Samsung Gear S3 pre-orders now live in Canada

• Gear S3 comes with 1.3 inch Super AMOLED display and the large rotating bezel that looks much like the Gear S2 classic.
• The Gear S3, the Always on Display has been enhanced to support 16 million colors.
• The entire body of the Gear S3 is IP68 certified for water and dust resistance.
• As for the screen, Gorilla Glass SR+ (SR means ‘scratch resistant’) will hopefully keep the touchscreen from scratching.
• The more rugged Frontier version of the Gear S3 has a matted body with flatter buttons on the side, compared to the circular buttons that pop out the side of the Gear S3 Classic.
• The bezel has also been given a few new capabilities, like rotating it in one direction or the other in order to accept or reject calls and certain other notifications.
• The dial is still utilized for a lot of other functions, like changing music volume or dialing in the amount of time for alarms and timers.
• There is the heart rate sensor found on the under portion of the watch’s body.
• The Classic edition does not come with LTE connectivity, giving the Frontier version a special advantage with this added sensor, on top of all the existing connections like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
• On both models, plenty of sensors are available for typical usage, like an altimeter and barometer.
• LTE makes the Gear S3 a standalone device in a lot of respects, where notifications can come straight to the watch and users can actually take calls using a built-in speaker and microphone.
• The biggest addition to the Gear S3, then, is Samsung Pay. After it is set up directly on the watch, the NFC and MST (magstripe reading) tech put into the watch can be used at a majority of pay stations across major stores.
• To activate it, just hold the back button until Samsung Pay launches. Select which card to use and bring the watch close to the card slider or the NFC portion, if available. Being able to pay for items using the watch is pretty cool, and Samsung Pay’s wide support should make the Gear S3 appealing to people who actually want to use such a feature.
• The Samsung Gear S3 is now available for pre-order at Best Buy in Canada. Both the classic version and sporty Frontier variant are listed for CAD $469.99 (about $360 US) with free shipping.