Samsung Gear S Release Date, Specs and Features: Smartwatch Hits Stores On Friday, Nov. 7

Samsung is set to launch its sixth and latest smartwatch, the Samsung Gear S, on Friday, Nov. 7, in stores across the U.S. and in major mobile carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Samsung's Gear S features an ergonomically-inclined curved design and has a built-in cellular radio and a 2-inch AMOLED screen of 360x480 pixels. It runs on a dual core 1GHz processor and a 300 mAh Lithium-ion battery, has a 512 RAM and has an internal memory of 4GB. It is available in two colors, black and white.

The Samsung Gear S's Tizen operating system also allows it to be a stand-alone smartwatch where wearers can make and receive calls straight to the watch via 2G or 3G.

The watch also allows wearers Wi-Fi connectivity and has Bluetooth 4.1. A paired smartphone is only needed during the Gear S initial start-up or when wearers want to install downloaded apps.

However, the lack of a paired smartphone will require more of the watch, and battery power is a concern for some users. Samsung is offering a snap-on battery charger to make up for it which has an extra battery life of 350 mAh.

The Gear S is also water- and dust-resistant, has an onscreen keyboard, and shows notifications from messages, calendars, social networks and other apps. It also has an S Voice functionality that supports voice commands.

The Gear S also has an S Health and Nike+ installed that allows wearers to monitor their health. It can track the amount of exercise performed by wearers and release infographics based on their workouts. It can also monitor heart rates and can play stored songs or stream music to accompany wearers.

The Samsung Gear S is compatible with Samsung devices such as Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5 Sport, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note II and Galaxy SIII.