Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro Review

Verdict

Pros

Good screen
iOS and Android compatible
Solid distance tracking

Cons

Below-average battery life
Expensive

Key Specifications

Review Price: £209
1.5-inch curved Super AMOLED display
Tizen OS
Dual Core CPU
34g (large) 33g (small)
200 mAh battery
Works with Android and iOS
Barometer
HRM
4GB storage

What is the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro?

The Gear Fit 2 Pro is Samsung ’ s latest flagship fitness tracker, taking over from the older Gear Fit 2. It aims to take on super-swish fitness-focused smartwatches such as the Apple Watch 3, american samoa well as more dedicate trackers, by offering up-to-date hardware coupled with Samsung ’ s Tizen software.

Reading: Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro Review

The Gear Fit 2 ’ second hardware is by and large ace and well matches, if not beats, the Apple Watch 3 when it comes to fitness. But there are issues with its battery life – and its ridonculous ask price makes it an expensive luxury .
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Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro – Design

Unlike the more smartwatchy Samsung Gear Sport, the Gear Fit 2 Pro is unashamedly a fitness tracker first base .
The clothing comes with a rubberize strap ( available in humble and boastfully ) and has a slenderly curved, rectangular, 1.5-inch Super AMOLED touch screen main torso. Two physical dominance keys lie on the body ’ mho right side. The end result is a device that looks like a refined translation of the Garmin Vivosport – which in my mind is no bad thing .
The slick, retiring design makes the Gear Fit one of a choose few fitness trackers I ’ d happily wear on my wrist 24/7. It besides ticks all the correctly boxes when it comes to hardware and ruggedness. Unlike the original Gear Fit 2, the Gear Fit 2 Pro comes with the same 5 ATM water-resistance as the Apple Watch 3. This means it will survive down to 50m subaqueous .
elsewhere, hardware changes have been kept to a minimum. The Gear Fit 2 and Fit 2 Pro ’ randomness AMOLED screen remains one of the brightest and sharpest I ’ ve seen on a wearable. The high brightness and bright colours make navigating the Gear Fit2 Pro ’ randomness menus a doddle, ensuring it remains legible in the bright unhorse conditions that render many competing trackers illegible .
I besides remain impressed by the amount of technical school Samsung has managed to stuff into the Gear Fit 2 Pro ’ sulfur small frame. The main body is roughly 1cm thick and weighs a humble 34g .
Despite this, you get 0.5GB of RAM, 4GB of onboard memory ( 2GB useable ) plus an accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope detector, HR detector and GPS. The inclusion of onboard memory remains a particularly decent touch, since it means you can cache songs from compatible apps such as Spotify directly on the Gear. This removes the need to carry a earphone or MP3 player with you if you want to listen to music while exercising .
My only minor quibble is that, despite the miss of significant upgrades, Samsung is charging £210 for the Fit 2 Pro. This feels a little extravagant when you can pick up a Fit2 for £180 at most stores. You ’ re basically paying £30 for waterproofing .
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Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro – Setup and software

In the past, Gear wearables have always been let down by their Tizen OS. The Linux-based OS has a track record for being more than a short buggy, and used to feature a disconnected, slightly confusing exploiter interface. fortunately, these issues have largely been fixed on the Gear Fit2 Pro .
The Gear Fit 2 Pro works on both Android ( tested ) and io. The pairing procedure is pretty dim-witted, requiring you to download Samsung ’ s Gear app then follow a series of on-screen prompts to connect the clothing to your phone. From there you pick which fitness and entertainment apps you want to install on the Gear Fit 2 Pro. Options include Samsung ’ s own Health app, plus popular third-party services including UA RECORD, Endomondo, MapMyRun and MyFitnessPal among others .
I ’ d like to have seen support for Strava and Runkeeper, but the suite of apps is more than thoroughly enough to meet most people ’ second needs, and by and large covers the exhaustive number of sports that the Gear Fit 2 Pro can track. These include basic cardio, such as scat, swim and cycle, plus more specific activities such as tennis and basketball .
Tizen ’ second UI has besides radically improved since Samsung inaugural started loading it onto its wearables. The OS comes with a multitude of watch faces that permit you pick the data you want on your home page. From there you can swipe through leave or right to scroll through notifications and action data pages. The information shown is amply customisable and includes everything from your heart rate interpretation and current footstep count to the local weather. The top physical key acts as a home button that returns you to your basal watch face .
The lower physical key opens up a vertical list of install apps and shortcuts to the Gear Fit 2 Pro ’ s settings. The interface international relations and security network ’ thyroxine innovative, but it ’ second intuitive enough to enable most people to find the service or app they ’ re after without besides a lot trouble. even if you do struggle, the Gear Fit ’ s auto-detect features should cover most people .
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Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro – Tracking and battery

The Gear Fit 2 Pro can auto-detect when you ’ rhenium exert and auto-log the natural process, removing the need for you to manually select this choice when you head out for a run .
I ’ ve constantly been a fan of auto-logging trackers, and this remains the font with the Gear Fit 2 Pro, which does a decent job detecting basic exercises such as extend walks and park run .
Testing the Gear against the Garmin Vivosport and Vi Personal Trainer, auto-detected run distances were never more than 0.2-0.4km out of synchronize. The gap reduced to only metres when I manually informed the Gear of starting and stopping my run. The Fit 2 Pro besides did a becoming job of auto-detecting treadmill runs, something the majority of wearables struggle to do .
Like the regular Gear Fit 2, the Gear Fit 2 Pro ’ second heart rate monitor is pretty decent for a wrist-based clothing. The readings remain uniform, which isn ’ t something I can say about all wrist-based trackers. It ’ s however nowhere near adenine accurate as ear-based monitors such as the Jabra Elite Sport, nor a give HRM flog .
pace and stair-tracking was besides appropriately accurate : the Gear ’ s end-of-play read was pretty similar to that of the Vivosport. Auto-tracking was a little more shoot and neglect with more complex sports, however – and, on occasion, was a short excessively sensitive for my like .
Activities the Gear Fit 2 Pro can ’ metric ton identify – working a boxing bag, for example – are logged as cloudy “ other ” workouts. These record the distance travelled, modal heart rate and the estimate calories burned – which aren ’ triiodothyronine terribly accurate or helpful .
normally I wouldn ’ metric ton mind the miss of specifics, but the Gear had a tendency to record even minor activities as workouts. Three times over the past week the Fit 2 Pro has tracked me preparing my dinner – trust me, I ’ megabyte not a very inspire chef .
The mix battery life is a bigger return. Samsung quotes the Gear Fit 2 Pro ’ randomness 200mAh battery as offering three to four days of use from a individual charge. I ’ thousand yet to see it systematically last even two days. Doing a quick half-hour exercise most mornings and a 5km lunch run every other day, and with notifications on and the screen at 50 % brightness, I by and large had to charge the Gear Fit 2 Pro every early day .
Two days use international relations and security network ’ t atrocious for a smartwatch, mind. But considering this device ’ mho concenter on being a seaworthiness tracker that ’ randomness intend to monitor your day by day steps, affection rate, sleep and exercise habits, 24 hours a sidereal day, these figures aren ’ thyroxine good enough. besides slenderly odd was the fact that we got much better battery life out of the older Gear Fit 2 review unit .
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Why buy the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro?

If you ’ re after a solid fitness tracker with a sprinkle of smartwatch services, the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro is a full choice. This retiring wearable offers the solid activity chase and authentic presentment services that made the Gear Fit 2 capital, but with the lend perk up of waterproof .
however, issues with its battery life sentence and a lack of meaning changes beyond its ATM rate make it an expensive choice for fitness fans. If you ’ re not a swimmer, the original Gear Fit 2 is a more cost-efficient option. Plus, there are cheaper dedicate trackers for people unconcerned about smartwatch functionality .