My honest opinion of the Samsung Galaxy Watch

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

I'm at 50% after 37 hours. The stand by time only applies if you just have it on not getting any notifications, screen never comes on.. that time is highly unlikely.


I'm using the LTE version

 

[dspeersrev]

First off, I've had this watch for about five days and I'm returning it.

There are so many things wrong with this watch, and a few awesome things.

Let's get the awesome things out of the way first;
- It looks amazing, very sleek, it actually does look like a real watch
- Feels nice on your wrist
- The click bezel sound is very satisfying
- Step tracking seems to be pretty accurate

Other than that, this watch has so many issues I'm not even sure where to begin!

- Firstly, the heart rate monitor is WAY off. It had me clocked at 140+ and kept checking me and kept saying my heart rate was that high when I could literally just feel my heart rate and tell it was way lower. My phone clocked me at 70. It also just doesn't always check, it'll just stop once in a while, which isn't what 'continuous' means at all
- The sleep tracking is awful and barely works, ever. Its a hassle for it to even track when you're asleep and every day it's managed to track my sleep (3/5 days) it's been way off. Saying I'm getting like 3 hours sleep total when I'm actually getting at least 6.
- Almost all the apps are completely terrible, they either don't work or barely work. Developers don't care to make good apps for this small market and it shows
- The battery life is a joke. It lasts for about a day and a half if you're lucky, with moderate use. I know it will never last as long as they say but I put it on at the start of the day before work and at around 7pm I was at 45% and I barely used it, then by the morning it's at like 20-30% and will die mid-day
- You have to basically turn off everything to extend that battery life, no always on display, no continuous hr, no always wifi, close all apps, which basically make the watch pointless
.

I have to disagree about battery life. I use about 20-25% battery life each day. AOD is not on, but continuous heartrate is. Wifi is off, bluetooth is on. Using a low power watch face. There is a delay in recording steps, but they get recorded. Sleep tracking has been good compared to Fitbit charge 2, though Samsung is not as polished. Rem, deep sleep, all recorded.

 

[Greymire]

I have to disagree about battery life. I use about 20-25% battery life each day. AOD is not on, but continuous heartrate is. Wifi is off, bluetooth is on. Using a low power watch face. There is a delay in recording steps, but they get recorded. Sleep tracking has been good compared to Fitbit charge 2, though Samsung is not as polished. Rem, deep sleep, all recorded.

I have it set the same. I use over 50%.

 

[tstreete]

When I bought my 46mm it was lasting barely two days on a charge with modest use. So I swapped it for another within the return window, and I just returned from a four day trip with almost 35% charge left (AOD, wifi off, frequent heart rate, dark watch face). If you still can, try swapping your watch for another where you bought it. (Samsung support may try to fix it, but my past experiences with them are that they are an incompetent nightmare.)

 

[jgreg02]

Sounds like you don't have your watch tight enough on your wrist. The sensors on the back need to be in contact with your skin for heart rate to work.

 

[rugby49]

I have a similar experience with battery life on the 42mm. Around 50% or a little less at end of day. That is with hour and a half exercise using GPS and music, hr check about every 10 minutes, no aod, conservative watchface, 3 apps for notifications. One day it was draining quickly, it went down about 20% in two hours but I also was using one of the free watchfaces from the Samsung store. I got rid of it quickly. I have a series 4 lte which is about the same on battery life. I agree with other comments that if Apple did an Android app they would do a killing. Still on the fence about the watch partly because of the App Store and a few other things. Found the Garmin Vivoactive 3 music on sale for 249 at the GPS store. Will probably make a decision after I try that.

 

[Drew Steven]

Honestly after everything, I've switched to the FitBit Versa and I'm loving it. It does everything I want a smart watch to do and more.

 

[JWhales]

Do you guys have "Call" types of apps such as Skype, Google Voice, etc., installed on your phone? Try disable them or put them to sleep to see if that improves battery life. The issue is that the watch, when connected using Bluetooth, requires exclusive control of "Call Devices" of the phone over Bluetooth. If there are other apps on the phone doing the same, it will cause huge battery drains. In my case, if I have Skype active on the phone, the batteries on the watch and the phone would start dropping like a rock. I have to disable Bluetooth on the phone and connect the watch using wifi before using Skype.

I'm getting 3-4 days on a 46mm watch with everything ON except AOD: Continuous HR, Continuous Stress Level, WIFI always ON, Sleep Tracking, Workout Tracking, etc.

Yes, you need to have the watch fairly "tight" to get accurate readings.

 

[Greymire]

Wow. Old post still going. I exchanged my watch and battery life is fine now. I get three to four days with quite a bit on. Heart rate seems fine for me though I do lose it on rare occasions. Step counter needs work. Sleep tracker needs work. I have been pleased with Samsung over the years, though I prefer LG V series phones, so I am trusting that we will get updates to fix the issues. If they do not come then I go to Ticwatch. Fitbit had great features but too many of them did not work with my LG. The only thing I hate about Android watches is the battery life. I might go all in for Garmin. As for apps, for me, it's a watch that I wa t some health and fitness tracking in. It's too small of a screen for anything other than that and quick notifications. I can't see it to browse the web and I do not even want it constantly going off for Facebook or Chitter (joke from IT Crowd).

 

[supersoulfly]

Honestly after everything, I've switched to the FitBit Versa and I'm loving it. It does everything I want a smart watch to do and more.

I'm really happy for you.