Shortly after LG took the wraps off of its new G Watch R smartwatch, Samsung responded by introducing a new wearable of its own.

The Samsung Gear S is the newest wristwatch from the folks in Seoul, and it’s got a few tricks up its sleeve that make it stand out from the rest of Samsung’s Gear family. First, and probably most noticeable, is its large 2-inch Super AMOLED display, which is curved and features a resolution of 480×360.

The second big feature found in the Gear S is 3G connectivity. Yep, that’s right, the Gear S has a SIM slot for its own 2G/3G connection. That means that you can use the device to conduct calls and respond to messages using its onscreen keyboard. Connectivity options include 2G 900/1800 and 3G 900/2100 or 2G and 3G 850/1900.

Packed inside of the Gear S’s body, which is IP67 rated for resistance to dust and water, lives a 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a 300mAh battery that Samsung says will last 2 days with “typical usage.” Also included are a bevy of sensors such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, heart rate, ambient light, UV and barometer.

On the software side of things, the Gear S comes preloaded with Tizen and a host of Samsung applications. Those include S Voice, Power Saving Mode, S Health and Music Player.

Samsung has also introduced another Gear device called the Gear Circle. This piece of headgear is meant to be paired with a smartphone and allow the wearer to receive calls, listen to music and issue voice commands over a Bluetooth connection. It’ll vibrate when you’ve got incoming notifications and can be magnetically clasped around your neck when not in used.

Both the Gear S and Gear Circle are expected to begin rolling out globally in October. No pricing details for either product have been given.

So there’s Samsung newest wearable offerings. The Gear S looks like an interesting unit, and while we’re sure that some folks will be disappointed that it’s running Tizen and not Android Wear, the fact that it’s got a beefy (for smartwatches) 2-inch display and its own 3G connection ought to win it at least some attention.

What do you think of Samsung’s Gear S? Has its big screen and cellular connectivity piqued your interest?

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Like most other mid-range phones, the spec sheet of the HTC One remix doesn’t have much to brag about. The phone’s equipped with a 1.4 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor that’s paired with a measly 1GB of RAM. Yes, the KitKat version of Android running on the phone is optimized to work well with just half a gig of memory, but we all know that 2GB is the sweet spot these days. Simply put, the specs on the HTC One remix are underwhelming.

Fortunately for HTC, the specs of the One remix seem to have little bearing on how the phone actually performs. When running benchmarks, the numbers clearly show that the HTC One remix isn’t on the same level as the HTC One (M8), Samsung Galaxy S5 or the LG G3. It’s not even close. But when you load up a game or stream your favorite HD show from YouTube, Netflix or Google Play, you’d never guess that the phone is only half as powerful as today’s flagships.

HTC One remix benchmarks

• 3DMark: 4654
• AntuTu: 17145
• GFXBench: 103
• Quadrant: 9945
• Vellamo: 705 (metal), 1153 (multicore)

Gallery

It’s true that benchmarks do a great job showing how individual devices are able to handle 3D graphics, loading webpages or handling complex algorithms, but they don’t give you a real sense of how the phone will handle apps or games. In our experience with the HTC One remix, the phone was able to keep up with the Samsung Galaxy S5 while playing Asphalt 8: Airborne, Modern Combat 5: Blackout and The Room Two. The HTC One remix is a little slow when loading these games, but the extra second or two isn’t noticeable unless you’re comparing two devices side by side. We’re willing to go out on a limb and say that the gaming experience may actually be better on the HTC One Remix than many flagship phones thanks to its front-facing BoomSound speakers. They definitely make the phone larger than it needs to be, but the immersive audio created by the phone is quite impressive.

The One remix’s 1.4GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor should get a lot of credit for the device’s impressive performance, but the real reason it exceeds expectations is because it is a mid-range device with a 720p display. Swap out the HTC one remix’s display with a high-resolution 1080p screen and this article would be littered with doom and gloom references. Since the HTC One remix’s 720p display only has 44.5 percent of the pixels of 1080p screen, the Snapdragon 400 processor don’t have to work nearly as hard as the Snapdragon 801 and 805 processors used in the HTC One (M8), Galaxy S5 or the LG G3.

Some will say that buying a mid-range phone often means you need to make a few compromises. In the case of the HTC One remix, performance isn’t one of them.

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