Samsung Galaxy Watch Review: Function, but no finesse

Our expectations for Smartwatches are inherently contradictory: we expect them to be simple and yet we want them to do a lot. We need them on our wrists, indicate the time and have enough battery life to spend at least the day. At the same time, we want them to run applications, take phone calls, and even follow potentially serious health issues.

Samsung is striving at once with its new Galaxy Watch. The feature-rich smartwatch was announced in early August and is positioned as Samsung's flagship smartwatch. Even though it's there an attempt at simplification – before that there was the Samsung Galaxy Gear, the Samsung Gear 2, the Samsung Gear S, the Gear Live, the Gear Sport, the Gear S2 and the Gear S3, and so on. The new Galaxy Watch is the one to which your eyes (and your wallet) are supposed to be attracted.

Overall, the flagship Galaxy Watch is a good smartwatch. It is compatible with iOS and Android phones (unlike Apple Watch, which only works with iOS). The Galaxy Watch itself works with Samsung's Tizen software, which may seem unknown at first, but is easy to understand. And he has a great battery life. Since the end of August, I have worn the 42mm Galaxy version for two different periods and during the two test periods, the battery lasted about three days. This makes it a smart watch with a high resolution touch screen that can easily pass the test of two days business trip.

But this new watch seems to have many features already existing. There are two really new things, like the addition of Bixby, the Samsung Virtual Assistant. It also works on a new dual-core processor. Samsung's features are new to the watch, but not to smart watches. In addition, the Galaxy Watch, with its Samsung Health compatible app, could offer more useful information on what it follows.

The new Galaxy Watch is available in two sizes and three color finishes: a 46mm version available in silver and a 42mm version available in pink and black gold. The smallest watch sells at $ 330 and the larger model at $ 350, which is lower than the new Apple Watch Series 4. An LTE version of the watch, available via T-Mobile, costs $ 50 more .

There are many things that the Galaxy Watch can do, but a big part of buying watches is looks. Samsung has succeeded in producing a robust stainless steel watch with "military-grade durability" that does not appear to have been designed for the battlefield. From time to time, a friend commented and said that they liked the watch.

At the same time, the Galaxy watch is not really elegant. It's thick, with a toothed bezel and a plastic bottom. The brilliant pink gold version, I wear borders on flashy. From time to time, a manufacturer of smart watches launches a watch that works whether for dinner, at the gym or on a hike. The aesthetics of the Galaxy Watch gold watch works for the first activity, but is ridiculous for the last two. According to the images I've seen, the black and silver versions of the Galaxy Watch seem much more sober.

The display is nice. It is a very bright screen, multicolored, Super AMOLED. It is also covered with Gorilla Glass to prevent scratches and scratches. It is embedded under the telescope, which means that it does not have the fluid and fluid appearance of smartwatch that extends directly into the watch case. The screen also seemed to stubbornly resist my efforts to wake him up (though it may improve battery life). I had to exaggerate the twisting of my wrist or arm raised, or press one of the physical buttons on the watch, just so the screen turns on and shows me the time.

The rotating bezel is one of the best features of the Galaxy Watch. It is a control tool for the watch. Rotate the frame to the left to view all your previous notifications. Turn to the right to access the widgets quickly. The watch also has a touch screen, so you can always slide your finger down to set the settings or tap an app or widget to open it. And there are two physical buttons, a back button and a home button.

The Galaxy Watch does everything you expect from smartwatches in the last two years. It tells you when you receive a phone call and lets you swipe it in to accept or decline it. It informs you with the notifications of your phone. It shows you the weather. It allows you to pay with Samsung Pay, provided you have paired the watch with a Samsung smartphone. It follows your steps, your workouts, your heart rate.

But the bar of smartwatches is higher now. It's all about knowing how data is usable – and what actions a smartwatch can do. for you, so you can wear it and forget it. The Galaxy watch has enough of these features to make it a valuable watch. Compared to some of its smartwatch competitors, I do not find it revolutionary.

For example, Samsung likes to say that the watch tracks more than 39 different types of workouts. But more than 20 of them are individual exercises, like boards or squats. The Galaxy Watch also withstands water up to 50 meters for ten minutes and can be used to track longer activities in shallow waters, such as swimming. Apple Watch also has a water resistance index of 50 meters and can record swimming sessions. And the Samsung Gear Sport watch has this rating. At this point, any smartwatch that has a shape tailored to it should offer these things.

The automatic tracking function of the Galaxy Watch is more useful. It means that the watch immediately starts recording an exercise if it detects a peak in your activity and heart rate. I found it useful during long walks in town, for which you do not normally receive "credit", apart from a high number of steps. The Galaxy Watch will begin to record it as an exercise and will also send an encouraging notification. It works for running, outdoor cycling, elliptical and rowing.

Since the watch has a built-in GPS, it should also accurately record training distances, which I found true in most cases. It seemed to depend on my constancy during the activity. On more than one occasion, he accurately followed a 3.7 mile hike (the same track both times). But when I had the watch ready to "hike" and then decided to do some of it, she recorded the same trail as a 2.95-mile hike. In contrast, the watch gives auditory cues, which is a good thing for people who do not want to constantly watch their wrist during a workout.

A little inconvenience with the follow-up of the training: it proposes only shortcuts towards four activities at the time. So, if you have a varied workout routine, you will find yourself constantly changing these shortcuts.

In case you missed the memo about stress management, the dedicated apps that guide you through the breathing exercises are now a popular feature on smartwatches. You guessed it: the Samsung Galaxy Watch has that! This is strangely similar to the Breathe app on Apple Watch, minus haptic feedback. It shows the outer edges of a series of concentric light blue circles, such as the petals of a flower, pulsating when you inhale and exhale and playing a soothing and meditative air. According to the Galaxy Watch, my stress levels are "neutral" (it was probably the least accurate measure of the watch.) I'm kidding.)

Although the Galaxy Watch offers many functions, it lacks finesse in communication. It records your sleep every night and, some mornings, it sends you a notification with your new "sleep record", which I first interpreted as a milestone. Why would a night of four and a half hours sleep be a record? Was it showing how bad it was? In this case, it's just a new data entry, not a recording night, as much as I would like if I was creating new sleep records.

The Samsung Health app, which contains all your activity and health data, also does not explain sleep tracking. It indicates your sleep efficiency rating, but I still do not know what it means, nor why I should be concerned about how long I stayed "motionless" while I slept. The Discover tab of the Health app displays health articles from reputable news outlets, but as far as I know, they are not personalized.

I enjoyed that the Galaxy Watch sends a digital tape in the back almost every time I got up and away from my desk. But he also once sent a congratulatory activity notification while I was typing. And then there is the notification "torsion of the torso? It's Samsung's push to get you moving when you've been lazy or stuck on your computer screen for a long time. This does not suggest a short walk, not a stretch, but a twist of the torso. Maybe I should do more twisting of the torso? I am certainly open to the idea. But I would also like to change this notification for something else, and it's not an option.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch is a good smartwatch with regard to smartwatches. But in an era where "lighthouse" is tantamount to "the showcase of innovative new technologies," Galaxy Watch's flagship status appears as self-proclaimed.