Samsung's next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, will be available to pre-order for AT&T customers starting tomorrow. The Android device will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract from the service provider (and likely all others) and is set to ship in early April. Samsung has also given us an official US pricing for its health-centric smart watch Gear Fit, which will retail at $199.
Despite the great color choices shown off at Samsung's big reveal of its new smartphone, AT&T is only offering black and white Galaxy S5 options at launch, with the other colors presumably coming later. They are however offering the phone through their installment program Next, which would cost $25 per month over 18 months or $32.50 over a year. Check out my roundup of the Galaxy S5's features and specs for full details on the device.
The Gear Fit is primarily meant to be worn during exercise or activity, and features a slim shape and curved OLED display, which is quite striking. The downside to Samsung's wearable device is that it only works with their Galaxy line of smartphones.
Galaxy S3, S4 or S5 users won't find this to be a problem, but with so many other phones on the market many consumers will be left out. Samsung explained that their custom OS and the features they wanted to use in the Gear Fit wouldn't really work outside of the Galaxy platform, and they don't want to reduce the overall functionality of the device.
The orientation of the UI (sideways as opposed to the direction your head faces when looking down at your arm) has raised some concerns, but Samsung is reportedly looking into a vertical option.
Source: The Verge
