The Samsung Galaxy Watch is without doubt one of the most refined smartwatches you should purchase immediately, with an aesthetically pleasing design, cohesive consumer interface and, importantly, four-day battery life.
It’s all the pieces the Apple Watch 3 just isn’t – for higher and worse. Let’s begin with what’s higher. The Galaxy Watch seems and looks like a high-end wrist watch, with a round stainless-steel case and ornamental bezel. It’s each trendy and practical as a result of, just like the earlier Gear S3, the bezel rotates to cycle by way of its numerous on-screen menus.
That is probably the most satisfying strategy to navigate a smartwatch. Your fingers received’t cowl up the watch’s small, hard-to-accurately-target touchscreen (a difficulty with any smartwatch), and it’s an concept unique to Samsung’s newer watches. You received’t discover rotating bezels supported by Google’s Wear OS, whereas Apple’s watchOS makes use of a much less intuitive rotating digital crown button on the facet. That is considered one of two explanation why the Galaxy Watch runs Samsung’s Tizen software program, not Put on OS.
To see the Samsung Galaxy Watch in motion, watch our hands-on video under:
The opposite purpose for the Tizen working system is battery life. We discovered that the bigger 46mm Galaxy Watch lasted a strong 4 days with regular use, throughout which we checked messages, fetched fixed notifications, tracked exercises, performed Spotify, and talked to Bixby, Samsung’s principally horrible AI. Samsung says the smaller 42mm Galaxy Watch lasts three days.
The massive distinction between the Galaxy Watch and the Gear S3, apart from an additional day of battery, is that it’s extra fitness-focused, because of extra sensors and a revamped Samsung Well being app. It auto-detects six of (an expanded) 39 workouts – and nonetheless helpfully nudges you while you’re too sedentary, and it has a reasonably correct sleep tracker. It’s additionally now waterproof all the way down to 50 meters, matching the Gear S3 Sport 5ATM score in a extra grownup design.
The Galaxy Watch does inherit issues from earlier Gear watches, nonetheless – and what’s dangerous is nearly all software-related. Samsung’s core apps are polished, certain, however the Galaxy Apps retailer lacks essential third-party apps, notably Google Maps, Fb Messenger, and WhatsApp. The Bixby voice assistant is right here, however it’s no higher than S Voice at understanding us, and Samsung Pay doesn’t use Magnetic Safe Transmission (MST) regardless of the actual fact the Gear S3 did.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch may be very a lot the Samsung Gear S4 that by no means was. It’s an iterative replace, one which provides health software program, new sensors, and additional waterproofing to all the pieces we favored within the Gear S3 Basic and Gear S3 Frontier a 12 months and a half in the past.
It’s a giant, however sophisticated-looking smartwatch in two sizes that finally ends up being nice to put on for notifications and train – in the event you don’t need the best Garmin watch for super-serious health monitoring. These are key causes lots of people we speak to put on a smartwatch: notifications, health, and lightweight app utilization. Anybody who needs one thing extra out of the Galaxy Watch is measuring Samsung’s greatest up towards a smartwatch that received’t exist till 2019 or 2020.
Samsung Galaxy Watch launch date and value
- Launched on August 24 within the US and September 6 within the UK
- 42mm Rose Gold or Midnight Black watch prices $329 / £279
- 46mm Silver watch prices $349 / £349, similar as Gear S3 at launch
- LTE model exists, however solely on T-Cell within the US thus far and $50 extra
The Galaxy Watch launched within the US on August 24, the identical day the Galaxy Note 9 got here out, and the UK launch date is September 6. We’ll replace this part once we know the discharge dates in different areas.
It’s truly cheaper than the Gear S3 was at launch, in the event you go for the smaller dimension. It’s $329 / £279 for the 42mm model, and $349 / £299 for the bigger 46mm dimension, which we suggest. When it first got here out the Gear S3 price $349 / £349 (round AU$475), and solely got here in a single dimension.
The LTE model of the Galaxy Watch prices $379 for the 42mm mannequin and $399 for the 46mm model by way of T-Cell; different US carriers like AT&T, Dash, and Verizon will promote it later in 2018. Within the UK, the LTE watch might be obtainable later this 12 months, however pricing is as but unknown.
Sizes and design
- Appears to be like like an actual wrist watch in comparison with the Apple Watch
- Bigger 46mm dimension seems tremendous on our medium-sized wrists
- Round display screen and rotating bezel make it trendy, practical and sturdy
- Display takes a half a second to refresh the time and stats when woken up every time
The Galaxy Watch is available in two sizes: the bigger 46mm dimension in a two-toned silver-and-black coloration scheme, and the smaller 42mm dimension in both straight-up Midnight Black or Rose Gold. We tried on each sizes, and suggest the 46mm model for its bigger battery and greater touchscreen – it seems simply tremendous on medium-sized wrists in the event you don’t thoughts a barely larger watch.
Particular for you: Samsung Galaxy Watch 46mm sizing pic.twitter.com/KCxncXUPAqAugust 22, 2018
It’s extra of a trend assertion than the understated Apple Watch. It’s massive, round, and meant to appear to be a wrist watch. We bought compliments on its design when sporting it out; there was a number of shock that this was a smartwatch in a sea of individuals sporting the Apple Watch. It stands out.
It’s extra of a trend assertion than the understated Apple Watch.
There’s much less selection relating to the case colours and included straps. The silver-and-black 46mm watch has three 22mm strap choices: Onyx Black, Deep Ocean Blue, and Basalt Gray. The smaller black or rose gold 42mm watch has extra 20mm strap selection: Onyx Black, Lunar Gray, Terracotta Crimson, Lime Yellow, Cosmo Purple, Pink Beige, Cloud Gray, and Pure Brown. Samsung sells further straps, and any interchangeable 22mm or 20mm will work if you wish to change up the model from day after day.
All three sizes: 46mm Silver (left), 42mm Rose Gold (heart) and 42mm Midnight Black (proper)
The 1.Three-inch Tremendous AMOLED display screen (1.2-inch on the 42mm watch) is vibrant and color-rich, as we’ve come to anticipate from Samsung’s stellar show expertise. It’s simple to see all the pieces, even throughout an out of doors run, because of adaptive brightness settings. And its good use of blacks, particularly within the background, burns fewer pixels on the 320 x 320 decision. The one draw back is that the display screen is gradual to replace when it’s woken – the time and steps present outdated figures for half a second. It’s such as you’re actually waking the watch up from a nap and it’s taking a second to return to its senses.
The ornate and practical rotating bezel has a 3rd attribute: it makes the Samsung Galaxy Watch sturdy. Take it from us – we’ve damaged the uncovered Apple Watch glass display screen greater than as soon as. There’s safety right here for the display screen, with military-grade sturdiness and Corning Gorilla Glass DX+ that stops the show from getting scratched, in accordance with Samsung.
Two bodily buttons adorn the Galaxy Watch, and whereas they’re on the proper facet of the case, Samsung has properly offset them from the same old heart location, which suggests they’re not liable to unintentional presses towards your bent wrist as on different smartwatches. This can be a well-engineered watch – no less than through the day.
You’ll need to put on this watch to mattress for its useful sleep-tracking capabilities, however be warned: it’s massive and cumbersome to go away strapped to your wrist your complete night time. The 46mm model is an ever-present 63g, and it might probably really feel like a rock tethered to your wrist. That is the one (and solely) space through which you’ll be in higher form with the 42mm model, which weighs 49g.