I was a little concerned when my colleague Chris Velazco came back from his practice saying that the Watch 3’s rotating bezel was lighter and smaller than the original and it didn’t click in every notch as definitely as it did. before. But I was relieved when I used the wheel on my review unit. It’s much lighter and smaller, yes, and glides past every notch more easily than before. But it doesn’t spin freely, and there is enough resistance that you have to be quite deliberate when twisting it up and down. If the original Galaxy Watch’s bezel moved like the Ferris wheel The price is right, the Watch 3 looks more like the spinner whistling on Wheel of Fortune.
Between the rotating bezel and the 1.2-inch screen is a ring of small sculptures for five, ten and fifteen minutes. It’s a design that isn’t really useful, especially since a regular watch would have “1, 2, 3” to display the hours rather than “05, 10, 15” here, but it’s nice. to watch. Both the Apple Watch and the Fitbit Versa 2 sport more minimalist and basic designs with square faces that I don’t like.
Health, sleep and fitness monitoring
Most of the new features in the Galaxy Watch 3 are aimed at making it a better health and fitness companion. The upcoming ECG tool, for example, along with new blood pressure readings, could help you better understand your overall health. But these are pending a software update and regulatory approval in the latter case, so I was unable to test them for this review.
One of the updates that I was able to try was the new running trainer. Samsung isn’t the first company to provide real-time audio and visual feedback on your jog, but the latest wearable devices from major competitors like Apple, Fitbit, and Garmin don’t. Additionally, Samsung does this for free, which is rare. The Fitbit Coach service requires a subscription fee, for example.
After you have selected a goal from options such as “light run”, “calorie burn” and “speed endurance,” you can begin your run. In light mode I was guided through four stages at gradually increasing speeds and the watch chirped and told me to slow down or speed up to hit the targets. When I met and stayed within the recommended range, the trainer would tell me I was fine, all with corresponding graphics on the screen.
Occasionally, too, the watch would say things like “Good pace, keep that pace” or “Think positively, you’re getting closer to your goal with every step.” It’s supposed to be encouraging but, when delivered with his very robotic voice, it borders on creepy. Also, sometimes he would say weird things like, “Can you feel yourself working hard?” What does it do? and “Are you feeling well enough to exercise today?” The latter made me wonder if the watch had detected some kind of anomaly and that maybe I shouldn’t be working out, but it was just an informal question, not an observation.
Watch 3 presents a more comprehensive analysis for races than for other workouts. In addition to your usual average heart rate, workout duration, and calories burned, you’ll see feedback on your symmetry, contact time, flight time, stiffness, and consistency, along with advice on areas to improve. You’ll get more tips like suggested exercises and graphs showing your pace and pace when you view your session in the Samsung Health app on your phone. I’m not a die-hard runner so this information is not very helpful to me, but demanding athletes will likely appreciate the additional data.
I might not be an exercise expert, but I’m basically an Olympic gold medalist when it comes to sleep. Samsung updated the Watch 3’s sleep tracking to use data from the heart rate monitor and foot pod. This is a very similar approach to Fitbit and uses the information to estimate the time you spent in areas such as REM sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, or when you were awake. Samsung will count the time you were asleep and other factors like restlessness to give you a score.
I had a terrible night getting in and out of sleep before being woken up at 6:45 am by a delivery guy. When I looked at my watch later, I wasn’t surprised to see that Watch 3 had recorded four separate sleep sessions for the night, each period corresponding to the times I woke up. I don’t know all the exact times, but the watch was exactly one case where I remember noticing the sun starting to rise. Samsung scored each of these sessions between 30 and 40 (out of 100), which makes sense since they all only lasted about an hour.
According to the watch, I hardly spent any time in the restorative “deep sleep” zone, instead I mostly stayed in light and REM sleep. There is no real way to know if Samsung is accurately detecting these areas, but the Watch 3 has been consistent with my experience so far. With this, Samsung is teaming up with Fitbit to offer more information about your sleep than Apple, even with the beta of watchOS 7 which has yet to be released publicly. Apple Watch will record how long you sleep and note any interruptions, but won’t tell you which areas you were in, giving a better picture of how well you slept.
Your overall well-being isn’t just about exercising and sleeping. Tizen OS health tracking continues to outperform Wear OS and Fitbit OS. It has some useful widgets for recording your food and water intake, and while I doubt the accuracy of its stress tracker, it does at least offer guided breathing exercises to help you relax. I especially like that the Watch 3 notices that you haven’t moved for an hour, it will not only inspire you to get up and move, but also suggest easy exercises you can do at your desk. Also, when I accepted one of these recommendations and performed a series of five torso twists, the watch gave an onscreen graph of how to do the action and followed each rep accurately. No other smartwatch offers this.
I like a lot about Samsung’s software, but I wish its heart rate monitor was faster. It takes about 10 to 13 seconds to get a reading, at which point impatience usually made my pulse go up. It could also impact his ability to keep pace when monitoring your cardio zones during a workout – although I haven’t been able to constantly keep an eye on the watch when I exercise. . During this time, the Fitbit Versa 2 and Apple Watch typically take around five seconds.
Blood oxygen readings and fall detection
While Samsung has added new tools to make the Watch 3 a more serious fitness companion, it still feels better suited to a more mainstream user than a professional athlete. New statistics like VO2Max give better insight into your body’s performance during a workout, while blood oxygen (SpO2) readings are sometimes called the “fifth vital metric” for assessing your health. (The first four are your pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and respiratory rate.) These are helpful in specific circumstances but not of much use to the average person.
Samsung just released a software update that lets you get SpO2 readings on the Watch 3, and I got results between 98-99%. The Watch 3 interface showed me that it was on the far right of a spectrum, but there was no other way to figure out what it meant. Was I in good health? How did I rank against other people of my age and gender? I always appreciate more data, but I had to go to Google to figure out the meaning. Fortunately, my result is normal (over 95% is normal, and you should see a doctor if you get anything lower).
The Galaxy Watch 3 also offers a feature that first appeared on an Apple Watch: travel detection. This is basically Apple’s drop detection, except Samsung used a different name. Galaxy Watch 3 will notice if you’ve fallen while on the move, not when you’re still, and will send an SOS message with your location to up to four contacts you’ve selected.
I deliberately threw myself on a yoga mat a few times, but never triggered the system. I even fell a few times during my workouts, but the Watch 3 didn’t record them, maybe because I was tracking my exercise. I can’t safely test this feature to see if it will work in life-threatening situations, but at least you don’t have to wait for the Watch 3 to determine you’ve fallen for help. . You can triple tap the home button on the side to call your emergency contacts and share your location with them as well.
I was a little concerned when my colleague Chris Velazco came back from his practice saying that the Watch 3’s rotating bezel was lighter and smaller than the original and it didn’t click in every notch as definitely as it did. before. But I was relieved when I used the wheel on my review unit. It’s much lighter and smaller, yes, and glides past every notch more easily than before. But it doesn’t spin freely, and there is enough resistance that you have to be quite deliberate when twisting it up and down. If the original Galaxy Watch’s bezel moved like the Ferris wheel The price is right, the Watch 3 looks more like the spinner whistling on Wheel of Fortune.
Between the rotating bezel and the 1.2-inch screen is a ring of small sculptures for five, ten and fifteen minutes. It’s a design that isn’t really useful, especially since a regular watch would have “1, 2, 3” to display the hours rather than “05, 10, 15” here, but it’s nice. to watch. Both the Apple Watch and the Fitbit Versa 2 sport more minimalist and basic designs with square faces that I don’t like.
Health, sleep and fitness monitoring
Most of the new features in the Galaxy Watch 3 are aimed at making it a better health and fitness companion. The upcoming ECG tool, for example, along with new blood pressure readings, could help you better understand your overall health. But these are pending a software update and regulatory approval in the latter case, so I was unable to test them for this review.
One of the updates that I was able to try was the new running trainer. Samsung isn’t the first company to provide real-time audio and visual feedback on your jog, but the latest wearable devices from major competitors like Apple, Fitbit, and Garmin don’t. Additionally, Samsung does this for free, which is rare. The Fitbit Coach service requires a subscription fee, for example.
After you have selected a goal from options such as “light run”, “calorie burn” and “speed endurance,” you can begin your run. In light mode I was guided through four stages at gradually increasing speeds and the watch chirped and told me to slow down or speed up to hit the targets. When I met and stayed within the recommended range, the trainer would tell me I was fine, all with corresponding graphics on the screen.
Occasionally, too, the watch would say things like “Good pace, keep that pace” or “Think positively, you’re getting closer to your goal with every step.” It’s supposed to be encouraging but, when delivered with his very robotic voice, it borders on creepy. Also, sometimes he would say weird things like, “Can you feel yourself working hard?” What does it do? and “Are you feeling well enough to exercise today?” The latter made me wonder if the watch had detected some kind of anomaly and that maybe I shouldn’t be working out, but it was just an informal question, not an observation.
Watch 3 presents a more comprehensive analysis for races than for other workouts. In addition to your usual average heart rate, workout duration, and calories burned, you’ll see feedback on your symmetry, contact time, flight time, stiffness, and consistency, along with advice on areas to improve. You’ll get more tips like suggested exercises and graphs showing your pace and pace when you view your session in the Samsung Health app on your phone. I’m not a die-hard runner so this information is not very helpful to me, but demanding athletes will likely appreciate the additional data.
I might not be an exercise expert, but I’m basically an Olympic gold medalist when it comes to sleep. Samsung updated the Watch 3’s sleep tracking to use data from the heart rate monitor and foot pod. This is a very similar approach to Fitbit and uses the information to estimate the time you spent in areas such as REM sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, or when you were awake. Samsung will count the time you were asleep and other factors like restlessness to give you a score.
I had a terrible night getting in and out of sleep before being woken up at 6:45 am by a delivery guy. When I looked at my watch later, I wasn’t surprised to see that Watch 3 had recorded four separate sleep sessions for the night, each period corresponding to the times I woke up. I don’t know all the exact times, but the watch was exactly one case where I remember noticing the sun starting to rise. Samsung scored each of these sessions between 30 and 40 (out of 100), which makes sense since they all only lasted about an hour.
According to the watch, I hardly spent any time in the restorative “deep sleep” zone, instead I mostly stayed in light and REM sleep. There is no real way to know if Samsung is accurately detecting these areas, but the Watch 3 has been consistent with my experience so far. With this, Samsung is teaming up with Fitbit to offer more information about your sleep than Apple, even with the beta of watchOS 7 which has yet to be released publicly. Apple Watch will record how long you sleep and note any interruptions, but won’t tell you which areas you were in, giving a better picture of how well you slept.
Your overall well-being isn’t just about exercising and sleeping. Tizen OS health tracking continues to outperform Wear OS and Fitbit OS. It has some useful widgets for recording your food and water intake, and while I doubt the accuracy of its stress tracker, it does at least offer guided breathing exercises to help you relax. I especially like that the Watch 3 notices that you haven’t moved for an hour, it will not only inspire you to get up and move, but also suggest easy exercises you can do at your desk. Also, when I accepted one of these recommendations and performed a series of five torso twists, the watch gave an onscreen graph of how to do the action and followed each rep accurately. No other smartwatch offers this.
I like a lot about Samsung’s software, but I wish its heart rate monitor was faster. It takes about 10 to 13 seconds to get a reading, at which point impatience usually made my pulse go up. It could also impact his ability to keep pace when monitoring your cardio zones during a workout – although I haven’t been able to constantly keep an eye on the watch when I exercise. . During this time, the Fitbit Versa 2 and Apple Watch typically take around five seconds.
Blood oxygen readings and fall detection
While Samsung has added new tools to make the Watch 3 a more serious fitness companion, it still feels better suited to a more mainstream user than a professional athlete. New statistics like VO2Max give better insight into your body’s performance during a workout, while blood oxygen (SpO2) readings are sometimes called the “fifth vital metric” for assessing your health. (The first four are your pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and respiratory rate.) These are helpful in specific circumstances but not of much use to the average person.
Samsung just released a software update that lets you get SpO2 readings on the Watch 3, and I got results between 98-99%. The Watch 3 interface showed me that it was on the far right of a spectrum, but there was no other way to figure out what it meant. Was I in good health? How did I rank against other people of my age and gender? I always appreciate more data, but I had to go to Google to figure out the meaning. Fortunately, my result is normal (over 95% is normal, and you should see a doctor if you get anything lower).
The Galaxy Watch 3 also offers a feature that first appeared on an Apple Watch: travel detection. This is basically Apple’s drop detection, except Samsung used a different name. Galaxy Watch 3 will notice if you’ve fallen while on the move, not when you’re still, and will send an SOS message with your location to up to four contacts you’ve selected.
I deliberately threw myself on a yoga mat a few times, but never triggered the system. I even fell a few times during my workouts, but the Watch 3 didn’t record them, maybe because I was tracking my exercise. I can’t safely test this feature to see if it will work in life-threatening situations, but at least you don’t have to wait for the Watch 3 to determine you’ve fallen for help. . You can triple tap the home button on the side to call your emergency contacts and share your location with them as well.