, snap-on covers, phone holders, screen protective films, phone straps, faceplates, and portable speakers; wearable monitor to measure bodily functions, heart rate, blood pressure, physical activity, walking speed, steps taken, calories burned, weather conditions, fitness training and activity data; wearable electronic monitoring apparatus used to measure, collect, and track sleep patterns.
Now this sounds more like a fitness type device to help the wearer to not only monitor their athletic capabilities, but also to monitor your sleep patterns as well. The patent was filed on November 7, so there is no indication of when the Samsung Sport would be released, if at all for public sale. However, with wearable devices as “the future” and accounting for up to $6 billion by 2018, we cannot foresee Samsung not offering the Sport in the near future – even Android 4.4 KitKat was designed with wearables in mind.
Let us know in the comments or on Google+ if you are interested in a device such as the Samsung Sport – did you purchase a Galaxy Gear thinking it would handle more fitness activities?