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This Wednesday, February 20 will be one of the most memorable days of the technological space for a while. This is the day that Samsung unveiled its foldable smartphone to the world, ushering in what announces as the future of smartphones as we know them.
The Galaxy Fold is extremely exciting and is the device that allows most people to talk about Samsung's Unpacked event, but it was far from the only new gadget to be unveiled. No, I'm not talking about any Galaxy S10 phones. Today, I want to focus on the Galaxy Watch Active and on why I think it's potentially one of the best smartwatches on the Android market.
First of all, let's take a look at current market offers.
With Wear OS, everything is fine. Fossil Sport is the best option currently available (at least if you ask Mr. Mobile) thanks to its solid design and its many features. Apart from that, you have budget choices like the TicWatch S2 and E2. Well, that's about all.
Fitbit still offers its Ionic and Versa smart watches, and for those who have already invested in the Fitbit ecosystem or who want a smart watch focusing on health / fitness monitoring, they remain very attractive options.
Then you have Samsung. We named the company's Galaxy Watch, the best smartwatch / fitness tracking watch from 2018, and to launch 2019 we have the Galaxy Watch Active, a smaller and more affordable variant of the Galaxy Watch that could be even more attractive to many potential customers. .
Compared to his older brother, the number of features that the Galaxy Watch Active keeps is impressive. There is an AMOLED display, a heart rate monitor capable of detecting irregular heartbeat movements, an NFC chip that activates Samsung Pay, a water resistance up to 50 meters and a battery of several days can be recharged easily using wireless charging Qi.
There is no built-in GPS like the classic Galaxy Watch, the screen is smaller at 1.1 inches compared to 1.2 or 1.3 inches, and the iconic rotating bezel has faded away. In addition to these few omissions, the Galaxy Watch Active is basically the same device.
Oh, and it costs $ 150 less to just $ 200.
The Galaxy Watch Active looks like 80% of the Galaxy Watch for $ 150 less. It's exciting.
What more can you get for $ 200 in today's smartwatch market? The Fitbit Versa has exactly the same price, but its screen is worse, no NFC (unless you spend $ 30 more for the special edition), a library of faces / weaker apps and an exclusive charging system . Again, you have access to Fitbit's excellent health platform and 4 to 5 days of battery charging.
The TicWatch S2 provides a lot of products for $ 180, of which up to 2 days of battery, a water resistance of up to 50 meters and even a built-in GPS. Unfortunately, it is powered by the outdated processor Snapdragon Wear 2100, whose performance is at the height of those of the NFC chip.
The Galaxy Watch Active Samsung is certainly not perfect, but if you ask me, it offers the most complete package and the most complete at its price. The design is accessible, the software experience is a pleasure to use and is better than ever thanks to the new fitness tracking goals, easier to understand, and Samsung Pay is readily available for all models.
Even if the experience is barely similar to that offered by the Galaxy Watch, the difference in price will make the Active worth it.
That said, the landscape of the smart watch could change a lot over the next few months. Rumors are reporting a Fitbit Versa 2 in the near future, and by the end of the year, we expect from Google finally take out his Pixel watch.
Even when these devices are marketed, the Galaxy Watch Active could still remain a gadget at the height of competition. Not all features may be available on the market, but it says a lot about the value proposition. $ 200 for a smart watch with superb design, robust fitness tracking, Samsung Pay, a Spotify native app and Qi wireless charging? He does not get a lot of dough like that.
We will have more to say about the Galaxy Watch Active when our full review will be ready, but only based on first impressions of what Samsung has shown us so far, I'm looking forward to understanding it.
There may be better, more powerful smart watches, but, as a complete package, I think Samsung could have one that will come out of the park.
$ 200 at Amazon
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