Smartwatches are cool pieces of tech, but the likes of the Samsung Gear Live, LG G Watch and Sony Smartwatch 2 haven’t exactly pushed the boundaries of wearable design and elegance. The Motorola Moto 360 on the other hand – is the smartwatch everyone is talking about. That’s mainly because of its circular display, with the more traditional watch shape being more appealing to the masses and it looks like Samsung may follow suit. A recent trio of patents spotted by MobileGeeks seems to depict a range of Samsung smartwatches sporting decidedly more circular displays.
Samsung was among the first major techs firm to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon, but its square designs have regularly been criticised for being too clunky. It’s no surprise then that Samsung has filed numerous patents for wrist-worn gadgets with circular faces. The latest, filed in March last year and awarded this week, details what Samsung calls its ‘new design’ and reveals a round watch with a sensor in the band. In the files, titled ‘The ornamental design for an electronic device, as shown and described’ images reveal the top front, front, rear, left, and right-side views. It resembles the rounded design of the Moto 360, expected ‘later this summer’ – but was filed before the Moto 360 was officially unveiled. The patent was also filed before Samsung released its square Galaxy Gear and Gear range of watches, so it is unclear if a round watch is in the making, or was only proposed. In a number of the images in the latest patent, a sensor can be seen fitted to the wristband. This could be a camera, similar to the one built into the top panel on the Gear 2, or a heart rate sensor, as seen on the rear of the Galaxy S5 phone.
