Samsung Gear Fit review

Though it doesn't have the kitchen sink of features like the Gear 2. The Fit still packs its own mini arsenal of smartwatch functions.

Chief among these is notifications. Being able to read my emails and SMS messages on the display without checking my phone is handy, and made all the better by the Fit's uncluttered interface.

The lack of a built-in mic for calling won't disappoint many people, and to me suggests that Samsung has got a better hold of the 'smartwatch' here than on the Gear 2 or the Gear 2 Neo.

In fact, my only real criticism here is that due to the proportions of the screen, a fair bit of scrolling is involved when the device is used horizontally, as I've already mentioned.

But while you can't type or dictate a response without getting out your phone, the Fit offers a selection of "quick reply" messages that you can fire back (which you can write yourself), although it's not an idea I've ever been keen on - very rarely do I find that a generic response will suffice.

Another nifty addition is the Find My Phone function, which will get your paired Samsung phone singing if you lose it, so long as it's within bluetooth range.

One extremely welcome smartwatch-common feature that Samsung has thrown in is a media controller. As someone who needs music on a jog, I'm all too used to the the pains of having to get my phone out to change tracks/search/change the volume. So I'm pretty thankful to Samsung for throwing that one in, especially as it also works with third party apps such as Spotify.

But it does, once again, highlight the stupidity of not allowing you to have GPS for running, as a few people will want to have their phone with them when running anyway - and music control feeds well into that.

Overall, Samsung has got a good balance of smartwatch features to the fitness ones. I don't feel like I'd ever want to use my Fit as a phone, nor would I realistically be able to type a message on it either. Samsung has kept this very much as a notification device, aligning it closer to something like the Pebble.