Although released last year, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Active 2 is still one of the most popular and best smartwatches on the market, it runs on the same Tizen OS 5.5 as the recently released Galaxy Watch 3 and is equipped with lots of features which are a lot similar to what you can get from the newly released Fitbit Sense which was released alongside Versa 3. The Sense comes with ECG, body temperature, and EDA stress sensor which makes it one of the most comprehensive fitness trackers. In this post, I compare the design and features of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 vs Fitbit Sense head-to-head to find out the differences and to help you make a more informed choice.
There’s an LTE model of Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 which is a standalone smartwatch and has a case made of stainless steel, however, this comparison is between Fitbit Sense and the Bluetooth model of Active 2.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 vs Fitbit Sense Full Specifications Compared
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The Differences?
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- Design
- Watch Faces and Apps
- Media Storage
- Connectivity
- Fitness Tracking
- Notifications
- Battery Life
We start off with the design, both Active 2 and Sense spot a decent aesthetics that leaves each of these two with an elegant and stylish appearance. Each of these two has a case made of aluminum which results in a very lightweight design. I like the compactness of both smartwatches which makes any of these two an ideal smartwatch for sport and otherwise. I never had any problem wearing the Active 2 to bed. Although, there is a slight difference in the bezel materials, while Active 2 has an aluminum bezel, its stainless steel bezel for Fitbit Sense. The straps on both smartwatches is made of silicone and this doesn’t irritate the skin, it’s perhaps one of the most popular materials used in making the straps of many smartwatches on the market.
The display of both smartwatches is very colorful as it’s powered by AMOLED. It’s easy to read the Active 2 under low light, however, not the best experience to read under direct sunlight which is common for AMOLED powered devices.
In terms of navigation, Active 2 offers more ways to interact with the device. It has a digital rotating bezel and has 2 physical buttons with a touch-sensitive screen compared to Sense which is also touch-sensitive in addition to a haptic button that can be unresponsive unless pressed real-hard. The haptic button is new to Fitbit Sense and Versa 3.
While the Fitbit App is the companion app for Fitbit Sense, the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app is the companion app for Active 2. Both apps allow you to install watch faces, install apps, manage notifications, and manage other settings. From the respective apps, you can access lots of proprietary and third-party watch faces as well as apps. There lots of watch faces and apps for Active 2 on the Samsung Galaxy Store. I like that you can easily install watch faces and apps directly from the Active 2 which isn’t possible with Sense. And while you can only store a maximum of 5 watch faces on Sense, you store far more watch faces on Active 2.
Both smartwatches allow you to store music on the watch, but Sense has limited music storage options. You can’t add your personal music to Fitbit Sense, you can only control the Spotify playlist on your phone and download Pandora stations and Deezer playlists. Unlike Active 2 which offers you access to these premium services and allows you to effortlessly add content to the watch from its companion app.
Both smartwatches have a microphone and loudspeaker, however, the loudspeaker in Fitbit Sense seems to be useless. It doesn’t allow you to hear Alexa nor can you play music aloud, you will need to rely on a Bluetooth headphone to enjoy content on Sense. Meanwhile, you can play music aloud on Active 2, and you can also hear Bixby.
As I pointed out earlier, both smartwatches have a microphone and loudspeaker which should enable Bluetooth calling, however, only the Active 2 allows you to sync your contacts to the watch and also make and receive calls which you can’t do with Sense. You can only answer calls on Fitbit Sense which you must continue on your connected phone.
Both Active 2 and Sense are well equipped to track your health (mind you, these are just tracking devices, always contact your Doctor) and help you stay fit. Each of these two will track all the basics which include my steps, distance, calories, heart rate, sleep, managing stress, and more.
Both Active 2 and Sense track sleep in four stages; REM, light, deep, and awake, and you also get to see your sleep trend from their respective companion apps. Each of these two will also track your heart rate and show the resting heart rate as well as the heart rate range. Fitbit uses your time spent in your heart rate range to calculate Active Zone Minutes.
There’s inbuilt GPS in each of these two which makes these two decent choices for tracking your outdoor workout activities. I like that I can view my routes directly from the Active 2 after a workout which isn’t possible with Sense.
Each of these two smartwatches features ECG tracking that can help detect irregular heart rhythms. Moreover, Active 2 features blood pressure monitoring which Sense lacks, while there’s a body temperature sensor in Sense that monitors your body temperature for changes. Active 2 also features incidental fall detection and has 39 preloaded sport modes compared to 20 on Sense.
Each of these two smartwatches allows you to manage notifications received on the connected phone. From the respective apps, you can select apps you want to receive notifications from, and both smartwatches offer you three ways to reply to notifications. You can reply with voice, quick replies, and emojis. However, Active 2 offers more ways to manage notifications. There are more quick replies on Active 2 compared to a maximum of 5 on Sense that you can only customize.
You also get to see chat history on Active 2 which isn’t possible with Sense.
When I tested the Active 2 battery life against Fitbit Versa 3, I got approximately 2 days long battery life which falls short compared to Sense which can last 4-5 days.
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Which is Better?
Although each of these two smartwatches is fitness-focused and well designed, I think Active 2 is a better smartwatch than Fitbit Sense as far as features are concerned, it also looks more attractive.
On the other end, Fitbit Sense is a comprehensive fitness tracker with impressively long battery life.
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