Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 - 2 months later. JUST BUY IT! Pros and Cons.
Updated: Jan 30, 2021
Something is pretty much brewing when it comes to fitness bands recently. Basic workout is now at our wrist, new avenues are being explored to find ways to expand these devices' usefulness even more. The Galaxy Fit 2 which is obviously a successor to 2019's Galaxy Fit was quietly unveiled on September 2 alongside a few other Samsung devices, and at first glance, there's nothing all that exciting about it but the job that it is told to do is pretty much impressive. You can get the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 at $46 or lower.
Out of the box, we will have the device and there’s another box which consist of quick start guides and the new looking charger with a type A port which pretty much clicks in behind the fit 2 if you want to charge. For the charging speed it takes around 1 hours 15 to 1 hour 30 mins to charge from zero to 100%. And based on my personal usage over the 2 months, I am getting around 11 to 12 days of usage until it dries up. It didn’t reach the advertised mark of 15 to 21 days said by Samsung that maybe because I turned all the features on for health and I also that I use it during sleeping too. And that prove to be right as Samsung has stated on their website that the 21 days will only work in the low usage scenario (heart rate and auto workout tracker off; without wearing Galaxy Fit2 while sleeping). Nice marketing by Samsung.
To turn ON the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, you have to plug it to your charger, and the Fit 2 will be prompted on its display. After that, you will get a message to connect it with the Samsung wearables app. You don’t need a Samsung phone to use the wearable app, any android phones with android 5.0 and above or iPhone with iOS 10.0 or newer can use it. Open the app and choose the galaxy fit 2 on the device, you Fit 2 with its strong haptic feedback will start to vibrate when pairing. It takes about a minute for the entire setup.
To track your steps, sleeps and heart rate, you need to install the Samsung health app. This app really impresses me, you can see more insights and trends of the step data, sleep data stress and heart rate data here. You can check other Samsung health users step data and compare with you own here; I hope Samsung helps us to see the sleep data of others so that we can compare out sleep with other Samsung health app users like how the MI fit app of Xiaomi. I also hope Samsung just merge the Samsung health app with the wearables so that we can have a single app that does all.
Design wise, There are two colored silicon bands offered by Samsung, black and red. I bought the red version here as its much more attractive for me. It has a pretty generic design which is inspired by the Fit E. Samsung has ditched the metallic-look case and the physical button from the last Fit, so the screen sits much tighter next to the band. The silicone has a nice soft touch feel to it, Samsung retains the clasp mechanism from the last Fit where you tuck the strap into the band. I like this mechanism as the outer strap will be inside of the buckle and it won't easily fall off your hand.
The fit 2 comes with a 1.1-inch AMOLED screen with the resolution at 126 x 294 and at a thickness of just 11.1mm. it's a lovely, bright, vibrant display to view your activity stats. Samsung makes some of the best smartwatch displays and this is one of the nicest you'll find on a fitness tracker too. In terms of water resistance, you're getting a fitness tracker that is fit to work in water up to 50 meters. It's suitable for swimming and you can shower with it but make sure not to use it when there is a strong water rush or fall. It is not suitable for diving or high-pressure water activities. Damage because of that will not be covered in the warranty.
For fitness tracking, you have an accelerometer and a gyroscope sensor to track movement like steps, and which are also used for the onboard sports modes.
Like most trackers, that accelerometer is used for enabling automatic sleep monitoring too. You also have an optical heart rate monitor that's used for continuous monitoring and real-time tracking during exercise. What you don't get is any form of GPS support. So nothing built in or even the connected kind that leans on your phone's GPS signal.
From the band, you can see step counts, current heart rate, most recent sleep logged, distance covered and your resting heart rate data. There's also the ability to take on the spot stress measurements. So, while there's isn't anything particularly ground-breaking here, it's the type of stuff we'd expect to see on a fitness tracker.
From a more accuracy point of view, I visited the doctor to check out the heart rate. And as you can see the difference is not much. And I can assure you that the measurement is close to accurate. But if you want to be more accurate, then please visit the doctor. For the step count of 1000 steps, I found out that the band is pretty much accurate, it detected 999 steps on the fit 2. And to make sure that it didn’t add any steps during driving, I monitored the fit 2 with several hours of commute and there weren’t any steps detected either.
When it's time for bed, I found it was more consistent sleep tracking, particularly with detecting sleep duration and sleep breakdown. The REM sleep, which is known as Rapid eye movement sleep. Which detects the time of sleep we are actively dreaming. And by checking that every time I am able to recall what I dream.
Away from sleep duration and breakdown, you can see sleep efficiency, whether you're hitting sleep consistency targets, and average sleep, bedtime and wake up times. The detection of sleep time and wake time is really good is close to accurate.
The Fit 2 does perform like a slim sports watch, though the lack of any form of GPS support means you're relying on motion sensors to accurately track outdoor activities. There are dedicated modes for running, cycling, pool swimming and a general outdoor workout mode. There's also automatic workout tracking for five activities out 96 activities. It usually detects as dynamic workout whenever I walk for long period, usually around 10 minutes of walking
Like most fitness trackers these days, Samsung also tries to squeeze in some smartwatch features. The size of the Fit 2 is always going to make some things work better than others. Overall, the smartwatch features that do make the cut and it does a decent job.
With notifications, you can swipe right from the main watch screen and see a maximum of four notifications. They're displayed as app icons, which you can tap to expand. You can set the notification to appear during phone usage or when you are not using the phone. I set it when I’m not using it.
You can scroll through entire texts, though emails will just give you the subject line. You have the ability to respond to notifications for quick replies that can also be customised like I mentioned earlier. Music controls can be found when you swipe down from that watch face to get to the settings. You'll see current song playing and can skip back or forwards and control volume. You can also add the music controls as a widget if you don't want to dig through the settings to find them.
For the battery life, The Galaxy Fit 2 has a 159mAh battery that Samsung says is capable of delivering up to 15 days in typical use and 21 days in low usage. Monitor you heart and sleep and you will get 11 to 12 days of usage that’s what I got when averaging 12000 steps every day. I’d imagine most people will want to track sleep and probably monitor heart rate continuously. That's how I used it along with turning on notifications, tracking workouts and having the screen at mid brightness level. And speaking of brightness, the night mode which will turn on and reduce the band display brightness according to my sleeps patterns does take some hit sometimes. I used to get some bright light shining my face during night sleep as the detection fails. I hope Samsung can add an option where we can manually add the night mode timing our self like in the MI fit app.
In general, it doesn't drain battery in any really undesirable way and it's pretty much matching what we've seen from other budget trackers at this price point.
The PROS,
Comfortable Design
Smooth Screen
Good features
Good Sleep, Step and Heart rate stats
Decent battery life
The Cons,
Night mode detecting is bad
No idle alerts after sitting for two hours (inactive alerts)
Sync the mobile steps and fit2 steps
2 apps for fit 2 is too much make it one
No custom design wallpapers
Verdict
Samsung is trying to set the benchmark for sports bands and with the impressive specs and design of the Fit 2 it certainly has. As a fitness tracker, sleep tracker and health monitor band it is a decent band to own. From a value stand point and the performance after 2 months, I would confidently recommend this to everyone. Just buy it!
Watch my 2 months review video here. Subscribe to Logan The Tech Guy YouTube Channel for more tech reviews.
Get the BLACK Fit 2 here
Get the RED Fit 2 here