Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartphone is set to be the first major entry in the wearable computing market by a tech giant with some probable cause for success. The smartwatch is touted to be a part of the Galaxy brand, but it won't work with older devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 until the end of the year.
The reason behind the fragmentation is simple: the Galaxy Gear requires Bluetooth 4.0 LE support. This little caveat can only be found in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, meaning that for the Galaxy Gear to properly interact with any device it will need the latest version of Android (until Android 4.4 KitKat, of course). The kicker? No Samsung device but the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S4 Google Play edition currently runs Android 4.3.
The normal Galaxy S4, the older Galaxy S3 and the fatter Galaxy Note 2 are all scheduled to get Android 4.3 by the end of 2013. Samsung is reportedly in the process of testing the Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 firmware, and the South Korean electronics manufacturer is expected to push it out in November or December. The Galaxy S4 should get Android 4.3 in October, and one of the speculated reasons for the Galaxy Note 2 delay is that Samsung wants to keep Android 4.3 exclusive to the Galaxy Note 3 for a couple months in order to push sales of the newer, more expensive model. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will go on sale in the United States at the beginning of October.
Still, Samsung did promise in early September that it would be revamping its efforts to get Android 4.3 out to a number of popular devices (presumably to promote Galaxy Gear connectivity). It shouldn't be too long for the upgrade to land on handsets, including U.S. carrier-tied devices, as manufacturers are beginning to realize how important timely updates are to the public.
Check back with Latinos Post for more information on Samsung Galaxy Note 2 updates as it becomes available.
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