Class gets a hand up with Gear S3 arrival in Malaysia for RM1,399

The Gear S3 frontier and classic are functionally similar save for different aesthetics

While the average smartwatch is at best a snazzy looking pedometer that tells the time, Samsung’s latest iteration of their smartwatch family aims to make the experience look as classy as possible while also adding in quite a few extra features in the bargain.

The watch straps come with 22mm connectors, allowing them to be interchangeable with any commercially available watch strap

A huge chunk of smartwatches out there use Android Wear or Apple’s own firmware though Samsung’s Gear S3 uses their own in-house Tizen OS to run things under the hood. Seeing as they can customise every aspect of the code, they’ve tweaked every single aspect of the watch with the end goal of making it look as much like a real timepiece as possible. Unlike the prior Gear S2 that attempts to save on battery life by having you flick your wrist to turn it on to see the time, the Gear S3’s lush 1.3-inch Super AMOLED 278ppi display is always on all the time. Even so, internal tweaks to the 380mAh battery and to Tizen have ensured that the watch keeps running for a good four days before needing a juicing.

The hardware that keeps the Gear S3 ticking nicely is a dual core 1Ghz processor paired with 768MB RAM and 4GB of onboard storage. The aforementioned Tizen OS does the usual fitness tracking and has an integrated altimeter and barometer to track changes in the weather as well as the usual fitness tracking functionality.

While the hardware is up to snuff, most of the wow factor on the Gear S3 is on its design that looks pretty much like a real timepiece. Depending on your inclination towards fashion, the Gear S3 can be had in two similarly specced but aesthetically different variants dubbed the Gear S3 classic and Gear S3 frontier. Both are rated IP68 for water and dust resistance with the frontier sporting a manly, chunky and rugged look while the classic has more slender lines about it.

For Malaysia, each Gear S3 purchase on 11street, Lazada or at authorised stores nationwide will come with two additional watch bands in different colours along with a limited edition watch collector box. Should this generously diverse array of watch straps not appeal, you can source your own as the connectors on the Gear S3 are generic 22mm connectors which means almost any watch strap in mass production today will fit it. The Gear S3 frontier or classic both retail for RM1,399 and will be available for sale on December 8 2016 though the aforementioned collector’s edition box and two extra watch straps are only available in limited numbers.