The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is almost here – and it's going to get a key new feature to help it rival the Apple Watch 4.
Samsung announced at IFA 2019 that its latest smartwatch will feature compatibility with Technogym treadmills, meaning you can run and run indoors and have accurate health info delivered to your wrist.
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This is key for many fitness bods, as ordinarily when you're running on a treadmill you have to rely on a pretty inaccurate accelerometer in the watch to guess how far and how fast you're running, based simply on your height.
By synchronizing the smarter treadmills with your Watch Active 2 – presumably with a single tap using NFC to create a Bluetooth connection, in a similar vein to the Apple Watch – users will get far more accurate fitness data, and can build a better picture of their workouts.
What's actually on offer?
We're still waiting on more information beyond an on-stage confirmation from Samsung that the Technogym compatibility is coming – we don't know if it will appear on older watches, whether syncing with other fitness equipment like steppers or static cycles will be possible, and how many gyms are set up to support the feature.
If it's anything like the similar integration in the Apple Watch, a simple tap connects to the workout machine (although you still need to confirm your workout) even if you've already begun, so you can begin to track that sweet, sweet data on your wrist.
Apple's wearable supports many Technogym cardio machines, but not weights at the moment – it will be interesting to see if Samsung can leap ahead here and offer wider integration with all Technogym equipment.
We'll bring you more information as we get it from Samsung and Technogym – but this is a real boon for the South Korean brand's wearable as it looks to add more features to attract a wider audience.
