Review: Samsung Gear Fit

What do you get when you mix a fitness band and a smartwatch? Wearable tech gold

Sporty and smart, Samsung’s Gear Fit is aiming to appeal to all by combining smartwatch features with fitness tracking and a heart-rate monitor to boot. But is this wrist hybrid a hero?

Well, the 1.84-inch curved AMOLED screen is certainly striking, with a selection of watch faces available and a home button that can be assigned to take you straight to your favourite apps. It’s arguably better looking and more functional than its pure smartwatch cousin, the Samsung Gear 2 (review on p75).

As well as the heart-rate tracker on the screen’s rear, which measures your pulse pretty accurately using LEDs trained at your veins, the Fit also sports a pedometer, sleep tracker and accelerometer for total movement analysis. Without built-in GPS, though, the latter’s uses are limited to the basic S-Health app – want to use fitness apps like Endomondo (right) and you’ll need to keep your phone close by for now. There is useful, if basic, smartwatch functionality, such as SMS, calls and email alerts, plus music controls, although they only work with Samsung’s own software, so forget controlling Spotify playlists.

The Gear Fit battery lasts a solid four days and Bluetooth 4.0 syncing is oh-so simple, but it currently only pairs with Samsung phones, which gives you a choice of 18 Android devices but is far from comprehensive. Is this the perfect mix of sport and smarts? Not quite, but it’s a strong option in the wake of FuelBand’s farewell, and a personal best for Samsung. $249, Samsung.com/au Love AMOLED screen. Heart-rate tracking. Battery life Hate Only works with Samsung devices. No GPS T3 Says Slick-looking smartwatch with solid fitness features. A thoroughly modern timepiece