Samsung has been making some pretty major strides in wearables this year, using the first Galaxy Gear as a jumping-off point for a lineup that’s now a lot sleeker, offers much more in the way of options, and even plays around with form factors. When it comes to thinking about what might be next for Samsung’s wearable family, one idea we’ve heard more than a few times has been that of a SIM-enabled smartwatch, pulling down its own data from cellular towers without the need for a tethered smartphone. Today we see our first real evidence for this model’s existence as the Gear 2 Solo pops up in an import log.
That’s nearly exactly the name we heard attached to this device (it was just called the “Gear Solo” in one earlier report, but the addition of the “2” might have been expected anyway), and its presence here in a government database sure has it looking official. We also get the model number SM-R710 for the watch, which is quite a bit removed from the SM-R380 and SM-R381 of the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, respectively.
Pricing info puts the Gear 2 Solo at somewhere in the $200-$360 range, but based on our understanding of its functionality, we’d sure expect it to arrive at a bit of a premium over non-cellular-connected Gear options.
Samsung’s got a health-related event scheduled for later this month, and while there’s nothing about the Gear 2 Solo that has made it sound especially like a fitness accessory, just by nature of it being a smartwatch we’ve been keeping it in mind as a possibility for something Samsung might be planning to announce. That event’s on May 28, three weeks from today; with a little luck we’ll get a better idea of what to expect – and whether or not the Gear 2 Solo might be on the guest list – as we start closing-in on that date.