At Mobile World Congress 2014, Samsung didn't just double-down on its investment in wrist wearables, it tripled-down, with the unveiling of the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit.
See also: Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo: Hands On
Of the three products, the Gear Fit is the most interesting — not just in terms of its design — but in terms of its positioning and functionality. With the right marketing and the right set of features, the Gear Fit could be the type of of mass-market wearable Samsung needs to wash away the taste of the Galaxy Gear.
Samsung dropped the "Galaxy" moniker from its wearable line — ostensibly because it wants to keep "Galaxy" focused on tablets and smartphones. The name change isn't the only strategic shift.
Even though the Galaxy Gear was unveiled only about six months ago, it has already been replaced with a better-designed Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. Mashable Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff argued Gear 2 is everything the original Gear should have been, and I totally agree with his assessment. Genuinely, its hard to look at the original Galaxy Gear and see it as anything other than a stopgap that was released with the hopes of capturing some holiday wearable dollars.
The difference with the Gear family in 2014 — aside from a better design and more refined components — is that there are now multiple products available.
The Gear 2 is being positioned as the high-end smartwatch. It's the flagship. The Gear 2 Neo is a cheaper smartwatch for the everyman. The Gear Fit has a lot of smartwatch-like functionality built-in, but it's clear Samsung is using it to target the burgeoning fitness band market.

Interestingly, it's the fitness market — a place Samsung hasn't been actively focused in the past — that may provide the best path to mainstream success.
The market for fitness trackers and health bands — let's just call them smart bands — is growing. Fast. Canalys reportes that 1.6 million smart bands shipped in the second half of 2013, up 700% from the first half of the year.
Canalys predicts 8 million smart bands might ship in 2014 and that by 2017, the shipments might be as high as 45 million units. Right now, the dominant players in the field include Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike — but there's plenty of room for newcomers, especially with a recognizable name like Samsung.
Smartwatches might be mainstream in the future, but smart bands are encroaching on mainstream now. Most of my friends don't have a smartwatch, but I'd say nearly 75% have a Fitbit or a Nike Fuelband.
The Gear Fit isn't Samsung's first crack at this space. During the Galaxy S4 launch last year, Samsung showed off an S Band) fitness tracker. I don't think the S Band was ever actually released (and if it was, it was in very limited quantities), but the press images and samples we saw looked a lot like the original Fitbit.
And while the S Band was basically a pure fitness tracker, the Gear Fit is much more of a smartwatch/smart band hybrid.
The Gear Fit has all the typical fitness-tracker accoutrements: It can monitor exercise and sleep, it has a built-in pedometer and heart-rate monitor, and it has a stopwatch and a timer.
The real plus, however, is that it can also talk to your phone.The Gear Fit can display calls, e-mails, app alerts and get push notifications. It can also act as a media controller.
With notifications and alerts, the Gear Fit is edging into smartwatch territory.
Right now it's not clear how Samsung will open up the Gear Fit to outside developers. Unlike the Gear 2 and Gear Neo — which use the Samsung-backed Tizen mobile platform — the Gear Fit runs a proprietary Samsung embedded OS. That said, even without broad third-party support, support for app notifications might be enough for some users.
I have long expected the smart band and smartwatch markets to converge. We treat the two as separate categories, but there is no reason that your smartwatch shouldn't be able to track your steps or that your smart band shouldn't be able to let you change the station on Pandora.
We'll have to use the actual product to be sure, the Gear Fit looks like the first real hybrid device — and that's a good thing.
Much of the hesitancy with smartwatches, at least with individuals I talk to, revolves around two issues: use case and looks.
Having the fitness-tracking abilities gives a solid use case to wary users. This is one of the reasons the Pebble/Runkeeper partnership made so much sense, and why Pebble remains focused on working with fitness app developers.
After starting with tracking a run or a step count, a user might just find that she enjoys getting app notifications, seeing call alerts and having the ability to control her headphones.
Don't let the "Fit" moniker fool you, the Gear Fit can also act as a watch.
Swipe across the screen to reveal apps and options. Tap on an icon to get more information.
The first group of apps include options for a stopwatch, timer, and access to the settings.
You can view notifications from your phone, access the media player controls and also access a "find my device" mode.
These are all features you can find on a smartwatch.
The Gear Fit includes a built-in heart rate monitor. Press "start" and it will evaluate your BPM (beats per minute) and display it on the screen.
When paired to a phone using Bluetooth 4.0, you can see push notifications from your phone.
The Gear Fit compared to the original Galaxy Gear. The Gear Fit has a much more attractive design.
The Gear 2, Gear Fit and Galaxy S5 are all members of the family. Say cheese!
The second issue, the one of design, is an area where smart bands are far more advanced than the smartwatch. The smartwatch is still trying to decide how it looks and what it does. Trying to compensate for the size of the screen, the shape of the face, the design of the band, all comes with compromises.
I really like the smartwatch space, but if I'm being honest, none of the major players are particularly beautiful. I really like the design of the Pebble Steel, but it's still much more suited for a man.
The Nike Fuelband SE on the other hand — or the Jawbone UP24 —are attractive and inconspicuous. The whole recall notwithstanding, the Fitbit Force is a very attractive accessory.
The Gear Fit isn't perfect, but it's a very good first attempt at this space.
The Gear Fit has a curved Super AMOLED display, which Samsung says is the first for a device like this. The immediate benefits are that it is both bright and vivid — and the touch sensitivity in my tests was spot-on. Having touch support helps the Gear Fit stand apart from some other fitness trackers that rely on buttons.
The band itself was comfortable — and available in a variety of colors. I might quibble with the radius of the screen's curve — it's still a bit big for my wrist — but for someone who isn't built like a tiny child, it will look great.
Even better, I found the way the interface was designed to make tons of sense. Tech Editor Pete Pachal and I discussed the orientation of the icons on the device. Pete thinks it might serve better to be vertically stacked, rather than horizontal.
I disagree. Orientation is a difficult thing to manage on these types of devices, because you will literally read the text and information from the side, regardless of what wrist you use — but I think the left-to-right motif that matches what Nike does with the Fuelband works quiet well.
I also think that this orientation works well for activities such as controlling media.
The curved Super AMOLED screen really does make a ton of sense. I'll also pass on another suggestion from Pete Pachal — one I agree with this time — Samsung should look at using flexible displays in the band. that way, the curve could be more contoured to a bigger or smaller wrist.
I don't really get the point of a flexible phone. A flexible screen on a smart band or smartwatch, however, is a great idea.
One of the things I admire most about Samsung as a company is that it isn't afraid to try, fail, and try again. In fact, that is pretty much the company's MO in mobile. The company's first Android phones were not good — but then the Galaxy S series came along, and it was a revelation.
The same is true for the company's attempts at tablets. The first Galaxy Tab was not a good device. Fast-forward a few years, and Samsung is making the Nexus 10.
It's too soon to say if Samsung will find success with smartwatches or hybrid wearables like he Gear Fit. The Galaxy Gear was not a good start, but the Gear Fit actually has signs of promise.
The Galaxy S5 might have been the focal point of Samsung's MWC presentation, but for my interest, the product I really can't wait to see evolve is the Gear Fit.
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