Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Review: The (Different) Smartwatch You Should Buy
"The Galaxy Watch 3 is the smartwatch you can buy if you have an Android phone."
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Stylish, traditional watch look
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Attractive, reliable software
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The brilliant rotating bezel supports the control system
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Comprehensive health monitoring functions
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Solid battery life
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Questionable fitness tracking accuracy
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Slow charging of the battery
If you own an Android phone, which smartwatch should you buy? The answer isn't as obvious as you might think. You can't use the shoe-in option, the iOS-based Apple Watch, which is the undisputed top of our smartwatch recommendation list.
Samsung hopes the new Galaxy Watch 3 can take on the role. After all, it shares many of the appealing aspects of the Apple Watch. It comes in two sizes and has a good design, strong software and a unique control system.
That makes it an easy recommendation for Android phone owners – with one caveat. You have to be happy to spend a pretty large sum to get one, weaknesses and all.
design
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I wore the 45mm Galaxy Watch 3 which has a chronograph style and is a little more masculine than the 41mm model. It also has softer design features for a less sporty look. It weighs 53 grams (0.12 pounds) and is 11 mm (0.43 inches) thick. Due to its overall size, I initially chose the 41mm version as my preferred model, but the larger of the two models has proven to be handy and has established itself as a comfortable companion.
The roundness of the Galaxy Watch 3 makes it less obvious that you're wearing a smartwatch, and I really like that. The 1.4-inch Super AMOLED screen has a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels and is sharp and very colorful. You can choose an always-on screen that, unlike most WearOS watches, doesn't minimize the watch face much. It lowers the brightness and removes all animation like a second hand, but the overall design stays on the screen. This makes it look like a normal watch.
The party piece of the watch is the bezel, which physically rotates to move through the software.
Made of stainless steel, the Galaxy Watch 3 has Gorilla Glass DX above the screen and also looks like a glass showcase. Two buttons are separated by a protective piece on the right side of the housing, with the upper one being used to secure a step in the menu and the lower one being used for the app menu. Long press the top button activates Samsung Pay, and long press the bottom button brings up the Bixby voice assistant. If you look closely at the top button you'll see the words "Galaxy Watch" engraved on it, which is a really nice touch.
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The watch's party piece is the bezel as it physically rotates to move through the software rather than having to swipe the screen or play around with a rotating crown.
Not only is this convenient and intuitive, but it also doesn't obstruct your view of the screen when you interact with the software. I really like the neatly dampened rotary motion and the quiet clicks when moving. The software's response is also very quick, so you can turn it one way or another without the clock getting stuck. In reality, you should be using it with care and precision, which shows how high-quality the action feels. If you're not touching the screen, less greasy prints are printed on it, a nice bonus, and the bezel's subtle texture makes it rotate naturally.
My test model has a black leather strap with white stitching that softens shortly after it is put on and is attached to the case with 22mm quick release pins. Switching to almost any other strap is easy, but the Galaxy Watch doesn't offer the same third-party support as the Apple Watch, which means you have to turn to traditional watch accessory manufacturers. That's not a problem, but not as new to newbies as buying custom-made Apple Watch straps.
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Like all all-round smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 3 is closely based on a traditional watch design, so you may not be immediately recognized as a “smartwatch wearer” if you don't want to. However, this comes with a certain degree of anonymity.
The uniqueness of the Galaxy Watch 3 is based more on its ease of use than its looks. I appreciate its presence on my wrist, but Samsung still hasn't found a way to make my heart beat faster when I look at it.
software
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Samsung uses its own Tizen software for the Galaxy Watch 3 and not Google's WearOS for Fossil, Mobvoi or Motorola smartwatches. While WearOS is better than it was, it can be frustrating to use. Tizen on the Galaxy Watch is nifty and mature and much closer to WatchOS than WearOS in terms of usability, but still has some weaknesses of its own, including the complete departure from Google Apps.
First the good things. I'll keep going but the rotating bezel is a work of genius. It's simple and cleverly implemented, and it's key to the Galaxy Watch's quality of life. 3. Turn left to view your notifications. Turn right to view fitness data, workouts, weather, shortcut buttons, and more. These widgets can easily be customized so that they remain relevant to you.
To its disadvantage, the Galaxy Watch 3 uses Bixby for voice control and not the Google Assistant.
Samsung does an excellent job of displaying data on the Watch 3's small screen. The text is clear, large, and legible in sunlight. Because the widget array can be personalized, you rarely need to go to the main menu of the app. Find what you want quickly. It's all very pretty too, with lots of pictures and graphics, right down to large profile pictures to be used with WhatsApp messages and bold colors to distinguish modes, icons, and menu options. It's fun and friendly without being cheap and off-putting. I like the choice of watch faces as there are hundreds available on the Galaxy Store if you don't like the pre-installed Samsung watch faces.
The feel is strong and noticeable, but you have to raise your wrist significantly for the notification to appear on the screen, which can be annoying. Notifications allow you to interact with predefined responses or emoji, speech or a small alphanumeric keyboard. The keyboard is a bit fiddly, but voice control is surprisingly accurate when dictating answers.
To its disadvantage, the Galaxy Watch 3 uses Bixby for voice control and not the Google Assistant. Bixby is in no hurry, and even the command "Hey, Bixby" means pausing for several seconds while he decides whether to listen or not. This mostly makes it useless and nowhere near as good as the Google Assistant on a wearable.
The lack of Google Apps is a problem. You will miss Google Maps the most. I find maps on my wrist helpful in areas I am unfamiliar with as I don't have to stare at my phone like a tourist, but the Galaxy Watch 3 has no pre-installed map option at all. The decent Here Maps app is available from the Galaxy Store, but Google Maps isn't. Samsung brings you into your own ecosystem with the Galaxy Watch. For example, you use Samsung Health instead of Google Fit and Samsung Pay instead of Google Pay.
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I used the Galaxy Watch 3 connected to the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and it worked fine. It's easy and quick to set up, it connects and reconnects with ease even if you turn the watch off overnight, and it even displays a small haptic reminder when you are out of range of your phone. If you're using another Android phone or iPhone, you'll need to install the Samsung Galaxy Wear app in order to use the watch.
The big thing for me is that Tizen isn't annoying on the Galaxy Watch 3, which WearOS almost always is. After the notifications are sorted out during setup, it just sits back, gets on with its work, and isn't irritating when I have to interact with it. This is part of the success of the Apple Watch, and it's great to see it replicated for Android phone owners.
health and fitness
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The Galaxy Watch 3 has all the usual fitness monitoring tools on board as well as a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, automatic fall detection, VO2 max data and blood oxygen monitoring. Like the rest of the software information, it is displayed in a colorful, easy-to-read manner. It has meaningful reminders to keep you moving, and even little stretch routines that are easy and fun to follow – or shut up if you don't have time.
The automatic workout tracking is a little overzealous, however. It occurred while I was vacuuming and painting a door. The Galaxy Watch 3 will now track your sleep when you wear it overnight. The results were different from my Withings Sleep Analyzer – where the Withings tracked deep sleep, the Watch 3 seemed to classify it as light sleep instead.
The Galaxy Watch 3 covers everything I want in a fitness tracker, but there are some accuracy concerns.
Outside of the basics, it's not particularly informative. Personally, since I don't find wearing a watch very comfortable while I sleep, the dates didn't inspire me to wear it often. Heart rate is not measured at night, so battery life is not significantly affected. About 6% was used during seven hours of rest, which means that the watch is having trouble getting through a second day of heavy use without charging.
The data is synced with the Samsung Health app on your phone. In addition to basic information such as number of steps, calorie consumption and training data, you can also add food and water intake there. There is also a stress measurement tool that is linked to a breathing exercise program. The app is informative and attractive, and it has some basic explanations as to why you want to track features like stress.
Samsung Health is used for health and fitness tracking Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The Galaxy Watch 3 supports sleep tracking Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The Galaxy Watch 3's blood oxygen measurement Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The voltage meter of the Galaxy Watch 3 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The Galaxy Watch 3 covers everything I want in an everyday fitness tracker, but there are some accuracy concerns. I noticed that some of the data points appeared to be on the low side compared to what I normally see, and I wore them next to the Apple Watch for comparison. During a set period of time, there were big differences in the steps taken, with the Apple Watch 940 and Galaxy Watch 3 recording just 380 over an hour of comparison.
Wearing both for a simple workout also made a massive difference in calorie consumption. The Galaxy Watch estimated 283 calories for a 64-minute session, which seemed low with an average heart rate of 133 beats per minute (beats per minute). The Apple Watch delivered an average heart rate of 127 beats per minute for the same session and an active calorie consumption of 471. However, the resting heart rates were identical.
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While neither may be absolutely correct, the Apple Watch results always match other wearables I've tested. Cause for concern? It's not a medical device, so not really. I'm also using a pre-release version of Galaxy Watch 3, so a software update may arrive before it starts to optimize the data collection algorithms.
Unfortunately, if you need the Galaxy Watch 3 for EKG or blood pressure monitoring, these functions are not yet available. Both must be approved by the local authorities before starting. Although the Food and Drug Administration has now approved the Galaxy Watch 3's EKG feature, it has not yet been enabled in my review model.
battery
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With moderate use. The battery of the Galaxy Watch 3 lasts two working days if it is switched off overnight with the display active. Introduce GPS, continuous heart rate and stress level tracking, and additional fitness tracking, and that will drop to a little over a day. As I tracked my sleep, the battery dropped from 48% when I went to bed to 42% in the morning.
I find the battery life of the Galaxy Watch 3 acceptable, but certainly not desirable. It improves on many WearOS watches, which often can't make two full days even with light use, but the charging process is very slow. The magnetic puck sticks pretty loosely to the back of the watch 3, and regardless of which charging block I used, the charging time from 5% to 100% was at least two hours and 15 minutes.
I wore the Galaxy Watch 3 next to the Apple Watch for a few days to compare the battery consumption. Between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., the Galaxy Watch 3's battery dropped to 66%, while the Apple Watch's battery dropped to 75%. I turned the clocks off at midnight and back on at 9 a.m., then followed an hour's workout, and then continued using it all day. The Galaxy Watch 3 showed 5% at 10 p.m. while the Apple Watch had 10%. When it hit 15% and 5%, the Galaxy Watch 3 suggested turning on a battery saver that only shows the time to extend usage.
Using the Galaxy Watch 3 with other Android phones and the iPhone
The Galaxy Wearable app, which is required to connect the Galaxy Watch 3 to your phone, is available on Google Play and the iOS App Store. I tested it on a Samsung phone, but what is the experience like with a third-party device? I'll be updating this over the next few weeks as I use the Watch 3 with different phones. I will add the results to this story
Price and availability
The Galaxy Watch 3 is $ 399 for the 41mm WiFi model or $ 429 for the 45mm WiFi model. Samsung is also making a 41mm 4G LTE version for $ 449 and a 45mm 4G LTE version for $ 479. Both are compatible with all major US airlines. All Wi-Fi models will be released on August 20th and 4G models in September.
In the UK, the 41mm WiFi model is £ 399 and the 45mm WiFi clock is £ 419. The 4G LTE units cost £ 439 for the 41mm model and £ 459 for the 45mm model.
Our opinion
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 isn't perfect, but it's the best smartwatch you can buy if you own an Android phone. The software is reliable and pretty to look at, the control system is an absolute winner, there is a choice for small and large wrists, and it has extensive health features too.
However, they pay a heavy price. It's twice what you'd spend on some WearOS watches, and since smartwatches are more of a nice addition than an essential one, you really have to be sold for the concept to spend that much. Apart from the Apple Watch, the Galaxy Watch 3 is the only modern smartwatch that I still like to wear after the reporting period. I think that's a strong recommendation.
Is there a better alternative?
The Galaxy Watch 3's biggest rival is the Galaxy Watch Active 2. It's cheaper and has the same software but a touch-based version of the rotating bezel and a less interesting design. It's a good buy if you don't have the budget for the Galaxy Watch 3. If you want WearOS for Google's apps, the Fossil Gen 5 and Moto 360 are good. The Mobvoi TicWatch C2 Plus is still cheaper. Keep in mind that WearOS isn't as sophisticated or as easy to use as Tizen.
If you own an iPhone, there's nothing here to turn you off of the Apple Watch. Even if the experience is good, only the Apple Watch can be integrated with Apple's messaging system and apps. If you have an iPhone, you should still buy the Apple Watch.
How long it will take?
The Galaxy Watch 3 has IP68 water and dust resistance and a toughness rating of MIL-STD-810G, which means it should be suitable for everyday use and in most situations. The design shouldn't age badly. If Samsung continues to support the app, the Galaxy Watch 3 will last as long as you have your current phone.
Should you buy it?
Yes. It's expensive, but if you're connecting to an Android phone, it's worth it.
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