 If wearables are ever going to be awesome, it's likely going to happen in baby steps, not in leaps and bounds like we've all been hoping for. That's what I've determined from wearing the Samsung Gear Fit 2 over the past few weeks. Now, does this mean it's a bad wearable? Not at all. It's actually a pretty good activity tracker. It's just getting harder to stand out amid all of the activity trackers out there now. The Gear Fit 2 is a sports band, not a smart watch, that manages to cram a pretty big display and GPS into a wristband form factor, which is something that not many step-counting wristbands have. For the most part, smart watches don't make great fitness trackers, so Samsung is offering something way more sport-focused in an attempt to get more people into its hardware ecosystem. The good news is that the Gear Fit 2 has improved in a lot of the ways it needed to from the first Samsung Gear Fit from two years ago. The bad news is that I had a really spotty experience with battery life, which is still one of the biggest drawbacks of wearables with full-resolution displays. But the bigger question is whether you should spend $180 on this thing. If you're watching this video, I'm guessing you might already be interested in it, or you have an Android phone. If you don't have an Android phone, I'm going to save you some time you can stop watching right now, because the Samsung Gear Fit 2 only works with Android phones. Hardware-wise, it's pretty standard. All of the usual suspects are in the build. There's a flexible plastic wristband with a railroad-style strap, and it has two physical buttons, one that acts as a power and home button, and another that acts as a back button. The display, though, is what really stands out. It's a rich, glossy, curved, Super AMOLED touchscreen, and you'll notice it displays information in a vertical format so that you don't have to twist your wrist to see stuff. The only downside to the Super AMOLED display is that it's not that easy to see in outdoor lighting, which outdoor fitness enthusiasts aren't going to like. But then again, it's not easy to see the displays of smartwatches and other color displays in bright light either. There are optical sensors on the underside of the band for measuring your heart rate, and in stable workout environments, I found heart rate readings to be very consistent with a chest monitor. And bonus time, the Gear Fit 2 has that built-in GPS I mentioned. This makes it one of the very few wristband-style trackers to include GPS, along with the Microsoft Band 2 and the Garmin Vivo Smart HR+. So what exactly does the Gear Fit 2 track? It's more like, what doesn't it track? It records running, walking, hiking, cycling, stair stepper, stationary biking, elliptical training, treadmill running, and a whole bunch of other stuff, including yoga. And then there's an other tile that will let you record any other type of activity that might not be categorized. Like a lot of other fitness trackers these days, the band will automatically recognize some activities, and Samsung has tried to display the data in an interesting way. So for example, there's a 24-hour timeline view of your activity, and if you use GPS, you'll see a map after your workout is completed. All of your data from the band is going to sync to Samsung's S Health application. I like the S Health app, and it syncs pretty quickly. But I will say, as with a lot of Samsung software, I kind of wish it was simpler. First, you're going to need two apps to even use this band. The Gear Manager app, which is the same one you use to manage Samsung smart watches, and the S Health app. The Gear app is where you're going to manage all of the notifications that appear on your band. And the S Health app is where you're going to manage your health settings. So you'll see a bunch of tiles here, which you can tap on to measure your stress, or log your food, or see more information about a specific workout. But personally, I'd rather see it all in a linear or a chronological format. And then the app will share data with partner apps, like Runkeeper and Strava, but this is where it gets confusing. There are a bunch of partner apps under More in the app, and then there's a different set of partner apps in the settings area of the app. And then even when you go to download something like the Spotify app onto the wristband, you have to go to the Galaxy app store. It's not in the partner apps list. So yeah, sharing data and getting apps onto the device, it's sort of all over the place. Another downside to this band, well, it's big, at least for my wrist. It's flexible, but it's big. The display takes up a lot of space. I would not call this delicate. Second, it's water resistant, but it's not fully waterproof, so you can't swim with it. Okay, and then there's battery life. Samsung is promising three to four days, but my first review unit may have been a dud because on a couple of occasions it didn't even last a day, especially if I worked out using GPS. My second review unit seemed much more consistent with Samsung's promises, but then my colleague Dan Seifert tried another review unit and his lasted about a day. Bottom line is that battery life seems to be a crap shoot with early versions of this, which is part of the reason why I can't give it a wholehearted recommendation. Despite all that, I have to give Samsung credit where it's due. Its first Gear Fit wristband felt kind of like a Me Too wearable, like, hey, let's just make a wearable because everyone and their mother and their cousin is making an activity tracker right now. This one shows commitment. It's a more serious sport band. It tracks a whole bunch of different fitness activities, and it tries to display the data to you in an interesting way. Do I think it's the best sports band out there? No. I'm going to reserve that for something that works with multiple operating systems, is fully waterproof, and has a display you can see outdoors. This makes it a pretty serious contender among all the other bands out there. The only downside to this... Sorry. Ready? And...action! Perfect. Blooper.
 If wearables are ever going to be awesome, it's likely going to happen in baby steps,
 not in leaps and bounds like we've all been hoping for.
 That's what I've determined from wearing the Samsung Gear Fit 2 over the past few weeks.
 Now, does this mean it's a bad wearable?
 Not at all.
 It's actually a pretty good activity tracker.
 It's just getting harder to stand out amid all of the activity trackers out there now.
 The Gear Fit 2 is a sports band, not a smart watch, that manages to cram a pretty big display
 and GPS into a wristband form factor, which is something that not many step-counting wristbands
 have.
 For the most part, smart watches don't make great fitness trackers, so Samsung is offering
 something way more sport-focused in an attempt to get more people into its hardware ecosystem.
 The good news is that the Gear Fit 2 has improved in a lot of the ways it needed to from the
 first Samsung Gear Fit from two years ago.
 The bad news is that I had a really spotty experience with battery life, which is still
 one of the biggest drawbacks of wearables with full-resolution displays.
 But the bigger question is whether you should spend $180 on this thing.
 If you're watching this video, I'm guessing you might already be interested in it, or
 you have an Android phone.
 If you don't have an Android phone, I'm going to save you some time you can stop watching
 right now, because the Samsung Gear Fit 2 only works with Android phones.
 Hardware-wise, it's pretty standard.
 All of the usual suspects are in the build.
 There's a flexible plastic wristband with a railroad-style strap, and it has two physical
 buttons, one that acts as a power and home button, and another that acts as a back button.
 The display, though, is what really stands out.
 It's a rich, glossy, curved, Super AMOLED touchscreen, and you'll notice it displays
 information in a vertical format so that you don't have to twist your wrist to see stuff.
 The only downside to the Super AMOLED display is that it's not that easy to see in outdoor
 lighting, which outdoor fitness enthusiasts aren't going to like.
 But then again, it's not easy to see the displays of smartwatches and other color displays in
 bright light either.
 There are optical sensors on the underside of the band for measuring your heart rate,
 and in stable workout environments, I found heart rate readings to be very consistent
 with a chest monitor.
 And bonus time, the Gear Fit 2 has that built-in GPS I mentioned.
 This makes it one of the very few wristband-style trackers to include GPS, along with the Microsoft
 Band 2 and the Garmin Vivo Smart HR+.
 So what exactly does the Gear Fit 2 track?
 It's more like, what doesn't it track?
 It records running, walking, hiking, cycling, stair stepper, stationary biking, elliptical
 training, treadmill running, and a whole bunch of other stuff, including yoga.
 And then there's an other tile that will let you record any other type of activity that
 might not be categorized.
 Like a lot of other fitness trackers these days, the band will automatically recognize
 some activities, and Samsung has tried to display the data in an interesting way.
 So for example, there's a 24-hour timeline view of your activity, and if you use GPS,
 you'll see a map after your workout is completed.
 All of your data from the band is going to sync to Samsung's S Health application.
 I like the S Health app, and it syncs pretty quickly.
 But I will say, as with a lot of Samsung software, I kind of wish it was simpler.
 First, you're going to need two apps to even use this band.
 The Gear Manager app, which is the same one you use to manage Samsung smart watches, and
 the S Health app.
 The Gear app is where you're going to manage all of the notifications that appear on your
 band.
 And the S Health app is where you're going to manage your health settings.
 So you'll see a bunch of tiles here, which you can tap on to measure your stress, or
 log your food, or see more information about a specific workout.
 But personally, I'd rather see it all in a linear or a chronological format.
 And then the app will share data with partner apps, like Runkeeper and Strava, but this
 is where it gets confusing.
 There are a bunch of partner apps under More in the app, and then there's a different set
 of partner apps in the settings area of the app.
 And then even when you go to download something like the Spotify app onto the wristband, you
 have to go to the Galaxy app store.
 It's not in the partner apps list.
 So yeah, sharing data and getting apps onto the device, it's sort of all over the place.
 Another downside to this band, well, it's big, at least for my wrist.
 It's flexible, but it's big.
 The display takes up a lot of space.
 I would not call this delicate.
 Second, it's water resistant, but it's not fully waterproof, so you can't swim with it.
 Okay, and then there's battery life.
 Samsung is promising three to four days, but my first review unit may have been a dud because
 on a couple of occasions it didn't even last a day, especially if I worked out using GPS.
 My second review unit seemed much more consistent with Samsung's promises, but then my colleague
 Dan Seifert tried another review unit and his lasted about a day.
 Bottom line is that battery life seems to be a crap shoot with early versions of this,
 which is part of the reason why I can't give it a wholehearted recommendation.
 Despite all that, I have to give Samsung credit where it's due.
 Its first Gear Fit wristband felt kind of like a Me Too wearable, like, hey, let's just
 make a wearable because everyone and their mother and their cousin is making an activity
 tracker right now.
 This one shows commitment.
 It's a more serious sport band.
 It tracks a whole bunch of different fitness activities, and it tries to display the data
 to you in an interesting way.
 Do I think it's the best sports band out there?
 No.
 I'm going to reserve that for something that works with multiple operating systems, is
 fully waterproof, and has a display you can see outdoors.
 This makes it a pretty serious contender among all the other bands out there.
 The only downside to this...
 Sorry.
 Ready?
 And...action!
 Perfect.
 Blooper.