Samsung's Apple Watch and AirPod alternatives arrive October 27 – CNET


Wearable Tech

Samsung’s Apple Watch and AirPod alternatives arrive October 27

Samsung Gear Sport and Icon X 2018 cost $300 and $200 each.

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Samsung’s newest fitness watch is around the corner.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

This year, like many smartwatch makers, Samsung’s focusing on fitness. Its latest sport earbuds and smartwatch, the Gear Icon X 2018 and Gear Sport, are arriving later this month: October 27, with preorders starting tomorrow. They’ll cost $200 and $300 respectively in the US. (International prices and release dates weren’t provided by Samsung, but we’ll add them when we have them). CNET has tried them both briefly, but we don’t have either for review yet.

The Gear Sport, announced earlier this year, didn’t have a specific price or release date when we first saw it. At $300, it’s nearly the same price as Samsung’s 2016 Gear S3 watch. 

The Gear Sport adds 50-meter water resistance for swimming, much like the Apple Watch Series 3 and Fitbit Ionic. It also has GPS, and sync and play music via Spotify, and works with both Android and iOS. But the square-circle watch doesn’t have any cellular functions, and lacks a speakerphone for connected Bluetooth calls. (Also, if it’s anything like previous Gear watches, the iOS experience isn’t as good as it is on Android).

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Gear Icon X aim to be stand-alone fitness and music earphones.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Samsung’s 2018 version of its Icon X wireless sport headphones are also arriving October 27 for $200. That’s more expensive than Apple’s AirPods, but Samsung’s Icon X headphones have built-in heart rate tracking for runs without a phone or watch, and even have 4GB of internal music storage. The 2018 update promises better battery life, up to five hours: last year’s version didn’t last as long on a charge.

We’ll review both as soon as we get them.

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