Samsung was one of the first players to ride this current wave of smartwatches and yesterday it launched second generation Gear series in India along with the flagship phone Galaxy S5. The Gear 2 Neo is similar in design and functionality to Gear 2 minus the camera. Both Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit have been priced at Rs. 15,900 INR, so which one would you rather pick?
Display and Processor
The Gear 2 Neo has been designed to look and function like a watch and hence features a bulky square dial with its 1.63 inch super AMOLED display with 320 x 320 pixels spread across it. The Gear Fit on the other hand comes with an oblong 1.84 inch curved super AMOLED display with 432 x 128 pixels across.
Having spend brief amount of time with both the Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit, we found Gear Fit’s display more desirable and beautiful. Gear fit looks more like a fitness band and differentiates itself from a watch and other fitness bands that we have seen.
The processor used in Gear 2 is 1 GHz dual core processor backed by 512 MB RAM and that on gear fit is rather simpler 180 MHz ARM Cortex M4 unit. We didn’t find any of the two to be sluggish in UI transitions.
Internal Storage and Software
Gear 2 Neo is equipped with 4 GB of onboard memory and you can directly download songs on Gear 2 Neo, which is a nice improvement over Galaxy Gear. The Gear Fit is not meant for such usage and does not come with internal storage.
The Gear 2 Neo runs on Samsung’s own Tizen OS but shares the same interface as its predecessor galaxy gear. Android wasn’t designed for smartwatches and Samsung’s use of Tizen OS is a good move. In future we can expect wearable devices to run on Android Wear, Googles new operating system for wearables.
The Gear Fit on the other hand ditches both Android and Tizen OS for Real Time Operating System (RTOS) which helps improve battery backup and will execute simple tasks without much delay. But the bad news is that developers can’t make Apps for Gear Fit. It will only perform basic fitness related tasks like counting your foot steps and sensing your heart rate.
Battery and Features
Gear 2 will last for about 2 to 3 days on its 300 mAh battery and Gear Fit will last slightly longer (3 – 4 days according to Samsung), thanks to the less taxing RTOS. Both Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit can be used for fitness monitoring via pedometer and heart rate sensor. They can be integrated with S Health 3.0 App on Galaxy 5. Gear 2 Neo can do more with several apps in Gear App store. It can also act as TV remote with help of IrLED sensor.
Key Specs
| Model | Gear 2 Neo | Gear Fit |
| Display | 1.63 Inch , 320 x 320 | 1.84 Inch 432 X 128 |
| Processor | 1 GHz Dual Core | 180 MHz |
| RAM | 512 MB | NA |
| Internal Storage | 4 GB, Expandable | NA |
| OS | Tizen OS | RTOS |
| Camera | None | None |
| Battery | 300 mAh(2 – 3 days) | 3 – 4 days |
| Price | 15,900 INR | 15,900 INR |
Conclusion
Gear Fit and Gear 2 Neo share a similar pricetag but are meant to compete in different leagues. The Gear Fit is a polished fitness band with attractive design as compared to Gear 2 Neo, where as Gear 2 Neo has broader perspective and has been designed so as you don’t have to take your galaxy smartphone out of your pocket so often.
