Back in February, as everyone’s attention was on the shiny new smartphones – including the foldable Galaxy Fold – that Samsung was announcing, another announcement may have easily slipped everyone’s attention.
The Galaxy Fit e, an inexpensive wearable in the company’s expanding wearables lineup, barely got a mention or any press time.
As days have gone on and most of the devices that Samsung took to stage to show off to the world have since hit the market – save for the embarrassment that has become its first consumer-ready attempt at a foldable device – attention has now shifted to the tiny 0.7-inch Galaxy Fit-e which operates within the shadows of the Galaxy Fit.
With a recent public listing of the Fit e on Samsung’s website and subsequent apparent sightings in Albania and claims of a May 21st US availability, the Fit-e can no longer hide. However, what’s compounding matters is Samsung’s silence in all this. The company is not confirming or denying any of the rumours flying left, right and centre about the Galaxy Fit e.
This is interesting because I happened to have sighted the Galaxy Fit e on sale to the public in the Spanish capital of Madrid on Sunday afternoon. And no, this was not a Samsung brand store but rather, a shop that also had other consumer electronics on sale as well – the whole reason why I found myself there in the first place. Heck, there was even a Xiaomi Mi Band 3, one of the entry-level fitness trackers that the Galaxy Fit e is going head-to-head with, on sale as well.
As per the attached retail tag (see the picture below), the Galaxy Fit e goes for 40 Euros, around the ballpark that it’s been previously said to be priced at. It’s listed for a little (by Kshs 500) less on Samsung UAE’s site, the closest we could get to home.
The Galaxy Fit e, as already noted, features a 0.74-inch PMOLED monochrome display with a pixel count of 193 pixels per inch, a 70mAh battery, Bluetooth 5, a water resistance rating of up to about 40 metres and an accelerometer.
While the Fit e has a heart rate sensor, it only springs into action on-demand, like when one is exercising instead of being always on as is the case on other Samsung wearables, including the standard Galaxy Fit. This is so that the Fit e and its tiny battery is able to deliver on the week-long battery life that Samsung is promising.
It does not have GPS support.
Unlike other Samsung devices like the Galaxy Watch Active which was announced at the same time as the Fit and the Fit e which run on full-fledged Tizen, the Fit e is powered by Free RTOS which works well with the kind of architecture (MCU Cortex Mo) that the digital fitness bracelet is based on.
One would’ve expected that Samsung would’ve instead gone with TizenRT, the lightweight real-time operating system it is banking on for its Internet of Things (IoT) lineup.
Make no mistake, though, the Fit e will still be managed through the Galaxy Wearable app (previously known as Gear Manager) which can be found on the Google Play Store and Samsung’s own Galaxy Store.
With Samsung’s new budget devices featuring support for the company’s expansive accessory lineup, including its Galaxy wearables, the Galaxy Fit e looks primed for the Kenyan market soon. The company had already confirmed the local availability of the Watch Active and the standard Fit during the Galaxy S10 and S10+ local unveiling.
