Samsung Gear Sport in the Review: simple and good

The Gear Sport costs less than 250 euros despite its very generous equipment with GPS and heartbeat sensor. We have tested how the smartwatch with Samsung's Tizen 3.0 operating system performs in practice.

scope of delivery

The Gear Sport arrives at the customer together with the magnetic table charging station, microUSB power supply and replacement bracelet. A cloth bag for is also included. The black cardboard box cannot keep up with the high-quality watch box of the much more expensive Hugo Boss smartwatch, but the smartwatch is still adequately packaged.

design

The Gear Sport looks modern and sporty. The feel and the workmanship are very high quality. The bright blue silicone wristband, the shimmering blue stainless steel case and the pre-set dial skin appeal primarily to a young target group. The 20 mm wide bracelet has a quick-change function and can be replaced in just a few simple steps.

The dimensions of 42.9 × 44.6 × 11.6 mm are slightly smaller than those of the Gear S3. Compared to the smartwatches from Hugo Boss or Tommy Hilfiger, the Gear Sport with 50 g is a real lightweight. In practice, the watch wears comfortably and unobtrusively.

Operation is very intuitive and convenient thanks to the precise touchscreen, two buttons and the rotating bezel. The heart rate monitoring sits on the flat plastic bottom. This works well as long as the sensors are clean and the watch is tight enough. If you only wear the watch loosely on your wrist, you will regularly receive reports that the pulse measurement is not working.

The included table charging station is magnetic and is powered by MicroUSB. Charging is done wirelessly. Sensitive and exposed charging contacts are not available.

Furnishing

According to the manufacturer, the Gear Sport has a battery life of up to six days despite the lavish equipment and a battery capacity of only 300 mAh. In practice, the smartwatch lasted three to four days despite frequent use. It takes two and a half hours to load the watch.

In addition to NFC, WLAN and Bluetooth 4.2, a GPS and Glonass receiver is also installed. Pedometer (motion sensor), heart rate sensor and barometric altimeter are also available. A dual-core CPU with 1 GHz is used as the processor. The working memory of 768 MB is sufficient to ensure smooth operation. The storage capacity is 4 GB, of which almost half is occupied in the delivery state.

The 1.2-inch display has a resolution of 360 × 360 pixels and has a pixel density of around 302 ppi. The display of the Amoled is razor-sharp and pleasantly bright. Reading the digital dial works without any problems even in direct sunlight and brightness level seven out of ten.

The Gear Sport is up to 5 ATM or 50 meters waterproof. When showering or taking a swim in the swimming pool, the smartwatch can remain on the wrist without hesitation.

software

The greatest benefit is with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, because only then will all functions work safely. The range of functions is theoretically just as great with other Android devices, but in some cases there may be restrictions on notifications regarding calls, messages and emails.

The Gear Sport also works with iPhones, but due to the lack of interfaces, use is extremely limited and just enables the display of notifications or calls.

The Gear Sport works with the Tizen 3.0 operating system. In our view, the interface is a bit more intuitive and clearer than Wear OS from Google. Operation is straightforward and convenient, even for first-time users. In addition to the pre-installed skins, countless very different designs are available for download. The Samsung app shop required for this is somewhat confusing.

The speech recognition S Voice is there, but it only works unsatisfactorily in practice. The sophisticated Google Assistant has a clear advantage here. Wear OS is also ahead in terms of the number of third-party apps available. Popular applications such as Whatsapps are now available for Tizen, but the messenger app Threema is currently not yet available, for example.

The Gear Sport is set up both on the watch itself and with the help of the free one Samsung Gear app. If the smartphone and watch are paired, the watch shows, for example, messenger messages, SMS or emails directly on the display. Remote control of the smartphone camera and the Spotify app also works right away. If you like listening to music while playing sports, you can also connect the Gear Sport directly to Bluetooth headphones and load songs onto your watch. The smartphone can then stay at health home during training.

The extensive activity statistics and training programs are particularly interesting for athletes. The Gear Sport has accordingly pre-installed several sport profiles and suitable apps.

It is not possible to create individual profiles.

But the watch also cuts a fine figure in everyday life. For example, if you sit a lot in the office, Gear Sport can show you entertaining fitness exercises in between.

Samsung Gear Sport blue

Samsung Gear Sport black

Fabric bracelet black

Leather strap black / orange

Black silicone strap

Conclusion

The Gear Sport is a great smart health watch with a pleasant form factor. The mix of fitness tracker and smartwatch with decent battery life has worked well for Samsung. In addition to the very extensive equipment, the logical and uncomplicated operation speaks for the Gear Sport.

Only the manageable range of third-party apps and the poorly functioning voice assistant cloud the overall very positive impression.

If you are looking for a smartwatch for everyday and sport use, Gear Sport does everything right. Only a few competing models such as the Huawei Watch 2 currently offer a similar range of functions. However, it runs with Wear OS instead of the very comfortable Tizen interface.

If you can do without GPS and color display, you should alternatively take a look at the Steel HR hybrid smartwatch from Nokia.

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AB SMART HEALTH REVIEW