Tech

Samsung to introduce stand-alone Smartwatch

Samsung Electronics Co. is making another run at that perennial technogeek dream, the wrist communicator, with plans to unveil a smartwatch that works as a stand-alone phone in the next few months.

Samsung’s watch-phone will be able to make and receive calls without being tethered to a smartphone, something most smartwatches on the market now can’t do, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. It will also take photos, send email and come with GPS, Bluetooth and a heart monitor, the people said–a suite of features that would make the gadget-toting James Bond proud. (The fictional British spy used a wrist walkie-talkie in the movie For Your Eyes Only).

The South Korean technology giant–currently the top seller of smartphones–is in talks with telecom carriers in the U.S., South Korea and Europe about the watch-phone, and hopes to unveil the gadget between June and July, the people said. It will run on Samsung’s homegrown operating system, Tizen, which was co-developed with Intel Corp.

The people declined to say what the device would be called, or whether a user would make calls by holding the watch up to his or her mouth.

The recent craze for wearables has breathed new commercial life into wrist-communication devices, with companies from Google Inc. to ZTE Corp. planning smartwatches. Apple Inc., Samsung’s closest rival in smartphones, is widely expected to launch a smartwatch later this year.