Samsung Galaxy Watch review

Samsung continues its journey into the world of wearables by bringing to the market a new iteration of the Tizen watches. Let’s discover together what this new Galaxy Watch (Check on Amazon.com) is all about.

Package

Inside we find the watch, two straps one large, one small, the USB/micro USB cable and the charging base with status led.

Build quality

The design is similar to previous Samsung smartwatches. We have a highly scratch-resistant metal case and a beautiful circular bezel that can be rotated to navigate through menus or scroll through long lists. On the right side, we find two multi-function physical buttons. Measuring 46mm in diameter this is definitely a big watch. There is also a 42 millimeters version more suitable to slender wrists, but you lose a bit of autonomy. However, it is an extremely well-constructed product that conveys an excellent feeling of quality. The straps are easily interchangeable and the smartwatch is also water and dust resistant according to the IP68 standard.

Hardware

We have a dual-core Exynos 9110 1.5GHz processor, 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. There is also a gyroscope, altimeter, Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC chip for payments. It is also equipped with Wi-Fi and GPS. Finally, there is no lack of a speaker and a microphone. The vibration is good. On the back, there is also a very accurate heart rate sensor.

Display

The Galaxy Watch is equipped with a 1.3-inch AMOLED circular display in the 46mm version and a 1.2-inch in the 42mm version. This is a beautiful display. The colors are bright and the text is readable under all light conditions. There is also an always-on mode. However, when on the battery consumption will almost double.

Software

It runs Tizen version 4, but the user interface remains virtually identical. From the application, you can decide which notifications to receive and can respond to those that support it. Once deleted from the watch, they also disappear from the smartphone.

Voice control, now integrated into Bixby is OK, but it is not as accurate as Siri’s in Apple Watch or Google Assistant’s in Wear OS. You can download new apps directly from the watch, via Galaxy Apps, but unfortunately, there are very few of them.

Samsung’s fitness app, Health, is extremely well made, and during physical activity, it shows a large number of data, which has proved to be accurate in our tests. Among the sports, you can track we have running, cycling, swimming, treadmill, yoga, and a huge list of gym exercises. Data is then collected and displayed extensively via the Samsung Health app on your smartphone. It also automatically detects physical activity and sleep. Sadly, if you want to use a different fitness app, you will be disappointed, since most are incompatible with Tizen.

Autonomy

Without turning it off at night and with the display’s always on function, the autonomy is around 2 days, which can become 4 by turning off the always-on display and even 5 by turning it off at night. The 42mm version’s autonomy is 40% less. Last but not least 30 minutes of physical activity with both GPS and heart rate sensor turned on consume less than 10% of the battery.

Price

The Samsung Galaxy Watch has a fair price of (Check on Amazon.com).

Final verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Watch is the perfect evolution of the Samsung smartwatch. The Tizen software is more refined but it suffers from the obvious lack of apps to download. Its best feature is the increased autonomy, especially in the 46mm version.