Smart watch apps are limited right now, with the music player being the hottest item-you can store up to 1,000 songs on the watch and play them via Bluetooth headphones connected to the Gear Fit 2, so you needn't take your phone with you to listen to tunes while you exercise. S Health is cleanly laid out and easy to understand, the only thing I didn't like were the annoying ad-like tips at the top to try out different features and read health related articles (you can dismiss these, but it will come up with a new one every day). If you happen to own a late model Samsung Galaxy S series phone, you can also use S Health to check your blood oxygen level and record that data. S Health grants granular access to your exercise activities, heart rate data and more. The most interesting are an alarm clock, stop watch, additional watch faces and Spotify (Spotify streams tunes from your phone, so the fitness band is merely a remote control). You'll use the Gear app to install new apps, of which there are few right now since the device is new. Two companion apps, Gear and S Health on the phone, let you manage the fitness band and track your exercise history. The display operates only in portrait orientation, which is fine by me because horizontal mode would require awkward arm and wrist acrobatics. Swipe left to get to the exercise activity apps, step counter log, heart rate, calorie counter and settings screen. A swipe to the right shows notifications piped from your phone (an orange dot on the home screen tells you when there are notifications). A swipe down on the home screen shows the battery level, connection status and grants access to the music player. You'll use swipes to switch between notifications, various fitness activities and settings. It's easier to use than the Apple Watch as well, and much more intuitive than the sometimes opaque Microsoft Band 2. The UI is intuitive and friendly, which is refreshing compared to many dedicated fitness trackers on the market. You can enable an always on display that shows the time it's faint and monochrome to save battery. Pressing the home button will wake the display just in case the usual lift your wrist to look at the time gesture didn't work (it does work most of the time). The device has two buttons: home and back. The screen is protected with Gorilla Glass 3, and it's survived a few hard contacts with door jambs unscathed (my Apple Watch Sport's display had scratches after 2 weeks given my habit of swinging my wrists wide). Its 432 x 216 resolution works out to a very good 322 PPI. The 1.5" AMOLED display catches the eye with vivid and bright colors. Should you wish to change the band, you can do so, and it's fairly straightforward since there are no sensors or battery in the band. This hasn't happened to me, but some other folks have mentioned it. If you wear the band loosely enough that it might catch on things, beware that the clasp (more like a pin and hole system) can come undone. The band is strong and the clasp mechanism is fairly easy to operate. It lacks the brushed aluminum housing of MS Band 2, but that's OK with me since it's also considerably lighter and less bulky. The Gear Fit 2 is a modern and good looking device. The Gear Fit 2 is aggressively priced at $179, making it much cheaper than the Apple Watch and significantly cheaper than Microsoft Band 2 (though MS's second gen band has recently been on sale for $175) or the Garmin Vivosmart HR+. The Fit 2 is relatively light in weight and I barely notice it on my arm (most smartwatches and fitness bands feel heavy and dig into my bony wrists, so I'm picky). It has a textured elastomer hypoallergenic band that's softer and suppler than the original Fit's, and it's soft to the touch and very comfy. It's available in two sizes and three colors: black, pink (dusky rose rather than neon pink) and blue (what I'd call cornflower blue). The Gear Fit 2 works with any Android phone running OS 4.4 or newer, but it doesn't support iOS. It has more storage-4 gigs to hold music and apps, a wider and shorter display and a faster CPU. Like the original 2014 Gear Fit, it has a lovely curved AMOLED display that's comfy on the wrist, but most everything else has been upgraded or tweaked. In Chief (twitter: Samsung Gear Fit 2 is a little bit Tizen OS smartwatch and a big heaping of fitness band. As with all optical heart rate monitors, it gets confused by certain activities. What's Not: App selection is small right now. What's Hot: Sleek looking, very comfy, lovely curved AMOLED display, decent battery life. Samsung Gear Fit 2 Editor's rating (1-5): Home > Gadget Reviews > Samsung Gear Fit 2
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