This is Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch

Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch is a chunky, 3-inch wrist-mounted accessory that runs Android apps and connects with your phone via Bluetooth. Samsung is set to reveal its Galaxy Gear smartwatch next Wednesday, Sept. 4, in Berlin. The press has been speculating about the hardware and design, and leaking information, since word got out that the company would be designing its smartwatch to rival new and yet-to-be-released gadgets from Sony, Apple and Pebble.

Venturebeat has  been speaking with sources to separate fact from fiction. And this weekend, a source showed us one of the prototypes sent to developers and a few select partners. Note that Samsung is highly security conscious in protecting its designs, and occasionally sends off prototypes that don’t mirror the final design. But it won’t be far off.

It has a 4-megapixel camera built into the strap, and tiny speakers in the clasp. You can measure health data through the camera. Take a picture of your food, and you can tag it according to what type of food it is, such as “grains” or “fat.” It’s a clear swipe at Google Glass — but would anyone take photos of their meals from a watch, other than for spy movie appeal?

In addition, here are some of the smartwatch’s specs:

• Samsung S Voice for voice commands
• Preloaded with Android apps for social media, health tracking, etc.
• Integration with a companion Galaxy S phone or tablet
• An easy-to-use swipe function to access apps, the built-in camera, and the photo gallery
• Call logs (A cool use-case: You can initiate a call from the watch to a Samsung smartphone device)
• Internet access
• Power button on the side
• Social media integration — you can share to your Facebook or Twitter account from the watch
• 10+ hours battery life

And a few potential use-cases for fitness junkies:

• While you’re at the gym working out, the smartwatch can track your health data, including steps, heart rate, calorie intake.
• You can measure your heart rate at any time via a built-in heart rate monitor.
• The watch will help you devise the perfect workout — one of the first apps devised for the watch suggests workouts to help you lose weight, gain energy or tone up, for instance.
• Track your food intake by taking photos of your meals — plenty of apps are already on the market that help you keep a food diary of sorts. What would be truly innovative is if Samsung could detect the nutritional value of food, based on a smartwatch photograph.

A source also revealed that a health startup, based in Palo Alto, Calif, has been working with Samsung to develop fitness apps for the watch for several months.

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