Gear Fit2 Review: Samsung’s best wearable yet

When people think of a fitness tracker, most of them would immediately think of Fitbit and their lineup of devices. But most people forget that Samsung also has their own fitness tracker and it’s a damn good one at that.

After using the Samsung Gear Fit2 for a few weeks now, I would have to say that it’s one of the best fitness trackers that I’ve used, even beating the likes of Fitbit.

In this review, I will cover the following areas:

• Design & Hardware (hardware and specs)
• Software (all about that Tizen)

Design & Hardware

 

The display on the Gear Fit2 is a curved 1.5-inch Super AMOLED screen and it looks great, even in direct sunlight. And the curve of the screen, helps it better blend in with the band part of the device. The band itself is made from silicone and is very comfortable to wear for long periods of time. You’ll also find 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. The device carries a IP68 rating for water and dust resistance (which means up to 30 minutes in up to 1.5m of water), , so you shouldn’t have an issues using the device in the rain but I wouldn’t go swimming with the Gear Fit2 because it’s not fully swimproof.

In terms of battery life, I got about 3-4 days of battery life on the Gear Fit2 before I had to charge it. And if you do find yourself in a situation where the battery is low and you forgot to charge it, there’s a battery saver mode which turns everything on the screen to grayscale.

Inside, you’ll find an embedded GPS, so users can track their runs (or walks) and there’s a heart rate monitor on the back. You’ll also find a built-in accelerometer and barometer and the device will automatically detects what type of exercise you’re doing.  On the right side, you’ll find two buttons, one being the home button/ access your apps and different modes and the other button is a back button.

The Gear Fit2 comes in two different sizes, small and large and comes in three different colours, Black, Pink and Blue. All the different configurations are sold for the same $249.99 CAD price. The unit that I tested out was the large size and I have pretty wide wrists, just to give you an example, when I tested the Moto 360 (2015) earlier this year, I used the 42mm men’s version and it was very comfortable.

Software

The Gear Fit2 is running a version of Samsung’s Tizen and the tracker is compatible with Samsung devices running Android 4.3 or later and other Android smartphones running Android 4.4 or later. Samsung made it feel like Tizen belongs to run on wearables and the Gear Fit2 is no exception.

On the device, you’ll find the usual step tracking, number of stairs climbed and other activity tracker and other health information such as inputting the number of glasses of water taken and how much caffeine, you have had over the course of your day. All your steps and other data recorded by the device is sent to the S Health app, which is great but the actual Samsung Gear Android could use some work, it could be more user-friendly (which it isn’t at this point).

You can also customize your Gear Fit2, by adding on different apps and new watch faces but you’ll find a limited selection because there aren’t many developers making stuff for Tizen. You’ll also be able to see your notifications from your smartphone on your Gear Fit2 and be able to take action on some notifications.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Samsung did a great job with the Gear Fit2. It has all the feature that one would want with a fitness tracker and more. But all this comes at a cost, the Gear Fit2 is $249 in Canada and that’s a high price to pay when you consider that a similar offering from Fitbit will cost $199 for their latest Fitbit Charge 2 tracker.

If you’re looking for the best alternative to a Fitbit, then look no further than the Gear Fit2.  

Pros

+ Great look and feel

+ Tizen is a better OS for wearables

+ Bright and crisp display

+ Lots of activity tracking

Cons

– Only works with Android phones

– Limited number of high-quality apps and watch faces

– High price compared to Fitbit and other fitness trackers