Samsung Gear Fit 2 review – CNET
The Good The Gear Fit 2 has a slim design with a beautiful curved AMOLED display that can show smartphone notifications and weekly charts. It also has GPS, heart-rate monitoring, onboard music storage for up to 1,000 songs, all-day fitness and sleep tracking, and automatic exercise detection.
The Bad Short battery life. The accuracy of the heart-rate sensor fluctuates during workouts. You can’t wear in the shower or while swimming. No iPhone support. Samsung’s S Health app can be confusing.
The Bottom Line The Gear Fit 2 is a great-looking feature-packed fitness band, but its design isn’t always perfect for hardcore workout warriors.
Samsung got my attention with the Gear Fit 2. It had everything I looked for in a fitness tracker: all-day fitness tracking, heart rate, GPS for tracking pace and distance when running, smartphone notifications, inactivity alerts and automatic exercise detection. It even had some features I never even thought I would use, such as onboard music storage, and water and caffeine tacking.
The Fit 2 is more than just a fitness tracker. It’s a sort of like a mini fitness smartwatch. There are a variety of appealing watch faces to choose from, you can view and respond to notifications from your Android phone right on your wrist, and there’s a built-in Spotify app.
Hands-on with the Samsung Gear Fit 2
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I also can’t forget about the design. The curved screen and beautiful AMOLED display is appealing to look at and feels comfortable on the wrist. And I really like the price. The Fit 2 is available now for $179 (about £125, AU$250), significantly less than the comparable Microsoft Band 2, Garmin Vivosmart HR+ and Fitbit Surge. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Android devices.
When it’s all said and done, however, I’m not in love with the band. I actually look forward to taking it off and going back my Fitbit and Garmin watches. Here’s why:
A mini fitness smartwatch, but with limited apps
The Fit 2 is like a slimmed-down version of Samsung’s Gear S2 smartwatch. It has the same fitness features and notifications (and those features are both very good), but it’s missing app support. There are some basic apps, like a stopwatch and a timer. The one to care about is the Spotify app, which lets you control and access your playlists right from your wrist. Unfortunately, you still need a phone connected to use it.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
There is 4GB of space so you can load up to 1,000 of your favorite songs right to the device, but who buys music anymore? It would have been a game changer if you were able to load Spotify playlists right on the device for offline use. Hopefully this is something that will come sometime down the road, but it isn’t guaranteed.
Running is frustrating
I was excited when Samsung told me the Fit 2 has GPS. As an avid runner and cyclist, it’s an essential feature to measure my pace, speed and distance. Working out with the Fit 2, however, has been nothing but frustrating. Novice runners may not have the same problems I did, but it’s clear this isn’t designed for serious athletes.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Most devices with GPS require you to wait until a signal is acquired. When you start a running exercise with the Fit 2, it immediately begins to countdown from three seconds and starts the timer. Each time I had to pause the band and wait for the signal to be acquired, which was never a fast ordeal. The Garmin and Polar watches I used for comparison acquired GPS within a few seconds. Meanwhile, the Fit 2 took a few minutes each time.
The other problem is that beautiful screen. There’s a special outdoor mode that increases brightness and makes it easy to see, but the screen isn’t always on. Instead, it wakes up when you move your arm to your face, which isn’t easy to pull off mid-run. And it isn’t even very responsive.
Nest Learning Thermostat (2015) review – CNET
The Good The next-gen Nest Learning Thermostat has a larger display, a better resolution and an all-new far-field sensor for viewing time and temperature information from a distance. It works with Amazon’s Alexa, too.
The Bad Nest is behind in the accessories department; remote temperature sensors would add a lot to this smart thermostat’s functionality.
The Bottom Line Nest is still our choice for best overall smart thermostat, but it isn’t massively different from the second-gen model and the gap is narrowing as other brands introduce solid competitors.
Editors’ note, June 10, 2016: This review has been updated to include information on Nest’s integration with Amazon Alexa, as well as its new Family Accounts and Home/Away Assist features.
Nest has already had a busy year, with a new home security camera and a new smoke and carbon monoxide detector, as well as checking off a major overhaul of its companion Android and iPhone apps from the corporate to-do list. But now the Google-owned smart-home company is returning to its roots with the launch of its third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat.
The new model uses an all-new design with a larger screen and slimmer profile, plus it adds a couple of new features to the mix. Like the original Nest — which launched back in 2011 — the third-gen iteration of its heating and cooling control system relies on built-in sensors to track your whereabouts along with algorithmic smarts to create a custom, auto-adjusting temperature schedule based on those movements in the home. And you can still make manual tweaks to your settings on the Nest app anywhere you have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
But those once-revolutionary features are now par for the smart-home course, with brands like Ecobee and Honeywell offering smart thermostats of their own designed to compete alongside Nest in the DIY market.
Fortunately for Nest, version 3.0 ups the ante with an even-more-gorgeous-than-before design and the introduction of a far-field sensor for viewing the current time and temperature from a distance as well as integration with Alexa-friendly Amazon products. The US-only third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat enters the more competitive landscape for the same $249 price as its predecessor — any remaining second-gen models will retail at the reduced price of $199 while supplies last — but I can still wholeheartedly recommend it as a truly smart heating and cooling upgrade.
Take a tour of Nest’s third-gen thermostat…
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Design
You know how your smartphone doesn’t look dated until you catch a glimpse of the next-gen model? That’s exactly how I felt after seeing Nest’s latest Learning Thermostat. No, it isn’t a massive departure from past iterations. You’ll still get that same rounded design, stainless-steel dial and familiar display style. But, there are a few key changes.
The third-generation thermostat has a 40 percent larger screen and an improved resolution for better all-around visibility. (Specifically, the display has 229 pixels per inch; that’s 25 percent more than its predecessor, which should make for a sharper on-screen image.) And, Nest slimmed down the thermostat’s profile so it won’t stick out from the wall as much.
While I noticed the updated display size and resolution instantly, the “thinner” depth was much less obvious. A side-by-side spec comparison shows that the second-gen Nest measured 3.2 inches in diameter (8.1cm) and 1.26 inches in depth (3.2cm). The new thermostat is a touch bigger at 3.3 inches in diameter (8.4cm), but slimmer with a depth of 1.21 inches (3.1cm).
That tiny 0.05-inch difference really doesn’t make much of a difference, but other upgrades give the rounded Nest an even bigger edge over the touchpad-style and now somewhat dated-looking Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart or Ecobee3, two of its closest competitors in the smart thermostat market.
The “analog” clock option on the new Nest 3.0.
John Kim/CNET
Features
The third-gen Nest Learning Thermostat also boasts a handful of new features. Where previous Nest thermostats relied on near-field sensors alone (which have a roughly 3-foot range) to pick up on motion activity, this version tacks on a far-field sensor for a new function it calls Farsight. Farsight lets you see your thermostat’s target temperature or the current time in either “analog” or digital modes from a distance. That way, you can spot the time and temperature at a distance, without having to be on top of the Nest.
This may seem like a small update, but it actually brings a new level of interactivity to the hardware side. Where the previous model would only “wake up” when you were within about 3 feet (1 meter), you can now interact with the unit without having to walk directly by it. Instead, you can get an at-a-glance look at the time or the temperature from as far as 20 feet away. And, thanks to the new and improved resolution and the larger display, you’ll actually be able to read them.
Nest 3.0 also offers Family Accounts and Home/Away Assist, two new features that help improve performance. Family Accounts lets users in the same household set up their own Nest accounts (instead of the shared family accounts that the company offered previously). Once Family Accounts are created, Home/Away Assist jumps into action by tracking each person’s phone location. It isn’t exactly the same as geofencing, as there’s no geofenced range, but it does make it even easier for Nest to keep an eye on your whereabouts.
This model also adds a function it calls Furnace Heads-Up, for those with a forced-air furnace system. Essentially, this feature keeps track of the times your forced-air furnace automatically turns off to prevent overheating. And, if it senses that there’s a potential issue, it will alert you in the Nest app, on the thermostat screen and in your monthly energy usage email. Nest says it will add this feature to first- and second-generation Nest thermostats “later this year.”
Ecobee3 Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat, HomeKit-enabled review – CNET
The Good The $249 Ecobee3 comes with an installation workaround in case your system doesn’t have a C wire, as well as a remote sensor that extends its temperature-and-motion-sensing range.
The Bad Many existing HVACs don’t have or need a C wire, and Ecobee’s fix isn’t for novices.
The Bottom Line While the Ecobee3 doesn’t quite match the design and usability of the Nest Learning Thermostat, it is definitely worthy of your consideration.
Editors’ note, June 10, 2016: This review has been updated with details on IFTTT, Amazon Alexa, and Apple HomeKit integrations.
Editors’ note, November 19, 2014: Ecobee recently released version 1.1.1 of its Ecobee3 app and adjusted the sensitivity of its touchscreen. I have since retested the thermostat and the text and overall score have been updated accordingly.
Toronto-based Ecobee may not have the name recognition of Honeywell or Nest, but it was actually the first company to come out with an app-enabled thermostat. Its initial line of smart thermostats was funneled through dealers though, which limited the brand’s ability to compete in the do-it-yourself arena.
To satisfy this new market, the company has rolled out the $249 Ecobee3 (£155/AU$285), a DIY climate kit comprised of a Wi-Fi thermostat and a remote temperature sensor that work with IFTTT, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and more. It doesn’t quite have the same design appeal as Nest, but the Ecobee3 is a thermostat I can wholeheartedly recommend.
All eyes on the Ecobee3 smart thermostat…
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Getting started
Your installation success will vary a lot depending on your HVAC system and your level of electrical wiring savvy. The ideal will have a five-wire system, in which case you can literally just swap out your old thermostat for your new Ecobee3.
If your HVAC unit only has four wires running to your thermostat, you’re not out of luck, but you will have an extra step to deal with. The Ecobee3 requires a C (or Common) wire connection, which you won’t find on a four-wire HVAC system. To get around this problem, Ecobee includes something called a Power Extender Kit with your purchase free of charge that does the work of the C wire without you actually having to add that pesky fifth wire yourself (or having to call an electrician to do it for you).
You will need to know your way around your HVAC system to install the Extender Kit, since you need to connect it directly to the controller board on your HVAC unit, provided yours is new enough to have one. If not, you can still reconfigure the wiring, but budding DIYers will likely want to call in some experienced help. Whether you use the Extender Kit or not, this all seems unnecessary given that the competing Honeywell Lyric and Nest Learning Thermostat will both work fine on a four-wire system.
For my own installation, I had to go with the rewire option given my near 20-year old HVAC unit. I had help from Steve Conaway, one of our technical editors, who rewired my unit to give it a C wire. It worked, but it certainly wasn’t convenient.
Once the Ecobee3 was installed, it recognized the wires I connected and walked me through the configuration process. This included adding my home Wi-Fi details, selecting Fahrenheit or Celsius — all of the stuff you’d expect from an initial thermostat setup. I also paired the included remote sensor to the thermostat, which took about a minute. The remote sensor is a handy extra that comes with the Ecobee3. It essentially acts as a standalone ambient indoor temperature monitor you can put in another room. It can also tell the thermostat whether you’re home or away.
View full gallery The registration process.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Registration is the final hurdle between connecting your thermostat to the Web and mobile apps and enjoying the full functionality of your Ecobee3. The early production versions of both were extremely glitchy, but I revisited them about 6 weeks after the original review date. The displays looks the same, but the wonky usability issues are gone. That means that you can expect a much breezier registration process and interaction with the apps overall.
Pentax K-70 is the affordable all-weather DSLR
Pentax is having a renaissance of late; from the announcement of its first full-frame DSLR, the K-1, to the just-revealed K-70, the latter which is poised as an all-weather DSLR.
The K-70’s launch perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise: Pentax has been growing its “WR” designated (read: weather-resistant) lenses in recent years, with this DSLR launch coinciding with the new 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 WR model optic.
But we’re not here to talk about lenses. The K-70 is an affordable mid-level model, priced at £560 for the body alone (or £800 with the 18-135mm WR lens) complete with the company’s first Hybrid AF system.
That autofocus means the usual phase-detection system – here the Safox X, with 11-points – is paired with the on-sensor contrast-detection focus system to harness both functions for better focus acquisition. It also means speedier live preview autofocus when using the vari-angle rear LCD screen rather than the 100-per-cent field-of-view viewfinder (well, it’s described as “nearly 100 per cent” in the official press release, whatever that means).
Many of the K-70’s other features are top drawer considering its price point. A 24-megapixel APS-C sensor is housed within, capable of shooting up to a sensitivity of ISO 102,400. There’s also a built-in stabilisation system which means the K-70 has the same Pixel Shift Resolution (a tripod-mounted mode to capture full colour information) and AA Simulator (anti-aliasing; it can be used in situations where moire might be an issue) modes as found in the top-spec K-1 model.
In addition to the rugged build there’s built-in Wi-Fi for remote shooting and sharing images, a 1/6000th sec maximum shutter speed (why not 1/8000th we’re not entirely sure), six frames per second (6fps) burst mode, and Full HD movie capture (still no 4K then).
Still, sounds like a bit of a bargain. If, as ever with Pentax, you can score or already have some worthy lenses to go with the body. Keen to see more? The K-70 will go on sale in July.
Hive teases illuminating launch, smart lighting predicted
Hive, the smarthome arm of British Gas, has teased that there’s a new addition coming to the Hive home.
Sharing via its Twitter account, Hive says that there’s something illuminating coming, with an accompanying video that simply shows flashing lights. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out…
What illuminating news is this? All will be revealed 13.06.16 #HiveControl https://t.co/JjcH4YZqFF
— Hive (@hivehome) June 10, 2016
The Hive Home system started with Active Heating, a natural place for the company born of British Gas. This was expanded to include sensors and plugs to flesh-out the smarthome offering, but a move into smart lighting could be much more interesting for Hive customers.
Whether this is a Hive-branded range of products, or integration with another system, remains to be seen, but we’d certainly welcome a system that would allow integration of heating and lighting products through one app, in combination with Hive’s other sensors.
It makes perfect sense to do so too, for example letting the holiday mode on your Hive thermostat also govern random lighting controls for security, perhaps turning on lights with motion sensors if movement is detected.
This isn’t unique and there are a lot of smart lighting systems already on the market – most notably the excellent Philips Hue – however, if you’re already a Hive customer, the appeal will be fewer hubs and apps to manage your smarthome.
Hive says to expect the announcement on Monday 13 June.
We will keep you posted.
XFR Financial Ltd – One of the Best CFD Trading Providers
XFR Financial Ltd is an established financial trading broker which provides a great platform for trading contracts for differences. With a trading platform, brokers like PLUS500, iFOREX and others provide enormous opportunities to trade with the biggest financial markets of the world Forex, Stocks, commodities, indices and others.
About XFR Financial Ltd
XFR Financial Ltd is registered with the famous regulating authority Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec) and is based in Limassol, Cyprus. The broker, like some other reputable companies, is duly authorized to offer CFDs and ensures each client a secure and regulated trading environment. The group is under an Italian representation which is registered by CONSOB. The company has global presence with offices all around the world in different countries and provides services in more than 140 countries. With high class services and a CFD trading platform for different range of markets, this broker ranks amongst the topmost financial trading brokerage companies of the world.
Why This Broker?
The marketing professionals working here are seasoned and have decades of on-hand experience with the brokerage industry and other financial sectors. XFR Financial Ltd ensures the timely service which is uninterrupted and the orders executed are fast and instant. The broker is growing rapidly as a topmost provider of CFD services and has a big international presence. The offices are present in 5 continents and the customers are present in 140 countries.
The CFD trading platform offered by this broker is responsive and provides efficiency and security to trade from anywhere and anytime on all the major platforms and devices. The list of available financial instruments includes thousands of major exchange traded assets in US, Europe, Asia and UK markets. Many additional toolsets are provided by the broker which helps the trader to achieve optimal trading results.
The features provided by this broker are:
- Demo account feature – You get actual market conditions here and the complete total simulation of the real world. The demo account is for unlimited time, even at brokers like iFOREX and other reliable brokerages. The demo platform is risk free and facilitates the simulation of the trading strategies. There is an online help and back-up from the support team.
- Online Education center- You can improve your trading skills with online courses, video tutorials and articles provided by the broker on its website. The broker wants to achieve a high level of the education which can be provided to each and every trader trading on their platform. With such a great competition in the field of CFD trading brokerage ( see more details right here ), this broker really stands out with the highest level of education provided to the traders through the education center in the website.
- Secure and one click deposits- It’s good to know that this company features one click deposit for credit card enabled accounts, just like other better brokers do, we could name PLUS500 It also provides a high level of security for the trader accounts and trading activities.
Twitch improves stream discovery with search revamp
Twitch search has never been bad, per se, but it’s fair to say that plenty of folks discover streams by other means — social links, Google or just by scanning the front page. The site is making an effort to improve discoverability on its own site with a new search function. It now updates in real time across games, live channels, users and video, giving you multiple options when you’re searching keywords. Hitting “more” will give you a full list of results in each category, ordered by popularity.
Amazon purchased Twitch in 2014 for nearly $1 billion, but the streaming service is now facing formidable competition from Facebook. The social network just announced it would team with Blizzard to stream the studio’s games on Facebook Live. That, along with new streaming services from YouTube Gaming and others, may have motivated Twitch to get its services up to snuff — both Google (obviously) and Facebook have formidable search. Twitch doesn’t have the userbase of those sites, but its 100 million unique visitors per month are rabid: Each spends an hour and 46 minutes per day on the site, and they sent over 9 billion messages in 2015.
Source: Twitch
Riot used ‘League of Legends’ chat logs to spot bad staff
Sadly, bad language and a general lack of respect is an expected and, now, almost accepted part of playing video games online. It’s a problem that permeates not just the community around each game, but also the people that are working on them. Riot Games, developer of the MOBA juggernaut League of Legends, has looked at employees’ chat logs and found a surprising correlation between their behavior in and out of the game. So if someone has been a jerk or generally difficult in the game, there’s a reasonable chance that they’ve expressed similar behavior in the office.
Riot Games found that a quarter of the people it had fired in the last year had also shown “unusually high” levels of toxic behavior in the game. Armed with this information, it decided to address the problem proactively with its remaining staff. Using in-game chat logs, it hoped to identify and talk to potentially difficult members of staff before they became a larger problem. It singled out 30 of the most divisive employees, all of whom were fairly new to the company, and put them in two separate camps; those who required a stern warning, and those who should be let go.
During these meetings, many employees expressed regret at how they had been conducting themselves in the game. “Pretty much everyone was appalled at their own behavior,” Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar, head of Talent for Riot Games said. “We actually received some essays from employees vowing to change their ways and become not just more considerate gamers, but better people.” The chat logs also factored in the decision to fire some employees who had presented “serious problems” before.
There will always be some differences in the way people behave in person and over the internet. Just because someone is throwing expletives at their teammate on Halo 5: Guardians doesn’t mean they’ll use the same language at work. Or at least, the behavior isn’t guaranteed. However, Riot’s data shows that there is a general trend — a warning, perhaps, if you’ve ever aspired to work at a game developer. Just like your Facebook page, Riot is prepared to dig into the past of League players to determine whether they’re a good fit for the company. Consider yourself warned.
Via: gamesindustry.biz
Source: re:Work
Sony boss confirms PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’ exists, won’t be at E3
In an interview with the Financial Tmes, Sony executive Andrew House has confirmed that a new, more-powerful PlayStation 4, codenamed “Neo,” is coming, but says it will not be unveiled at E3. House, who is the president and global chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment, says the new system will be sold alongside the existing PS4 for the entirety of this console generation. “It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” he told the FT, “we will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle.”
The new console will output both video and games at up to 4K resolution. House confirmed reports that all games released this generation will continue to support the base PS4 model. As for what the “Neo” will support, House said “all or a very large majority of games will also support the high-end PS4.” We assume that means all games will run on Neo, but some may not be optimized to offer graphical improvements. Otherwise that’s just crazy talk.
The rest of the interview is light on real news. House said the new console will target hardcore gamers and those with a 4K television looking for more high-res content. He noted that the console will be more expensive than the base model, which is a given, but would not give a price, a release date, or even a date when the machine would be formally announced. The one thing he did confirm? It won’t be at E3 next week.
The reason behind House’s sudden openness on the subject is obvious: Microsoft is widely rumored to be announcing its own set of hardware refreshes at a press conference on Monday. Sony wants investors and the public alike to be aware that something better is around the corner in the world of PlayStation as well.
Source: Financial Times
The Gear Fit 2 is Samsung’s best wearable yet
Samsung has made plenty of wearables over the years, but few were as immediately impressive as the Gear Fit. Its curved screen and relatively slim design almost made us forget the company’s early, clunky Gear smartwatches. Now with the $179 Gear Fit 2, Samsung has refined its original design to make it a lot more useful for athletes. It has built-in GPS, a slightly larger screen and smarter activity tracking. It’s Samsung’s best fitness wearable yet, but it’s still a tough sell compared to competing devices from the likes of Fitbit.
Hardware
The Gear Fit 2 is an evolution of the original Fit’s design in all of the right ways. Its 1.58-inch curved touchscreen display is now flush with the band, so that it no longer sticks out awkwardly. It reminds me of Microsoft’s Band 2, which also benefited from having a curved display sitting right alongside the wristband. The screen is also slightly wider now, which makes it more useful for actually reading information, and there’s less of a bezel around the sides so it’s almost like an edge-to-edge display.
Beyond that screen, the Gear Fit 2 looks restrained. The top half of the device is made from some fetching-looking metal, while the bottom is more of a subdued plastic. There are only two buttons on the side of the device, which serve as home and power buttons. On the bottom there’s a heart rate sensor and two small connectors for its charging stand. The relatively minimalist design is a stark cry from the overly complex wearables we used to see from Samsung.
For the wristband, it looks like Samsung is using the same plastic material from the last model, which remains flexible yet sturdy without feeling too stiff. You can disconnect the wristbands easily from the sides of the device, which will be useful if you ever feel the need for a new look down the line.
Under the hood, the Gear Fit 2 now runs a dual-core 1GHz Exynos 3250 processor and 512MB of RAM. (As someone who remembers being very excited when I got 512MB of RAM on a desktop, I find that latter stat hard to fathom.) Both of those specs are significant upgrades from the first Fit, which had a measly 160MHz processor and 8MB of RAM. It’s no wonder we found the original to be underpowered. There’s also GPS onboard the Fit 2 now, along with 4GB of storage for music and a barometer sensor for stair tracking.
Software
Samsung is using its homegrown Tizen OS to power the Gear Fit 2, something it also uses in TVs andother wearables like the Galaxy Gear 2. And instead of being tied to Samsung’s phones, the Fit 2 is now compatible with any Android phone running 4.4 or above. There’s no word about iOS support yet, though. (Is it even worth the effort?)
Thanks to Tizen, the Fit 2 is much more capable than its predecessor. You’ve got multiple watch faces to choose from (and more can be downloaded through the Gear app), some of which will show fitness stats alongside the time. You can also customize the screens you see as you swipe through the Fit’s interface. I have it set up to show the number calories I’ve burned, the number of steps and stairs I’ve taken, and my heart rate. Naturally, there’s also a screen for quickly logging a workout.
The Fit 2 supports 15 different workout types, including common things like running and cycling, and more specific activities like yoga and pilates. It’s now smart enough too to automatically detect five different types of workouts, something competing health trackers from Fitbit and Jawbone have been able to do for years.
Thanks to its onboard storage (and vastly more functional OS), the Gear Fit 2 can also send locally stored music right to your wireless headphones. It can also control music stored on your phone, and it can tap into Spotify through your phone as well. Basically, if you prefer to run completely unencumbered, or with your phone, the Fit 2 has you covered.
To control the Gear Fit 2, you’ll have to rely on Samsung’s Gear app for Android. And to track your workouts, there’s Samsung’s S Health app. More on those in a moment.
In use
In day-to-day use, the Gear Fit 2 felt just as comfortable to wear as the Apple Watch Sport and Jawbone’s Up24 (which are among my favorite wearables). It sits well on your wrist; most of the time you’ll forget it’s even there. I’d still like to see Samsung make it even thinner, so that it doesn’t rise above your wrist as much, but the Fit 2 is nonetheless on par with competing wearables in terms of thickness.
I also had no problem putting it on, and keeping it stable, throughout the day. The Fit 2 has a simple clasp design that makes it easy to slip on while you’re on the go. That’s a good thing, because I’ve fought with plenty of wearables (especially from Fitbit) that are simply a chore to secure. And even though it’s easy to wear, I also had no trouble with the Fit 2 falling off (which was a killer issue with the Jawbone Up 3).
When it comes to tracking basic things like your steps and stairs climbed, the Gear Fit 2 seemed just as accurate as most other modern wearables. Its heart-rate tracking was also solid, delivering readings in line with what I’ve been seeing from the Apple Watch and recent Fitbit gear. But really, if you’re buying this you’re probably more interested in its GPS tracking, and in that regard it didn’t disappoint. It accurately mapped several of my runs through Brooklyn’s Prospect Park (I have a two-mile stretch that I cover regularly). It was also on par with RunKeeper’s location tracking, which I normally use on my iPhone during workouts.
Setting up a manual workout takes a lot of swiping and menu pressing, if you’re moving between a variety of exercise types. But if you mainly do the same sort of workout, it’s pretty easy to just get up and go. The Fit 2’s touchscreen response is fast for such a small wearable, but even so, it’s not something you’d want to deal with much in the middle of an intense session.
The Fit 2 also surprised me several times by accurately tracking how long I walked during my work commute. That’s something other wearables have been doing for a while, but it’s still a useful addition for Samsung fans. It’s also the sort of thing wearables will have to get smarter about moving forward, so hopefully Samsung will be able to add automatic tracking support for more than just five workout types.
While you can view some basic post-workout details on the Gear Fit 2, you’ll have to turn to Samsung’s S Health app for a more detailed view. It’s a fairly clean looking app: The home screen highlights your most recent workouts, heart rate readings and steps. Tapping into a workout lays out everything you’ve done that day, and you can also step backwards to previous days pretty easily. Despite its minimalist look, I still had some trouble navigating around S Health. And it wasn’t always obvious how to access more detailed information about workouts. But perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by better health apps from Fitbit and Jawbone.
As a smartwatch-like device, the Gear Fit 2 fares well. It can display notifications from your phone, and even though it has a tiny screen, there’s enough room to read short text messages and tweets. It’s not a screen where you’d ever want to read long emails, but that’s true of dedicated smartwatches too. You can also have the Fit 2 open up apps on your phone from its notifications, which helped me quickly reply to Hangout messages and texts on several occasions.
Samsung claims the Gear Fit 2 gets around three to four days of battery life from its 200mAh battery. In my testing, which involved constantly wearing it throughout the day and doing a few runs, it usually lasted around two and a half days before needing a trip to the outlet. Speaking of recharging, I was pleased to find that Samsung moved towards a larger charging cradle for the Fit 2. That may sound paradoxical, but the original Fit’s cradle was so small that I ended up losing it pretty quickly. This new version is better suited to staying in one place on your desk.
The competition
The Fitbit Surge.
Since it’s a GPS-enabled fitness wearable, the Gear Fit 2 is best compared to the likes of the Fitbit Surge ($229) and the Microsoft Band 2 ($175). Aesthetically, it has a lot more in common with the Band 2, but if you can get past its looks, the Fitbit Surge is probably a better buy for fitness junkies. Fitbit has a much more robust fitness platform, as well as better integration with third-party services. As with all wearables, aesthetics plays a big part in the purchasing decision, though, so it’s understandable if you’d rather have a better-looking tracker instead of a more functional one.
Wrap-up
With the Gear Fit 2, Samsung has succeeded in making a capable and stylish fitness tracker. But it also doesn’t do anything significantly better or differently than the competition. It feels like a fitness tracker meant for people who really want something to match their Samsung phones, rather than something every consumer would desire. It’s ultimately unremarkable, but that’s mainly because there are so many decent alternatives out there.
AIVAnet 