Samsung Galaxy Watch Summary

Samsung Galaxy Watch

With its attractive design, four-day battery life, and cohesive user interface, the Samsung Galaxy Watch is still among the most refined smartwatches.

It can easily be a competitor to the Apple Watch 5. And it can even be better in some ways. The look and feel of the Galaxy Watch are like that of a high-end wristwatch with its circular stainless steel case as well as stylized bezel. It is stylish and functional at the same time. The bezel makes it easier for users to navigate through on-screen menus.

This is probably the most satisfying method as your fingers won’t cover the small touchscreen of the watch.

The older Samsung Galaxy Watch Active doesn’t cost as much as the Galaxy Watch. But it doesn’t have the rotating bezel. The new Samsung Galaxy Active Watch 2 does have a rotating digital bezel. To simulate a “tactile” feel, there is a haptic buzzing whenever users spin through the menus. Of course, it is more expensive than its predecessor.

Google’s smartwatches don’t come with rotating bezels while Apple’s smartwatches have a rotating digital crown button placed on the side.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Release Date

In August 2018, Samsung launched the smartwatch along with the Galaxy Note 9 in the US.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Price

The price of the Galaxy Watch at launch was $329 for the 42mm version while the larger 46mm model cost $349.

The price of the Gear S3 when it first came out was $349. And it only had one size.

There are also LTE versions. At launch, the 42mm model cost $379 while the 46mm version cost $399.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Sizes And Design

The larger 46mm model comes in a two-toned silver-and-black color while the smaller 42mm model comes in Rose Gold and Midnight Black. Samsung’s big circular timepiece is meant to look just like a wristwatch. For case colors and straps, there is less variety. The 46mm watch uses a 22mm strap with only three options: Basalt Grey, Onyx Black, and Ocean Blue. The smaller rose gold 42mm uses a 20mm strap with 8 color options including Lunar Grey, Onyx Black, Lime Yellow, Terracotta Red, Pink Beige, Cosmo Purple, Natural Brown and Cloud Grey. The straps are swappable, so you can either use Samsung’s straps or straps from third-parties.

The smartwatch comes with a 1.3-inch Super AMOLED screen for the 46mm version or a 1.2-inch screen for the 42mm version with a resolution of 320 x 320. The screen is color-rich and bright enough to see everything even when used outdoor thanks to its adaptive brightness settings. The only downside is that when it is woken, the screen takes some time to update.

Samsung uses Corning Gorilla Glass DX+ for screen protection. There are two physical buttons on the right side of the screen. The weigh of the 46mm version is 63g while the 42mm version is 49g.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Fitness

With the Galaxy Watch, Samsung adds new auto-tracked workouts including elliptical training, rowing, and cycling.

In total, there are 39 exercises that Samsung’s watch can track, including 21 indoor exercises as well as strength-training exercises that are rarely supported on dapper-looking smartwatches.

Compared the Fitbit Versa, the Galaxy Watch auto and manual-track runs more accurately. However, it doesn’t track sit-ups really well.

Throughout the day, if you are too sedentary, the watch will vibrate. You will be pestered to do Torso Twists.

In Samsung Health’s Together tab, you can challenge your friends. You can compete with one of your friends to see who exercise more each day. The great thing is your friend doesn’t have to use the Samsung Galaxy Watch, just the app or any Gear watch. The bad news is this challenge is one-on-one, you can’t compete with a group of friends.

There is a new stress management tracker that is accompanied by breathing exercises.

Sleep tracking feature does work like Samsung has advertised. Based on a three-tier breakdown of your sleep, it delivers your sleep efficiency percentage: motionless, light, and restless sleep. Your sleep will be tracked automatically.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Software and Apps

The smartwatch comes with polished software. Once you lift your watch off its wireless charging pedestal, you will be greeted with a “Hello” or “Hi” with a little smiley face. It’s inviting and warm, making the Apple Watch seem pedestrian and unimaginative.

Shifting through the menus using the rotating bezel, the creative-looking and colorful widgets stand out. They are informative while being easy to read. The temperature is displayed in the biggest font. Running along the display’s circular perimeter are red UV level metrics and blue precipitation percentage. Tapping into this menu, you will see a colorful five-day forecast.

The widgets and settings of the Galaxy Watch are customizable. You can edit quick setting icons based on your liking.

With Samsung’s Tizen, there are 60,000 watch faces to choose from. The smartwatch comes with 4GB of storage. There is no Google Maps, You can receive notifications and respond to them. However, you need to take out your phone for a new conversation. Samsung Pay is there but the company gets rid of the Magnetic Secure Transmission technology.

Samsung’s voice assistant, Bixby is also there. But isn’t better than the Gear S3’s S voice.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Battery Life

The 46mm model has four-day battery life while the 42mm version has three-day battery life. The 46mm watch comes with a 472mAh battery. It manages to even last to a part of a fifth day before the battery runs out. The smartwatch’s power-saving mode is also impressive. With only 2% of battery left, it could still stay alive for the rest of the evening. In the basic mode, you can still receive messages and take calls. When the always-on display is activated, there is a significant drop in terms of battery life. Screen-on time leads to battery drain even when the screen is dimly lit.

The smaller 42mm model has a 270mAh battery.

The wireless charging pedestal that comes inside the box is the only way to charge the smartwatch. It wouldn’t charge even with the fast wireless charging pad of Samsung.

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Samsung Galaxy Watch Full Specifications

Price
network
expand
  • Technology GSM / HSPA / LTE
  • 2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
  • 3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 - Global
  • 1, 3, 5, 38, 39, 40, 41 - China
  • 4G bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20 - Global
  • Speed HSPA, LTE
launch
  • Announced 2018, August
  • Status Available. Released 2018, August
body
  • Dimensions 49 x 46 x 13 mm (1.93 x 1.81 x 0.51 in)
  • Weight 63 g (2.22 oz)
  • Build Glass front (Gorilla Glass DX+), stainless steel frame 316L
  • SIM eSIM
  • Samsung Pay MIL-STD-810G 50m water resistant (IP68) Compatible with standard 20/22mm straps
display
  • Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
  • Size 1.3 inches, 10.8 cm2 (~48.1% screen-to-body ratio)
  • Resolution 360 x 360 pixels, 1:1 ratio (~278 ppi density)
  • Protection Corning Gorilla Glass DX+
  • Always-on display Rotating bezel
platform
  • OS Tizen-based wearable OS 4.0
  • Chipset Exynos 9110 (10 nm)
  • CPU Dual-core 1.15 GHz Cortex-A53
  • GPU Mali-T720
memory
  • Card slot No
  • Internal 4GB 768MB RAM, 4GB 1.5GB RAM
  • eMMC
camera
  • No
sound
  • Loudspeaker Yes
  • 3.5mm jack No
comms
  • WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE
  • GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
  • NFC Yes
  • Radio No
  • USB No
features
  • Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, heart rate, barometer
  • Natural language commands and dictation
battery
  • Non-removable Li-Ion 472 mAh battery
  • Charging Qi wireless charging
  • Stand-by Up to 72 h (mixed usage)
misc
  • Colors Silver (46mm); Midnight Black, Rose Gold (42mm)
  • Models SM-805U, SM-805W, SM-815U, SM-815W, SM-R805F, SM-R805N, SM-R815F, SM-R815N, SM-R805