When I read the tech specs of the Samsung Gear Fit2, I was intrigued. This is a souped-up fitness band with extras like 4GB storage for music playback, heart-rate monitor, Wi-Fi, even GPS. And the killer feature that beats other fitness bands has got to be the brilliant full-colour display.
Upon further interaction with the Gear Fit2, I find that the UX flow is similar to Gear S2. Both have detailed health tracking features like auto heart-rate monitoring, activity detection, calorie and steps tracking. You can also install Tizen OS apps from the Samsung Galaxy app store, including alarm, timer, stopwatch, and many other fitness companion apps.
You can easily start an exercise, add the number of glasses or cups of drinks, and the data is synced exclusively to S Health installed on your smartphone. The Fit2 detects the kind of activity you are doing, like walking, cycling, or climbing the stairs. You can access extensive tracking history data on the Fit2 without touching the smartphone.
Although the Gear Fit2 detects if you are walking or running, it would be best to manually initiate an exercise if you are running so that the HRM will track your heartrate in real time. If not, the Gear Fit2 will only capture the workout duration, distance, pace and calories without the heartrate.
For other activities like doing lunges, squats, crunches, upon starting, the Gear Fit2 magically detects the repetitions and vibrates once target is reached. Well, it’s no magic since the Gear Fit2 has built-in sensors like accelerometer, gyro, and barometer to detect the movements and do the count.
And because of the built-in GPS, I can wear the Gear Fit2 on its own for my outdoor workouts without carrying a smartphone, and it still captures my running path plus all other workout stats accurately. Even better, with built-in 4GB storage, I can upload my favourite music tracks and pair to my favourite Bluetooth headset.
Between the Gear S2 and Fit2, I actually prefer the latter. The S2 is a full-size round-face watch with larger screen which is eye-catching and odd to wear it all day and night to track your activity, even when you are dressed down at home and while you sleep.
The Fit2 is a fitness band with the silicone strap that is really soft and comfortable, that I forget I am wearing it. It has a brilliant display with great colour tonality, and the long screen that displays up to 12 lines of text is a more natural way to consume lengthy information.
The smartphone notification and messages appear in its entirety on the Fit2 without having to access the smartphone. Even Instagram notifications have images displayed on the Fit2.
There are dozens of watch faces to customise the Fit2, and I find the watch faces make good use of the long display to present a lot of data at a glance. The battery life tops at 2 days based on my usage, and charging takes a little over an hour using the magnetic charging dock.
The sleep tracking offers quite a handful of nice-looking stats, and even encourages you when you reach the goals that you set.
If you don’t fancy accessing the S Health app regularly, the Gear Fit2 will publish your sleep stats on the wrist.
There are a few improvement features I would wish Gear Fit2 has, like the ability to define quiet hours automatically so that I do not have to manually turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode before I sleep. I also hoped for wrist gesture like Android Wear where I can use the wrist to scroll the display. Currently, to back-track the screen flow, you have to click the back button instead of swiping right like Android Wear.
The Gear Fit2 is retailing in Singapore at S$298. It may be pricer than other similar-sized fitness bands and older-generation Android Wear smartwatches, but it is one of the smallest fitness bands with gorgeous display and lets you access full activity data just like the Gear S2. It also has built-in music player, heart-rate monitor, motion sensors, IP68 water resistant, Wi-Fi enabled, and GPS. Considering the number of tech in it, the price is actually not that exorbitant. The Gear Fit2 is easily the most-interactive, best-looking fitness band with beautiful watchfaces for the modern colourful lifestyle. Highly recommended for the recreational workout executive.
Specs
Processor: 1 GHz dual core
Display: 1.5″ 216 x 432 Super AMOLED
Memory: 512MB RAM, 4GB Storage
Battery: 200mAh
Sensors: GPS, Heartrate, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Barometer
Water Resistant: IP68
Compatibility: Android 4.4, 1.5GB RAM
Small strap: 125-170mm
Large strap: 155-210mm
Official product website: http://www.samsung.com/sg/gearfit2/




