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Samsung Gear Fit runs RTOS instead of Android or Tizen

Samsung Gear Fit runs RTOS instead of Android or Tizen

By Hitesh Arora | Updated: 27 March 2014 16:07 IST

The "world's first" wearable device with a curved Super AMOLED touch display - the Samsung Gear Fit - won't be coming with either Tizen or Android OS. The Korean electronics giant has loaded its new fitness band, the Gear Fit, with a real-time operating system (RTOS) instead.

According to the company, the RTOS loaded on Gear Fit is a simpler platform that processes data significantly faster than the others.

"It's a much simpler OS, and it helps us keep the battery life three to four days whereas Gear 2 is [about] two days," Seshu Madhavapeddy, senior vice president of product and technology at Samsung Telecommunications America, told CNET.

The Samsung Gear Fit is smaller and lighter than the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches, and is focused on health. The benefit of incorporating RTOS is that it allowed Samsung to utilize a smaller amount of memory and a less powerful processor on the Gear Fit.

Samsung suggests that while the RTOS is a much simpler OS, it still comes with multitasking capabilities. It uses a set of predetermined simple tasks which helps speed up the functionality and allows the Gear Fit to last three or four days off of a single charge.

The downside of the simpler RTOS is that it does not allow developers to create 3rd party apps for the Gear Fit directly. Instead, developers can use a specific SDK to customise their Android apps to work with it, sending notifications to the band.

Samsung on Thursday launched Gear Fit, Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo in India, alongside the Galaxy S5. The Gear Fit features a 1.84-inch Super AMOLED display with a 432 x 128 pixel resolution. It comes with a pedometer, heart rate monitor, and a sleep monitor. Other built-in functions include a fitness app, exercise mode, stopwatch, timer, schedule, smart relay, media controller. Additionally, the users will get active notification alerts for SMS, calls, e-mail and apps on the Gear Fit.

A 210mAh battery powers the Samsung Gear Fit, which gives a typical usage of 3 to 4 days and up to 5 days with low usage. The device measures in at 23.4 x 57.4 x 11.95 mm (body only) and weighs 27 grams.

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