Let’s hope this isn’t the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch

The company logo is displayed at the Samsung news conference at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January 7, 2013. (rEUTERS)

Those excited for Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch were treated to an early look at the device over the weekend, thanks to a set of leaked pictures published by Venture Beat. Except it’s a bit of a concern, as it’s not the best looking device in the world.

The pictures are stills snapped from a promotional video, apparently created by one of Samsung’s marketing partners, and apparently show a late prototype Galaxy Gear smartwatch in action. The screen is almost square, but encased in a rectangular face, which effectively appears to double the device’s size. In the pictures, it’s spilling off the wearer’s wrist, and according to the Venture Beat reporter, it “dwarfed her tiny lady wrists” when she tried on a prototype.

To see the photos, click here.

Confirming some of the rumors we’ve already heard, the Gear prototype had speakers and a camera mounted in the wrist band, plus it will use Bluetooth to connect to Galaxy S smartphones and various Samsung tablets. The Galaxy Gear should respond to verbal commands thanks to Samsung’s S Voice app, plus it’ll have various health-related apps and social networking tools built-in.

Samsung may push the health and fitness aspect of the Galaxy Gear quite hard, and the report mentions the watch will have a pedometer, a heart rate monitor, and an app for creating focused workouts. One of the suggested uses for the camera is to use it as a food diary, so you can keep track of your diet.

However, all of this potentially interesting functionality is going to be lost if the Galaxy Gear looks hideous. We’ve talked before about smartwatches failing because of their ugly designs, and from the look of it in these pictures, the Galaxy Gear may not be a step in the right direction.

But we shouldn’t despair just yet, as we’re told several times the device is a prototype, and sources speaking to GigaOm.com also say the Gear which will be released this week has a, “Different, more finished” look. The launch event takes place on September 4, and for Samsung’s sake, we hope it’ll look really different to this one.