Australian Review: Samsung Gear Fit 2 – The good kind of compromise

Samsung's first few attempts at wearables ranged from interesting to impractical, but with the launch of the Gear S2 smartwatch last year, the company finally hit its stride. With the Gear Fit 2, Samsung has taken its recent learnings and used them to build a device that's half smartwatch, half fitness tracker. It won't suit all use cases, but all in all, it's the good kind of compromise.

The Gear Fit 2 is much more fitness tracker than smartwatch when it comes to aesthetic, making use of the tried and true wristband-style design. A 1.84-inch display means the device is a bit chunkier than most wearables, but the curved build makes it comfier than you'd expect. I've been wearing the Gear Fit 2 for a couple of weeks now, and find it easy to forget I'm even wearing it. While the Gear Fit 2's band is made from elastomer, it seems to be of reasonably high quality; I've yet to experience any irritation from wearing the tracker.

Twisting the Gear Fit 2 towards you brings the display to live, revealing the watch face of your choice. Nine Samsung-made watch faces are available out of the box, and offer up varying combinations of the time, quirky designs, and fitness metrics. To top it off, a huge number of third party watch faces are available through the Galaxy App Store (although there's not a huge deal of third party apps yet).