Samsung has taken to the show floor of IFA to show off its latest wearable tech in 2017. The result is three new generations of kit in the form of the Gear Sport, Fit2 Pro and Gear IconX.
The Gear Sport is a smartwatch with a fitness focus, the Fit2 Pro is a GPS-toting fitness band and the Gear IconX is the second generation of Samsung’s cordless earbuds. Got that? Good stuff.
So how does all this new clobber compare and do they offer an improvement over the previous generations of gear large enough to splash out more for the new wearables? Let’s find out.
Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro: Best for GPS sports
While the Gear Fit arrived with that cool curved Super AMOLED display to impress, it never packed in GPS so was more of an activity tracker. The Gear Fit2 Pro does, however, have GPS, making this band a fully capable sports wearable.
The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro still has an awesome display, but now also offers accurate measurements for speed, distance, pace and more when running and cycling. Plus it offers wrist based heart rate like the older model, too.
Samsung Gear Sport: Best fitness smartwatch
If you are looking for a sports watch that also offers smartwatch functionality the Gear Sport is ideal. The smartwatch runs the Tizen OS, allowing it to not only show off phone notifications but also be more future-proof than some rival wrist wearables.
The Gear Sport has NFC built-in, meaning you can use it to pay with Samsung Pay contactless – ideal if out for a run without your wallet or phone when that thirst strikes.
Samsung IconX: Track workouts without the watch
If you dislike the idea of wearing something on your wrist when training, and have your phone with you usually anyway, the Gear IconX second generation could be ideal.
These earbuds not only wirelessly play music, they also track your workouts as you train. Since they have 4GB of storage per ear bud you can take plenty of prime tuneage with you, even if you leave your phone at home.
They also feature Bixby built-in meaning you can voice control everything easily with the tap of a button. Because convenience.
Samsung Gear Sport & Fit2 Pro: Best for swimming
If you are planning on getting wet then the Gear Sport and Fit2 Pro are the best bets since they are water resistant to 50 metres and actually your track swimming sessions.
Thanks to a team-up with Speedo both the wearables will offer swimming tracking via the Speedo On app. That means lap counting, lap times, stroke type and more all recorded from the wrist as you burn calories in water.
While the older Gear Fit is also water resistant thanks to an IP67 rating, it was never designed to track swimming.
Samsung Gear Sport & Fit2 Pro: Best for Spotify and sports apps
The more developed operating systems of the Gear Sport and Fit2 Pro mean they can supports apps like Spotify and Under Armour Record right there on the wrist. That also means if you use apps like MapMyRun, MyFitnessPal or Endomondo, you can carry on with them using these wearables.
The key thing on the Spotify front is you can listen offline. That means you can have tunes while out running, minus your phone, but also minus the hassle of transferring music across. Hooray for that.
Leave a Reply