Galaxy Watch 4: Samsung arrives for Apple Watch crown with Wear OS 3

This story is part of Samsung event, our full coverage of Samsung Unpacked.

There is one must-have smartwatch for iOS: the Apple watch. But for Android, there was no one-size-fits-all option. Will the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 finally be this watch? Samsung’s latest foldable phone Unwrapped ad where the last Galaxy z fold 3 and Z Flip 3 phones were unveiled, the company also announced the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic – which can be pre-ordered now and go on sale August 27. These are the first Samsung watches to have the Google co-designed Wear OS 3, which does not come on other smartwatches until next year. After the already excellent Watch Active 3, will the Galaxy Watch 4 be even better? It certainly looks like it.

Just like previous Samsung watches, there are two models: a more stylish and cheaper Watch 4 and a more traditional Watch 4 Classic. The latter brings back Samsung’s physically rotating outer bezel and has a more traditional look and bracelets. Prices increase based on design ($ 250 for the 40mm Aluminum Watch 4, $ 350 for the 42mm Stainless Steel Classic Watch 4), size (larger 4/46mm Watch 4 Classic costs $ 30 more) or LTE data compatibility (an additional $ 50 extra). In the UK, the Watch 4 starts at £ 249 and the Classic starts at £ 349. Australian prices are to be determined.

Samsung watches have always been good. Then there was also Fitbit and even Google Wear OS. But Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 seeks to tie everything together and reboot the Android watch landscape by ultimately not having a weird separation between Samsung’s watch experience and Google’s.

Promises of a better watch-phone connection

The new operating system developed by Google and Samsung of the Watch 4 will eventually appear on other smartwatches. But for the newer watches from Samsung, that should mean a smoother connected experience on Android. Notifications, calls, controlling your phone, syncing with your phone settings: Samsung promises the Watch 4 will do all of this better than previous watches. Samsung also promises better battery life and faster performance. The battery life may only be around two days, but it will be enough to lie down and track sleep during the night. Samsung has also renamed its watch: the name Watch Active has disappeared. (Welcome, Galaxy Watch.)

The Galaxy Watch 4 is only designed for Android phones, with no plans for iOS compatibility at this time. While previous Wear OS and Samsung watches could pair with iPhones, the Watch 4 is clearly designed to be a seamless connection watch for Android phones (and Samsung in particular). that of Samsung “One user interface” philosophy is to sync wallpapers, designs and settings on phone and watch. Will the watch look like a transparent extension of the phone? We’ll see when we test one.

Health technology: snoring detection and body analysis based on bioimpedance

There are several new health features on the Watch 4 in addition to those carried over from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. Besides heart rate, blood oxygen, and EKG (and stress / blood pressure detection tests that require calibration with a blood pressure cuff), Samsung is adding a few extras to sleep tracking. Snoring detection works using the paired Android phone’s microphone, and blood oxygen checks now run continuously once per minute overnight (or as a spot check during the day).

Samsung has also added a new sensor to its rear array: an electrical bioimpedance sensor for whole body analysis using a low electrical current to measure your conductivity – and therefore show what you’re made of. This type of sensor technology hasn’t been on recent smartwatches; the last laptop I can remember promising bioimpedance was the jaw up to 3.

When using the body analysis feature, there will be readings on your BMI, muscle mass and body water as well as body fat percentages, much like some scales. I don’t know how I feel about it! Samsung Health will use this display to calculate a range where your health is compared to optimal levels.

New sensor technology is always a snap: will it work? Will it be useful? We do not know yet. Samsung is aiming for this to be a full body analysis tool, which sounds terribly ambitious. Last year the Fitbit sense also introduced new electrodermal stress detection sensors, but I have never found them significant in my daily life. The jury is also still out on the bioimpedance features.

Samsung Health remains the default fitness and health platform for the Galaxy Watch 4, despite the change in operating system. But a move to Google Play for apps and new support for watch face complications should also mean many fitness apps will make the switch. (Complications are basically those little face-mounted widgets that show data from other apps, and they’re pretty useful.) Samsung has previously announced that Strava, Calm, and Adidas Running are supported. Spotify is also supported for playing music on watch.

Improved specifications

The Watch 4’s new processor is expected to be faster than the latest Watch 3 (20% faster CPU and 50% faster GPU, according to Samsung) and there’s more RAM (1.5GB) and storage. (16 GB) than before. This should speed up the launch of animations and applications. The Super AMOLED display is sharper: The 1.2-inch 42 and 40mm models have a resolution of 396×396 pixels, while the 1.4-inch 44 and 46mm models are 450×450. Watches can also charge quickly, gaining 10 hours of battery life on a 30-minute charge.

The rotating bezel is back

The Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic both rely heavily on touching the outer edge of the watch to “turn” and navigate: the Watch 4 has a tactile edge, while the Classic has a physical rotating bezel. Samsung also puts touch controls in these watches to enable swipe navigation, much like Wear OS watches. You can choose how to interact.

A few other buttons on the side of the watch control back and forth in the interface and can be reprogrammed. One can be pressed and held for Samsung’s Bixby Assistant; the other for Samsung Pay. But you can make Google Assistant and Google Pay the go-to apps instead.

Google apps on board

Google’s Wear OS 3 being on the Galaxy Watch 4 means it will connect to Google Play, but it also gets revamped Google apps. Google has already committed to new YouTube, Google Maps, Google Pay and Messages apps, which have new designs for Wear OS 3. There are also third-party updates with new thumbnails: Calm, Komoot, MyFitnessPal, Period Tracker, Sleep Cycle, Spotify and Strava are among the first to receive updates. Google is committed to rolling out more updates over time, which means Samsung and Google should keep this watch full of apps.

But you’re stuck with Bixby right now. Samsung’s voice assistant is always the default on the watch, which appears when you hold down the top button. The Google Assistant isn’t available at the moment which is frustrating – it’s one of the main things I’d like to access on a Google smartwatch.

Could this be the best Android watch?

The Galaxy Watch 4 looks like the ultimate amalgamation of a Samsung watch with Google watches – and it could be a winning formula for using Google Maps, smart phone features, and third-party fitness apps on Google Play, which is the value. Galaxy Watch 4’s default app store. It should be the hardware-powered Google Watch we’ve been waiting for for years. The interface of the software looks exactly what you would expect: part Samsung, part Google. But is it worth the wait to see how it goes, or should you just go for that first model? Hard to say, because it is the first of its kind.

It’s no surprise that Samsung’s new health features and its new operating system aren’t available for older Samsung watches at this time. Some of them might, but expect it to be largely a clean break and reboot. And we also don’t know how many features of the Galaxy Watch 4 will carry over to the rest of Google’s future Wear OS 3 line of watches, which will include watches from Mobvoi, Fossil, and possibly Fitbit.

These updates to the Wear OS 3 watch won’t be available until 2022, making the Galaxy Watch 4 the only new Wear OS 3 watch connected to Google this year. For that reason alone, it could very well be the best Android watch around. As for how it actually feels and works? We’ll have full hands-on impressions and a review in the coming days… but the Galaxy Watch 4 looks extremely promising for any Android phone owner who wants a much more connected watch.