Samsung Gear A Smartwatch Will Feature A 'Rotating Circular Dial'

A new smartwatch from Samsung is gearing up for release. The Samsung Gear A smartwatch, also known as Orbis, will probably be launched alongside the Galaxy Note 5 phablet and Galaxy S6 Edge+ smartphone. The release date is reported to be Aug. 13 at a special event. A new report has leaked key configuration details about the upcoming smartwatch.

According to Sam Mobile, the Samsung Gear A will reportedly come in a round or curved shape. Recently, the South Korean tech giant introduced a new Tizen UI, specific to smartwatches that house a round dial. So far, Samsung has released only square or rectangular smartwatches. However, now the tech giant has “indirectly confirmed” that the upcoming device could boast a “rotating circular dial,” also referred as a “bezel ring.” This ring can reportedly be used to cycle through open apps, notes Phone Arena.

During the Tizen Developer Summit 2015, held in Bangalore, India, Samsung confirmed the possibility of a rotating dial, even though the rotating dial was never rumored to be part of the Galaxy A Gear. This configuration has apparently been added as a method of controlling version 2.3.1 of the Tizen operating system, which is Samsung’s own OS. In any case, there is no confirmation available to ascertain if this hardware will help produce seamless app switching.

There is a lot of speculation about what features the Samsung Galaxy Gear A will have, but the following seem most certain, if not confirmed. The device will apparently come powered by a dual-core Exynos processor and backed by 768 MB of RAM. When it comes to memory, the gadget will come equipped with 4GB of built-in storage capacity. Plus, a 250 mAh battery will be part of the device. For display, the watch will boast a circular 360 x 360 screen. Other key Galaxy Gear A features include: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 2G cellular connectivity.