Samsung Galaxy Watch review

Introduction

Smart watches - lambasted by many and dismissed as a fad. Even believers are holding off from investing due to poor battery life. So does the new Galaxy Watch provide the answer to address the critics?

With its new Galaxy Watch, Samsung has combined design cues and durability from its Gear S3 and Gear Sport smartwatches while appealing to an even wider audience by making it available in two sizes and three colors.

The Galaxy Watch is embodied with new health, fitness and smartwatch capabilities courtesy of Tizen 4.0, optional LTE and a new HRM module, oh - and we mustn't forget Bixby makes its appearance for the first time on your wrist.

Is this enough to make the new Galaxy Watch Samsung's most appealing smartwatch offering yet?

Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm) model-specific specs:

• Case: Stainless steel - Silver with black bezel
• Display: 1.3" (33mm) Circular Full Color Super AMOLED (360 x 360), Always On Display option, Corning Gorilla Glass DX+
• Battery: 472 mAh, WPC based wireless charging
• Dimensions: 46 x 49 x 13 mm
• Wеight: 63 g (without strap)
• Strap: 22 mm (Interchangeable)

Samsung Galaxy Watch (42mm) model-specific specs:

• Case: Stainless steel - Midnight Black with black bezel / Rose Gold with Rose Gold bezel
• Display: 1.2" (30 mm), Circular Full Color Super AMOLED (360 x 360), Always On Display option, Corning Gorilla Glass DX+
• Battery: 270 mAh, WPC based wireless charging
• Dimensions: 41.9 x 45.7 x 12.7 mm
• Wеight: 49 g (without strap)
• Strap: 20 mm (Interchangeable)

Samsung Galaxy Watch shared specs:

• Durability: Water Resistant (5ATM / 50 meters), IP68, MIL-STD-810G Certified
• OS: Tizen Based Wearable OS 4.0
• Chipset: Exynos 9110 Dual core 1.15GHz CPU
• Storage: 4GB Internal Memory
• Memory: LTE - 1.5GB RAM / Bluetooth - 768MB RAM
• Connectivity: 3G/LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi b/g/n, NFC, A-GPS/Glonass
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Barometer, new HRM, Ambient Light
• Misc: Bixby, Microphone, vibration, speaker
• Compatibility: Samsung, other Android: Android 5.0 or higher, iPhone: iPhone 5 and above, iOS 9.0 or above

To appeal to a broader audience, Samsung broke its dependence on Android last year by making its Gear and Health apps available for iOS, but do you sacrifice too much by not owning a Samsung or even Android phone?

We thought we'd take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and clutching our trusty iPhone, we strapped the 46mm Silver Samsung Galaxy Watch to our wrist for a week of work-and-play to find out.