Samsung Galaxy Watch review: Good Smartwatch!

The Galaxy Watch is Samsung's attempt to bring its smartwatch line under a larger Galaxy umbrella so that it fits into the ecosystem more seamlessly. So the company let go of the "Gear" branding and kept things simple by calling it the Galaxy Watch. And while Samsung's efforts look to be in the right direction, the ecosystem that we are looking at still hasn't reached the Apple kind, and that leaves the Galaxy Watch stuck somewhere between truly great and just another smartwatch.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Galaxy Watch, but I feel it still hasn't reached its true potential yet. It brings a familiar Gear-like design with a rounded body, a AMOLED display and a rotating bezel. And more importantly - it feels like a watch. The Galaxy Watch also touts an impressive battery life and some use activity tracking. And all of this comes at a reasonable starting price of Rs 24,999. Is the Galaxy Watch the best Apple Watch alternative?

Design and display

A watch is an extremely personal and subjective product, more so than a smartphone. At least, that's what I believe. What a watch should be shaped like is a matter of choice. Some like it round and chunky while others may prefer it square and petite. I personally prefer the former which is why I find the Galaxy Watch extremely attractive. It has a rounded body that comes in two sizes - 42mm and 46mm. I received the 46mm model as my review unit and I'm glad because it's the perfect size for my wrist. If you have a small wrist then the 42mm should be ideal for you.

The 46mm model is big but surprisingly lightweight. The body comes in silver while the rotating bezel and accents on the buttons are in a dark gray colour which adds a nice touch of contrast. You can also opt for the all-Black version or the all-Rose Gold option as well, but these colours are limited to the 42mm model only. The buttons placed on the right side have a rough pattern on it which makes it easy to identify and there's a nice tactile feel as well. They aren't firmly placed and you can feel it move around, which feels kind of cheap.

I cannot stress this enough, but I find the rotating bezel design to be absolutely the best way to navigate on a smartwatch yet. It is definitely a feature that should be seen on more smartwatches and I'm glad Samsung hasn't removed this. Turning the bezel clockwise or anticlockwise will allow you to browse through the entire UI and apps smoothly and the fact that you don't have to use your finger to navigate leaves the display completely free. There's also a little clicky feel with every rotation that makes it feel more authentic and real. And speaking of real, you also have the option to enable the ticking sound of the seconds hand to mimic a real watch, which is oddly satisfying.

I am not a big fan of the silicone straps that come with the smartwatch as it attracts way too much dust that's not easy to remove. Of course, you could always give them a quick wash under the tap as the smartwatch is waterproof. I suggest buying better 22mm strap made of stainless steel or leather or whatever that takes your fancy.

The 46mm model comes with a 1.3-inch AMOLED display with a pixel density of 282 DPI while the smaller 42mm model gets a 1.2-inch display with a higher 302 DPI. It is a gorgeous AMOLED display and you can count on Samsung to deliver sharp and vivid colours and detail. Brightness levels and viewing angles are good and you'll be able to view the display even on average brightness. The UI in general has a lot of colourful icons which makes it look rich and lively.

Features and performance

To get started, you need to first pair the Galaxy Watch with a phone. The watch is supported on both Android and iOS as opposed to the Apple Watch which only works on an iPhone. You need to download the Galaxy Wearable app from the Play Store. In the iOS App Store this goes by the name of Galaxy Watch. Once the app is downloaded, you will be taken through the pairing process over Bluetooth. The app will give you a dashboard that shows you the battery percentage, internal storage and memory consumed. The Galaxy Watch comes with 4GB of storage, but you will have access to less than half of that, and around 768MB of RAM.

You should note that pairing the Galaxy Watch with an iPhone will allow you to read notifications but not reply to them. Notifications on the watch will be a lot more interactive if connected to an Android device. Apart from quick reply options, you can also type full messages on the watch with the help of a small feature phone-like keypad. The watch vibrates every time you receive a notification, but I'm not a fan of the little animation that keeps showing up before you're able to read the message as it can get really annoying if you get a lot of notifications through the day.

The Galaxy Watch comes with a lot of the same features as the Gear S3 so anyone familiar with that watch will instantly know how to work on this one. Rotating the bezel clockwise or swiping left on the touchscreen will show you some widgets and the option to add contacts, alarms and workouts. Rotating the bezel anticlockwise or swiping right will bring up notifications.

What really makes the Galaxy Watch stand out is quite simply because of all the watch faces to choose from. Samsung says there are over 60,000 watch faces in the Galaxy Wearable app, and while you may never go through all of them, just the idea of having an endless supply of watch faces has me sold. There are a few faces included in the Settings menu that look quite nice as well.

Samsung is offering close to 40 workouts that includes running, hiking, swimming, treadmill and crunches. The watch also auto detects when you're running or walking over a prolonged period or some of the other workouts so you don't have to manually start the timer. It doesn't always work seamlessly for all workouts, but the tracking is quite on point. The watch can also detect when you're inactive and will buzz you when it feels you should do a torso twist.There is a speaker on the left side that allows you to talk someone on a call. The volume levels aren't great and you'll only be able to hear something in a very quiet environment. Notably, the person on the other end of the line will be able to hear you quite clearly, as if you were talking over the phone.

Battery

One key aspect about smartwatches is the battery life. I find it tiresome to have to charge a watch before I sleep every night. The Apple Watch will make you do that every other day. But the Galaxy Watch goes up to four full days before you need to reach for the bundled wireless charger, and that's just great. In fact, you can even stretch it up to five days if you know the right battery saving combinations. Note that this for the 46mm model as it gets a bigger battery 470mAh battery as compared to the 42mm model that gets a 270mAh capacity. As we couldn't test the smaller variant it's hard to say how it delivers on battery life, but I reckon it will be around 2-3 days at the most.

Now, If you want to reach Samsung's four-day battery life promise, you will need to keep a few things in mind. The Always-On feature needs to be toggled off, which is fine because you don't need the display to stay on when you're not looking at it. But if you do prefer the Always-On option then do note that this will drain battery life a lot faster, offering around two full days before draining out. Next, I found it ideal to set the display brightness at around 7, which is sufficient for indoors and outdoor visibility, while at the same time does not drain the battery too fast. You can also switch off the Wi-Fi option if the watch is connected to your phone via Bluetooth.

To charge the Galaxy Watch, simply place the body on the wireless charger with the back facing the dock. Wireless charging in general is a pretty slow technology and even with a battery as small as a 470mAh inside the 46mm model will take about two and a half hours to charge from zero to 100 percent. The charging time should be faster for the 42mm as it comes with a battery size that's almost half at 270mAh.