Samsung just announced their new Samsung Gear Fit 2 fitness tracker that could finally fulfill all of the promises of its predecessor with an updated AMOLED display and a more accurate heart rate monitor.
Fitness trackers are a tricky business as the devices have to be useful, stylish, accurate and comfortable at the same time. The Samsung Gear Fit 2 might just "fit" the requirements as it looks, feels and responds better than the previous generation.
Two years after the original version was released, the new fitness tracker from the South Korean tech giant now unveils a new one with better specs. There are also some new features added.
In terms of size, the new fitness tracker is just a little bit longer and wider compared to its predecessor. The Samsung Gear Fit 2 has a new 1.5-inch curved Super AMOLED screen, The Verge has reported.
Other fitness trackers have just a black and white screen or an LCD panel which is hard to see in direct sunlight. Samsung's expertise in the screen technology is evident in their new device.
Under the hood, the Samsung Gear Fit 2 is powered by a 200mAh battery which is claimed to last for up to four days. The device also has 512 MB RAM and a dual-core Exynos 3250 clocked at 1GHz, according to Engadget.
Runners who like to listen to their music playlists as they burn calories can make use of the device's 4GB internal storage to save files. They can then stream the music to their Bluetooth headphones or headsets, almost eliminating the need for a companion smartphone.
One caveat is that the fitness tracker only works with Android smartphones that are on version 4.4 or higher. That would seem to be a small problem considering that most smartphones today do not go lower than KitKat.
The Samsung Gear Fit S2 will retail for $179 and will be available by the end of the year. Interested buyers can also pre-order the fitness tracker to be able to reserve the device for themselves and to avoid out of stock problems once it releases globally considering that it is cheaper and better than the original version.