With the release of the Gear Fit2, Samsung is trying to stiffen the competition in fitness trackers and has obviously put everything it has on the gadget - maybe to a fault. It acts like a regular activity tracker in that it is a heart rate monitor, a calorie tracker and a step counter. Plus it is also a music player, a smartwatch, a messenger and more. Priced at $179.99, users will definitely get the most out of their money, but the sacrifice is a difficult-to-use interface that only works with Android devices.
In terms of design, what sets the Gear Fit2 apart is its curved, 1.5-inch Super AMOLED display. According to Yahoo!, the gadget comes in small and large sizes to comfortably fit its users and comes in choices of black, blue and pink.
It comes with 4GB of internal storage to house music and daily activities. The music can be loaded onto the phone via an Android app and can be listened to via wireless earphones, but also comes with the ability to control music from a phone.
When it comes to use, the Gear Fit2 gets a little more complicated. There are two buttons to the side of the item, which lets the user move back one step and the other that shows the Gear Fit2's watch face or access the apps menu. In the apps menu, settings can be changed, music can be played and a 24-hour log can be viewed.
According to Time, the screen can show the wearer's track taken through a small map, how close they were to their goal, the time window of the run, a graph showing how heart rate correlated to speed, minimum and maximum heart rate and more. Google notifications and full texts are also viewable with the Gear Fit2.
The interface and system of the Samsung Gear Fit2 can be a little complicated to master, but will get easier with time. Its main selling points, which go above and beyond other fitness trackers, are the music offering via its internal storage, the amount of information one can get through its screen and the ability to read full messages on the screen as well. But if what buyers are looking for are a simple, relatively cheap alternative to other activitiy trackers, this may not be the best option.
