The Samsung Gear Sport and Gear IconX 2018 are now about to enter their available status. Samsung has today confirmed both the Gear Sport and Gear IconX 2018 will be available to pre-order starting from tomorrow, October 13, 2017. Following which, both devices will become widely available from October 27. Both of these new Samsung wearables were first announced by the company back on August 30 and both look to build upon the previous models with a number of key feature and design improvements.
The Gear Sport is the latest smartwatch to emerge from Samsung and is one which looks to combine the best of smartwatch features with a more durable and sporty feel. As a result and in addition to the 1.2-inch circular Super AMOLED display (with a 360 x 360 resolution), the Gear Sport also features military-grade durability and a 5 ATM water-resistance rating. In addition this is a smartwatch which packs in all the usual trackers and sensors one might expect, including real-time heart rate monitoring, as well as support for a number of third-party fitness-related apps, such as Endomondo, MapMyRun, MyFitnessPal, and UA Record. Other notable features include the ability for the Gear Sport to make use of an offline Spotify mode for music playback regardless of connection, as well as compatibility with a number of custom watchbands. While some of the core specs include 768MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, a dual-core processor (clocked at 1.0 GHz), a 300 mAh battery, wireless charging, and Tizen as the installed operating system. The Samsung Gear Sport will be available to pre-order starting tomorrow from Samsung and Best Buy, will be available in either a blue or black color option and will be priced at $299.99. Come October 27, the Gear Sport will then be available to buy through Samsung, Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s and U.S. Cellular.
The Gear IconX 2018 on the other hand, is a follow-on device to last year’s Gear IconX. This is a set of earbuds which looks to offer a true wireless level of use, as the earbuds not only connect remotely to a device over Bluetooth, but the two earbuds are also not connected to each other via a wire. One of the clear improvements over the previous model is the 2018 version now supports Samsung’s AI solution, Bixby and as a result, those who pair these earbuds with a Bixby-enabled device will also be able to engage with Bixby by pressing one of the earbuds while voicing a command. Likewise, when these earbuds are paired with either the Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, or the Note 8, the earbuds are able to automatically track running data. Other notable improvements include an increase in battery life with Samsung explaining these earbuds offer up to 7 hours of usage per charge when used in a standalone mode. If used with a streaming service, that number decreases down to 5 hours. It is worth pointing out the standalone mode in more detail as similar to last year’s model, these earbuds come equipped with 4GB storage allowing the user to store up to 1,000 songs locally on the earbuds. Therefore the Gear IconX can be used just on their own without having to be connected to a smartphone for music playback. During the pre-order stage the Samsung Gear IconX 2018 will be available to order directly from Samsung’s online store, and once generally released on October 27 will also be available to buy from Samsung, Amazon, Best Buy, Sprint and U.S. Cellular. In terms of the price, the Gear IconX will cost $199.99 and will be available to buy in three different color options, black, gray and pink.
