Samsung is bringing another wearable to market, this time in the form of a second fitness band. The S Band has no touch screen, no clock face or readout to note, but looks more like a watch than other wearables. When compared to the Gear Fit, there isn’t much difference. Samsung had an S Band working (and announced) long before today, but it never made it to market.
The information from SamMobile was gained via sales presentation for the device, and shows a wearable which may not be as smart as we’d like. It keeps track of your activity through similar means to the Gear Fit, and also uses your Samsung smartphone to display info to you. Via the S Health app, users of the S Band will be able to find a count of steps taken, as well as calories burned. A sleep monitor feature is also noted, but details on that remain sketchy.
Since it’s tethered to your smartphone, the band will also serve as a simple notification center. We’ll get a little bing or buzz when we get a message or call, and the device can even find your phone. If the devices are ever more than 10 meters apart, they get separation anxiety and start, well, binging and buzzing.
Nothing about this is official, but it doesn’t look to be very exciting. It’s more like a Gear Fit in a new form factor, and is exactly what we expect from Samsung. Like they’ve done with smartphones, they’re just saturating the market with devices to see what works. Availability and pricing are still unknown, but with a sales guide leaking, it’s a safe bet we’d see this roll out with the Galaxy S5 in April.
