Unveiled throughout a Samsung occasion I attended in Seoul final month, the Galaxy Watch 6 boasts a high-quality tremendous AMOLED display screen with easy transitions, 2000 NITs peak brightness, and a excessive refresh price (60 Hz). The important thing options embody 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 chrome steel case and numerous strap choices improve the watch’s sensible look. The one-day battery life (typically lower than a day with intense use) stays a priority, although quick charging is offered.
Context
For this overview, 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 a number of hours every day in Seoul, the place Samsung launched its newest merchandise on July 26, 2023. Again in San Francisco, I attempted it for a number of extra days with a number of journeys to the health club.
Worth and availability
The Galaxy Watch 6 is offered 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 screen actual property, related look and dimension
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 incorporates a thinner bezel than its predecessor, the Watch 5. The show’s actual property is now 20% bigger. Regardless of this transformation, display screen sizes and button capabilities stay the identical, leading to an analogous look. The gadget delivers a better 2000 NITs peak brightness than the earlier mannequin.
Improved UI and well being options
Whereas holding the identical chassis dimension mixed with bigger display screen actual property, Samsung managed to extend the keyboard dimension and the variety of characters you may learn for text-based notifications.
Samsung has improved sleep monitoring and gives new well being options corresponding to Sleep Teaching, Customized Coronary heart Charge Zones, and Irregular Coronary 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 big 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 of the Galaxy Watch 5 collection (Watch 5 and Watch 5 Professional) and Wach 6 collection (Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic) ship the identical sturdiness options: 5ATM, IP68, and MIL-STD-810H.
What Is Totally different From The Galaxy Watch 6 Basic?
The primary variations between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Basic are the return of the long-lasting rotating crown on the Basic, the Basic vs. Sporty look, and … the worth. The Galaxy Watch 6 Basic is offered in Black or Silver, beginning at $399.99 for the 43mm and $429.99 for the 47mm watch.
We didn’t overview the Galaxy Watch 6 Basic, however we love that Samsung introduced again the long-lasting rotating bezel for higher usability.
In addition to that, for every mannequin, each the small and enormous variations characteristic the identical {hardware}.
Design And Construct High quality – Glorious
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a classy and customizable sensible wearable gadget that may enchantment to a variety of customers. It is available in two dimension choices, 44 mm and 40 mm, with two shade decisions every (graphite or silver and graphite or gold, respectively).
The light-weight case is product of aluminum to make sure sturdiness, and it comes with a snug Sport Band, appropriate for various wrist sizes. Customers can personalize the gadget with numerous watch faces and interchangeable straps.
The Galaxy Watch 6 is water and dust-resistant, with a 5ATM ranking permitting it to deal with water pressures equal to 50 meters for 10 minutes, making it protected for swimming. It additionally has an IP68 ranking, defending it from mud and contaminants. The MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification ensures its resilience in opposition to excessive temperatures, shocks, vibrations, and drops.
The bodily interface options two exterior buttons on the facet for intuitive management of the primary navigation capabilities (again, return residence, entry to complete exercise…) and ECG measurement. Total, the Galaxy Watch 6 gives a wonderful mix of fashion, sturdiness, and user-friendly options.
Show – Glorious
As typical, Samsung gives a beautiful show that’s simple to work together with. The 44mm model boasts a 1.5-inch 480×480 Tremendous AMOLED, whereas the 40mm mannequin sports activities a 1.3-inch 432×432 Tremendous AMOLED, each providing a Full Coloration All the time-On Show with a excessive 60 Hz refresh price.
With Sapphire Crystal safety and a powerful 2000 NITs peak brightness (on paper), the display screen stays vibrant, scratch-resistant, and simple to learn even below direct daylight. The show is bigger and brighter than the earlier mannequin, the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, 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 program, Connectivity, And Efficiency – Very Good
The Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic bought {hardware} upgrades over the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional.
Each fashions are outfitted with the Exynos W930 Twin-Core 1.4GHz processor, surpassing the Exynos W920 dual-core 1.18 GHz Cortex-A55 within the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional. Reminiscence has been expanded from 1.5GB to 2GB, alongside sustained 16GB storage.
On the software program facet, Put on OS 4 comes with Samsung’s One UI 5 Watch interface. Connectivity choices embody LTE6, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4+5GHz, NFC, and a spread of worldwide navigation techniques.
Total, the perceived efficiency is nice, the contact interface on the show could be very responsive, and scrolling by way of the tiles could be very fluid.
Battery – May Be Higher
Nevertheless, the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic characteristic smaller batteries — 425mAh for the bigger ones and 300mAh for the smaller ones—in comparison with the Watch 5 Professional’s 590mAh Li-ion battery.
Whereas we respect the nice efficiency packaged within the elegant physique, the battery life could possibly be higher. The Watch 6 newest round a day utilization with common exercise and notifications, and fewer than a day with intensive use.
Charging occasions clock in at 50% in half-hour and 94% in 60 minutes with a 50W Samsung charger you might want to purchase individually.
Viewfinder And Distant Management For The Galaxy Telephones’ Cameras
Like previous Galaxy Watch models, the Watch 6 transforms right into a handy viewfinder for capturing selfies and group pictures. The watch acts as a distant shutter button if the telephone is propped on a floor. It supplies a glimpse of the digicam’s perspective to assist customers higher body their pictures. 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.
Well being And Health Monitoring
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 degree measurement, and pores and skin temperature monitoring.
New well being options
- New well being options
- Redesigned on-watch Sleep monitoring app
- New IHRN Irregular Coronary heart Rythm Notification characteristic added to ECG
Samsung improved the well being and health options within the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic. The Sleep report obtainable immediately from Watch 6 had a structure redesign that emphasizes sleep rating and newly added pores and skin temperature, sleep consistency, and sleep animal image.
Customers want to connect with the Samsung Well being companion app to see extra sleep knowledge, corresponding to in-depth evaluation, sleep phases, and 5 sleep contributors.
Samsung added the Irregular Coronary heart Rythm Notification characteristic to its present Electrocardiogram (ECG). I attempted it a number of occasions, and 4 occasions out of 5, the sensor situated 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 perform developed in partnership with Pure Cycles.
Well being monitoring
Like within the earlier Samsung Watches, month-long Sleep Teaching is offered from the cell utility and gives suggestions primarily based on customers’ sleep patterns and habits; after a number of nights of monitoring, the system assigns a sleep animal image.
For Smarthings customers, the Watch6 can detect once you go to sleep and mechanically modify the settings of linked residence gadgets.
Health
On high of 100 present exercise trackers, Samsung now gives the choice to create customized exercises, with the flexibility to call them, set a goal length, select a information frequency, and choose amongst 4 health knowledge structure choices for the display screen. A broad vary of coached health periods can be found for individuals who want steerage.
Just a few of the free weight workout routines I carry out on the health club can be found, and I discover it distracting to need to function the watch after every set to vary train, set the load by double tapping the again button, and take into consideration stopping the length when the set is completed. Someday, all of the free weights can be linked to permit smartwatches to detect each motions and weights mechanically, and I can’t look ahead to the sensible Galaxy Weights V1!
The Galaxy Watch 6 also can monitor indoor and out of doors swimming, and I used it on the health club’s swimming pool. The varieties of strokes are mechanically detected, in addition to the splits, the pool’s size, and the gap for every set.
Well being Charge monitoring accuracy – superb for a wrist-based sensor
Wrist-based coronary heart price sensors will not be as correct as those worn on the chest or the medical-grade ones medical doctors place on our fingers. That’s the reason the ECG measurement on the Watch 6 requires gently resting the index on the highest button. Common coronary heart monitoring is recorded by the optical sensor in the back of the gadget, and I measured its accuracy in opposition to numerous cardio machines that monitor it from the fingers.
More often than not, the Watch 6 had zero or solely a one-point discrepancy with the exercise machine’s coronary heart price measurement. Throughout 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 a number of seconds lag.
Highs
- Bigger, brighter show with thinner bezels
- Excessive 60 Hz refresh price and glorious picture high quality
- Nice design with a broad vary of customization choices
- Nice person interface with a bigger keyboard
- Well being monitoring is getting higher
- Good coronary heart price accuracy for a wrist-worn sensor
Lows
- Just one-day battery life with common utilization
- I want the exercise monitoring Sturdy app could be obtainable for Put on OS
Score + Worth
- Score: 9/10
- Worth: ~$299.99
- Accessible on Amazon
Filed in . Learn extra about Android Wear, Connected Health, Digital Health, Editorspick, Galaxy Watch, IFA, IFA 2023, Samsung, Wearable and Wearable Tech.
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