Samsung blends the twin worlds of smartwatch and fitness band - but the Gear Fit isn’t brilliant in either role
S amsung’s Gear Fit is the odd one out this month. Part smartwatch and part fitness band, it’s designed to straddle the divide between sports wearables such as the Fitbit and fully fledged smartwatches.
Unlike the more traditional-looking watches here, the Gear Fit has a curved rectangular display – and it’s gorgeous. Measuring 47mm from corner to corner, the crisp, 432 x 128 AMOLED touchscreen drips with rich colours.
The Gear Fit runs on Samsung’s own real-time OS, RTOS, and although this isn’t as advanced as Tizen or Android Wear, it provides a range of basic smartwatch functions, such as displaying email, text and call notifications, as well as a range of exercise features. Compatibility is restricted to a few Samsung phones, but there’s one big benefit to the lightweight OS: battery life stretches to two days, impressive for such a compact device.
There’s an optical heart-rate sensor that captures one-off“ and continuous readings, and the 210mAh battery charges via a micro-USB charger. Don’t expect voice control, though.
Exercise is the Gear Fit’s focus. It uses its built-in accelerometer, gyroscope and heart-rate sensor to monitor your daily exercise levels. This data can be fed to apps installed on a paired smartphone, and the pedometer can record your runs and walks.
Sadly, neither the distance or heartrate readings are reliable. You have to pair the Samsung with a smartphone for accurate GPS tracking, and we noted large discrepancies between it and the heart-rate straps we use for our daily workouts – at flat-out pace, the Samsung often gave unbelievably low readings.
The Gear Fit is neither a convincing smartwatch nor an effective fitness tool. We love the concept, but it’s back to the drawing board.