As if the
Note 20+ (or
Fold 2, and
5G-enabled Galaxy Z Flip smartphones were not enough to get us excited about
Samsung’s rumored August 5 online-only Unpacked event, the company is also widely expected to
unveil two new high-end Android tablets, one Android and iOS-compatible smartwatch, and some curiously shaped true wireless earbuds soon.
While it’s not entirely clear yet if all these cool gadgets will be simultaneously launched in early August, a bunch of new evidence suggests the long overdue sequel to the original Galaxy Watch and Samsung’s second “hearables” effort of 2020 are indeed right around the corner.
Not only that, but references to the two unreleased devices found by
XDA’s Max Weinbach in the latest version of the official Galaxy Wearable app (formerly known as Samsung Gear) seem to confirm a couple of important details.
There will be no Galaxy Watch 2
As great as last year’s
Watch Active 2 objectively are, they’re not what we’d call legitimate follow-up efforts to 2018’s premium
Galaxy Watch, making certain style compromises to serve a slightly different target audience.
But instead of forging ahead on the fitness-friendly path with a third-gen Galaxy Watch Active,
Samsung is apparently planning to go back to a fashion-centric second-gen Galaxy Watch that’s pretty much guaranteed to be dubbed… the Galaxy Watch 3.
The somewhat surprising name was first listed in the database of Thailand’s FCC-equivalent regulatory agency last week, and now the same moniker is present in the aforementioned updated app. Literally spelled in black and white for the entire tech world to see, this leaves little room for interpretation or mystery.
Of course, after the Galaxy S20 family jumped a grand total of ten digits from 2019’s S10 lineup, we shouldn’t be too shocked to see Samsung skip over the Galaxy Watch 2 label to make it clear right off the bat that the Galaxy Watch 3 is an improvement over the Watch Active and Watch Active 2.
Unfortunately, many of the actual improvements and upgrades expected from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 remain under wraps, although we do know the next-gen Tizen timepiece is set to come in 41 and 45mm case sizes, as well as stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium build options, with everything from built-in GPS functionality to top-notch water resistance, Gorilla Glass DX protection, and yes,
The Galaxy Buds “Bean” are real
Obviously, these bad boys won’t be called the Galaxy Buds Bean (or the Bud Beans), but we’re not so sure about the
Galaxy BudsX name either. Instead of digging that out, Max Weinbach could only find a “buds_live” reference attached to the image of the bean-inspired little headphones, so it’s entirely possible now that this product will see daylight under the Galaxy Buds Live label.
If that sounds somewhat familiar, it might be because Samsung released an Android Wear-based
Gear Live smartwatch way back in 2014, although we have no legitimate reason to expect any connection between the two.
Instead, the “Buds Bean” were previously tipped to borrow various built-in fitness tracking tools from the Gear IconX while also integrating active noise cancellation technology and potentially costing less than $150. That almost sounds too good to be true, especially when considering
the rumored standalone audio playback support as well, so it’s probably wise to treat at least a few of those things with caution.
