Samsung bringing curved Gear S to U.S. on Nov. 7; pricing like a phone

Samsung bringing curved Gear S to U.S. on Nov. 7; pricing like a phone

A visitor tries out a Samsung Gear S smart watch at the Samsung stand at the 2014 IFA home electronics and appliances trade fair on September 5, 2014 in Berlin, Germany

As attention in the wearable space is focused on Microsoft's new Band, wearable veteran Samsung has revealed its plans for releasing its sixth smartwatch in the U.S. The Gear S, the company's smartwatch with a curved 2-inch screen and built-in cellular connection, will begin rolling out to U.S. carriers beginning November 7.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint have all signed up to carry Samsung's latest watch with AT&T and Sprint the first out of the gate. Both carriers will release the device on the 7th with T-Mobile releasing it on November 9th. Verizon will also be offering the device, but the company has yet reveal exactly when it would make the watch available.

Samsung is hoping the Gear S proves more successful than its prior wearable efforts since the device is one of the first wearables to feature a cellular connection to make phone calls, send text messages and connect to the Internet even when not connected to a smartphone. But that flexibility comes at a price. Without a contract or payment plan the device will cost between $350 and $400, though all the carriers will be offering various on and off-contract payment options. Unlike Timex's Ironman One+ GPS watch, which is another 3G-connected wearable that comes with a year of free data from AT&T, the carriers will also be charging for data plans on the Gear S.

T-Mobile is charging $5 a month for unlimited talk, text and 500 MB of 4G LTE data on the watch. AT&T and Sprint will charge $10 a month for users adding it to their respective Mobile Share or Family Share plans, though Sprint will waive the monthly charge for customers whose plans have at least 20 GB of data. Verizon has yet to reveal its monthly charges.

Similar to Samsung's recent Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit wearables the Gear S will run the company's Tizen software and will only be able to be paired with other Samsung phones like the Galaxy S 5 and recently released Galaxy Note 4. If you have another device you can forward your number to the phone and use the built-in cellular service on the watch to access email, music or social networks when you don't have your phone with you.


Samsung claims the device, which also features a heart rate monitor and is water and dust resistant, will get about two days of battery life.