Samsung Galaxy Watch Active review: Slim, round and half the price of the Apple Watch

The Galaxy Watch Active ($200 at Amazon) is the sportier, slimmer sibling of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Watch ($294 at Amazon) from 2018. It’s a lighter model of the watch in each sense of the phrase, with a noticeably thinner physique and a barely smaller display screen that is available in just one dimension with no LTE possibility. Still, it is at a  value that is exhausting to beat. At $200 , it is virtually half the worth of an Apple Watch Series 4 ($385 at Amazon) and $130 cheaper than the unique Galaxy Watch. It additionally lacks the Apple Watch’s extra superior coronary heart and well being options. But it one-ups the equally priced Fitbit Versa ($194 at Amazon), with onboard GPS, higher integration for Android telephones, and Spotify help, though the Fitbit nonetheless wins for battery life. View full gallery The Galaxy Watch Active has a sportier look than its predecessors. 
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If you have already got a Galaxy Watch, you possibly can in all probability skip the Active (except you are actually craving that sportier design), but when that is your first smartwatch and you are a Galaxy or Android person, it is undoubtedly a high contender. It has all of the options you may want from a smartwatch and health tracker in a snug, well-priced package deal. A design that will not weigh you down The Galaxy Watch Active improves upon one in all my largest design complaints of its older sibling, its thickness. But sadly it is on the expense of one in all my favourite from earlier Samsung smartwatches: That rotating bezel.  I have been a giant fan of the spherical watch face and rotating bezel on Samsung’s sensible watches for the reason that Galaxy Gears. Samsung refined the look in final yr’s Galaxy Watch, making it look extra like a standard analog watch, and it lastly seemed good on my comparatively skinny wrist. The rose gold colour possibility did not harm the look both. The one factor getting in the best way for me was how a lot it stood (profile sensible) above my wrist. It wasn’t snug sufficient to sleep in and would consistently get caught on my exercise garments once I peeled off layers on the gymnasium. View full gallery The rose gold Galaxy Watch Active subsequent to the unique Galaxy Watch with that rotating metallic bezel. 
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After carrying it for just a few days, I can undoubtedly say the Galaxy Watch Active is a way more snug match. It’s so slim and light-weight that I would typically neglect I used to be carrying it. It nonetheless feels a bit thicker than the Apple Watch or Fitbit Versa, however the heart-rate sensor lies flush in opposition to my wrist so it does not press in as a lot once I tighten the band. But this consolation comes with some sacrifices. The Galaxy Watch Active seems to be fairly plain subsequent to the Galaxy Watch, particularly within the stable black colour I examined it in (it additionally is available in silver, rose gold and sea inexperienced) and also you lose out on the scrolling options on the bezel.  The face of the watch seems to be naked to me with out that rotating metallic bezel and the rubber straps really feel primary. You can in fact swap them out for different types, however they’re 20mm thick, which suggests they don’t seem to be backwards appropriate with every other Galaxy Watch straps. You’re additionally restricted to the 40mm watchface — in contrast to the Galaxy Watch, which is available in a 42mm and 46mm possibility. On the plus facet, the Watch Active retains the spherical AMOLED show that is nice to have a look at, even in direct daylight. It has Gorilla Glass 3 just like the Galaxy Watch, however does not have Corning’s DX+ composite coating. The coating’s supposed to cut back glare and defend in opposition to scratches and I’ve had no complaints on that entrance throughout my testing to this point, though that is solely been about 5 days at this level. If you have used a Samsung watch earlier than, navigating by means of your content material on the watch will appear acquainted. You can swipe or faucet to maneuver round and you continue to get the 2 bodily buttons on the facet of the watch to pick out your possibility or return. The watch is fairly straightforward to maneuver, however I did miss that rotating bezel for scrolling with out having to go away fingerprint marks everywhere in the contact display screen.View full gallery Side view of the Galaxy Watch Active’s bodily buttons. 
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Health and health options that may get you shiftingThe Galaxy Watch Active has just a few minor UI modifications that make it appear barely extra health targeted. There are sportier watch faces that may show extra exercise information, and a heart-shaped dashboard that helps you retain observe of energetic minutes, energy burned and stand time at a look, much like the ring system on the Apple Watch. View full gallery The Active provides you day by day well being stats at a look within the form of a coronary heart, much like the exercise rings on the Apple Watch. 
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But for understanding, the Galaxy Watch Active provides a virtually an identical expertise to the Galaxy Watch. It comes loaded with nearly each bodily exercise you possibly can consider (39 complete), auto pause and the power to detect some exercises (like operating and biking) mechanically with out having to hassle setting them on the watch. (Note that the Apple Watch and Fitbit Versa can do this as nicely.) It’s additionally rated at 5 ATM, so you possibly can safely take use it to trace indoor and open-water swims.The Galaxy Watch Active additionally has a barometer that may register altitude on hikes and a built-in GPS that makes distance monitoring extra correct. I left my cellphone behind throughout my common three-and-a-half mile run and was in a position to see my whole route mapped on the Samsung Health app as soon as I bought again to my cellphone. This is among the options I missed probably the most on the Fitbit Versa. I additionally favored that the watch reveals you a breakdown of your coronary heart charge zones, based mostly on depth: average, vigorous or most. It’s a sensible means to make use of your heart-rate knowledge. The Fitbit additionally has an analogous breakdown for exercises. I did not take a look at the Galaxy Watch Active in opposition to a chest strap, the gold customary for coronary heart charge monitoring in athletes, however I did discover a little bit of a lag in the actual time coronary heart charge knowledge on the watch based mostly on how exhausting I used to be working throughout my run and wanted just a few seconds to catch up.The watch additionally makes use of the optical coronary heart charge sensor on the again to calculate energy burned, analyze sleep and preserve observe of stress ranges similar to the Galaxy Watch. The calorie depend for my pilates exercise appeared fairly according to what I get on different trackers, however I feel it underestimated the energy on my run. View full gallery The Galaxy Watch Active has built-in GPS to trace your routes. 
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I do not normally put on my smartwatch to trace my sleep. I am a light-weight sleeper and I hate the additional bulk on my wrist once I’m in mattress. Last yr once I was testing out this function on the unique Galaxy Watch I ended up tearing it off in the midst of the primary night time as a result of it stored waking me up, however I wore the Active for 4 nights in a row with out it interrupting my sleep (an excessive amount of). And I did study just a few issues about my sleep patterns (or lack thereof) that I would not have in any other case. The Samsung Health App provides you a breakdown of your complete sleep time, the phases of sleep (gentle, REM or deep sleep) and the standard of your sleep. This is one thing that Fitbit does nicely, however that you just nonetheless cannot do natively on the Apple Watch.