Going hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Watch
Samsung's smartwatch gets a rebrand - but how much has actually changed?
GALAXY QUEST
The new Galaxy Watch is very much the spiritual successor to the Gear S3, following in its footsteps with many of the things we loved about it. Much like a lot of Samsung’s 2018 mobile line up, that means this is more of an incremental upgrade than a revolutionary one, but it does come with one big new boast – and that’s battery life. Considering that’s an Achilles’ heel for many smartwatches, it’s not a bad thing for Samsung to concentrate on, and promising up to seven days from one charge is certainly enough to pique our interest. Keep reading for our first impressions.
LITTLE AND LARGE
If you’ve spent any time with a Samsung Gear S3, you’ll find the design on the Galaxy Watch very familiar indeed. The main watch face is set in a sturdy, stainless steel body, with a rotating bezel for navigation, a Gorilla Glass-coated AMOLED display and an interchangeable rubberised strap. The good news is that the Galaxy Watch now comes in two sizes, 42mm (£279) and 46mm (£299), which makes it much more suitable than the Gear S3 for scrawny wrists like mine. Because the 46mm version is big, you’re going to need a sizeable wrist (and of course prefer a larger watch face) to pull it off. That’s a bit of a shame, because some of the Galaxy Watch’s biggest boasts are limited to the larger size, but more on that later.
STYLE AND SUBSTANCE
Depending on the size you pick, will depend on the colour options afforded to you. The smaller option comes in a choice of rose gold or black, with the larger face coming only in silver. These are complemented by black ribbed straps on the black and silver versions, and a soft pink option on the rose gold, with the buckles matching the colour of the main body. The straps measure in at 20mm on the 42mm and 22mm on the 46mm, and with a rubberised finish, certainly sit on the sportier side of things. That’s a little surprising given the Galaxy Watch’s more premium watch face. We might have expected straps more similar to the leather ones on the S3 Classic, but they are at least interchangeable if you want something smarter.
TIME IN A FLAT CIRCLE
Just like on the Gear S3, the circular display on the Galaxy Watch is gorgeous, and measures in at 1.3in or 1.2in depending on the size you go for. There are two buttons on the right-hand side of the watch, which work with the rotating bezel for navigation and selection. These looked a little more like standard watch crowns on the Gear S3, but sit flatter to the body in the Galaxy Watch. The watch faces (of which there are some 60,000 to choose from ) go right to the edge too, meaning there are no unsightly flat black borders like you might see on cheaper circular smartwatches.
A (PARTLY) MONSTER BATTERY LIFE
While not much has changed in the design department, the Galaxy Watch does get a slight power boost over the Gear S3, with an Exynos 9110 processor in place of last year’s Exynos 7270. The standard Bluetooth version will come with 768MB RAM, but the forthcoming LTE version will have a little more oomph to handle the extra workload, with 1.5GB on board. From a storage perspective, both versions offer 4GB of on-board memory, for downloading apps and the storing the odd music playlist for workouts. No matter which version you go for, the Galaxy Watch has you covered for exercise, and there are actually a few extra smarts here than we saw on the Gear S3.
LIFESTYLE TRACKING
Of course GPS is on board for tracking you out and about, a heart monitor on the back and a 5ATM diving rating for taking it swimming. But there are now also six workouts that the Galaxy Watch can recognise and start tracking automatically – namely walking, running, cycling, rowing, elliptical and dynamic workout – which join a whole host of new indoor workouts, making a total of around 40 different fitness options to choose from. This data feeds into Samsung Health, of course, which is also able to track things like sleep and stress too.
LONG LIVE GALAXY
Sleep? I hear you say. But don’t I need to charge this thing overnight? Actually, the battery life is one of the most impressive things about the Galaxy Watch. On one hand, little has changed. The 42mm version, which is likely to suit the majority of wrists, takes on the four-day battery life that the Gear S3 boasted, thanks to the 270mAh battery. But opt for the chunkier 46mm, with its 472mAh cell, and Samsung says you’ll be able to squeeze a whopping seven days from one charge. That’s longer than any smartwatch we’ve tested. Pretty impressive. Things like the Always On display will affect that, of course, but it’s certainly a claim we’re looking forward to putting to the test in our full review.
OS OKAY
The Galaxy Watch rumour mill got us all excited for a Samsung smartwatch with Google’s Wear OS, but as it turns out, this is Tizen through and through. That’s ok – Tizen performs smoothly and looks the part, but the lack of third-party apps is what is likely to be its biggest stumbling block. It means you’re relying on the likes of Bixby and Samsung’s own SmartThings home control app, rather than the plethora of arguably better third-party options out there. Only time will tell if more become available, but for now, you have to punt for the Galaxy Watch assuming they won’t – a big call for anyone that hasn’t already bought into the Samsung ecosystem.
A RIGHT PAIR
Of course you don’t have to be a Samsung phone owner to appreciate the Galaxy Watch, but you are likely to get the most out of it when it is paired with one of its own. It’s officially compatible with any Android phone supporting 5.0 and above, and any Apple phone with iOS 9 and above, but we’d expect features to be particularly restricted on the latter. We’ll look into that in our full review. We’ll also need longer with it to make a call on general performance, but it certainly seemed as slick in use as you might expect. We’ll be hoping that performance passes over to its fitness capabilities, and will also put the heart-rate monitor through its paces for accuracy too. As for the screen – it’s gorgeous. Bright, punchy and sharp – we don’t see there being any complaints there.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Despite its fancy new branding, the Galaxy Watch might – on first glance – appear to have very little to shout about. It looks almost the same, has minimal internal upgrades and comes with a big battery boast that is only applicable to a version of the watch that won’t be for everyone. That said, having the smaller design available is certainly a plus point for those that felt left out of the Gear S3, and the new fitness features will be handy for many. We’ll be interested to see how much more grunt that extra processor offers too. As it stands, the Galaxy looks to be a sturdy, stylish smartwatch with plenty of power and a battery that will go on and on – as long as you have the wrists to accommodate it.
