Samsung’s latest smartwatch has arrived, but it’s not the Gear S4 – the Galaxy Watch adds plenty of welcome refinements
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch might have been a terribly kept secret, but it was a surprise when Samsung revealed it at its annual “Galaxy Unpacked” conference. With all eyes fixed on the Note 9, few tech journalists (myself included) predicted Samsung would also launch a brand-new smartwatch and a Bixby-powered smart speaker, called Galaxy Home, at the same time.
Still, the Galaxy Watch has arrived and following the Samsung conference, I was given the chance to take one out of the box, strap it on my wrist and put all of its new features to the test. Until I’ve had a chance to put the Galaxy Watch through it’s paces properly, these are my first impressions of Samsung’s frankly rather excellent new wearable.
Samsung Galaxy Watch: UK release date and price
Available in two versions, the 42mm Bluetooth-equipped Galaxy Watch has already hit the shelves (in black and gold). The silver, 4G-enabled 46mm Galaxy Watch launches later this year, though, with no firm launch date just yet – although we know EE will be the first network to support it.
The Bluetooth Galaxy Watch can be picked up for £279, with customisable 22mm or 42mm straps in a range of colours for an extra £25. The Watch is £70 cheaper than the Gear S3, but there’s no word yet on how much the 4G-enabled model will cost – although, expect a rather significant markup.
Samsung Galaxy Watch: Specifications, features and first impressions
If you’re already familiar with what the Gear S3 looked like when it launched in 2016, well, very little has changed. The Watch, like its predecessor, has a circular, touch-enabled 1.3in 360 x 360 Super AMOLED watch face, with a rotating bezel for on-screen navigation. This time, however, Samsung’s smartwatch looks much more like a traditional, analogue timepiece than ever before. It ticks, plays hourly chimes and the display produces a shadow-casting depth effect on text and icons.
For the first time, too, Samsung’s newest wearable will be available in two watch face sizes – 42mm and 46mm. Both are rather chunky compared to the Apple Watch 3, but more on par with the new, larger Apple Watch 4, which has 40mm and 44mm versions.
As far as colours are concerned, there are three different options to choose from in two sizes: rose gold, midnight black and silver. The Galaxy Watch’s display is also protected against everyday scuffs with a layer of Corning Gorilla DX+ glass.
And, like the Gear S3 before it, the Galaxy Watch can also be equipped with 4G connectivity, so you should be able to leave your phone behind when you’re out and about and still receive messages, stream music and check the weather.
Sadly, this functionality never actually made it to the UK version of the Gear S3, but the company has promised that UK network operator EE will be the first to support the 4G model when it arrives later this year. There’s also the – slightly cheaper – Bluetooth variant if you wanted to save a few pennies.
A dual-core 1.15GHz Exynos 9110 chip powers things, along with 4GB of onboard storage and either 1.5GB of RAM on the 4G model, or 768MB of RAM on the Bluetooth variant. Unsurprisingly, performance was nippy during my brief hands-on time with the Watch, but I’ll have to wait and see if it can cope with my not-so-hardcore fitness regime when we get one in for review.
Just like the Gear Sport, the Galaxy Watch is also waterproof to 5ATM (50m). And, as for other noteworthy features, the Galaxy Watch includes sleep tracking, stress management tools and auto-activity detection, all of which we’ve seen in previous Samsung wearables.
However, I was told at my hands on session that this new stress management tool “automatically detects high levels of stress and offers breathing exercises to help keep users relaxed and focused”, so it sounds as though the feature is more at the forefront than before.
The new smartwatch also supports wireless charging, and Samsung demoed its new ‘duo’ wireless charger that allows you to top up your phone – notably, the Note 9 – and Watch’s battery life simultaneously.
Not that you’ll be needing to do that too often, though, as the stamina of Samsung’s latest smartwatch is expected to be much improved. Keeping things running is either a 472mAh battery (4G) or 270mAh battery (Bluetooth), with battery life reaching up to seven days between charges.
Samsung Galaxy Watch specs in full:
- Galaxy Watch 46mm (silver) l Galaxy Watch 42mm (midnight black or rose gold)
- 46 x 49 x 13 mm, 63g (46mm) l 42 x 46 x 13 mm, 49g (42mm)
- 427mAh battery (46mm) l 270mAh (42mm)
- Dual-core 1.15GHz Samsung Exynos 9110 processor
- 1.5GB RAM (4G) l 768MB RAM (Bluetooth)
- 4GB internal memory
- Tizen-based Wearable OS 4.0
- Compatible with Android 5.0 or iOS 9.0 and above
- UK Price: £279 (Bluetooth) l TBC (4G)
- UK release date: 6 September (Bluetooth) l TBC (4G)
Samsung Galaxy Watch review: Early verdict
Refinement over revolution. This, demonstrably, is Samsung’s motto in 2018 and, like with its Note 9 launch companion, the Galaxy Watch might not be so headline-grabbing, but it’s still shaping up to be a rather splendid smartwatch in its own right.
It’s much cheaper than the Gear S3 and offers a wide selection of much-needed improvements. If one of Samsung’s other devices is already strapped to your wrist, you might, understandably, be rather hesitant to upgrade but I’ll soon be able to report back with my final thoughts when we get one in for review.
Source: expertreviews.co.uk
