Galaxy puts a smile on face of classic watch fans
says Samsung’s Galaxy Watch has all the tech you’ll need and the classic round face some people miss
Some like it round while others like it square, but either way, watches are slowly getting popular again. The Apple Watch is the best selling watch, not just smartwatch, but it’s not for everyone, because not everyone likes a square watch face. If you’re more into the classic look and feel, then the Samsung Galaxy Watch is worth a look and it works on both Android and iOS too.
The Galaxy Watch is available in 46mm in silver, and a 42mm model in black or rose gold. I used the 46mm version for my testing and although I have large wrists, the watch still felt somewhat massive and a little heavy. That being said, I still like the look and feel of a bigger watch like this, but if you don’t, then opt for the smaller and lighter 42mm model. Like all wearables, it’s down to personal preferences and taste in design.
Overall, I didn’t find the Galaxy Watch as comfortable to wear all day as I do my Apple Watch, but I didn’t find it uncomfortable either. There’s a massive range of straps for this watch, so whether you’re using it for workouts, running, swimming or dressing up, you should be able to find a strap to suit.
I love the look of the round watch face design and especially the Galaxy Watch, which features a mechanical rotating bezel. This isn’t new as Samsung have had this on their previous Gear watches, but I still love the way it works, how tactile it is and how well it works as a physical control in the software.
By twisting the bezel you can quickly navigate to the app you want to open or toggle through the list of options and activities. The bezel dial isn’t the only way of navigating the Samsung’s Tizen watch OS, because you can also use the touchscreen to swipe up and down or left and right, it’s just not as cool.
As well as the bezel, you also get two buttons. The top button is for going back/home while the lower button will bring you directly to the apps screen. Again, from a traditional watch standpoint, I like having extra buttons and dials on a smartwatch.
Unlike previous Samsung watches, the Galaxy Watch will work with any Android phone or iPhone. You’ll need to install the Galaxy Wear software first to start the setup. Once you’ve gone through the setup and connect the watch to your phone you can then manage notifications for apps, set up widgets, change or download new watch faces and adjust advanced settings.If you’re not careful, you will get an overdose of notifications, but you can tame them down to the bare minimum by turning off notifications per app. I used to want all notifications from all apps in the early days of smartwatches but now find I only need a few.
The Galaxy Watch has a lot of preloaded widgets that range from really useful to things you may never use. I love the Music Controls, Activity and every now and again, I like to check the Stress measuring widget. Others include Altimeter/ Barometer, Flipboard, Workout shortcuts, Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, and Weather. To reduce clutter, you can just delete the widgets you don’t want and it’s easy to re-install them if you need one back.
One of the best features of the Galaxy Watch is the changeable watch faces. There’s a load of free ones, but you can also buy even more with prices ranging from less than a euro to a few euro.
All smart watches are also fitness trackers and the Galaxy Watch will automatically detect a workout. You can also choose to manually start a specific workout and choose from nearly 40 exercise types. These include swimming, thanks to the Galaxy Watch being waterproof down to 50 metres.
An area where the Galaxy Watch really excels is battery life. I was able to get more than four days on a single charge with normal use and the always on display set to ‘off’. With it ‘on’, I could get more than two days, but if you use the GPS on long runs, this will be significantly less. You can also use it as a watch only and turn off all the smart tech to get nearly 40 days of use.
One of my favourite features not natively available on the Apple Watch is sleep tracking and the Galaxy Watch can do this automatically. Of course, not everyone will want to wear their watch while sleeping, but it’s a nice feature to have and it gives a report of how good a nights sleep you got.
Apps are fairly limited, despite Tizen OS being around for a few years. Also, Samsung Pay still doesn’t work in Ireland and it doesn’t support Google Pay ether.
The Galaxy Watch screen is impressive and shows off the stunning watch faces. It’s also plenty bright in sunny weather, but I did find the rise to wake a split second slower than I liked to turn on the display.
Overall, although not perfect, the Samsung’s Galaxy Watch is a charming wearable that most will appreciate. It has all the essential features you need in both style and function as well as being an excellent fitness tracker with great battery performance for a watch in its class.
