[MWC 2014] Samsung launches the Gear Fit smartband

At their Samsung Unpacked 5 launch event this morning, Samsung showed off their Galaxy S5 with a whole host of S-Health inclusions, some of which tie into other devices like the previously announced Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, but they’ve apparently been working on something else as well, something more familiar to people who use fitness tracking devices – the Gear Fit.

The Gear Fit is a smartband with a curved Super AMOLED screen that fits into changeable straps of different colours – Black, Mocha Grey and Orange. J.K. Shin, President, Samsung Mobile Communications describes the Gear Fit as having an “Iconic design” – focused on being stylish on the go and he’s right, it looks stylish and the bright Orange looks quite striking.

The band is also Lifeproof with an IP67 certification, meaning it’s both Dust and Waterproof, which certainly fits within Samsung’s ‘Life’ message allowing customers to use the band day-to-day without the worry of water or dust damage.

Samsung is promoting the Gear Fit as a wearable device which empowers consumers to stay physically active. And it’s got all the sensors you should need to allow you to track your heart rate, count your steps and then send the data to the S-Health App on one of the 20 Samsung Galaxy devices that will support the Gear Fit. There’s also a Fitness Manager App which supplies unique, personalised advice and workout recommendations based on the data supplied from the Gear Fit sensors.

Like the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, the Galaxy Fit also features the ability to respond to SMS, Call and E-mail directly from the screen. As well, there’s support for Apps like S-Planner which can be used from the touch screen. Samsung is also looking further afield than just their own Apps and to facilitate this they’ve opened up a new Gear SDK(ver 1.1) to allow for development of Apps directly for the Gear series, including the Gear Fit.

Gear Fit Specs:

• 1.84” Curved Super AMOLED (432×128)
• Changeable Strap
• Pedometer, Exercise, Heart Rate, Sleep, Stopwatch, Timer, Notifications (SMS, Call, E-mail, Apps), Schedule, Smart Relay, Media Controller
• IP67 Dust and Water Resistant
• Bluetooth® v4.0 LE
• Accelerometer, Gyro, Heart Rate
• Battery 210mAh – 3-4 days, Low Usage up to 5 days
• 23.4 x 57.4 x 11.95 mm, 27g

The Gear Fit appears to be a step in the right direction from Samsung with regards to their movement into the wearables market. The Galaxy Gear was a very underwhelming product which was severely limited, and generally panned by the tech industry but with the Gear Fit, they appear to have have achieved a device which is stylish as well as functional. Samsung has advised that the Gear Fit will be available in April world wide.