A couple of quick notes before I get into the review:
-I'm reviewing the 42mm version, which I've had for about 3 weeks now.
-Apple vs. Samsung comparisons are overblown; both are good watches, but obviously you should match your watch to your phone
-I don't think there's a better smartwatch available at the moment, but I'm only giving this watch 4 stars because I don't think smartwatch technology has fully matured at this stage; I'd say there are no 5 star smartwatches at the moment
Bottom line: The Galaxy Watch does almost everything I was hoping for, and does it pretty well
-My settings: AoD on with a simple face, brightness 3, location off, HR every 10 min, voice activation off; I use the watch whenever I'm away from home – appx 11hrs/day
-With those settings and that usage pattern, I get through 2 days on a charge with a bit to spare
-Reading and responding to notifications is smooth
-Overall, I'd say the exercise tracking is pretty good, not great
-Step counting seems accurate for walking at a reasonable pace, but inaccurate for slow walking or a mix of walking/standing (such as when moving through a museum)
-I mainly use S Health for HR tracking, which works well for steady state cardio but less well for weight training. I'm not sure if it’s thrown off by rapid fluctuations in my HR, moving around a bit on wrist during exercise, or what, but it often loses track of my HR, lags behind spikes and dips, and doesn’t seem to reach true peaks
-For weight lifting, S health isn’t that useful; it can’t count reps on that many exercises and doesn't allow for custom workout design
-I use an app (gymrun) that allows custom workout design; it doesn’t track HR or count reps, but you can manually enter reps and use S health (on ‘other workout’) to track HR
-I was hoping that the Galaxy Watch would allow me to leave my phone in my locker at the gym, and that I'd be able to use the watch to (1) play music, (2) track my workout, and (3) connect to wifi so I can send/receive texts/emails
-The good news is that the watch is capable of doing all of that with no lag – even when running music + wifi + S health continuous HR monitoring + gymrun
-The bad news is that the watch can’t connect to captive portal wifi (networks that require you to visit a website and accept terms), and that the watch burns through appx 30% battery in an hour if you do all of that
-The floors-climbed counter is mixed; it's sometimes quite accurate but sometimes misses floors
Style, comfort, and build
-I'm a male of above average height, and the 42mm watch face is right size for me; there are online watch face size calculators based on wrist size – you’d have to have quite large wrists for a larger watch to look ‘appropriate’
-Of course style is subjective and some prefer a larger face, but for me, 42mm is as large as I was willing to go, and the availability of a 42mm version was a huge selling point
-The watch looks good overall; it's not the world’s best looking watch but certainly something that’s well worth wearing anywhere from the gym to the office to a night out
-The watch is thicker than I anticipated; from the side, it looks quite chunky
-It's very comfortable; I don't notice it during the day, even when typing; it doesn’t get in the way while lifting weights
-Build quality seems good so far – no dents or scratches, but it hasn’t seen hard knocks
Hardware
-This is where the Galaxy Watch really shines, in 2 areas in particular: the SoC (chip that powers the watch) and the rotating bezel
-I don’t think I’ll ever use a watch without a rotating bezel; it's the best way to interact with a smartwatch by far – it allows you to navigate without blocking/smudging the screen or maneuvering both hands to spin a tiny wheel on a side button
-The SoC blows away everyone but apple; wear os watches are 2+ generations behind
-As a result, battery life is excellent (by current smartwatch standards) and apps run smoothly
Software
-This is most people’s biggest complaint – not so much the OS but the limited app availability
-Tizen OS is actually quite intuitive, fluid, and customizable
-Lack of apps does not bother me – aside from the use cases I described up top, I’d rather use my phone for any other apps anyway
-But google integration is not perfect and many apps are not available; if this is something you care about, do some research about what is/is not available on the watch
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