The Galaxy Watch 4 is Samsung's first watch to come with the operating system from Google, this is a very significant change from Samsung, which has abandoned its operating system - Tizen in smartwatches and what may indicate a future change in its smart TVs.
For this reason, the Galaxy Watch 4 is no longer the company's smartwatch, but a significant change in this category.
Galaxy Watch 4, Photo: Samsung
I will expand on the new operating system later, but it is worth looking at Samsung's watch as a significant part of the ecosystem experience that the South Korean company has created.
It is supposed to work alongside the company’s smartphones and headphones so that these will connect with each other and provide a holistic solution to the user.
I tested the watch along with the Galaxy Fold 3 (for the full review) and the Galaxy Buds Pro (for the full review).
Design and screen: Galaxy Watch 4 - a sporty look with protection
I reviewed the Galaxy Watch 4 in the 40mm version (there is also a 44mm version), which came with a black sports strap and a black metal frame made of Armor Aluminum materials. The watch weighs 25.9 grams and includes Corilla's Gorilla Glass with DX Plus glass for protection. In addition, there is IP68 protection here for water and dust, with the watch allowing diving to a depth of 50 meters (5ATM). In addition, the Galaxy Watch 4 has a military durability standard -MIL-STD-810G. All of these things, in fact, manage to provide a compact, sporty watch here that looks beautiful on the wrist and should also survive your everyday uses.
The screen comes in the 40mm version in a 1.2-inch size and in the 44mm version in a 1.4-inch size.
For this reason, the experience on the watch I reviewed was a bit small and I felt I needed a slightly larger screen.
The screen itself is in high quality Super AMOLED technology and a resolution of 396 by 396 pixels.
I have not had a hard time using it during the day and it also has a lighting sensor for automatic adjustment of the backlight which worked well.
Interface: Galaxy Watch 4 - Digital dial for control and Google Maps
Samsung has always offered convenient interfaces in its watches, so there was concern here when switching to the operating system from Google.
At first glance, the feeling that not much has changed since the company's Tysen operating system, but once you start using the watch a little more, you feel the changes.
First of all, the apps menu does not consist of many pages of apps placed on a rounded frame.
Instead, there is an interface that displays many apps next to each other, in a crowded way reminiscent of the Apple Watch interface.
What is better?
Probably the current design, which feels more comfortable finding the necessary app at any given moment.
For navigation in the interface, Samsung offers a digital dial around the screen, instead of the physical dial that exists in the classic model.
I hardly used the digital dial, not because it is uncomfortable, because most of the time I forgot that it exists, because I hardly feel it.
Thanks to the move to Android Wear, the Samsung watch gets many apps that did not exist in it and are in the Google store.
For example, Google Maps, Google Fit, YouTube Music, Google Keep and also MyFinessPal and Microsoft Outlook.
Of course there is Spotify here, which allows you to download songs to listen without an internet connection.
So you can take headphones, plug in a watch on Bluetooth and go for a run without the smartphone.
The watch itself knows how to detect an application that already exists in the smartphone and download the appropriate version.
A cute feature of the watch is the connection with the camera in the smartphone, so you can see what you are shooting, also in the video and use the watch as a remote control.
Sometimes the connection time between the watch and the camera takes long seconds and is not instantaneous.
The Galaxy Watch 4 includes a microphone inside, so you can make calls with it and conduct them directly from its speaker.
Surprisingly, I had no complaints from people I spoke to that I was at home, in a non-noisy place, but to my taste the speaker was a bit weak.
Sports and Health: Galaxy Watch 4 - will tell you how long you have been snoring and sleeping
One of the new health features in the Galaxy Watch 4 is snoring detection.
In order to use this option, you will also have to place the smartphone close to your head in bed and plug it in for charging (for me it did not work that the smartphone was not connected to the charger).
I must say that the snoring option caused me some trauma, it first indicates the time of snoring, but it also records your snoring and after you hear them, you will understand how much your partner is suffering.
Apart from snoring, the watch also offers a measurement of the level of oxygen in the blood and of course sleep time, including division into stages.
You can also set sleep goals, such as an hour to go to bed / get up or hours of sleep and the Galaxy Watch 4 will update you if you have met your goals.
By the way, in some countries overseas, the Galaxy Watch 4 also offers an ECG test and blood pressure measurement, a pity that in Israel these options are not available.
For the purpose of testing the pulse sensor, I made a comparison to the Garmin pulse strip worn on the chest (a very reliable way to measure pulse).
Surprisingly, Samsung did not mess up, neither while walking nor while running, when the differences were about 4 or 5 beats per minute and the average heart rate at the end of training was the same.
So if you are planning to go out for a workout with this watch, you should have no problem relying on its heart rate measurement.
Encouraging healthy longevity and measuring body fat percentage
The Galaxy Watch 4 of course includes an internal GPS device and offers a wide range of measurements, such as: running, swimming in the pool and outdoors, lap training, hiking, multi-trainer, exercise bikes, bicycles and more.
The watch knows to detect walking automatically and it will tell you when you have walked for more than 10 minutes.
Samsung wants to encourage you to live a healthy life, so the watch will tell you to get up from the chair or perform stretching exercises with your hands (including explanations) after a long sitting and they will praise you for reaching daily goals including: steps, active time and active calories.
Samsung presents this data in a graphical indication of a heart with colored stripes that fill up as they progress in the destinations (similar to Apple's rings).
The Galaxy Watch 4 makes it possible to measure the percentage of body fat, skeletal muscle and water in the body.
This is done using a BioActive sensor.
For this operation, you will be required to enter your current body weight on the watch, place the forearm and ring finger on the physical buttons on the right side of the watch, when after a few long seconds you get the metrics.
Battery: Galaxy Watch 4 - Charge every day
The working time of this watch is not very successful, at least not that you always use an active screen.
In my case, 15% energy remained in the 15% range from seven-thirty in the morning until eleven-thirty at night.
Sometimes the percentage of battery left was a little higher or lower, depending on the use that day and if I practiced and used GPS.
The battery capacity here is 361 mAh, when there is wireless charging here, so if you have a compatible Samsung smartphone, you can charge the watch directly from the reverse charge of the phone.
Price: NIS 1,000 (for the 40 mm version)
Bottom line, the Galaxy Watch 4 is probably the right choice for anyone who owns a Samsung smartphone and wants a watch that will allow him to enjoy an ideal connection with it, from phone calls through sports training, snoring detection and body fat percentage to many apps that come thanks to Google's operating system.
The article was published on The Gadget Reviews and in the Telegram