Smartwatches tend to target style or fitness, but Samsung has come up with a product that properly combines the two.

 


At IFA 2017, Samsung unveiled the Gear Sport along with other new wearable technologies. These include the Gear Fit2 Pro, a GPS fitness band, and IconX wireless earphones. The Gear Sport is more of a new version of the Gear S2 than a replacement for the Gear S3.
 

price

On Black Friday last year, Samsung sold the Gear Sport for £159, a substantial discount applied. The Gear Sport currently retails for £299, which is cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 3 and comparable to the Huawei Watch 2. It's cheaper than the Gear S3 Frontier and comparable to the Fitbit Ionic. Samsung's Gear Fit2 Pro is cheaper, but the Gear Sport is more impressive.


design and perfection

Of course, Samsung hasn't changed the Gear Sport's design significantly compared to its predecessors.
The smartwatch is available in black or blue and is said to offer 'military-grade durability'. I don't know if it's that sturdy, but the device is sturdy and I like both colors. The blue option is great because it's a subtle ink-like tint rather than a light tint. As the name suggests, the Gear Sport is for fitness, especially for swimmers, with a water resistance rating of 50 meters.
 
 
Like other smartwatches on the market, the Gear Sport uses a 20mm strap size so it can be changed quickly in different situations. Many people use 22mm. Silicone is good for exercise, but you may want to switch to leather when going out, such as eating out.

The silicone version offered feels a bit cheap and can be damp, but for sports watch use it's more comfortable than others. The Gear Sport boasts a light weight of 50g excluding the strap.

Again, Samsung offers a rotating bezel that interacts with the device. The screen is usable and there are buttons on the side too, but the bezels are a great way to use the interface, especially since it doesn't make the screen dirty. When you lift the watch, the screen automatically turns on thanks to the accelerometer, but that's not always the case, which is a bit inconvenient.
 


Specifications and Features

As you might have guessed, the size of the Gear Sport is 1.2 inches, which is rather small among smartwatches because it is round with no flat parts. So the strap is also a small 20mm. The resolution is good enough to deliver sharp images (302ppi) at 360x360, and the contrast and colors are great as Samsung is still sticking with Super AMOLED technology. The viewing angle was particularly impressive.

The internal specs of smartwatches are mediocre and haven't changed much over the past few years.
Samsung opted for 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage along with a 1GHz dual-core processor. It's at a normal level, and the device actually works very smoothly.
 

Samsung has interestingly added several add-ons. The Gear Sport is equipped with NFC, GPS, accelerometer, barometer, gyro and ambient light sensors. GPS is essential for fitness enthusiasts, and while NFC isn't yet common in smartwatches, you can use Gear Sport to pay with Samsung Pay, etc. 
 

Samsung said that Gear Sport can be used to control IoT devices with Samsung Connect. It can also be used as a remote control for presentations or the Gear VR headset. The Gear Sport is a sports watch, so it's useless without a heart rate monitor on the back. As always, the reliability was low, but it was quite good.

Since there is Wi-Fi, you don't need to connect to your phone for data, but most users will use Bluetooth 4.2 if needed. This device runs on Tizen, not Android Wear, but is compatible with iPhone 5 and later running Android 4.4 or later and iOS 9 or later.

Many are waiting for innovation in battery technology, but you can't expect innovation from the built-in 300mAh battery. However, it was pretty impressive because it was able to use it for 3 days on average use. Even if you use GPS a lot. Like other smartwatches, the Gear Sport also supports wireless charging. So all you need to do is place it on the charging stand provided.
 

In the early days of gear units, driving with Tizen was a problem, but that's no longer the case. The interface has been greatly improved, and so is the app support. Lots of useful stuff came preloaded and there was little need to add other apps.

Many people will be attracted to Spotify's ability to play music offline via Bluetooth headphones. Great to listen to while jogging without a cell phone. 4GB isn't enough space to store music, but it's good enough for long sessions.

In terms of fitness, unless you're already using a specific app, you'll get what you need. Samsung's own app detects activity well and automatically starts a session. Samsung has teamed up with Speedo, and Gear Sport is the first to feature the Speedo app with the Gear Fit2 Pro, making it even more appealing to swimmers. There are plenty of other health and fitness apps, as well as common smartwatch features like notifications and music controls.