Much Better Than Chinese Competitors! Samsung Galaxy Fit3 REVIEW

Samsung has launched the next generation of its fitness bracelet called Galaxy Fit3. I should remind you that the previous model Galaxy Fit 2 was released in 2020. While Xiaomi and other Chinese manufacturers produce fitness bracelets and smart watches every year, we have waited for the new Galaxy smart band more than 3 years.

You know, I haven’t tested any fitness bracelet from Samsung yet, so I will not compare the new Galaxy Fit 3 with the previous models. However, I have tried many bracelets from Xiaomi, Huawei and others.

In this article, I will be comparing the Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 with a smart bracelet from Xiaomi, because I think these are the main competitors.

However, this is a full review of the Samsung Galaxy Fit 3, not a comparison with the Xiaomi Smart Band 8. If you want a detailed comparison of these smart bands, please, write in the comments below.

Let’s start the review with unboxing!

Unboxing

Here is the box of the Samsung Galaxy Fit 3. I have the global version of the bracelet, so everything on the box is in English.

You can see an image of the smart band in black color, because I have a black version, but it is also available in silver and rose gold.

The box contains the fitness bracelet, user manual, warranty card, and magnetic charging cable.

Size and Weight

You know, the Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 is smaller than I expected. It looks bigger in official images than it does in real life. However, this is a good thing because in my opinion a fitness bracelet should be compact and convenient.

The dimensions of the dial are 43 x 28 x 10 mm. The weight without a strap is only 19 grams, but it is 36 grams with a band.

Strap

By the way, the strap is made of TPU. It is soft and pleasant to the skin. The clasp is very secure, and it is even difficult to remove when you wear the bracelet tightly.

In addition, the strap has quick-release buttons, which reminded me of the Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

Body

Going back to the dial, the frame is made of aluminum. Just to remind you, the Galaxy Fit2 had a plastic body.

There is a physical button on the right side of the Galaxy Fit3.

The hole next to the button is not a speaker or microphone. It is actually a barometer.

The back panel has magnetic charging contacts and health tracking sensors. We will talk about health monitors a little later.

Waterproof

Since the Galaxy Fit3 is a fitness bracelet, it is 5ATM and IP68 water resistant. You can use the bracelet in the shower, or even in the swimming pool at a depth of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes.

I think that’s all about design. The main upgrades compared to the previous model are an aluminum body, and a larger screen.

Display

Talking about the screen, now it has a diagonal of 1.6 inches. It is much bigger than the Galaxy Fit2. However, it is still a bit smaller than the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 with a 1.62-inch display.

By the way, which display shape do you like better, Samsung or Xiaomi fitness bracelet? Write in the comments below.

Always-On Display Mode

The Galaxy Fit3 has an AMOLED panel with Always-on Display support, but it is not a surprise because the Galaxy Fit2 also had it.

Ambient Light Sensor

A new feature is the light sensor, thanks to which the Galaxy Fit3 supports adaptive brightness. This is a very useful and important feature, and I’m glad it is here.

By the way, I forgot to tell you the screen resolution. It is 256 x 402 pixels.

Overall, I like the display of the Galaxy Fit3. It is good both indoors and outdoors. Compared to the screen of the previous model Galaxy Fit2, it has a larger diagonal, higher resolution and a light sensor. It is a very decent upgrade.

Operating System

Now let’s talk about the functions of the new Samsung fitness bracelet.

First, I saw on the official website that the Galaxy Fit3 has an operating system called FreeRTOS. The developer of this system is Amazon Web Services. I am surprised Samsung hasn’t made its own system for fitness bracelets. However, it doesn’t really matter if the Galaxy Fit3 works well.

Watch Faces

The main watch face of the new Samsung fitness bracelet looks pretty simple to me, but you can change it by tapping and holding on the screen. There are seven watch faces out of the box, but hundreds more are available in the companion app on smartphone. We will talk about this app later in this article.

Tiles

When swiping left and right on the display, you can see dots on top that show the main watch face and number of widgets. This is very convenient.

First, you can read new notifications by swiping right.

If you swipe left, there is daily activity info, workout modes, sleep info, weather, calendar, music player, heart rate monitor, and cycle tracking. You can also add other widgets, such as alarm, timer, world clock, Blood Oxygen, Food, Health Summary, Steps, stress, together, water, monthly calendar and weather forecast.

Quick Settings Menu

The Galaxy Fit3 also has quick settings menu with following functions: sleep mode, power off, do not disturb mode, Always-On Display, Settings menu, Mute and Vibrate modes, Flashlight, Find Phone, Theater Mode, Flight mode, Water Lock Mode, and Screen Brightness.

By the way, when you activate any of the modes, their icons appear on the main watch face. This is another convenient feature of the Galaxy Fit3 operating system.

All Functions Menu

Finally, you can swipe up to see the other functions of the new Samsung fitness bracelet, such as Health, Media Controller, Find my Phone, Weather, Calendar, Timer, Alarm, Stopwatch, World Clock, Calculator, Camera Remote and Settings.

You know, I feel like the Galaxy Fit3 has more functions than the Xiaomi Smart Band 8. If I do a comparison of these fitness bracelets, I will make sure to compare all the functions.

Now, let’s look at the settings of the Galaxy Fit3.

Settings Menu

First, we can turn on sleep mode and theater mode in the settings.

The notifications menu has app notifications, but you can manage them on the smartphone. Then we can select Show notifications when phone not in use and even when phone in use. Then, we can mute notifications on phone, and enable Do not disturb mode.

The advanced settings are Notification indicator, Show with details, Turn on screen, and auto turn on band notifications for new phone apps.

After notifications, you can set up vibration of the fitness bracelet.

The display settings include brightness, Adaptive brightness, Always-On display, raise wrist to wake, touch screen to wake, show media controls, screen timeout, show last app and show charging info.

There are also Samsung Health settings available on the Galaxy Fit3.

The security and privacy menu has Lock type, such as PIN and none, and wrist detection.

One of the main features of the Galaxy Fit3 is Emergency SOS. You can find it in the Safety and Emergency menu. There is also medical info, emergency contacts, and hard fall detection in this menu.

You can also go to Advanced features, General, Tips and Tutorials and About Band on the Galaxy Fit3.

You know, this is the first fitness bracelet from Samsung that I am testing, so I was surprised to see an operating system called FreeRTOS. However, now I see that it has many useful functions and settings. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 is fast and smooth.

Now let’s talk about the mobile app. When connecting the fitness bracelet, I had a few problems.

Pairing with Smartphone

You know, I am an iPhone user, so first I tried to connect the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 to my iPhone. However, the initial screen says that Samsung Health app is only available in Samsung App Store and Google Play Store.

Then I tried connecting the fitness bracelet to the Android smartphone from Infinix. The fitness tracker was detected, but the connection failed.

Fortunately, my friend has a Samsung smartphone. As soon as I brought the bracelet to the Samsung phone, it prompted me to connect it.

So, it is better to have a smartphone from Samsung, if you want to use the Galaxy Fit3. You can also try to connect the bracelet to another Android phone, but I failed.

The Samsung Galaxy Fit3 actually uses the Samsung Wearable app to connect and set up the bracelet, and the Samsung Health app for health tracking and sports functions.

Samsung Wearable App

In the Samsung Wearable app, you can select your favorite watch faces, as well as upload the new ones.

Then, you can change the order of the applications on the apps screen.

You know, I showed the widgets on the Galaxy Fit3, but they are called Tiles in the app. You can also remove or add tiles, as well as change their order.

Finally, you can add or remove buttons on the Quick panel.

The Band Settings are the same as on the fitness bracelet, such as modes, notifications, vibration, display, etc.

Samsung Health App

If you want to track your health, you need to open the Samsung Health app. There are steps, workout modes, sleep information, sleep coaching, food, body composition, heart rate, stress level, cycle tracking, water reminder, and blood oxygen on the Home screen.

The Fitness tab has many workout modes, including Meditation, Weight Loss, Build Muscle, and others.

Heart Rate and spO2

Now I want to compare the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 with Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

First, let’s measure my heart rate before workout. It is about the same on Samsung and Xiaomi fitness bracelets – 72 bpm.

After squats, my heart rate goes up to 103 bpm.

The blood oxygen level on the Samsung fitness bracelet is 96%, and it is 97% on the Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

As you can see, the heart rate and spO2 values of Samsung and Xiaomi fitness bracelets are almost identical.

Sleep

I also decided to track my sleep on the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 and Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

I put them on last night before going to bed. In the morning, I looked at the bracelets. They show total sleep time, time when I fell asleep and woke up, as well as sleep phases.

To see more information about sleep, we need to open Samsung Health and Mi Fitness apps on the smartphone.

In the Mi Fitness app, we can see the sleep score of 69, as well as the diagram and stages of sleep.

As for the Samsung Health, the sleep score is 81. We can read the factors that influenced the sleep score.

By the way, the sleep stages diagrams of the Galaxy Fit3 and Xiaomi Smart Band 8 are similar, right?

There are also sleep consistency, achievements, blood oxygen during sleep and snoring functions in the Samsung Health app.

So, the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 has more sleep information and functions in the app than the Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

Workout Modes

The Galaxy Fit3 has more than 100 sports modes, but its main feature for me here is auto detecting and tracking popular workouts, such as running, walking, elliptical, and even swimming.

So, if you forget to start the sport mode, don’t worry, the Galaxy Fit3 will automatically track your activity.

To give you an example, let’s run the walking mode.

During a workout, you can see the duration, distance, steps, calories, average pace, speed and your heart rate, average heart rate and maximum heart rate.

By the way, the fitness bracelet automatically pauses the sport mode when you stop walking.

You can also control your music when playing sports, as well as add a new workout, resume, and finish. The settings include workout screen, auto pause and screen always on.

By the way, you can even minimize the sport mode, and use the other functions of the Galaxy Fit3. The icon on the main watch face says that sport mode is active. That’s really cool. The new Samsung fitness bracelet supports multitasking.

Walking Mode

Let’s compare the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 and Xiaomi Smart Band 8 once again. I started the walking mode on both bracelets and went for a 20-minute walk. 

By the way, neither Samsung nor Xiaomi don’t have built-in GPS. They use GPS from a connected smartphone, but I turned off the Bluetooth on my phone, so the bracelets didn’t use GPS tracking during my test.

Now you can see that the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 has almost 1 minute more workout than the Galaxy Fit3 because I stopped for a while to rest, and the Samsung bracelet automatically pauses the workout.

The Samsung fitness tracker says that I have walked 1.64km and 2097 steps, while the Xiaomi bracelet reports about 1.59 km and 2090 steps.

You know, the results are pretty much the same.

Battery

Talking about battery of the Galaxy Fit3, it has a capacity of 208mAh and up to 13 days of battery life on a single charge.

It is a little less than the previous model Galaxy Fit2, but the new fitness bracelet has a much bigger display. So, I think this is a good battery life for it.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning of this article, the Galaxy Fit3 is the first fitness bracelet I’m testing from Samsung. You know, I really like it.

First, it has a larger display compared to the previous model Galaxy Fit2, but it is still a compact and lightweight fitness bracelet. In fact, the Galaxy Fit3 is much more comfortable for me than the Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

The operating system of the new Samsung fitness bracelet was a pleasant surprise for me because it has many functions and settings. In addition, the system supports multitasking, so you can minimize the sport mode.

As for the workout modes and sleep tracking, they are about the same as the Xiaomi fitness bracelet.

The only problem, but a very big one, is that the Galaxy Fit3 only connects to  Samsung smartphones. The app is not available for iPhone, and I haven’t been able to connect the bracelet to the Android device. If you succeeded, write in the comments below.