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RMXO

macrumors 6502a
Sep 1, 2009
875
41
Yep, that's where I got mine. (See post #121 above)

Came the next day, which surprised me, even though I'm just one state over.

LOL, sorry I thought I saw your post in a different thread on a different forums. And thanks for your post.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Wow. Gizmodo really slammed it.

http://gizmodo.com/samsung-gear-fit-review-a-beautiful-wristable-gone-to-1563715416/all

Mostly because the health app wasn't as integrated as they wanted, and the pedometer was inaccurate for them.

However, they were wrong about it not having a way to turn off notifications while you sleep.

--

For me, the only thing I wish, is that it had a wake alarm keyed to your sleep movements, like the FitBit. I had a watch years ago that checked for the end of REM sleep to set off the alarm. Loved it.

It might happen. I think Samsung has already shown that they listen and will do updates to fix complaints.

Personally, I liked it enough to go ahead and buy a second Fit from that company on eBay, so I can give one away and keep the other for myself :)

--

Two and a half days now... 24% battery left.

Edit: three days... 21% left. Pedometer always on. Only used sleep monitor first night.

One thing that's handy is how it vibrates for a second if you get out of Bluetooth range of your phone. That's about 100' for me... from my back office partway to my car... which reminds me I left my phone behind.
 
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The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
Some of the reviews are putting me off.. What matters to me is how accurate the steps, running, biking is
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
I agree which is what initially put me off, but I've heard that Samsung is going to push out an update to address this issue.

Thing for me is on my gear the steps aren't as accurate as it is on the phone. So to me it needs to be accurate so I don't need to use it in my phone first
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Thing for me is on my gear the steps aren't as accurate as it is on the phone. So to me it needs to be accurate so I don't need to use it in my phone first

Can I ask how do you know if the phone reading is accurate ? From my experience comparing s-healths reading on the phone to both my Jawbone Up and Fitbit Flex - the S'Health pedometer is always out by a considerably generous margin.

If the gear is saying you are doing less than the phone, I'd be far more inclined to believe the watch than sheath app.
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
Can I ask how do you know if the phone reading is accurate ? From my experience comparing s-healths reading on the phone to both my Jawbone Up and Fitbit Flex - the S'Health pedometer is always out by a considerably generous margin.

If the gear is saying you are doing less than the phone, I'd be far more inclined to believe the watch than sheath app.

Just on experience alone suggests phone is more accurate based on steps expections and based on what other have said with theirs. Maybe I should try comparing again

One you tube review has gear fit being quite off in the steps.. Which isn't great
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
Yeah, that's actually what I did at first... wore both my regular watch and the Fit... but only for a few minutes.

It quickly dawned on me that I didn't need the watch any more. It has temporarily at least, joined my other nice watches in my leather watch box.

At the same time (ugh no pun intended), I've always liked to be prepared. Meaning, I like having a regular watch that I can count on.

The longer this Fit lasts, though, the less worried I am. It's been 48 hours now, and it's still at 41%.

That's awesome, makes me want to try one out. I had a Gear 1 for a bit, I really liked it and thought it looked nice on the wrist as well. I just couldn't get over giving up my watch though. I've had it for a long time and it has sentimental value, and I just like how it fits and looks. Certainly it's no more than a fashion piece, but it's the only piece of jewelry that I wear as a guy. As much as I thought the gear was cool and it looked decent, it didn't do anything for my fashion sense at all.

That's why I have high hopes for the Motorola watch, which does look like it can function as a fashion piece. The fit looks good as something I can wear at the same time as my watch.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
I agree which is what initially put me off, but I've heard that Samsung is going to push out an update to address this issue.

Supposedly the first update fixed that. Or at least, made it better.

I'm going to measure out several tries at a few hundred steps and do a comparison with the counter to see if it's always off by a certain percentage.

If so, then I'll know to drop the totals by that much in my head.
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
Supposedly the first update fixed that. Or at least, made it better.

I'm going to measure out several tries at a few hundred steps and do a comparison with the counter to see if it's always off by a certain percentage.

If so, then I'll know to drop the totals by that much in my head.

That will be good if you can
 

McCool71

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2012
561
280
Thing for me is on my gear the steps aren't as accurate as it is on the phone.

Wrist-mounted devices will never get a perfect reading because the movement of the arm. A device in your pocket or clipped on to your belt will always get a more correct count.

I am a bit puzzled that Samsung gets so much heat for the 'inaccuracy' of the step counter in reviews though. Every other wrist-mounted step counter on the market today misses the exact number of steps - sometimes by a large margin. This is not a 'Samsung only'-problem at all.

It all depends a lot on your walking style as well - I looked at my Gear Fit and counted walking 100 steps three separate times when going for a walk yesterday, and the highest reading I got with the Gear Fit was 106 - in other words 6% more than I actually walked.

If you look at the number of 'steps' as a measure of activity from day to day rather than actual steps it makes more sense - it is not like you actually walk 250 steps when showering while wearing a fitness band just because the fitness tracker says so.

Edit: As mentioned earlier a way of calibrating these devices ('Hit the button, walk 200 steps and hit the button again') would of course be great since the walking style of each individual is likely quite similar from time to time.
 
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kdarling

macrumors P6
Well, I found the same thing: the Gear Fit's step counter was actually remarkably accurate (to within a few steps) while I was walking (or even going up/down stairs). Even if I had the arm in a pocket.

(It might be helpful that I entered my height and weight and age in the exercise section. Might not.)

Sure, sometimes it would throw in a dozen or two extra steps later on while standing still, if I swung my arms around. And overnight it threw in a dozen while sleeping.

However, even the FitBit website plays down step count accuracy, and points out that other activities can show up as steps... which they say should count towards exercise anyway.

FitBit also notes that devices on different locations will read differently.

In short, even FitBit sums it up the same as McCool71 above -- that it's the relative amount of exercise over time that's important, not an exact count.

For me, the notifications is far more important, anyway. That's what I got it for.
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
Well, I found the same thing: the Gear Fit's step counter was actually remarkably accurate (to within a few steps) while I was walking (or even going up/down stairs). Even if I had the arm in a pocket.

(It might be helpful that I entered my height and weight and age in the exercise section. Might not.)

Sure, sometimes it would throw in a dozen or two extra steps later on while standing still, if I swung my arms around. And overnight it threw in a dozen while sleeping.

However, even the FitBit website plays down step count accuracy, and points out that other activities can show up as steps... which they say should count towards exercise anyway.

FitBit also notes that devices on different locations will read differently.

In short, even FitBit sums it up the same as McCool71 above -- that it's the relative amount of exercise over time that's important, not an exact count.

For me, the notifications is far more important, anyway. That's what I got it for.

That's good then

Do you have your gear landscape?
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
That's good then

Do you have your gear landscape?

Portrait.

As I mentioned, there's a little circular arrow in the notifications, that allows you to temporarily swap to landscape mode if that makes it easier to read something like the first lines of an email.

For the main icons, I used the Fit manager to rearrange them so the timer, stopwatch and settings were a swipe away from the Home clock / weather page in one direction -- and the notifications and main exercise stuff a swipe in the other direction.

I also set the double-click on the side button to take me straight to the pedometer. (The side button does that, or turns it off, or turns it on if a wrist flick doesn't do it. It's nicer than it sounds. It's not necessary to use it.)

Btw, the weather icon/temp on the clock I selected, is remarkably accurate.

As the reviews noted, about the only thing this is missing, is an automatic brightness mode. I started out set super low to conserve power (2 out of 10), but had to switch back to about 3 or 4 so I could read it outside.

As for power, I got 3-1/4 days before it gave me a warning to recharge "soon" (at about 18%). I could've gone at least another half day, but I appreciated the heads up and put on the charger (which is a little adapter from microUSB to the charging pins). It was back to 100% in a little over two hours.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Here's my home page:

2014_gear_fit.jpg
 

Dmunjal

macrumors 68000
Jun 20, 2010
1,533
1,543
For those with the Fit, did you consider the Neo? They seem to be about the same price.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
For those with the Fit, did you consider the Neo? They seem to be about the same price.

As much as I like the Fit's simplicity, I have the same question.

The Neo adds, what? The ability to answer and dial voice calls, and also to create texts by voice? Plus add apps in the future?

If the battery life is similar, wouldn't the Neo be more of a value?

Thanks!
 

ChrisTX

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2009
2,686
54
Texas
Gear Fit Review
So here's a really in depth review of the Gear Fit and it's fitness tracking abilities. Needless to say it falls short. I think I will be holding out for the Motorola 360 or the I Watch. :cool:
 
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MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
What Samsung need to do is open up the device and s-health to all android devices if they want the gear range to be anything other than niche.
 

ChrisTX

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2009
2,686
54
Texas
What Samsung need to do is open up the device and s-health to all android devices if they want the gear range to be anything other than niche.

I agree. I just feel like Apple can leverage the power of the M7 chip to make a better fitness tracker. Even the Moto 360 didn't seem to mention any fitness tracking capabilities. It just seems too odd at the timing of Nike firing it's fuel band staff. But I do remember Tim Cook saying 2014 was the year of new product categories for Apple. So I can't wait.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Gear Fit Review
So here's a really in depth review of the Gear Fit and it's fitness tracking abilities. Needless to say it falls short. I think I will be holding out for the Motorola 360 or the I Watch. :cool:

It's important to read the user comments that follow these articles.

Often, negative review items about missing options or data transfers, are pointed out as being incorrect by longer term users. (Why do authors rarely go back and correct their mistakes, once they're pointed out?)

Also, articles write almost nothing about the notifications, which is the main reason to own one of these over a simple fitness band. Although they do universally say it's a good looking device and screen.

Sounds like mostly the problem is syncing up with health apps?
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
Reviewers who use it everyday mean Alot more than people from The media reviewing it
 

ChrisTX

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2009
2,686
54
Texas
It's important to read the user comments that follow these articles.

Often, negative review items about missing options or data transfers, are pointed out as being incorrect by longer term users. (Why do authors rarely go back and correct their mistakes, once they're pointed out?)

Also, articles write almost nothing about the notifications, which is the main reason to own one of these over a simple fitness band. Although they do universally say it's a good looking device and screen.

Sounds like mostly the problem is syncing up with health apps?

I agree. I just feel like better options are coming. I'll probably pick this one up anyway and sell it when the iWatch arrives.
 
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