Unveiled throughout a Samsung occasion I attended in Seoul final month, the Galaxy Watch 6 boasts a high-quality tremendous AMOLED display with clean transitions, 2000 NITs peak brightness, and a excessive refresh price (60 Hz). The key options embrace exercise animations, a viewfinder for distant selfies, well being and health monitoring options, a broad vary of tiles and watch faces, and a fast swap performance for straps.
The stainless-steel case and varied strap choices improve the watch’s good look. The one-day battery life (generally lower than a day with intense use) stays a priority, although quick charging is accessible.
Context
For this evaluation, I examined the small 40 mm Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 with no LTE connectivity. I wore it whereas going to the health club, the swimming pool, and strolling just a few hours every day in Seoul, the place Samsung launched its newest merchandise on July 26, 2023. Back in San Francisco, I attempted it for just a few extra days with just a few journeys to the health club.
Price and availability
The Galaxy Watch 6 is accessible for buy since August 11, 2023. The worth begins at $299.99 for the 40mm mannequin in Graphite or Gold and $329.99 for the 44mm mannequin in Graphite and Silver.
See the demos at IFA Berlin 2023
The product launched a month forward of IFA 2023, and we anticipate to see extra demos of the Galaxy Watch 6 alongside the brand new Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, subsequent week at IFA on the Samsung sales space.
What’s New In The Galaxy Watch 6 Vs. The Galaxy Watch 5?
Thinner bezels, brighter show, bigger display actual property, comparable look and dimension
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 includes a thinner bezel than its predecessor, the Watch 5. The show’s actual property is now 20% bigger. Despite this variation, display sizes and button features stay the identical, leading to the same look. The machine delivers a better 2000 NITs peak brightness than the earlier mannequin.
Improved UI and well being options
While protecting the identical chassis dimension mixed with bigger display actual property, Samsung managed to extend the keyboard dimension and the variety of characters you’ll be able to learn for text-based notifications.
Samsung has improved sleep monitoring and gives new well being options corresponding to Sleep Coaching, Personalized Heart Rate Zones, and Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications.
Upgraded {hardware}
The Exynos W930 processor and 2GB of RAM supply improved efficiency over the Exynos W920 with 1.5GB of RAM discovered within the earlier mannequin. The Watch 6’s battery capability has been barely boosted over the Watch 5, with 425 mAH for the massive 44mm model (over 410 mAH) and 300 mAH for the small model I’m reviewing over the earlier 284 mAh. Samsung saved the identical 16 GB storage dimension within the Watch 6.
All the Galaxy Watch 5 collection (Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro) and Wach 6 collection (Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic) ship the identical sturdiness options: 5ATM, IP68, and MIL-STD-810H.
What Is Different From The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic?
The foremost variations between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic are the return of the enduring rotating crown on the Classic, the Classic vs. Sporty look, and … the worth. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is accessible in Black or Silver, beginning at $399.99 for the 43mm and $429.99 for the 47mm watch.
We didn’t evaluation the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, however we love that Samsung introduced again the enduring rotating bezel for higher usability.
Besides that, for every mannequin, each the small and enormous variations characteristic the identical {hardware}.
Design And Build Quality – Excellent
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a trendy and customizable good wearable machine that may enchantment to a variety of customers. It is available in two dimension choices, 44 mm and 40 mm, with two shade selections every (graphite or silver and graphite or gold, respectively).
The light-weight case is made from aluminum to make sure sturdiness, and it comes with a cushty Sport Band, appropriate for various wrist sizes. Users can personalize the machine with varied watch faces and interchangeable straps.
The Galaxy Watch 6 is water and dust-resistant, with a 5ATM score permitting it to deal with water pressures equal to 50 meters for 10 minutes, making it protected for swimming. It additionally has an IP68 score, defending it from mud and contaminants. The MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification ensures its resilience towards excessive temperatures, shocks, vibrations, and drops.
The bodily interface options two exterior buttons on the facet for intuitive management of the principle navigation features (again, return dwelling, entry to complete exercise…) and ECG measurement. Overall, the Galaxy Watch 6 gives a wonderful mix of favor, sturdiness, and user-friendly options.
Display – Excellent
As ordinary, Samsung gives a stunning show that’s simple to work together with. The 44mm model boasts a 1.5-inch 480×480 Super AMOLED, whereas the 40mm mannequin sports activities a 1.3-inch 432×432 Super AMOLED, each providing a Full Color Always-On Display with a excessive 60 Hz refresh price.
With Sapphire Crystal safety and a formidable 2000 NITs peak brightness (on paper), the display stays vibrant, scratch-resistant, and simple to learn even beneath direct daylight. The show is bigger and brighter than the earlier mannequin, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which tops at 1000 NITs.
The boosted show brightness allowed me to simply learn notifications or look at apps whereas strolling round on a sizzling, sunny afternoon in Seoul.
SoC, Software, Connectivity, And Performance – Very Good
The Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic bought {hardware} upgrades over the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.
Both fashions are geared up with the Exynos W930 Dual-Core 1.4GHz processor, surpassing the Exynos W920 dual-core 1.18 GHz Cortex-A55 within the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Memory has been expanded from 1.5GB to 2GB, alongside sustained 16GB storage.
On the software program facet, Wear OS 4 comes with Samsung’s One UI 5 Watch interface. Connectivity choices embrace LTE6, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4+5GHz, NFC, and a variety of world navigation methods.
Overall, the perceived efficiency is nice, the contact interface on the show may be very responsive, and scrolling by way of the tiles may be very fluid.
Battery – Could Be Better
However, the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic characteristic smaller batteries — 425mAh for the bigger ones and 300mAh for the smaller ones—in comparison with the Watch 5 Pro’s 590mAh Li-ion battery.
While we respect the great efficiency packaged within the elegant physique, the battery life might be higher. The Watch 6 newest round a day utilization with common exercise and notifications, and fewer than a day with intensive use.
Charging instances clock in at 50% in half-hour and 94% in 60 minutes with a 50W Samsung charger you must purchase individually.
Viewfinder And Remote Control For The Galaxy Phones’ Cameras
Like earlier Galaxy Watch fashions, the Watch 6 transforms right into a handy viewfinder for capturing selfies and group photographs. The watch acts as a distant shutter button if the telephone is propped on a floor. It offers a glimpse of the digicam’s perspective to assist customers higher body their photographs. I extremely respect the characteristic, particularly for my experiment with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. The digicam view on the watch delivers spectacular high quality picture high quality, additional enhancing the general person expertise.
Health And Fitness Tracking
The Galaxy Watch 6 options Samsung’s 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor, encasing sensors for optical coronary heart price, electrical coronary heart indicators, and bioelectrical impedance evaluation. These sensors allow coronary heart price monitoring, sleep monitoring, physique composition evaluation, blood oxygen stage measurement, and pores and skin temperature monitoring.
New well being options
- New well being options
- Redesigned on-watch Sleep monitoring app
- New IHRN Irregular Heart Rythm Notification characteristic added to ECG
Samsung improved the well being and health options within the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic. The Sleep report obtainable instantly from Watch 6 had a structure redesign that emphasizes sleep rating and newly added pores and skin temperature, sleep consistency, and sleep animal image.
Users want to hook up with the Samsung Health companion app to see extra sleep knowledge, corresponding to in-depth evaluation, sleep phases, and 5 sleep contributors.
Samsung added the Irregular Heart Rythm Notification characteristic to its current Electrocardiogram (ECG). I attempted it just a few instances, and 4 instances out of 5, the sensor positioned on the highest button discovered no irregularities in my cardiac rhythm.
Since February 2023, Galaxy Watches can monitor the menstrual cycle that leverages the temperature sensor, a operate developed in partnership with Natural Cycles.
Health monitoring
Like within the earlier Samsung Watches, month-long Sleep Coaching is accessible from the cellular utility and gives suggestions primarily based on customers’ sleep patterns and habits; after just a few nights of monitoring, the system assigns a sleep animal image.
For Smarthings customers, the Watch6 can detect once you go to sleep and routinely alter the settings of linked dwelling gadgets.
Fitness
On high of 100 current exercise trackers, Samsung now gives the choice to create customized exercises, with the flexibility to call them, set a goal period, select a information frequency, and choose amongst 4 health knowledge structure choices for the display. A broad vary of coached health classes can be found for individuals who want steering.
A couple of of the free weight workout routines I carry out on the health club can be found, and I discover it distracting to should function the watch after every set to vary train, set the burden by double tapping the again button, and take into consideration stopping the period when the set is finished. One day, all of the free weights can be linked to permit smartwatches to detect each motions and weights routinely, and I can’t look ahead to the good Galaxy Weights V1!
The Galaxy Watch 6 can even monitor indoor and outside swimming, and I used it on the health club’s swimming pool. The sorts of strokes are routinely detected, in addition to the splits, the pool’s size, and the space for every set.
Health Rate monitoring accuracy – superb for a wrist-based sensor
Wrist-based coronary heart price sensors are usually not as correct as those worn on the chest or the medical-grade ones medical doctors place on our fingers. That is why the ECG measurement on the Watch 6 requires gently resting the index on the highest button. Regular coronary heart monitoring is recorded by the optical sensor behind the machine, and I measured its accuracy towards varied cardio machines that monitor it from the fingers.
Most of the time, the Watch 6 had zero or solely a one-point discrepancy with the exercise machine’s coronary heart price measurement. During my high-speed accelerations, the Watch 6 displayed a 3-point lag in comparison with the indoor bike’s sensor, and finally, the identical charges have been recorded however with just a few seconds lag.
Highs
- Larger, brighter show with thinner bezels
- High 60 Hz refresh price and wonderful picture high quality
- Great design with a broad vary of customization choices
- Great person interface with a bigger keyboard
- Health monitoring is getting higher
- Good coronary heart price accuracy for a wrist-worn sensor
Lows
- Only one-day battery life with common utilization
- I want the exercise monitoring Strong app can be obtainable for Wear OS
Rating + Price
- Rating: 9/10
- Price: ~$299.99
- Available on Amazon
Filed in . Read extra about Android Wear, Connected Health, Digital Health, Editorspick, Galaxy Watch, IFA, IFA 2023, Samsung, Wearable and Wearable Tech.