Samsung just unloaded its mobile product pipeline in Barcelona. All at once, the company revealed the Galaxy S5, Gear 2, Gear Nano and Gear Fit. These are legitimately exciting products.
The Galaxy S5 packs new sensors and is finally waterproof like Sony’s smartphones. It’s pushing into phablet territory with a 5.1-inch, 1920×1080 display, and it comes with a fingerprint reader on the home button, as well as a heart rate monitor around back near the camera flash. The Galaxy S5 is also dust and water-resistant, which may be the most useful new feature to ship on the phone.
Then there are the new Gear watches. Rebranded from Galaxy Gear, the Gear 2, the Gear Nano, and best of all, the Gear Fit, are fine iterations from the original Galaxy Gear. They pack new capabilities and thanks to the use of Tizen instead of Android, feature three times longer battery life.
The Gear Fit is especially interesting since depending on the price, it could steal a serious chunk of the marketshare away from Fitbit, Pebble and Jawbone.
But that’s the thing. Samsung didn’t announce any prices. For anything. The Gear Fit could be $17,000. The Galaxy S5 could be twice the price of the S4.
This is standard practice for Samsung. The company will throw a big festive for a new product (remember the Broadway show for the S4?) and then not announce the price. This is by design, as it wants to watch the competition react and then to drum up more press by announcing the price at a later date. Plus, to Samsung’s credit, pricing does vary per market.
However, this is the one thing Samsung should copy from Apple: Announce the product, reveal the capabilities and then announce the price and ship date. Please.
