Updated: Major US carriers reveal Samsung Gear S release date

Update: Verizon added its Gear S release date to the chorus, so we've included it below.

When the Samsung Gear S smartwatch was announced all anyone would say about its release date was that it would arrive this fall.

Now the US's four biggest carriers have all, to varying degrees, spilled the beans on when you can get your own Samsung Gear S.

The Gear S has a large (for a smartwatch at least) 2-inch display and 3G capabilities (so it doesn't need to be paired with a smartphone), and it shuns Android Wear in favor of Samsung's own Tizen OS.

Here's exactly where and when you can strap one on in the US:

AT&T announced it will launch the Samsung Gear S on November 7 for $200 with a two-year contract.

Alternately the watch costs just $100 more without a commitment, which isn't a bad deal, especially since you can add it to an existing AT&T Mobile Share plan for $10 a month.

Verizon sent its announcement out in the form of a tweet.

Big Red will launch the standalone Samsung smartwatch for $350 on-contract, which makes AT&T's offer look like charity. That said, Verizon is only charging $5 per month to add it to existing plans, which offsets the higher up-front price slightly.

The carrier clearly has some thinking to do about its strategy here, but it's too late now, as the carrier launched the Gear S on November 7.

T-Mobile is accepting pre-orders for the Samsung Gear S starting October 30, and it will release the smartwatch on November 9.

The "Un-carrier" is also launching a special plan with unlimited talk, text and data (throttled from 4G down to 2G after the first 500MB of every cycle) for $5 per month.

T-Mobile customers can get the Gear S either for $350 (matching Verizon, but trumped by AT&T's price) or $14.58 a month for 24 months, with no cost up front.

Last and also least, Sprint also announced today that it plans to carry the Samsung Gear S beginning November 7.

Sprint will sell the smartwatch for 24 monthly payments of $16, totaling $384 before taxes.

The carrier also requires you to sign up for a plan with this rate, making Sprint's offer objectively the worst.

The Gear S can be added to a Sprint Family Share Pack plan for $10 a month, although the carrier will generously waive that fee through December 2015 on plans over 20GB.

How does the Gear S stack up to the long-awaited Apple Watch?

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Leaked docs reveal Apple's plans for Bluetooth Beats headphones

What will Apple and Beats produce next?

Beats released a pair of headphones - the Beats Solo2 - just as Apple was buying the company earlier this year, and now a follow-up appears to be in the works.

But while there's been a lot of speculation over the various ways Apple might change what Beats is about, a just-uncovered FCC filing suggests the iPhone 6 maker actually won't change much at all.

The FCC documents show a Bluetooth-enabled version of the Beats Solo2 released earlier this year.

But other than the addition of wireless capabilities, these headphones don't seem much altered from the earlier, wired Solo2.

There's also been some speculation on whether future Beats headphones will adopt Apple's lightning tech, but for now these appear to be sticking with microUSB so they can remain open-platform.

That may still change in the future, or Apple might even come out with iOS-exclusive variants on otherwise multi-platform headphones, thereby trying to please everyone.

Either way, while this new headset may carry Apple's branding, it appears the new Beats Solo2 will still definitely have the Beats DNA.

There's no clue as to when these will come out, so keep an eye out for announcements from Apple while we do the same.

Via 9to5Mac

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