Gear VR sees US launch, $199 price

Even though the date was far from confirmed in the time leading up to its launch, the Gear VR Innovator Edition has gone on sale today in the US. With a general release window revealed during the Samsung Developer Conference a few weeks ago, Samsung made good on a December release; at least in the US. There is still no word on a sale date for other markets, but early 2015 should be a generous suggestion. The virtual reality headset is available for purchase through Samsung and AT&T now.

As mentioned before, the Gear VR Innovator Edition is available in Frost White along with an optional GamePad. It features a 96° FoV (Field of View) optical lens, a touchpad, a back button, and a focus adjustment wheel. It is equipped with accelerometer, gyro sensor, proximity sensor, and geomagnetic sensor. It connects to the Galaxy Note 4 through the microUSB port. See our earlier post for an idea about what kind of content will be made available. The announcement came via Samsung’s email service (screenshot below).

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Samsung becomes second largest LTE smartphones vendor in Q3 2014

LTE connectivity is an important feature on smartphones in this day and age, and every smartphone manufacturer has numerous devices in their lineup offering support for LTE networks. According to the latest report by Strategy Analytics, Samsung was the second largest vendor of LTE-enabled smartphones, beaten only by its arch-rival Apple. LG took the third spot, while Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo rounded off the top 5 vendor list. The market for LTE-enabled smartphones rose by 57 percent between Q2 and Q3 this year, and that prominence is a telling example of why Samsung is equipping devices like the Galaxy A3 and A5 with LTE support.

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Samsung Electronics promotes Pranav Mistry to global vice president

When you’re an enormous company like Samsung and your profits are seeing a steep decline, changes in upper management become a necessary evil, especially if you wish to see yourself remain at the top. Samsung recently said that it was restructuring some of its management, and as part of that reshuffle, the Korean manufacturer has named Pranav Mistry as global vice president of Samsung Electronics. For those that aren’t aware, Mistry – an Indian by origin – was responsible for the design of the original Galaxy Gear, which became the first Android smartwatch to make it to the consumer market, and is currently working at Samsung’s research unit in the US (in the Silicon Valley.)

Samsung’s smartphone unit has seen a considerable decline in profits over the last year, and the company is no doubt hoping that Mistry and other top officials will bring around changes that help it return to its glory days. It’s unclear who will replace Mistry in Samsung’s wearables unit, but we’re guessing the company will be taking a calculated decision in that regard given how important the wearables market is shaping up to be.

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