Samsung Galaxy Fit E First Impression: Can It Outshine Xiaomi Mi Band?

| Published: Thursday, July 4, 2019, 17:15 [IST]

Xiaomi has been ruling the budget fitness tracker market in India from the last two-three years. The company's Mi Band series has been very well received by the Indian audience due to its affordable price-point and good fitness-related features. Seeing the surge in the demand for budget fitness trackers, more and more brands are foraying in this segment.

Samsung, the Korean technology giant known for its Galaxy Fit wearables has recently announced three new wearables in India. The company has introduced Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Fit, and Galaxy Fit e smart wearable.

Amongst the three, the Galaxy Fit e is the most affordable smart band which directly takes on the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, Honor Band 4, Lenovo HX03F Spectra and other budget fitness trackers.With Samsung's well-known brand name, the Galaxy Fit-e can create some serious troubles for other budget fitness trackers.

We have received the review unit and have just started using it as our daily driver to keep a track of our fitness regime. As we have also reviewed Mi Band 3 and other budget fitness trackers, we are sharing the various performance aspects in the below first impressions.

Lightweight Design, Good Quality Straps:

The Galaxy Fit e feels quite light on the wrist, exactly how a fitness tracker should feel. It weighs just 15g, making it one of the lightest budget fitness tracker in the market. Additionally, Galaxy Fit e also offers a compact form factor and a slim profile.

The straps are made out of soft silicone material adding to the comfort in the day-to-day routine. The fitness tracker sports a 0.74-inch PMOLED display with 64 x 128-pixel resolution and 193 PPI pixel density. The display is quite smaller as compared to the other fitness trackers available in the market but is optimum to display the basic health-related content.

To toggle through the content, one needs to firmly slide through the display. A soft touch will be of no help. As the device misses on physical keys, the only option you get to navigate through various options is via the touch display.

Overall, Galaxy Fit e fails to deliver the best display on a budget fitness tracker. Honor band 4 offers the best-in-class screen in the budget price-point.

Samsung Galaxy Fit-e Key Specifications And Features:

One of the major highlights of the device is MIL-STD-810G certification and 5 ATM water resistance. This protects the band from natural elements such as rain, dust, humidity and also makes it thermal shock resistant.

This also adds to the durability of the device making it optimum for various outdoor activities. The Galaxy Fit-e is powered by 96MHz single-core MCU Cortex M0 chipset with 4MB ROM.

This might not be a powerful chipset but is suitable to carry out the basic tracker functions. Sensors onboard include a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) and an accelerometer. The heart rate monitor is a big plus for fitness enthusiasts.

The fitness band runs on Realtime OS which is designed by Samsung specifically for the budget fitness trackers. This OS easily monitors physical activities such as workouts, walking, running, and others.

Connectivity With Smartphones:

Pairing the Galaxy Fit-e with smartphones is quite simple. All you need to do is download the companion app -Galaxy Wearables to configure the band to get started with the fitness-related features.

You also need to install Samsung Health apps from the Play Store for detailed information related to your health. Notably, Samsung users will only need the above two apps for the tracker. But the other smartphone users will need two more apps including the Samsung Accessory Service and Galaxy Fit Plugin for the band to function properly.

Post installing the required apps, you can visit the Galaxy Wearables app on your phone to configure the Galaxy Fit-e band to track various activities. The health data recorded by the tracker is shown in Samsung Health section. This includes- sleep, heart rate, steps, calories, active time, and weight. You can select the data to be displayed on the tracker within the companion app.

Battery

The Galaxy Fit-e is backed by a 70mAh non-removable battery. The fitness band is claimed to offer a back up of 13 days with a single charge. We will test the company's claims and the band's overall performance in the coming days.

Our Thoughts on The Galaxy Fit-e Smart Band:

Samsung has introduced its new smart wearable lineup after a long break in the market. With the launch of Galaxy Fit-e, the South Korean giant has forayed into the affordable wearable segment to give more options to the interested buyers.

The device offers some good hardware for a budget price point. However, a colored display would have been an icing on the cake. We will be sharing the comprehensive review of the fitness tracker in the coming days, so, stay tuned with us.