Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch will be unveiled on Sept. 4: report

The long-rumored Samsung smart watch, which may be called the Samsung Galaxy Gear, could be introduced as soon as next month. Maybe.

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Reuters
Does the release of a Samsung smartwatch draw nigh? Here, guests test the Samsung Galaxy S4 mobile phone during an event in China in April.

Samsung will unveil its long-rumored smart watch next month in an effort to beat out the release of a similar product from Apple. 

That's the word this afternoon from Bloomberg, which says that the watch – as previously reported elsewhere – will be called Galaxy Gear. According to Bloomberg, the Galaxy Gear can be used to make phone calls, browse the Web, and answer e-mails. 

It's unclear exactly when the Google Android-powered watch will actually hit shelves, although it's a safe bet that Samsung will be gunning for a late September or early October launch, the better to take full advantage of the holiday shopping rush. 

Caveat: Samsung has not officially commented on the latest batch of rumors. But the Bloomberg article does line up with previous reports on a Samsung trademark application for the Gear name. Interestingly, at the time, some pundits doubted that Samsung would actually bestow the somewhat clunky moniker "Gear" on its next-gen digital timepiece. 

"Personally I'd be surprised if Samsung opted for the name Gear for its smart-watch tech," Luke Westaway of CNET wrote in July. "While the name certainly makes sense for a device that's historically mechanical, Samsung would likely want to trade on the current popularity of the Galaxy name to give a new product as much of a leg-up as possible." 

Looks like Samsung went for the best of both worlds. 

In related news, yesterday 9 to 5 Mac published a round-up of speculative concept art for the (presumably) forthcoming Apple smart watch. The designs inspired much more by fantasy than fact, but it's still worth a look. 

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