Samsung Galaxy SmartShoes or Samsung Galaxy Fitbit killer? One is coming…

The great Samsung Galaxy rebrand continues and it means we're saying bye-bye to Gear Fit

Samsung Galaxy Fit
Duncan Bell
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We know that on February 20, Samsung Galaxy S10 will launch, most probably alongside the foldable Samsung Galaxy X. We, however, have been exciting ourselves by imagining that the Korean fridges-to-mobiles giant will also launch a pair of Galaxy SmartShoes. 

Well, there's now some news that either makes that seem more likely, or rules it out entirely, depending on whether you're a glass-half-full guy or not.

So, gather around. According to Sammobile, which is a website that reports on all things Samsung Mobile-related, three new devices have just received Bluetooth certification from… the Bluetooth certificating people. One is a pair of true wireless buds – essentially the Gear IconX rebranded as the more self-explanatory 'Galaxy Buds'. 

The other is a pair of products called Galaxy Fit E, with the less sexy sub-names of SM-R370 and SM-R375. Now sure, that could mean it's a pair of fitness bands/fitness trackers, maybe one with built in GPS or heart-rate tracking, one without, designed to replace the Samsung Gear Fit line. 

But wait. We know there are two variants of the Galaxy SmartShoes (see the main image above). We also know that shoes traditionally come in pairs. So in many ways, the evidence points to two sets of smart shoes: the one on the left aimed at more serious athletes and the one on the right for more 'sports casual' users.

Also, we know that Samsung has used the 'E' suffix before, to denote a tablet whose top-line appeal was based on being stylish, 'e'rgonomic and practical – just like a great pair of running shoes or trainers/sneakers!

Yeah, okay, it's probably just a pair of fitness bands. 

Anyway, whatever it is will utilise Bluetooth 5.0, and come in black, silver, white or yellow. I'm not sure why anyone is bothering to release new fitness trackers in 2019, given that their feature sets have barely changed in the last 3 years, and nobody except your mum is buying them. 

However, Samsung is known to be keen to have everything it makes connected to everything else it makes. So as well as tracking your steps, runs, gym workouts and sleep patterns, maybe it will connect to your Samsung smart fridge and tell it to order lower-calorie foods when it detects you need to work out harder, and decaffeinated coffee when it notes that you aren't sleeping so good.

What's probably most notable about this startling revelation is that Samsung is going all out to brand its products with the formula Galaxy + [easily understandable use case] rather than mucking about with 'Gear' and all that. Maybe soon Bixby will be rebranded as Galaxy AI Nobody Wants. 

Previous Samsung fitness bands have been well made, reasonably attractive and mainly useful only to owners of recent Android devices in general and Samsung phone owners in particular. In the new period of Apple/Samsung détente, with Apple AirPlay and iTunes appearing on Samsung TVs, they'll make the new bands – or shoes! – work more easily with iOS devices. 

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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