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Samsung's budget Galaxy Fit-e is a worthy Xiaomi Mi Band rival

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e design 2
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During the first Unpacked event in 2019, Samsung not only announced its new flagship smartphones, but also a number of wearable devices. Among these were two new fitness trackers, the Galaxy Fit and Fit-e, stood out. We have been wearing this latter model for several days and are ready to tell you more about it in this full review.

Samsung Galaxy Fit-e

Good

  • Lightweight and compact
  • Reliable monitoring
  • Water resistant up to 5ATM
  • Samsung Health is an excellent app

Bad

  • Battery life not satisfactory
  • Too many apps to install without a Samsung smartphone
Samsung Galaxy Fit-e
Samsung Galaxy Fit-e
Samsung Galaxy Fit-e: All deals

Samsung can compete with the price

Galaxy Fit-e is already available on the online store of Samsung's official website in some regions, but also on Amazon at the incredible price of 39 euros, a particularly aggressive figure that positions this fitness tracker as a direct competitor to other popular devices, such as Xiaomi Mi Band 3.

The Galaxy Fit-e comes in yellow, white or black coloring. No pricing or release information has been announced for either the UK or the US markets yet. Although Samsung has previously said that it will be arriving at some point during Q2 2019.

So light it feels like you don't have it on your wrist

At a glance, it's really hard to distinguish the Galaxy Fit-e from other commercially available fitness trackers or smart bands. The light and minimal design is very common for this type of device, which manages to go particularly unnoticed in combination with any type of outfit, especially if you buy the black version (you can not say the same of the yellow one).

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e fit
The minimalist design allows it to match any outfit. / © NextPit

Compared to its older brother, the Galaxy Fit-e does not have an AMOLED color display, but a black and white PMOLED panel of 0.74 inches, so the size not exactly huge - it's actually almost half of most fitness trackers - but is still big enough for easy reading of the time and progress made.

Apart from that, you have to say that this device is very light and, weighing only 15 grams (including the strap), you will easily forget to have it on your wrist after a few minutes. The device has no physical button and you can only interact with the interface of the Galaxy Fit-e through the touch display. It will allow you to navigate through the various screens that Samsung is calling widgets.

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e band
The strap can be removed and replaced easily. / © NextPit

Good, as long as you have a Samsung smartphone

To set up and synchronize the Galaxy Fit-e you will need two apps if you use a Samsung smartphone, or four if you own a smartphone from another manufacturer.

Samsung phone owners just need to have the Galaxy Wearable and Samsung Health apps installed because the South Korean manufacturer's devices perfectly integrate the plugins and services necessary for the operation of products belonging to its ecosystem. Otherwise, you will have to install two additional components, the Galaxy Fit Plugin and the Samsung Accessory Service, without which it would be useless to own a Samsung wearable device if you use, say, a OnePlus 6.

galaxy fit e galaxy werable app
Synchronization is quick and easy, especially if you own a Samsung smartphone. / © NextPit
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The first setup is very simple: just open the Galaxy Wearable app, select the Galaxy Fit-e from the list of available devices and it will automatically start searching for your fitness tracker. Once paired, you can navigate through the app's various settings and set up your Galaxy Fit-e in the best possible way.

When it comes to monitoring your physical activity, heart rate, stress and sleep, you'll have to rely on Samsung Health which, with its easy-to-understand interface, ensures that you never lose sight of a single piece of data.

On this last point, I have to congratulate Samsung because it worked really well, making this app practically equal to that of Fitbit.

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e size
The Galaxy Fit-e can monitor every aspect of your daily activity, including stress and sleep. / © NextPit

Sufficient hardware and software for the purpose

Of course, the onboard operating system is neither Tizen OS nor Wear OS, but Realtime OS, Samsung's dedicated fitness tracker operating system, which provides great support for monitoring your activity and workouts. No matter if you are pedaling, running or walking, the Galaxy Fit-e will always be able to detect what activity you are doing.

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e time
Realtime OS is enough to manage the monitoring. / © NextPit

You won't have all the functions released on the new Galaxy Watch Active, including the GPS module, but don't think that the Galaxy Fit-e lacks functionality: here too there are important functions such as stress detection and sleep monitoring, which is fantastic on a device that costs just 39 euros.

galaxy fit e samsung health
Samsung Health allows you to easily track your steps, heart rate and sleep. / © NextPit

The heart rate sensor works very well and can monitor your pulse as long as you wear the Galaxy Fit-e. The Samsung Health app, a reference point for synchronizing all your progress, will be able to show you your heart rate hour by hour via a list or a graph.

Finally, Galaxy Fit-e is also water resistant up to 5ATM, so you'll never have to worry about removing it in the shower, at the beach or in the pool.

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e steps
Galaxy Fit-e offers water resistance up to 5ATM. / © NextPit

I expected better battery life, but...

Under the hood, the Galaxy Fit-e certainly doesn't have a powerful chip, but a simple 96Hz MCU Cortex M0 processor, enough to manage the fitness tracker functions, the heart rate sensor and the accelerometer.

On the other hand, I would have expected longer battery life from this chip. In fact, I was particularly surprised to have to charge the 70 mAh module every two to three days or so. Things are very different if you decide not to receive notifications from your smartphone: turning off this option from the Galaxy Wearable app will get almost a week of autonomy, a much better result if you think you can do without this feature.

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e sensors
The optical sensor detects cardiac activity at any time of day. / © NextPit

Samsung Galaxy Fit-e technical specifications

Money well spent!

Like most fitness trackers today, the Galaxy Fit-e has been able to satisfy me from every point of view. The detection of physical activity, sleep, stress and the calculation of steps are almost perfect, with a very low margin of error.

The only negative thing is probably the battery life that does not allow me to get the same results as I can from its competitors, Fitbit among them. However, two to three days of battery life may be enough for a large number of users, and it is still possible to achieve more by disabling notifications from your smartphone.

androidpit samsung galaxy fit e thumbsup
All in all, the Galaxy Fit-e is great! / © NextPit

Finally, the price is certainly very attractive for users who decide to approach the world of wearable tech for the first time and, above all, for those who own a Samsung device.

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  • 1
    Derpson Jul 20, 2019 Link to comment

    Having used both, the mi band 3 is better. Even on a samsung phone i need to open only 1 app. Compared to two for the fit e.
    Real touch button pad and screen as opposed to accelerometer tap detection. Samsung tricked many people into believing its a single tap screen.
    Better battery life overall even with notifications on. Sleep pattern detection. Continuous heart rate monitoring. Both with hourly display in the mi fit app.
    Also the low battery warning without having to open the app on the mi band is an underrated feature.


  • Maska 1
    Maska Jul 4, 2019 Link to comment

    I need help. Mine galaxy Fit e can't track sleep record really detailed. It just track the hours, not the light sleep,deep sleep and etc.


  • 1
    ivan May 17, 2019 Link to comment

    l had struggled to find a useful app to open a not known extension but the FX is just amazing!

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