Since we already know that Samsung is listed as one of the OEM partners with Google to work on an Android Wear device at some point, could this particular patent be the idea for the design of that watch to come? Who knows but it sure is interesting to see the design here which looks a lot like a certain Android Wear watch that we know is due to launch in the very near future, the Moto 360. The patent displays Samsung has plans to design and develop a smartwatch with a round watch face. Keep in mind these are just patent design drawings with no real information or data about specifics of the device, but if you look closely at some of the shots below you’ll notice bits and pieces that look like they have a sort of Google Now look to them, namely the notifications come to mind, which leads us to think about Android Wear.
Details about the smartwatch from the patent seem to point to gesture based controls, which is something that Android Wear smartwatches aren’t really focused on. So there is a good possibility that this isn’t the Android Wear device that Samsung is looking to make. The inclusion of the gestures more so points to something else entirely, and since we know that Samsung is looking to shy away from wearables with the Android OS onboard, the only other logical possibility would be a Tizen powered smartwatch with a round face. Such a device would certainly look more normal than the selection of Gear smartwatches that is currently available. Samsung has been using gesture based controls in many of their devices for quite some time now, so are we really surprised to see them have the desire to implement gestures into the smartwatch like this? Gestures seem perfect for this type of device, as a smartwatch only has so much screen space so gestures could really open up the capabilities by enabling the user to launch virtually whatever they wish from one screen.
From the looks of the diagrams the smartwatch may support apps, which is another potential indicator that this may not be anything related to Android Wear. However for now there is no way to know that for sure. In one of the diagrams we can see the idea for what looks like a camera scanning a QRcode. Neither the LG G watch nor the Moto 360 have cameras yet the Gear watches do. That doesn’t mean we won’t see an Android Wear smartwatch with a camera in the future as no one has come out and said this wouldn’t be happening. If this ends up being another Gear device to hit the market, would you go with this over any of the current Gear options?
