Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: a superb watch, however an iterative replace
Editor’s Observe
• Authentic evaluation date: August 2023
• New Galaxy Watch 7 launched in 2024
• Launch value: $299.99 / £289 / AU$549
• Official value now: $299.99 / £289 / AU$549
Replace: November 2024. The Galaxy Watch 7 was launched by Samsung in September 2024. It options broadly the identical design as its predecessor however provides new AI-powered wellness options and a quicker chip. Nevertheless, the Galaxy Watch 6 remains to be a succesful watch that boasts the identical battery life because the newer mannequin and really has one key benefit. Samsung hasn’t launched a Basic model of the 7, so if you would like that premium rotating bezel and nicer end, a less expensive Galaxy Watch 6 may be the choose for you.
If yow will discover a Galaxy Watch 6 with a hefty low cost (we have seen them half-price), that would make for a less expensive Android smartwatch than the Galaxy Watch 7, or a extra premium various to a Fitbit if you wish to push the boat out. On the proper value, the Galaxy Watch 6 is certainly nonetheless price contemplating in 2024.
Stephen Warwick
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: One minute evaluation
I’ve spent a full week with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. I’ve been utilizing it to trace my sleeping, operating, basic exercise stage, water consumption and extra through Samsung Well being. I’ve used Whatsapp, Spotify, Strava and different third-party apps to check out their performance on Samsung’s One UI Watch 5.
The quick display refresh price and response time for the apps we have been in a position to make use of imply the general expertise is butter-smooth, and the design is sweet – each externally and internally. Crucially, I’ve drained the battery down and monitored how a lot battery life GPS exercises drain from the watch.
The top consequence? We will clearly see the potential for it to knock the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 off the highest of our finest smartwatches record. It’s packing some nifty new options: notably, the processing energy and RAM have been boosted, and Samsung Pockets has expanded to have the ability to embody paperwork apart from playing cards, equivalent to airline tickets.
A brand new Customized Exercise possibility means that you can put collectively multi-stage exercises, and a redesigned Sleep app expertise makes the Watch 6, in Samsung’s phrases, “the most effective gadget available on the market for monitoring your sleep”.
It’s an iterative improve in some ways, however an improve nonetheless, even when it doesn’t fairly enhance on the Watch 5’s flaws sufficient to earn a uncommon 5 stars. In isolation, the Watch 6 a superb gadget, maybe the most effective Put on OS watch I’ve but tried.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: Specs
| Chipset | Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 (40mm) | Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 (44mm) |
| Dimensions | 38.8mm x 40.4mm x 9.0mm | 42.8 x 44.4 x 9.0mm |
| Weight | 28.7g | 33.3g |
| Show | 1.3-inch, 432 x 432 px tremendous AMOLED | 1.5-inch, 480 x 480 px tremendous AMOLED |
| Case/Bezel | Aluminum armor, graphite | Aluminum armor, graphite |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU, Galileo |
| Battery | As much as 40 hours | As much as 40 hours |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, LTE | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, LTE |
| Water-resistance | 5ATM+IP68 | 5ATM+IP68 |
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: Worth and availability
- 40mm mannequin within the US begins from $299.99, 44mm from $299.99
- Begins from £289 within the UK (40mm) and £319 (44mm)
- Begins from AU$549 (40mm) and AU$599 (44mm) in Australia
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 was introduced at Samsung’s July 26 Unpacked occasion in Seoul, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Basic, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Z Fold 5, and Galaxy Tab S9 collection.
The Galaxy Watch 6 is available in 4 variants, and that’s earlier than you take into account the choice Basic mannequin. You might have the 40mm and 44mm sizes, with every accessible as Bluetooth-only or LTE fashions, the latter of which grants you web entry unbiased of your cellphone.
Within the US, the 40mm fashions begin at $299 for Bluetooth-only and $349 for LTE, whereas the 44mm fashions are $329.99 for Bluetooth-only and $379.99 for LTE connectivity.
Within the UK, costs begin from £289 for the 40mm Bluetooth mannequin and £339 for the 40mm LTE possibility, and from £319 and £369 for the 44mm Bluetooth-only and 44mm LTE fashions, respectively.
In Australia, the 40mm watches go for AU$549 (Bluetooth) and AU$649 (LTE), with the 44mm fashions going for AU$599 (Bluetooth) and AU$699 (LTE).
These costs put the varied Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 fashions in the identical ballpark as current-generation Apple Watches and the Google Pixel Watch, though clearly depending on sizes, fashions and offers accessible. Contemplating that the Watch 5 began at £269 / $279.99 / AU$499 for a 40mm Bluetooth-only mannequin, a small value enhance over final yr is to be anticipated.
Having now used the watch, I’d say the worth is just about bang-on: an iterative value enhance for a good improve. Nevertheless, there’s not sufficient bang to your buck right here that I’d suggest present Samsung Galaxy Watch homeowners rush out and get the Watch 6.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: Design and show
- New Exynos W930 processor
- Redesigned strap-swapping performance
- Butter-smooth tremendous AMOLED display
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 sports activities a barely thinner bezel than the Watch 5, which has additionally necessitated a slight tweak to the case. Nevertheless, the display sizes and button functionalities stay an identical, so the watch does look similar to its predecessor. That is no unhealthy factor: the Samsung Galaxy line are handsome watches with the correct face alternative, and the tremendous AMOLED display is superb, with {smooth} transitions and a excessive refresh price.
The watch’s display stays a excessive level, from the little exercise animations accessible on earlier Samsung Galaxy Watches, to utilizing the Watch as a viewfinder to take selfies and group photographs when your cellphone is propped up on a desk or different floor. Not solely can you employ the watch as a distant shutter button; you possibly can see a tiny image of what the digicam sees to make sure the composition is as you need. It’s a neat trick, and I used to be stunned how good the picture-in-picture digicam view seemed on the watch once I tried it with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.
The Watch 6 seems to be sensible due to its stainless-steel case and quite a lot of straps which now have a quick-swap performance. Like its predecessor, the Watch 6 has two bodily buttons (which may also be used as sensors for taking physique composition readings), which can be utilized to navigate the watch, pause exercises, or swap the Watch off manually by holding the higher button. They don’t have up and down capabilities, so that you’re nonetheless reliant on the touchscreen for really biking via screens, which may show an irritation if you wish to pause your watch mid-workout to examine one thing with sweaty palms.
Swapping between apps was seamless and fairly responsive, though the primary cloud of apps typical of Put on OS watches is trying relatively drained, with Apple having switched its finest Apple Watch fashions to displaying the widget stack for its most-used options. I’m an enormous advocate of widgets generally, so I discovered myself stacking my favourite functionalities as tiles onto the round digital bezel and utilizing that to navigate the watch as a substitute. Not often did I’m going into the app cloud as soon as I bought my tiles arrange.
The Exynos W930 processor is claimed to supply an 18% quicker clock velocity, and the Watch is packing 2GB of RAM in comparison with 1.5GB within the Watch 5. Day-to-day the watch was fast and responsive due to the elevated processing energy, and it comfortably dealt with functionalities equivalent to WhatsApp.
Battery life stays a problem although: at 425mAh for the 44mm mannequin and 300mAh for the 40mm mannequin, battery dimension is simply barely elevated over the Galaxy Watch 5. It’s not a small battery, however Samsung’s watches, like Apple’s and Google’s, are actually fairly inefficient in comparison with Fitbits and the most effective Garmin watches, which can final you thru per week of wear and tear at a minimal. No less than the Galaxy Watch 6 has WPC-based quick charging.
The strap-swapping performance is less complicated than ever, supplied you have got first rate thumbnails for urgent down and releasing the strap. It makes it very simple to swap straps on the fly from, for instance, daywear leather-based (which seems to be nice) to the silicone sport band. With two sizes, a variety of colours, and quite a lot of straps, there are ample choices for having your Galaxy Watch, your means. I cherished the black leather-based strap with the black 44mm watch: the phrase ‘government’ got here to thoughts once I slipped it on, and I’d take into account carrying my Galaxy Watch with this strap in a proper setting, which isn’t one thing I can say for many smartwatches. However the one I examined over per week was the 40mm watch with the silicon strap, which was comfy and sized positive for my wrist.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: Options
- A number of new well being and health options
- Redesigned on-watch sleep app
- Loads of third-party apps to get caught into
The Watch is stuffed to the brim with options. Sleep teaching stays related in performance to what you get on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Professional, and on these units it’s wonderful: after sleeping together with your Look ahead to seven days (two days off work and 5 work days) you’ll be assigned a ‘sleep animal’ or chronotype, and get sleep-coaching suggestions primarily based on that evaluation. Your chronotype additionally affords tips about while you’re prone to have probably the most vitality for work or train: in case your sleep animal is a bear, for example, you’re extra prone to wake with the solar and be productive till round midday. You’ll be able to view the complete record of chronotypes and sleep animals right here.
Adjustments on the Watch 6 imply you’ll see your sleep scores, sleep animal, teaching, and extra on the watch straight, relatively than having to dive into the app in your cellphone, so you possibly can entry extra of your sleep stuff on the watch. It’s not fairly as detailed as marketed: for extra superior stuff, you will should open up your cellphone, nevertheless it’s positive at a look. For instance, you possibly can see pores and skin temperature and blood oxygen information on-watch, however to interpret this, and uncover whether or not these readings are good or unhealthy, you’ll should open your cellphone.
On the health facet, Customized Exercises means that you can create multi-stage exercises that you would be able to flick via with a press of the higher button to maneuver your self onto the following stage, good for triathletes. Excessive-heart-rate alerts and mid-workout coronary heart price zone notifications are each new, and whereas I bought a notification as my coronary heart price modified zones throughout a tricky run within the August solar, I bought no alerts for an excessively excessive coronary heart price. Good, I assume?
The remainder of the exercises carry out simply as they did on older watches within the collection, with strolling and operating detection proving a specific spotlight. The watch robotically logs a brisk stroll or a run, which is splendidly liberating: it’s good to only stroll out my entrance door and begin operating with out urgent a single button. It’s not a brand new function, nevertheless it’s well-implemented right here, and as a daily runner, the vary of metrics you get is superb and exceeds expectations. Detailed GPS mapping lays out your route very effectively, whereas superior operating metrics embody scores for asymmetry, floor contact time, vertical stiffness and extra, with useful explainers for every.
Throughout my preliminary hands-on time with the watch, I used to be capable of attempt the physique composition function, which makes use of the identical bioelectric impedance evaluation course of as a wise scale to gauge your skeletal muscle and fats percentages. I examined the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional towards a number one sensible scale final yr, and located it to be fairly correct, and testing the Watch 6 confirms this. I did, nevertheless, have slightly bother getting the function to work on the smaller 40mm watch at first, as I used to be repeatedly prompted to maneuver the watch additional up my wrist; it was midway up my forearm earlier than it triggered, an issue I didn’t have on the 44mm. Nevertheless, after establishing the 40mm and utilizing it an extra 3 times, I now not had that problem. Bizarre.
In any other case, the watch is stacked with prospects due to Google Play integration, so you possibly can obtain all of your favourite Put on OS apps, giving the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 an terrible lot of potential; WhatsApp, for instance, can be utilized independently of your cellphone. When synced to a Samsung cellphone and the Samsung Well being app, the watch actually shines, with seamless transference of information, though sadly you possibly can’t simply share that very same information with the Fitbit or Google Match apps.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: Efficiency
- I cherished the watch’s operating expertise
- Useful recommendation contextualizing information
- Battery life stays irritating
Over per week of testing, I’ve actually loved the operating expertise on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. I’ve talked about the superior operating metrics, and the way I loved the automated exercise detection already on this evaluation, and regardless that I’m lacking a couple of issues from my normal Garmin watches – like seeing my route with an inbuilt warmth map of how excessive my coronary heart price was throughout every space of the route – Samsung’s operating exercise profile has quietly change into an actual contender for the most effective operating look ahead to newbies.
The entire superior metrics function useful explainers, and whereas beginners-to-intermediates gained’t be fussed about vertical oscillation and floor contact time, the Samsung Well being app lays out all its info in a useful means, and your route ran is displayed above a full-color, beautifully-rendered GPS map. The app may not present as a lot information as Garmin’s, nevertheless it positive does look nicer, and for everybody apart from energy customers the operating profile goes to be simply positive. There’s a glut of different profiles, equivalent to biking and swimming, in addition to much less helpful ones equivalent to yoga and weight machines, which have a tendency to make use of the identical metrics of calorie burn and coronary heart price as so many different watches do.
The third-party apps meshed effectively with the Watch 6’s structure. You’ll be able to pair sure features of widespread apps to the digital bezel as easily-accessible tiles; I’m a person of the Calm app, for instance, and the watch comes with Calm’s two-minute respiration train already loaded. WhatsApp was nice to make use of, as I acquired messages on my watch and even replied with out having to take out my cellphone. Easy one-word ‘sure’ or ‘no’ choices are offered, or you possibly can attempt your luck with the tiny QWERTY keyboard, draw letters on the watch’s display till autocorrect will get the phrase, or file a voice message utilizing the watch’s microphone. Different apps I attempted embody Strava and Spotify, the latter of which works nice, and has a few primary on-watch capabilities in addition to a DJ to play you music primarily based in your historical past.
Name rejection and acceptance labored a deal with, and even utilizing the watch as a viewfinder to your Samsung cellphone’s digicam with the watch’s Digicam app felt pure and intuitive, particularly when ensuring all your pals are in a gaggle shot. My largest frustration was that battery life: after set-up, I ended up getting round 25 hours on common out of the watch from a full cost.
I might sleep, do a brief exercise, and go about my every day routine with out problem, and ceaselessly left my charger at residence on days I went into the workplace with no problem. Once I went for a 75-minute run within the Watch’s GPS mode, it went from totally charged to 69% battery life: sufficient to go about the remainder of my day, however I wouldn’t put on it for a prolonged occasion.
However once I wished to sleep with the watch over a number of days, I needed to cost it day by day to make sure it wouldn’t die in the course of the night time. The battery fees quick, and on this respect is corresponding to the Apple Watch and superior to the Google Pixel Watch, its closest opponents. Nevertheless, with such an emphasis on sleep, I’d have cherished to see the battery life lengthen to 2 days of wear and tear – however that is not fairly the place the smartwatch business is correct now, no less than outdoors of devoted sports activities watches.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 evaluation: Rating card
| Class | Remark | Rating |
| Worth: | Equal to its opponents, regardless of a small value enhance from earlier years. | 4/5 |
| Design: | Excessive construct high quality, engaging slim bezels, huge display and easily-swappable straps. | 4/5 |
| Options: | Completely stacked, with nice well being and health and communication options alike. | 4.5/5 |
| Efficiency | Exceeds expectations in operating and sleep, however that battery life is an annoyance. | 4/5 |
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: Ought to I purchase?
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: Additionally take into account
How I examined the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
I’ve spent a full week with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. I’ve been utilizing it to trace my sleeping, operating, basic exercise stage, water consumption and extra through Samsung Well being. I’ve used WhatsApp, Spotify, Strava and different third-party apps to check out their performance on Samsung’s One UI Watch 5.
The quick display refresh price and response time for the apps we have been in a position to make use of imply the general expertise is butter-smooth, and the design is sweet – each externally and internally. Crucially, I’ve drained the battery down and monitored how a lot battery life GPS exercises drain from the watch.
The top consequence? We will clearly see the potential for it to knock the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 off the highest of our finest smartwatches record. It’s packing some nifty new options: notably, the processing energy and RAM have been boosted, and Samsung Pockets has expanded to have the ability to embody paperwork apart from playing cards, equivalent to airline tickets.
A brand new Customized Exercise possibility means that you can put collectively multi-stage exercises, and a redesigned Sleep app expertise makes the Watch 6, in Samsung’s phrases, “the most effective gadget available on the market for monitoring your sleep”.
It’s an iterative improve in some ways, however an improve nonetheless, even when it doesn’t fairly enhance on the Watch 5’s flaws sufficient to earn a uncommon 5 stars. In isolation, the Watch 6 a superb gadget, maybe the most effective Put on OS watch I’ve but tried.
