Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Hands On - Battery Life, Testing ECG, And Pro Tips!
I love the form factor of my Google Pixel watch, and since we now have a Google Pixel Watch2 and Samsung’s newest Watch6, I’m noticing the smartwatch ecosystem for Android users is just getting better and better. In my opinion, this is the year to pay attention to Android WearOS and the new hardware we’re getting access to. Let’s take a look at the new Samsung Galaxy Watch6.
Buy a Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 here!
The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 is $300 for the 40mm model or about $330 for the 44mm size. Your options for the main aluminum casing are gold or graphite, with graphite and silver being available for the larger model. Each size has a variety of bands in different materials and two different band sizings - S/M or M/L. The base model includes bluetooth and wifi but for an additional cost (up to $350 for the 40mm), you get a 4G LTE model.
It is IP68, which means you can dunk it, wear it in the shower, or swim with it and it’ll be ok up to 50 meters. In terms of design, it’s very similar to its predesessor with the two buttons for navigation, as well as built in sensors in those buttons to do body measurements like BMI and ECG. The bottom of it has a sensor array as well for active measurements. It’s pretty lightweight, and the sport band is smooth to the touch, and made of the same material as previous ones. These kinds of bands do irritate my skin and often give my wrist a rash, so I’I'll be switching out this 20mm band to one that I can comfortably wear.
The wrist band has changed a bit. There’s a new button on the bottom of the band that you press down to push the pins inward in order to remove the bands. It makes the process really easy and you can replace these with any compatible bands that are the same size. When wearing snugly, this thing fits perfectly on my wrists, which are pretty petite.
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Most recently, my smart watches included the Google Pixel Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch4, so I skipped the last release. This one has an increased screen size and thinner bezels even though the housing is the same size.
That screen is also brighter at 2000 nits which is pretty dang ridiculously high, so when wearing it outside it’s much easier to see while doing things like hiking or taking my dog to the park. I often wake up before my husband does, though, and the screen doesnt get as dim as I’d like. It would be nice if it could get darker when it’s the middle of the night. It’s a flat screen, no curve at the edges, which will make it easy to install a screen protector if you want, but it is supposed to be more durable too. So far I have banged it against a few hard surfaces, like my kitchen countertop, and it’s survived with no scratches. It’s now a 1.3” or 1.5” Super AMOLED Sapphire Crystal Glass display. Like previous models, you can enable an always on display and have it light up whenever you flick your wrist back and forth.
The RAM was upgraded to 2GB, making this feel faster. The CPU has also been upgraded to a 1.4GHz Exynos W930. I do feel like it’s faster. I feel as if the sensors are quicker at reading my heart rate when I do a quick read, and when swiping around, I see animations happen quicker as well. Also, you can scroll really fast by just touching the bezel and sliding your finger and the haptics are responsive.
I will say though, the biggest drawback of this smartwatch is the battery life. I’m charging mine every morning while I’m getting ready for my day. If I don’t, it usually lasts about a day and a half with my usage. I do use the Always on Display and raise to wake, so your mileage may vary if you mess with your own settings.
If you’ve ever used WatchOS and a Samsung Watch with their One UI, you’ll be familiar with this watch. The gestures and app placement is all the same, and several apps are included by default that are normally used. There are some new watch faces, but I downloaded a third party one from the app store to make it a bit more personalized. One thing I was excited to see from the announcement of this watch was the ability to transfer the watch from one phone to another without having to reset it. I haaaated having to reset my watch every time I upgrade because I switch phones all the time as a tech reviewer. It was a huge hassle. Now, under General Settings, there’s an option to transfer your watch to a new phone. You just follow the on screen instructions to set it up. That’s a huge improvement.
I’m not a big fan of Fitbit’s subscription model on the Pixel Watch, so I like that Samsung has Samsung Health which I think is loads better. The heart rate tracking on it's own are a big deal for me because I like eating whole bags of chips in one sitting. The Samsung health monitor app can track your ECG and give you historical data points, so if you see a problem, you can save a PDF and send it to your doc.
Managing the watch from your phone is really intuitive with the Wearables app. Whether that’s installing your typical watch faces or customizing which app tiles you see, everything is there.
I do think this was a solid upgrade from my older Watch 4 so I’m glad I opted to upgrade it. My biggest annoyances with the Pixel Watch are the “about” one day of battery life and the proprietary bands that require a somewhat loose third party adapter to change to a third party band. Neither of those issues exist on the Watch6 from Sammy. The pricing is similar to it’s closest competitor in the Android WearOS marketplace though, so really comparing the features and which ecosystem you want to buy into is the choice you’ll need to make.
I’m recording this video in September since I’m traveling in October, so a Pixel Watch 2 video will be coming as well, assuming I can get my hands on one in October. Keep an eye out for that and comment below if you’d like a comparison. Thanks for watching and for the support, bye yall!
