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Gear of the Year Awards – Wearables

Wearable technology has certainly taken off in the past few years, with every major tech company offering some sort of device that tracks the wearer’s movement, vital signs and other health-related activities. As the tech has matured, those devices have become even better; here’s the one that our readers thought deserved top marks.

WINNER

Samsung Gear Fit2
Price: R3499

[su_box title=”Specifications” box_color=”#f37021″]
• Samsung’s Tizen Operating System
• GPS, GLONASS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
• 1.5″ (38.8mm) Curver Super AMOLED display @ 432×216
• 4GB ROM, 500MB RAM
• Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, HR Sensor
• 200mAh Battery
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Sjoe, this was a close one, culminating in a showdown between two of the biggest names in wearable gadgetry. Both the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 and Apple’s Smart Watch 2 were strong contenders to win the category, but the Fit 2 just edged Apple’s latest smart watch out by a miniscule 0.2% margin to win the overall reader’s choice award.

So while both wearables are clearly the top wearables in the category to the SA public, slightly more Samsung fans than Apple fans voted. Sorry, Apple fans.

That said, the Fit 2 is a worthy winner on its own merits. Reviews the world over have it as the best health and fitness tracker that Samsung has brought out, as it’s comfortable, well-designed and exactly as sensitive as needed to accurately track workouts and other biometrics. You don’t even have to tell it how you’re exercising, as its sensors determine that automatically through use of clever algorithms.

And that screen… wow! Who would have imagined they’d have a crisp, responsive AMOLED touchscreen on their wrist by the end of 2016? But that’s exactly what Samsung delivered, and by most accounts people are very impressed with it. And then there’s the little fact that it’s also priced more aggressively than Apple’s Watch, something that always goes down well with the SA public.

You can take several lessons from the tiny sliver of a victory margin between the two devices: both wearables are fantastic and worthy of your time, attention and money, and no matter which you go for, you’ll be the ultimate winner.

[su_box title=”Votes” box_color=”#f37021″]
Percentage of votes: 25.6%
Runners-up: Apple Watch Series 2 (25.4%), FitBlaze (20.6%)
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Journalist’s choice

Clinton Matos

The Fit2 gets my choice for one simple reason: the ability to store its own music and play it back over Bluetooth. All you need is some wireless headphones and you can exercise or go about your day without having to mess around with your phone. It’s an all-in-one solution that is extremely tempting, even for those who don’t like wearables. It’s an added bonus that it’s a lot more affordable than that other company’s flagship watch too.

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