Samsung Gear Fit, up close (photos)

The Samsung Gear Fit ($199): one of three new Gear wearables.

Back view of the Fit: It looks more like fitness band than watch.

With Samsung Galaxy S5. The Fit needs a Samsung device to pair with.

You can reject incoming phone calls, and send a canned message back.

The media controller has basic controls, plus volume, and works as a remote for your Samsung phone.

The curved AMOLED display is eye-poppingly bright.

You can check missed calls, but there's no dialer or speakerphone.

A heart-rate monitor checks resting and active heart rate.

Your wrist needs to be positioned properly for heart-rate monitoring to work.

Four exercise modes let you record targeted sessions.

Running mode also coaches you based on heart rate.

You can set goals to achieve: distance, calories, time.

Speed up, slow down, or keep pace based on heart-rate measurement.

Pedometer mode, with a daily 10,000-step goal (or whatever there goal you'd like to set).

The Gear Fit is thicker than you think.

A green LED heart-rate monitor on the back.

The Fit pops out of its band. There are other colors available.

Fitbit Force, Gear Fit, and Nike+ Fuelband SE (left to right).

Nike Fuelband and Gear Fit: similar long displays.

The Gear Fit wristband is similar to the Fitbit Force's.

The Gear Fit next to the original Galaxy Gear (2013).

A snap-on charge dongle connects with Micro-USB.

Syncing with Gear Fit Manager. There are many notifications you can push to the Fit.

Samsung's S Health app isn't always easy to use, and doesn't sync data as effortlessly as you'd expect.

One of the other cool watchfaces to choose from.

Gear Fit and foliage.

Gear Fit next to Pebble Steel.

Notice the glare in daylight.

I just called myself.

The Gear Fit Manager app allows some watch-screen customization on the Fit: putting a kid photo on as the wallpaper.

Sleep tracking mode doesn't give a lot of detail, and it has to be manually started and stopped.

Texts and tweets get compressed on the Fit's vertical display.

The Fit's sub-features are presented as icons. You can swipe and tap on the display, and icons look equally good in vertical and horizontal mode.

A vertical-view mode makes the Fit a much cooler and more useful watch, but that stretched-out display isn't good for everything.