Samsung Galaxy Watch Review – Running Smartwatch Review – Runner’s World

Price: $329.99 (42mm) and $349.99 (46mm)
Weight: 1.7 ounces (42mm), 2.2 ounces (46mm) without straps
Battery Life: 45+ hours (42mm) and 80+ hours (46mm) with typical usage

I’m a runner—but I also practice yoga, ride my bike, and strength train to supplement my run training. For a smartwatch to fit into my lifestyle, I need it to do more than just track distance and time, which is exactly what the Samsung Galaxy Watch was created to do.

This advanced smartwatch does it all, and looks good while doing it. It keeps you connected on and off the run with the LTE-connected option so you can answer calls, respond to text messages (for non-iOS users*), use GPS, and stream music from your wrist without having to lug around your phone. And feel free to forget your wallet. Samsung Pay allows you to pay for purchases with a tap of your wrist. Add that to calendar reminders and weather at-a-glance, and you get one jam-packed fitness watch with all the bells and whistles.

Connected Health & Fitness Features

The Samsung Galaxy can track a whopping 39 different workouts and exercises including 21 specific indoor exercises (think: biceps curls or squats for your strength training days). But it gets better: If you’re like me and forget to hit “Start” on your workout (then kick yourself because you like getting the credit), this watch will auto track the six most popular workouts: running, walking, cycling, elliptical trainer, rowing, and dynamic workouts. I didn’t have to worry about stopping and starting it midrun, and it even picked up my short Citibike rides to and from the office.

Samsung

In addition to keeping tabs on how much you move, the watch also boasts a sleep tracker, stress tracker, breathing guidance, and calorie management via the Samsung Health app. The built-in sleep tracker lets me know how much light, deep, and REM sleep I get, and since the battery lasts multiple days, I didn’t have to take it off at night to charge. Plus, a stress tracker keeps tabs on your stress levels from your heart rate and will even recommend a quick breathing exercise if your HR sneaks up.

For those who track calories, the Samsung Health app makes it crazy easy by allowing you to snap a photo of your food and then the app calculates its caloric value. It also tracks your total daily energy expenditure, which includes the calories you burn at rest and during exercise, according to your heart rate. However, when I let the watch charge overnight, I’d wake up to 500-600 calories already burned for the day—without even wearing the watch. Considering smart devices already overestimate calorie burn (as proven by this recent Stanford study), I found this feature to be misleading.

High Style

At the watch launch, the first thing everyone did was ooh and ahh over its appearance: a traditional-looking timepiece with modern digital capabilities. My fingers were pulled straight to the rotating bezel, which is an intuitive way to scroll through the watch’s features. With three different colors to choose from (Silver, Black and Rose Gold), you can find one that suits your personal style and further customize it with a new sweat-wicking strap or custom watch face. It looks cool, but it’s not light or small, and the first thing I noticed while running was how heavy it felt on my wrist, and the 42mm face obstructed my wrist range of motion during planks and pushups. If you have petite wrists like me, you’ll want to wear it slightly higher on your wrist.

Courtesy of Samsung

Longer Battery Life

None of these features would matter though, if the watch couldn’t go for the long run—literally. This watch can easily hang with you through a marathon, even using LTE. I was impressed that I could go a few days without having to worry about charging it. It also made it easy to travel for a quick trip, as I didn’t need to worry about packing yet another cord for a weekend away. And if you already exist in the Samsung’s universe with any of the brand’s other devices, you’ll appreciate how well they all sync up.

The Bottom Line

The Samsung claim that the Galaxy watch can do it all is on point. But as with any device in your life, there is some level of personalization you’ll want to implement. I added a “multisport” app for easy access to tracking my multi-modal workouts, customized the metrics I can see at a glance on the run (easily doable via the app), and swapped out the strap. If you’re looking for a simple, straightforward running watch, this one isn’t for you. But if you’re like me and just want one watch that can pretty much do everything except cook you dinner each night, the Galaxy Watch is a solid choice.

* iOS users can experience voice calling and text messaging functionality when connected to Bluetooth and your phone is in Bluetooth range.