A large company cannot change a product line overnight, but it is clear that at some point they must put a full stop and start doing new things.
We have seen it with the new design of the MacBook Pro and, also, with the apparent new strategy of Samsung. Foldables seem like they are going to ‘eat’ a much loved Note family, but this year will not have continuity and the watches have also arrived with important novelties.
And, although there are changes in design, the most obvious is the new approach more ‘Apple’ with the Apple Watch -by the way, analysis of the Watch 7- to make the Galaxy Watch the best friend of a Samsung mobile.
Now they are watches with WearOS from Google, but with customization from Samsung, and after trying the Watch 4 Classic, it’s time to tell you our experience with the Watch 4 ‘just plain’, which is nothing more than the model that comes to replace the Active.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 | |
---|---|
Dimensions | 40.4 x 39.3 x 9.8 mm | 25.9 grams / 44.4 x 43.3 x 9.8 mm | 30.3 grams |
Screen | Color SuperAMOLED | 1.19 “or 1.36” | 330 dpi | 900 Luxes | Corning Gorilla Glass DX glass |
Hardware | Samsung Exynos W920 5 nm | 1.5 GB of RAM | 16 GB of internal storage |
Battery | Magnetic contact charge | Qi wireless charging | 247 mAh |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 | Dual band WiFi | NFC | GPS | LTE (depending on model) |
Sensors | Accelerometer | Gyroscope | BioActive Sensor (heart rate) | Barometer | Electrocardiogram (ECG) | Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) Sensor | SpO2 | Ambient light |
Belt Materials | Silicone strap | Interchangeable |
Endurance | 5 ATM | IP68 | MIL-STD-810G |
Price | 280 euros on Amazon |
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 analysis sections:
A delicious AMOLED panel in a flat screen body
I have always liked Samsung smartwatches and I have found them to be one of the most premium in the industry. In addition to the materials used, much of the credit goes to the mechanical bezel, which is the hallmark of the new Classic model.
This ‘standard’ Watch 4, so to speak, picks up the witness of the Galaxy Watch Active. They are the models most focused on sports and do without that mechanical bezel, but on the perimeter of the screen they have a certain degree of sensitivity to emulate the feeling of the mechanical system.
In the Active we found some slightly curved sides that made the experience very comfortable, but here Samsung has decided to make the entire front flat.
This is a matter of taste, but I liked the previous design more and, also, when it came to sliding my finger along that side, I think the experience was superior in the Active. But hey, it’s a matter of getting used to the new design.
On the sides of the box we have two buttons, one to navigate through menus and activate Bixby (yes, we jump to WearOS, but we continue with the Samsung assistant) and another to activate Samsung Pay and, of course, pay with the NFC chip.
The red perimeter of one of the buttons gives an elegant touch to the whole and at the bottom we have the typical sensors of this type of watch.
The Watch 4 is IP68 certified and you will be able to swim with it without problems, as well as interchangeable straps thanks to the 20 millimeter standard so that you can personalize the watch and put a strap that best suits you.
The one that comes standard is comfortable and I think of good quality, but the anchoring system leaves some ‘air’ between the watch case and the wrist and in people with this thinner wrist, it can be a problem.
Oh well, Let’s go to the screen because it is the jewel in the crown of this smartwatch. We have two panels of 44 millimeters -1.36 “- or 40 mm -1.19” – and the SuperAMOLED panel looks spectacular.
In both cases we have a density of 330 pixels per inch and the brightness is about 830 lux, according to our measurement. It is a high enough brightness to see perfectly content in full light and the contrast of the panel seems to me to be adequate for the different spheres.
We have a very customizable watch Thanks to both the pre-installed spheres and the one that we can download in the Samsung Wear app and we will find many different designs for any occasion.
They look very good, they are customizable and interactive (if one shows the pulse or the steps, we click on the icon and it takes us to the corresponding widget) and we have Always-on Display mode, so some dials can pass for an analog watch.
The sensitivity is also excellent and I really have no complaints with the screen. I loved it.
WearOS and Samsung’s cape get along very well
We say that on the outside they have not changed so much, but on the inside things change.
They are still very familiar and If you come from a Galaxy Watch 3 or a previous model, here you will feel at home because yes, we went from Tizen, a 100% Samsung software, to WearOS, from Google, but with a layer of customization from Samsung.
This implies that most of the menus, the notifications on the left and the widgets on the right, the menu of shortcuts to functions and settings at the top and the ability to respond to notifications, perform multitasking and gestures from previous generations, are here.
And everything goes very, very fast. The new 5-nanometer processor, the Exynos W920, together with the 1.5 GB of RAM memory make the system run smoothly at all times.
There has been no time where I felt like the clock was lazy and this allows us to multitask, which is something I really appreciate.
For example, we will be able to be training and press one of the side buttons to go to the main screen and, from there, go to the menu to change the song that is playing or see the notifications.
This is ideal because allows me to do more without taking my phone out of my pocket And yes, you will also be able to respond to notifications from some applications, both with voice messages to text, text through a mini-keyboard that appears on the screen or with some predetermined responses.
At the level of functions such as smartwatch it is very complete and if you use it with a Samsung mobile, the range of options is enormous as a better and greater integration with applications that you install on the watch and you also have on your mobile or health functions as curious as the snoring detector.
We will already talk about whether it is feasible to wear the Watch 4 at night due to its battery, but the sleep measurement I think it does it in a very successful way and if you have a Samsung mobile on the bedside table, the microphones and the processor of both devices will tell you the next morning whether or not you snored.
It is a curious function to say the least, but the greatest innovations are on the roof of the sport. Like its brother, the Classic, we have measurement of 90 different sports and the possibility to choose at any time what we want to do or activate automatic detection.
This works quite well and, for example, if you are walking fast for more than 10 minutes, the clock will tell you if you want to count that as a sports session, starting the timer of those previous 10 minutes.
The sports measurement in terms of beats per second has seemed quite accurate to me, but as we always tell you, this is not a medical device.
And this extends to the measurement of oxygen in the blood or the calculation of BMI – body mass index ‘-, which is the star function. We simply have to put the tips of our fingers on the side buttons to close the circuit, not move for a few seconds and it gives us an approximation to our body composition.
What is this for? Well, apart from to look at our health in a more detailed way, to be able to compare our physical state as we exercise.
The clock encourages us enough to get up from the chair And I like filling in hearts, as it is the same ‘ring closing’ process as on the Apple Watch. On this, Samsung, my sincere congratulations.
You will also be able to receive and answer calls And if you have the LTE model, you will not have to carry your mobile in your pocket to continue receiving notifications.
It is a smartwatch with all the letters, but I still find few applications in the store, especially if we go to the most used ones and the configuration process is a bit cumbersome, since we have to install several applications (Wear and Health) in the mobile, as well as various plugins to make the clock work.
A little more than a day of use if we exploit all its functions
The Watch 4 has a ton of features, a bright, high-resolution screen and WearOS and all of that works against autonomy.
The more a smartwatch includes, with current technology, the less autonomy. This we have been seeing with each generation of the Huawei Watch. The first had a great autonomy, the second fell to half and with the Watch 3 we have had a day and a half with everything activated.
And the same goes for the new Samsung watches, since with the screen with automatic brightness and the main measurement functions, as well as notifications, we have for a full day of use.
This means that it can spend the night, but we must load it with the morning coffee to be able to carry it during the next day and that full load takes almost an hour and a half.
So, you have to decide if you want to measure sleep … or how long you are awake. And charging is done using the wireless and magnetized charger that comes in the box.
The best smartwatches you can buy if you have an Android
Samsung and Huawei have been the two leading companies when it comes to creating smart watches for Android. However, with all the controversy about Huawei and although its latest smartwatch, the Watch 3, is a great watch, it seems that Samsung has been left alone.
Currently, It is the only smartwatch that can stand up to the Apple Watch both in terms of functions and in that particular ecosystem that those of Cupertino have and that, it seems, they want to imitate the South Koreans.
The screen is spectacular, the performance is fast and fluid, it is a very comfortable watch and the best thing is that it has more functions thanks to WearOS, but without losing the essence of Tizen and that circular menu navigation.
I find that the digital bezel responds well, although I liked the circular finish of the Active ones better, and the only reason to choose the Watch 4 or 4 Classic is if you want a mechanical bezel or not, since in the rest of the functions they are nailed.
If you have a Samsung mobile, it is the watch you should choose if you want a smartwatch with all possible functions. And yes, that range of options and functions means that the battery will last you a day and a half, if it arrives.
What is clear is that Samsung has done things well and this watch is going to win you over … if you don’t have a Huawei or an iOS, since it is not compatible with those systems.