The official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 finally came yesterday, and with it we saw the Galaxy Gear smartwatch introduced. The Galaxy Gear has beaten the iWatch to become official and now the wearable technology device has been formally announced we can give you price, specs and a release date.

Apple also has an iWatch in development but the Galaxy Gear has beaten it to the starting line. For now the Galaxy Gear smart watch is being marketed as a companion to the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, but other Galaxy devices such as the Note 2 and Galaxy S4 will also be compatible once they’ve received suitable updates.

Specs for the Galaxy Gear include an 800MHz processor, a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display with 320 x 320 resolution, a 1.9-megapixel camera and a 315mAh battery. It also totes Bluetooth 4.0, an accelerometer and Android 4.3.

Settings on the Galaxy Gear can be controlled with a smartphone by using the Gear Manager app. The Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be available in regions worldwide from September 25. In the US the price will be $299.

It will be really interesting to see if the Samsung smartwatch takes off and if wearable technology devices become mainstream, rather than a niche product. Apple’s iWatch may not arrive until late 2014 so Samsung has got a clear advantage over its main rival on the market.

We’d like to hear your thoughts. Do you think smart watches will soon become the norm, and that everybody will be using them as companions to smartphones? Maybe you can’t imagine the Galaxy Gear smartwatch catching on? Let us know with your comments.

Source: BGR