Samsung Gear Fit Is Beautiful, Inside and Out

What's This?

By Samantha Murphy Kelly2014-04-08 04:00:37 UTC

When Samsung announced its ultra-sleek Gear Fit device in February, tech journalists heralded the fitness tracker-smartwatch hybrid as the wearable we've been waiting for — something that's easy on the eyes in a space filled with clunky products that only sort of hit the mark.

Now that we've spent some time with the Gear Fit, which goes on sale Friday, April 11 for $199, we're pleased to say those expectations line up with the real story.

SEE ALSO: 14 Hot Fitness Gadgets to Make You Sweat

Unfortunately, the device is only compatible with about 20 Galaxy-branded devices, so you're out of luck for now if you're running iOS or have a non-Samsung smartphone. But for those who fall into that group and are eying a fitness wearable, this is by far your best option yet.

There's no denying that the device is beautiful, largely thanks to the 1.85-inch curved Super AMOLED display — the first time we've seen a curved screen on a wrist wearable. It makes brilliant colors come to life, and sliding your finger over the display feels as smooth as a smartphone's touchscreen. Using the device is seamless and satisfying.

Although the response isn't perfect, the overall experience is light-years ahead of competitors such as the Nike+ Fuelband SE, Fitbit Force and Jawbone UP24, in terms of both performance and aesthetics. In one fell swoop, Samsung has made them obsolete.

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The Gear Fit's existence is to encourage you to live an active life — walk more, exercise often, keep track of food intake, monitor your heart rate — but Samsung's overall objective here is to introduce many consumers to fitness wearables for the first time ever. You may first come to the device for fitness monitoring, but you'll stay for the features typically found in smartwatches.

This is particularly true when it comes to getting notifications like email and phone call alerts sent directly to your wrist. When it's freezing outside or your hands are full, it's so much easier to tap your wrist than go digging for your smartphone when a text or call comes in.

The Gear Fit doesn't have a camera and it's not running the Tizen mobile operating system like Samsung's Gear smartwatches, but it can handle your sweat from workouts and is hypoallergenic too, meaning it's far less likely to give you a rash like the recently recalled Fitbit band. The Gear Fit excels more in some areas than others, but overall, it's the sexiest wearable on the market and well worth the extra $50 you have to pay over competitors.

Here's a look at the full picture:

The Right Fit

The lightweight device weighs just 0.95 ounce — less than half the weight of the Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch — and rests comfortably on the wrists. The rubber wristband is noticeably less flimsy than what's found on the Fitbit Force and softer to the touch than the Nike+ Fuelband and Jawbone UP 24's band.

The biggest design win, though, is the adjustable wristband that lets you select your size by snapping a rubber prong into one of the holes on the strap. Unlike competitors, you can really customize how it feels and not have it sit too tight or too loose. The band can also be removed altogether and replaced with different styles, another plus that many other wearables don't have. Too often, you're stuck with whatever color the company deems is best and there's little room for personalization.

Users can pick from an assortment of wallpapers and colors.

Image: Christina Ascani, Mashable

One problem: The display nearly overtakes (and even spills over) tiny wrists. Those with normal to large-sized wrists likely won't have a problem. Overall, the Gear Fit is much nicer to look at than other wearables — which are often rugged and unattractive — so this is a good step forward.

One of the major challenges smartwatches and fitness trackers with displays (like the Fitbit Force) face today is comfort related to interacting with the screen. When you tap and use the display, you have to tilt your wrist toward you and the angle is slightly awkward. During testing, the Gear Fit required you to swipe the touchscreen in a horizontal motion. Samsung says it's adding a vertical option this week, so we imagine swiping will only get easier. Motorola's not-yet-released Moto360 smart watch will take on this vertical approach too. To work around the landscape swipe, I found myself wearing the device sot he display was on the bottom of my wrist, because it required less straining.

Getting It Ready

The setup process is relatively painless, but it's also easy to get tripped up along the way. There are two main steps you'll need to take to properly get going. First, users must access the Gear Manager on the smartphone to link the device. After turning on Bluetooth and hitting "scan" in the manager to look for the device (the "scan" part is easy to miss) it took me a good 10 minutes to figure out why the Gear Fit wasn't automatically locating the hardware. Once you've figured that out, you'll need to download the S Health app, where all of your fitness data will live.

In S Health users must sign up for a Samsung account and type in username, email address (to later send notifications to the Gear Fit) and fill out a personal body profile (age, sex, height, weight and so on).

Taking It for a Ride

Now on to the fun stuff. To turn on or wake up the touchscreen on the device, users must hit a small button that sits on top of the display. Because we're so accustomed to accessing touchscreens these days, you'll likely go right for the interface instead of the button and it might take you a few tries to get used to doing so. I assume Samsung added the button because it didn't want you to accidentally turn on the device every time you tapped. That would quickly get annoying, especially as you sleep.

Because the built-in gyroscope senses your motion, the Gear Fit is programmed to automatically light up every time when you move your wrist. Every time. I first noticed this while out to dinner and was repeatedly disrupted and distracted by my glowing wrist. It's possible to turn the setting off from the Fit itself — something I imagine almost everyone will want to do (it's unclear why Samsung doesn't make this an opt in feature instead of an opt out) — but finding that function on the device itself isn't entirely intuitive.

The software baked into the device itself is easy enough to navigate, but there are certainly things Samsung could do to make it simpler. For example, the UI uses checkmarks as prompts to move you along to the next screen, except sometimes they're arrows. The placement of the checkmark varies depending on the feature, too. Consistency here would cut down on moving along to the wrong screens.

There's a lot you can do directly from the display without heading over to the S Health app, like using the "Find My Device" feature. Instead of looking all around the house or office for your smartphone, the feature lets you locate your phone instantly via a wailing noise. Although this is hardly a new feature for smartphones, it's cool that you don't need to log into yet another device to use it.

Personalization plays a big role in the device's software too. You can pick different wallpapers to serve as the device's backdrop, customize the clock design and of course, get a deeper look at your heart rate and fitness levels with the accompanying S Health app. You can also control the music playing on your phone via the wristband tracker, which is especially great for working out or commuting to work.

Although battery life is pretty strong — it went a few days without needing a refresh — a major downside is that you have to charge the device by snapping on a small accessory and then hooking it into the charging wire. That means there are two things you need to carry around with you.

Image: Christina Ascani, Mashable

During the course of our testing, we actually misplaced the accessory and were out of luck. Fortunately, Samsung will sell the accessories separately, but that's the last thing you want to worry about when adding a new device to your gadget repertoire. When traveling or running out the door, you might remember to grab your smartphone charger but easily overlook a charging accessory like this. Samsung does this to keep the Gear Fit small, but we hope future iterations will include a microUSB charging port directly within the device.

S Health App

Image: Christina Ascani, Mashable

There's a lot you can do directly from the Fit itself, but the meat of the experience lies within the S Health app. It lets you set fitness goals, monitor your tracking and (eventually) stay on top of your sleep cycle (this feature wasn't available during the test period). The Health S app is also available for download without the Gear Fit device, but using the two together makes the most out of the experience.

One of the neatest features of the Gear Fit is the built-in heart-rate monitor. While it sits on your wrist, a sensor opposite the device's face collects your heart-rate data and stores it within the app. You can also check your heart rate directly via the hardware itself, which makes it easy to monitor while out for a run or doing other activities. Getting this feature to work may take a few shots, though — you'll have to stand still and make sure the sensor is directly over your wrist.

Image: Christina Ascani, Mashable

The device itself lets you call out different workout activities — running, cycling, walking and hiking — and keeps all of that data in one spot, tracking your progression.

Notifications

The notifications feature on the Gear Fit is where Samsung hopes to close the gap between fitness wristband tracker and smartwatch — and it's in a great position to do so. Although you can't take calls, you can see on your wrist when they pop up and send them directly to voicemail or respond with a quick reply. Quick reply messages — such as "I'm driving" and "call back later" — are pre-written, but can be personalized up to 160 characters via the app.

Users can also read full emails on the device, which may sound unpleasant given the Gear Fit's small surface area, but it's easy to use your finger to scroll down on the touchscreen and see a sentence or two at a time. Unfortunately, you can't flag emails from your wrist to serve as a reminder to go back and respond later.

Notifications work well when a Samsung device is nearby, but if you're out for a walk and leave the smartphone at home, your Gear Fit suddenly becomes much less powerful. You'll still be able to use some of the device's core features such as the pedometer and heart-rate monitor, but you won't be able to receive call and email alerts.

Overall, the Samsung Gear Fit is our best hope for wearables to date. It's aesthetically stunning, easy to use and is the best fitness tracker on the market. And with a sprinkling of smartwatch capabilities, it truly offers the best of both worlds.

Samsung Gear Fit

The Good

Beautiful screen • Seamless experience • Notifications

The Bad

Too many charging components • Limited to Samsung devices • Angle of screen is slightly awkward

The Bottom Line

The Samsung Gear Fit is the best fitness wearable to hit the market, and you'll find instant value in the notifications typically only found on a smartwatch.

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Topics: Apps and Software, Gear Fit, Health & Fitness, Mashable Choice, Mobile, reviews, samsung, Tech, wearables

Image: Christina Ascani, Mashable