Samsung Galaxy Fit3 review: Not smart enough

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Fitness trackers are a dying category. Before Apple launched its smartwatch, wrist-based wearables were dominated by fitness trackers from brands like Jawbone and Fitbit.

Today though, you’re looking at a much more limited market. Sure, you can find fitness trackers from Garmin and Fitbit for your wrist, but smartwatches are much more readily available.

That’s a shame, particularly when you compare the price tag of fitness trackers vs smartwatches. Which is why Samsung’s decision to launch the Galaxy Fit3 late last year was such welcome news.

But having used the tracker for a couple of months now, I have to say that it’s clear to see why smartwatches dominate the market. While the Galaxy Fit3 will track your exercise reasonably well, and offers solid battery life, I found myself frustrated with it more often than not.

At its full $149 RRP, that makes it a device I probably wouldn’t recommend. But if you can pick it up for under $120 (which you can as I write this) it becomes a decent enough device.

That said, I’d only recommend it if you already use a Samsung smartphone. Even though it technically supports Android devices, the process is laden with frustration.

What is the Galaxy Fit3 offering?

As the name implies, the Galaxy Fit3 is the successor to Samsung’s Galaxy Fit2 fitness tracker. Samsung has made some big improvements with this generation, though.

The Fit3 boasts a 1.6-inch AMOLED display, with a 2.5D curved glass and aluminium design. It’s 45% wider than the Fit2, which means it can show a lot more information on the screen.

The Fit3 is rated for 5ATM and has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, as well as heart rate, blood oxygen and stress monitoring. It will track your sleep, and offers up to 13 days of battery life, though that depends very much on how you use the device.

The key aspect of the Galaxy Fit3 here is that it can track over 100 different exercises. It doesn’t rack a huge amount of detail on a lot of them – you don’t get repetitions while doing bicep curls, for example – but it offers calories burned based on your heart rate and time.

You can choose and control your activities directly from the Fit3’s display, as well as control your music from your phone. There’s no GPS built in, though, so you’ll have to carry your phone on any run or walks you do to get location data.

Samsung has worked hard recently to offer a comprehensive ecosystem of connected apps and services, so while the Galaxy Fit3 technically works with any Android device, it’s designed to work best with Samsung phones.

A big part of that is needing Samsung Health to view your exercise information in any more detail.

That said, there is no support for Samsung Pay or Bixby here – you need to move to a Samsung smartwatch for that.

What does the Galaxy Fit3 do well?

The Fit3 is super easy to use. There’s a single button on the side to compliment the touchscreen controls, which makes it quite versatile.

The controls are familiar for anyone who has ever used a fitness tracker or smartwatch before, with contextual controls when you slide in from the top, bottom, or sides.

The screen itself is also noteworthy. Samsung makes stunning displays, and that’s true here, despite the Fit3’s diminutive size.

The screen works as an Always-On display if it suits you, so it’s always ready to read at a glance. Samsung dims the screen when you aren’t looking at it to help push out that battery life, but you can switch off the Always-On functionality to help push battery life out a bit further.

On the battery life front, I typically got about 10 days, with moderate exercise and the display on. That’s still a lot more than an Apple Watch, which is one of the key reasons you might want to opt for a fitness tracker over a smartwatch.

I found the exercise tracking to be reasonably accurate. Because there’s no integrated GPS, it is less reliable when it doesn’t have your phone to give it more accurate location data. If you are a casual exerciser, that’s probably fine. But if you take it seriously, you should probably spring for a better device.

What could the Galaxy Fit3 improve?

Samsung’s setup process isn’t fun. Pairing it with a Pixel 8 required me to download the Samsung Wearable app, then a secondary app for compatibility with the Fit3, then Samsung Health to be able to see the information.

Of course, I needed to sign in to my Samsung Account as well, which obviously wasn’t already signed in on a Google phone, though I assume the process would be a bit easier with a Samsung smartphone.

The Galaxy Fit3 also uses a custom connector to charge. I cannot express my displeasure at this decision enough – proprietary cables are the bane of my existence, easily misplaced, and difficult to replace. There’s no charger in the box either, so you’ll need to supply your own USB-C wall connector.

This may just be me, but I also didn’t love the band. I found it uncomfortable for extended wear, capturing sweat and irritating my skin.

Verdict

I didn’t love using the Galaxy Fit3. Its functional limitations meant that it wasn’t really delivering on the key features I want in a wearable, like easy payments and voice control.

It did have a stunning display, with plenty of activity tracking, sleep tracking and SpO2 tracking. But even the things it does deliver on are limited by the fact that it requires a phone connection for accurate fitness tracking.

With a proprietary cable and a user experience best suited for Samsung phone owners, I’d really only consider recommending this to people who already own a Galaxy smartphone.

But I also wouldn’t recommend paying full price. See if you can get it for under $120 if you really want to buy one.

Buy Samsung Galaxy Fit3 online

Samsung Galaxy Fit3

RRP:$149

Check Price @ Amazon

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