Hands-on With The Samsung Gear Fit
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, during the Unpacked 5 conference, Samsung unveiled its latest flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S5 and two new Gear smartwatches, the Samsung Gear 2 and the Samsung Gear 2 Neo. However, Smasung also managed to surprise us with the one device that the South Korean company managed to keep under wraps and that device was a fitness tracker, the Samsung Gear Fit. While this is not Samsung’s first wearable device, it is the company’s first attempt to make a fitness tracker.
Samsung’s first wearable device was the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch that was unveiled and released last year in the Fall. The first Galaxy Gear was rushed to the market in an attempt to be the first of the big companies to release a smartwatch and that was obvious from the negative reception. The first Galaxy Gear could have used a few more months of research and development, but for Samsung it was always meant to be a sacrifice device. However, almost half a year later, Samsung unveiled the second generation of wearable devices, and among them, its first fitness tracker, the Samsung Gear Fit. The Gear Fit is a sleek looking wearable device that knows exactly what it is and what its main and only purpose is. It is also smaller than the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo smartwatches.
One of the first things that users notice about the Samsung Gear Fit is its curved AMOLED touchscreen display that offers very wide viewing angles. Due to the bracelet like shape of the device, the display had to be curved but also big enough for users to be able to read text and press buttons (well, we should say button as there is only one, due to the fact that the display is a touchscreen display) without difficulty. While the Samsung Galaxy Round smartphone was the first Samsung product to feature a curved display, the Samsung Gear Fit is actually the first device from Samsung to really need a curved display.
As you probably know by now, the Samsung Gear Fit does not come equipped with a mic, speakers or a camera, like the second generation smartwatches. Samsung decided not to include these things as they are not necessary for a fitness tracker. On the software side of things, the Gear Fit does not run neither Android nor Tizen (which is Samsung’s own mobile Operating System, used in the Samsung Gear 2 and the Samsung Gear 2 Neo smartwatches). It features a scrolling menu with big enough icons. The user interface is in many ways similar to that of a smartphone, but stripped to only what matters. In fact, the minimalist design seems to be a thematic choice with the Samsung Gear Fit. From the initial hands on, the Samsung Gear Fit seems to be the perfect blend of hardware and software for the purpose of fitness tracking.
As we mentioned in this article’s opening paragraph, Samsung surprised everyone with the unveiling of its first fitness tracker, especially since the South Korean company managed to keep the device safe from leaks, which plagued all the other devices Samsung unveiled at the Unpacked 5 event: the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Samsung Gear 2 and the Samsung Gear 2 Neo. While this year’s Mobile World Congress was all about Samsung since the beginning, considering that everyone knew the South Korean company was going to unveil its fifth Galaxy S, Samsung managed to steal the show twice: once when unveiling the Galaxy S5 and once when unveiling the Gear Fit fitness tracker. In fact, we could say that, against all odds, it was the Gear Fit that stole the show, not the Samsung Galaxy S5.
The wearable devices market in general and the fitness tracking market in particular are at the beginning and they have a long road ahead. And as any market that is at the beginning, there is a lot of potential to innovate. This means that this particular period, in regards to the wearable devices market, is a period that will bring drastic changes from a generation to another, similar to the Android smartphone market, where the difference between the first and second Galaxy S smartphones was consistent as opposed to the current period where the difference between Galaxy S generations is marginal.
We mentioned before that the first Galaxy Gear was rushed to the market in an attempt to test the market and better understand it. It was due to this experiment, the first generation Gear smartwtatch, that Samsung is now able to release an improved second generation of smartwtatches and its first fitness tracker. This second generation is also a testament of the South Korean company’s commitment to the wearable device market, which as we said before, is a market that has immense potential for innovation, unlike the smartphone market which currently seems to have stopped from innovating. And with Samsung behind it, as the South Korean manufacturer is one of the largest in the worlds, the Gear Fit fitness tracker promises to climb to the top in a very short time.
The Kickstarted Pebble smartwatch was the firs to prove that wearable devices can be successful and the market has potential. Since Pebble managed to raise $10.2 million though crowd funding (Kickstarter) the market of wearable devices for the user’s wrist expanded considerably. Samsung is at its second generation of wearable devices and Apple and Google will follow soon (this year if we are to believe the rumors). The iWatch especially is rumored to come with a lot of sensors that would practically make the iWatch a multi function wearable device, having multiple roles such as smartwatch but also fitness and health tracker. Samsung on the other hand decided to keep the devices separate and it was a good idea as the Samsung Gear Fit is a perfect fitness tracker: simple, with a single function that it does very well.
After a hands-on session at the Mobil World Congress 2014 we, and everyone else agrees that the Samsung Gear Fit is a very promising fitness tracker. It’s not the South Korean company’s first wearable device, nor is it the first fitness tracker ever. What it is is an exceptionally good fitness tracker: it is simple, elegant and includes all the functions a fitness tracker needs, without other, unimportant features. It is a fitness tracker that focuses on fitness tracking and it does so with style.
Of course, it remains to be seen how Samsung will decide to price its first fitness tracker and what apps it will feature when it will be released, but for now it is one, if not the best device at the Mobile World Congress show. If you are among the target audience (that is if you use fitness trackers) you should definitely keep an eye out for when the Samsung Gear Fit will be released next month, on April 11th, as it is one fitness tracker that you may want to get. If you have any questions or comments, please use the dedicated section below.
