Smartwatch sales have been on the rise, with 2018 estimated to be selling around 141 one thousand thousand units globally.

But when it comes to superlative sellers, the Apple Lookout man has been consistently topping the charts. In fact, reports land that it sold more watches than Rolex, Omega and Swatch combined in the last quarter. That is no mean feat. In the Android Wear infinite, nosotros oasis't seen any brand having as strong a agree over the smartwatch market. But Apple's smartphone rival, Samsung has been consistently releasing smartwatches and the last couple of generations it has moved away from Android Article of clothing, I mean Wear OS, and is releasing smartwatches with its homegrown Tizen OS.

The Samsung Gear Sport represents the second generation of Tizen watches, which was started by the Samsung Gear S3 final year. The Samsung Gear Sport priced at Rs 22,990, provides a good alternative to the Apple Watch Serial three or even any other Android Wear sentinel at the moment. The design is corking, just the Bone support has its limits due to the fact that information technology uses Tizen Bone. If yous aren't an Apple user merely want a adept looking fitness companion gadget, the Gear Sport is definitely something you should consider.

Let'due south meet why it'south a good alternative.

Build and Design: viii/x

Samsung has done a good job with the pattern of the Gear Sport. For starters, there is no flat-tyre aesthetic and you get the complete circular sentinel brandish which is pleasant to look at. It measures 1.2-inches and has a 360 x 360-pixel display. This comes with Corning Gorilla Drinking glass 3 protection, so you don't accept to carp with scratches destroying the surface of the brandish.

I got the blueish coloured strap design which is 20 mm lengthwise and looked decent on my medium sized wrists. For someone with large hands, this may look a wee bit tiny in comparison. Thanks to the use of silicone fabric, information technology is easily washable and I never felt uncomfortable or had any irritation with the fitting despite using it in sunny situations. A simple notch on the base of the straps, lets you easily detach them in case yous desire to modify the straps. You can get any strap you want from your nearest sentry shop and it does non have to be purchased from a Samsung store only.

The Gear Sport measures 42.ix mm x 44.6 mm and is eleven.vi mm thick. These dimensions are smaller than those seen on the Gear S3 that was launched last year. And thanks to the 67 chiliad with the strap, it does not feel besides heavy either. The top bezel is made of shiny stainless steel which is dark blueish in colour with a thick plastic base which likewise houses the heart charge per unit sensor. While the bezel design seems similar the kinds whose colour would come off later on brushing against a rough surface, I did not face that issue in the three week period that I was testing the lookout. The rotating bezel has a squeamish clicky feel to information technology and rotating it anti-clockwise will evidence you lotthe notifications and clockwise rotation will bring up the apps. This a much more comfy implementation than the tiny Apple Watch crown. The two buttons protruding out are a chip stiff simply accept a skillful feedback. The top push helps you get back whereas the bottom push brings up the apps. Some other way to interact with the display is via the touch interface.

It comes with the water resistance chops — up to 50 meters or 5ATM of pressure. This means you can take it forth for a bath or while swimming in the puddle or at sea and in that location won't be any issues. For a Sports watch, that is a minimum requirement at present and it's expert to see Samsung deliver.

Features: 7/10

Samsung Gear Sport is a smartwatch outset and a fettle tracker later. So information technology houses all the basics that you would wait of a smartwatch. The i.two-inch Super AMOLED display comes with a 360 ten 360-pixel resolution. Information technology houses a dual-cadre processor with 768 MB RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. Just similar the Gear S3, Samsung has stuck with Tizen OS 3.0 with the Gear Sport too. And I must say, it has evolved quite well.

Since this is a fitness tracker cum smartwatch, you have all the sensors that are perhaps expected from this category of smartwatches. You become the accelerometer, heart-rate sensor, gyrometer, barometer and ambient calorie-free sensor. In terms of connectivity, yous become Bluetooth 4.two, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS with GLONASS with NFC which is helpful with Samsung Pay payments. There'southward a congenital-in microphone for voice commands as well.

The congenital-in GPS comes as a boon to people like me who do not always similar to bear along the phone on their runs but want to map the route that was run. Thanks to the iv GB storage (half of which is taken upwards by the software), y'all can store songs on the Gear Sport which you tin can listen to after pairing your Bluetooth headset when running.

Having support for Wi-Fi on the watch helps in situations when yous may not have a telephone well-nigh you, but want to however stay beside of all the notifications that are coming on your smartphone. And then long as the watch and the phone are continued to the internet, y'all will continue to receive the notifications on the watch.

Software: seven/10

The Samsung Gear Sport houses the Tizen 3.0 user interface. The interface seems to accept been tailor-made for the rotating punch effectually the display of the watch. As the operating arrangement on the spotter is different from the phone you lot volition be pairing it with, the notifications are just that. Dissimilar say an Apple Lookout, y'all cannot interact with any notifications. For case, yous cannot respond to a WhatsApp message or if you have an email notification, you cannot read the content of the email just only the subject line and and then on. This aspect is quite limiting and prevents the 'smart' aspects of the Gear Sport.

Merely if you are into fettle, this is a great companion. You get features to rail your steps, calories, distance, floors climbed and then on. The steps tracker and the floors climbed sensor isn't exactly accurate and you will demand to accept that in your pace. Even random motility of the wrist or a peculiarly long drive can count towards steps at times. It can track activities such as Running, Walking, Cycling and Swimming. You can change watch faces from the Samsung Gear app. But to track your activities, you will need the Samsung Health app on your device. Information technology's a bit of a roundabout implementation — first download Gear app, then the Samsung Health app for tracking and so on. I tested the Gear with the Apple tree iPhone X. With Samsung devices, since the Health app comes pre-loaded, it is a much simpler fashion to sync the Gear Sport to the phone. If you want to download anything from the Gear shop, then y'all will need a Samsung login.

There are some neat flourishes such as prompts to do the 'body twist' or become moving if you are sitting steady for a long duration. Y'all too become motivational thanks if you are doing particularly well on that long walk. I liked the graphical way of representing the activity at a quick glance when yous rotate the punch in a clockwise direction.

Performance and Usability: vii/10

The first affair that bellyaching me about the Samsung Gear Sport was the fact that it took a good couple of seconds before the display would plow on and show me the watch face after I went to check on the fourth dimension. Sometimes it just didn't calorie-free upward and needed a tap on the side to power up. This was especially annoying when compared to the Apple Watch's responsive sensors which immediately lit up the smartwatch display if you lot turned your wrist to your face up.

The notifications, similar I said earlier, are quite limiting, in the sense that you cannot interact with them. For someone who has used the Apple Watch, this can be annoying. But due to the Tizen OS 3.0 interface, one tin understand the software limitations. Only if you lot are spending over Rs 20,000, you expect Samsung to have that aspect covered.

In terms of fitness tracking, the Gear Sport was fairly accurate. Of course, it does tend to tape some false hand movements every bit steps likewise. Co-ordinate to reports, the heart rate accuracy is in line with medical-course middle rate equipment. GPS locking was quick and the map road was in line with the one I used to walk on.

The Samsung Health app seems a bit basic when one compares it to the Apple's Activeness app. Integrations with Google Fit or Apple tree Health are missing. In terms of activities, there are a bunch of them if y'all go to the Manage Items tab. Some of the many exercises apart from walking, running, cycling, include arm curls, bench printing, canoeing, cricket and so on. You tin as well track your food and water and caffeine intake, but that requires y'all to input the data.

One affair I liked was that it automatically detects your workout, even if y'all haven't explicitly selected it provided you are at it for more than 10 mins. I would always select the right option before my run, but at times I would like it that the tracker recorded a run equally a run and non a walk because I forgot to actuate the Running exercise mode.

Battery Life: seven.five/10

This is one thing I loved well-nigh the Gear Sport. Being an Apple Watch user, I am used to charging the Watch after a day and half of use. And if I become running, it has to be charged sooner. With the Gear Sport, I realised that I could go for two days without bothering with charging the device and I still had some bombardment life left. With the always-on display that number reduces. The 300 mAh battery is sufficient for your smartwatch needs equally it ensures that the devices stays slim, while not compromising on the battery life. Merely dissimilar the Watch, the charging device for the Gear Sport is a dock which may not actually be the most portable chargers effectually and it does accept quite a while to accuse. It does firm the sentry snugly though.

Verdict and Toll

If you do not have an Apple iPhone, at that place is barely any incentive to go for an Apple Picket. If you are looking for an alternative to the Sentinel, I would propose the Gear Sport over the many Android Article of clothing or Wear OS sporting watches out there. Yes, in that location are limitations due to the Tizen OS three.0 only that does not mar the overall experience. I would've liked it if I could interact with the notifications like I do on the Sentinel. Possibly Samsung volition permit that in the next generation? Who knows. But in terms of overall usability, I was pleased and although there are shortcomings, this is the best alternative to the Apple tree Watch at the moment.

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