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It was easy to miss out on all the foldable hype of the phone, but Samsung unveiled its latest smartwatch Wednesday at its Unpacked event: the $ 199 Galaxy Watch Active.
But it's not because he did not have a lot of time on the screen that the Galaxy Watch Active is not worth a look. While Samsung's previous smartwatches tended to be huge, its latest wearable technologies are much more subtle – and I'm far more likely to actually want to wear them.
Meet the Galaxy Watch Active
In the wake of last year's Galaxy Watch, the first thing you'll notice about the Galaxy Watch Active is that it's not as big as the Galaxy Watch, which is pretty massive.
The Samsung Galaxy Active Watch is thin enough for smaller wrists.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
With a 40mm case and a rotating bezel, it is noticeably thinner – a welcome change for those of us who have smaller wrists (or, in reality, those who appreciate a lower profile watch) .
And at $ 199, the Galaxy Watch Active is a much more affordable option than the Galaxy Watch, which had started at $ 375 last year.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active has two side buttons instead of a rotating bezel.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
The back of the Galaxy Watch Active.
Image: Karissa Bell / mashable
It is available in four different colors: silver, black, water green and rose gold (it's time for Samsung to take the pink gold train) and comes with multicolored stripes that look a lot like sports tapes from Apple for Apple Watch.
The groups look like Apple's sports groups for Apple Watch.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
I only wore the Galaxy Watch Active for a few minutes, but I was impressed by its lightness. And it was at least as comfortable as any Apple Watch that I wore.
Navigation in applications without rotating bezel.
Image: karisa bell / mashable
Besides size, one of the biggest changes with the Galaxy Watch Active is that it does not have a rotating bezel. Instead, you navigate through the watch's menus by swiping left or right.
This pink gold.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
Two side buttons also allow you to launch and close applications. You may need some time to get used to the rotating bezel UI, but I have not found it very complicated.
You can wirelessly charge the Galaxy Watch Active with the S10.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
The Galaxy Watch Active recharges wirelessly. And, like the Galaxy Buds recently announced by Samsung, you can charge it with your phone if you have one of the new Galaxy S10 phones. This feature seemed a bit tricky in my demos, but I could easily see how it would be helpful to get a little more battery life if you're on the limit.
Health and fitness first
As the name suggests, the Galaxy Active Watch is intended to put the health and fitness features in the foreground.
The health app of Samsung.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
Although the company does not have advanced heart rate monitoring features from Apple, Samsung has added a new blood pressure monitoring feature via an app called My BP BP. The application, which will be available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Canada and Germany. This was not available to try on the demo models that I looked at, but I hope it will be ready when we will be able to do a complete overhaul .
However, I was fortunate to briefly try out Samsung's guided breathing app, designed to help you relax with deep breathing, similar to Fitbit's "relax" function.
Samsung's guided breathing app for the Galaxy Watch Active.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
In terms of fitness, the Galaxy Watch Active has the ability to automatically track certain types of workouts, as well as the usual applications of step counting and third-party exercises.
We will have more information on all this when we will be able to conduct a comprehensive review, but the Galaxy Watch Active manages to do a lot in a pretty compelling set.
Although you do not have the sophisticated features of Samsung's larger (and more expensive) watches, the Galaxy Watch Active is an affordable smart watch that will appeal to fitness enthusiasts.
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