South Korean manufacturing giant, Samsung is one of the major players in the wearable industry. Samsung released its first smartwatch “Galaxy Gear” back in 2013. It was an accompanying device that appeared at the Galaxy Note 3 launch event. Subsequently, it unveiled the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, which was revealed in February 2014. In these new wearables, the company dumped the Android OS which featured in the Galaxy Gear for the Tizen OS. Today, the much awaited Gear Fit 2 Pro was unveiled at IFA 2017 held in Berlin, Germany and we have pitched this fitness tracker with the one-year-old Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch to find out their strengths, weaknesses, and applicability.
How do these wearables compare?
In this battle between the Gear S3 and the Gear Fit 2 Pro, we are going to first look at the similarities of these products. We know that the Gear S3 is a smartwatch while the Gear Fit 2 Pro is a fitness tracker nevertheless, they are rivals in the market.
With either of these wearables, you need not be scared of water impact, however, the limit of water usage differs in both devices. They both run the Tizen OS even though we expect some improvements to Samsung’s Tizen operating system in the Gear Fit 2 Pro, thus making it more efficient. Both devices use the same display technology (Super AMOLED) as well as similar sensors (Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Heart rate sensor).
Gear S3 Pro and Cons
Pros
The Gear S3 is a complete military grade wearable which is evident in its dual-core Exynos 7270 processor clocked at 1.0 GHz with a Mali-T720 GPU. This is a device with 768 RAM which is adequate for a smartwatch. This watch is equipped with GPS thus its position can be tracked at any time and it also has NFC which means that it can be used for electronic payments like Samsung Pay. It weighs only 68grams and considering its chip and all the other features it packs, it’s not that bad though it seems a bit weighty.
Cons
The Gear S3 is equipped with a 380 mAh battery, this may seem large for a smartwatch but considering the fact that it has a processor and other features that consume power, you may want to suggest a slightly larger battery. It is interesting to note that this smartwatch is IP68 (water and dust proof) certified, however, this rating is applicable within the first 1.5m depth of water thus this smartwatch is not for under water exercise or swimming. While its 4GB internal memory may seem to be large enough for a smartwatch, unavailability of external storage is definitely a down point here. Furthermore, it has no WiFi which means that external internal internet sources cannot be used.
Gear Fit 2 Pro Pros and Cons
Pros
Unlike the Gear S3, the Gear Fit 2 Pro is a simple fitness tracker that weighs only 34 grams thus you can wear this device without knowing that it’s around your wrist. It is completely water resistant (up to 50m) thus you can go swimming or surfing with it. For a fitness tracker which is designed to monitor your fitness, 500MB RAM and 4.0GB ROM which is expandable up to 2GB is just more than enough.
Cons
The Gear Fit 2 Pro comes with a 200 mAh battery although it is believed to have a 3 – 4 days talk time and 5 days standby time, this battery is nowhere close to what we have in the Gear S3 (380 mAh). There is no mention of GPS in the specs list of this device which implies that it cannot be tracked. If we were in the year 2010, this wouldn’t have been a problem but this is 2017 and obviously, this is a downside of this wearable. Furthermore, NFC is missing in the Gear Fit 2 Pro which means it is not compatible with electronic payment. In this age where everyone needs a seamless way of making purchases, NFC would have been a huge plus to the Fit 2 Pro
Final Verdict/Conclusion
The final verdict contains why we should buy either of these devices. First of all, we must understand that the decision to purchase either of these devices is largely dependent on what we want. People involved in consistent workouts, body building or aquatic sports who are interested in their health parameters as these exercises/sports proceeds may want to consider the Gear Fit 2 Pro because this device tracks all types of fitness activity. However, those involved in light workouts and needs a wearable that satisfies other needs like tracking function and electronic payment features, the Gear S3 is strongly recommended. The Gear S3 is also recommended for military personnel because of its rugged nature.
Check out the comparison spec sheets for both devices below:
Gear Fit2 Pro | Gear S3 | |
Screen | 1.5 inches | 1.3 inches |
Resolution | 216 x 432 pixels | 360×360 |
Weight | 34g | 63g |
Battery | 200mAh | 380mAh |
Processor | – | 1.0 GHz Exynos 7270 |
Wi-Fi | 802.11 b / g / n 2.4GHz | 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz |
Bluetooth | v4.2 | v4.2 |
Sensors | Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Heart rate | Accelerometer,Barometer,Gyro Sensor,HR Sensor,Light Sensor |
IP Rating | ATM5 | IP 68 |
Colors | Red, Black | Black |
At the IFA in 2015, Samsung introduced the Gear S series with Samsung Gear S2 and this was closely followed by Samsung Gear S3 Smartwatch was originally revealed at IFA 2016 and began its global rollout from November of the same year, with South Korea, UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, Dubai and Singapore being the first to receive the Tizen flagship device.
In April 2014, Samsung’s first fitness tracker “Gear Fit” hit the market. Unlike smartwatches that came year after year, it took Samsung Two years to unleash the Gear Fit’s successor, the Gear Fit 2. However, Samsung seems to have perfected the fitness tracker technology as all is in place for the official announcement of the Gear Fit 2 successor, the Gear Fit 2 Pro.
It must be noted that wearable (smartwatches and fitness trackers) performs similar but not entirely the same functions thus they could easily lock horns in the market. In this article, we have pitched together the nearly one-year-old Gear S3 and the newbie Gear Fit 2 Pro and the battle is going to be massive irrespective of the age difference.