Samsung has announced that the Gear Sport and its second-generation Gear IconX earbuds (also known as Gear IconX 2018) will be available for preorder starting October 13th.
Priced at $299.99, the Gear Sport comes in blue and black and will be available nationwide from October 27th through Samsung.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s, and U.S. Cellular.
The Gear IconX 2018 will come in black, gray, and pink, for $199.99 and will also be released nationwide on the same day through Samsung.com, Amazon, BestBuy.com, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular.
The Gear Sport features a 1.2-inch AMOLED display, a built-in GPS, and is waterproof (up to 50 meters) with the ability to track swimming times and your heart rate. That makes it useful for those who are constantly on their feet and need something a bit more durable. (Samsung says it’s “military-grade” durable.) It also features 4GB of internal memory, which will be useful since the watch is compatible with Spotify’s offline mode for those who want to listen to music but don’t want to take their phones with them when they’re working out. It’s also compatible with iOS, so Apple users who aren’t too keen on the Apple Watch can use this model with their iPhones, too.
The Gear IconX 2018 are cord-free earbuds and Samsung’s second generation of the line. They’ve got longer battery life than the original, with Samsung promising seven hours of listening in a standalone mode, or five hours if you’re streaming music. The charging case also holds one extra charge. The buds’ 4GB of storage roughly equates to 1,000 songs, and they’re Bluetooth enabled so you can make phone calls, too. For Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 smartphone users, you can control your music and phone by tapping the bud and using Bixby, Samsung’s voice assistant. Samsung says the Gear IconX also features a built-in running coach that can track your running routines, which is pretty useful — though if you’re already wearing a fitness watch, it might be a bit superfluous.
Photography by Vlad Savov / The Verge
