Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Overview

Unveiled throughout a Samsung occasion I attended in Seoul final month, the Galaxy Watch 6 boasts a high-quality tremendous AMOLED display with easy transitions, 2000 NITs peak brightness, and a excessive refresh charge (60 Hz). The important thing options embody exercise animations, a viewfinder for distant selfies, well being and health monitoring options, a broad vary of tiles and watch faces, and a fast swap performance for straps.

The chrome steel case and numerous strap choices improve the watch’s sensible look. The one-day battery life (typically lower than a day with intense use) stays a priority, although quick charging is out there.

Context

For this evaluation, I examined the small 40 mm Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 with no LTE connectivity. I wore it whereas going to the gymnasium, the swimming pool, and strolling a number of hours every day in Seoul, the place Samsung launched its newest merchandise on July 26, 2023. Again in San Francisco, I attempted it for a number of extra days with a number of journeys to the gymnasium.

Value and availability

The Galaxy Watch 6 is out there for buy since August 11, 2023. The value begins at $299.99 for the 40mm mannequin in Graphite or Gold and $329.99 for the 44mm mannequin in Graphite and Silver.

See the demos at IFA Berlin 2023

The product launched a month forward of IFA 2023, and we count on to see extra demos of the Galaxy Watch 6 alongside the brand new Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, subsequent week at IFA on the Samsung sales space.

What’s New In The Galaxy Watch 6 Vs. The Galaxy Watch 5?

Thinner bezels, brighter show, bigger display actual property, related look and measurement

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 incorporates a thinner bezel than its predecessor, the Watch 5. The show’s actual property is now 20% bigger. Regardless of this transformation, display sizes and button features stay the identical, leading to an analogous look. The machine delivers a better 2000 NITs peak brightness than the earlier mannequin.

Improved UI and well being options

Whereas maintaining the identical chassis measurement mixed with bigger display actual property, Samsung managed to extend the keyboard measurement and the variety of characters you possibly can learn for text-based notifications.

Samsung has improved sleep monitoring and affords new well being options resembling Sleep Teaching, Personalised Coronary heart Fee Zones, and Irregular Coronary heart Rhythm Notifications.

Upgraded {hardware}

The Exynos W930 processor and 2GB of RAM supply improved efficiency over the Exynos W920 with 1.5GB of RAM discovered within the earlier mannequin. The Watch 6’s battery capability has been barely boosted over the Watch 5, with 425 mAH for the big 44mm model (over 410 mAH) and 300 mAH for the small model I’m reviewing over the earlier 284 mAh. Samsung saved the identical 16 GB storage measurement within the Watch 6.

All of the Galaxy Watch 5 collection (Watch 5 and Watch 5 Professional) and Wach 6 collection (Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic) ship the identical sturdiness options: 5ATM, IP68, and MIL-STD-810H.

What Is Totally different From The Galaxy Watch 6 Basic?

Left, giant Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Basic – Proper, small Galaxy Watch 6

The principle variations between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Basic are the return of the long-lasting rotating crown on the Basic, the Basic vs. Sporty look, and … the worth. The Galaxy Watch 6 Basic is out there in Black or Silver, beginning at $399.99 for the 43mm and $429.99 for the 47mm watch.

We didn’t evaluation the Galaxy Watch 6 Basic, however we love that Samsung introduced again the long-lasting rotating bezel for higher usability.

In addition to that, for every mannequin, each the small and huge variations characteristic the identical {hardware}.

Design And Construct High quality – Wonderful

Left, giant Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 – Proper, small Galaxy Watch 6

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a trendy and customizable sensible wearable machine that may attraction to a variety of customers. It is available in two measurement choices, 44 mm and 40 mm, with two colour selections every (graphite or silver and graphite or gold, respectively).

The light-weight case is product of aluminum to make sure sturdiness, and it comes with a snug Sport Band, appropriate for various wrist sizes. Customers can personalize the machine with numerous watch faces and interchangeable straps.

The Galaxy Watch 6 is water and dust-resistant, with a 5ATM ranking permitting it to deal with water pressures equal to 50 meters for 10 minutes, making it protected for swimming. It additionally has an IP68 ranking, defending it from mud and contaminants. The MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification ensures its resilience in opposition to excessive temperatures, shocks, vibrations, and drops.

The bodily interface options two exterior buttons on the aspect for intuitive management of the primary navigation features (again, return residence, entry to complete exercise…) and ECG measurement. General, the Galaxy Watch 6 affords a superb mix of favor, sturdiness, and user-friendly options.

Show – Wonderful

As normal, Samsung affords a stunning show that’s straightforward to work together with. The 44mm model boasts a 1.5-inch 480×480 Tremendous AMOLED, whereas the 40mm mannequin sports activities a 1.3-inch 432×432 Tremendous AMOLED, each providing a Full Coloration All the time-On Show with a excessive 60 Hz refresh charge.

With Sapphire Crystal safety and a formidable 2000 NITs peak brightness (on paper), the display stays vibrant, scratch-resistant, and straightforward to learn even below direct daylight. The show is bigger and brighter than the earlier mannequin, the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, which tops at 1000 NITs.

The boosted show brightness allowed me to simply learn notifications or look at apps whereas strolling round on a sizzling, sunny afternoon in Seoul.

SoC, Software program, Connectivity, And Efficiency – Very Good

The Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic bought {hardware} upgrades over the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional.

Each fashions are geared up with the Exynos W930 Twin-Core 1.4GHz processor, surpassing the Exynos W920 dual-core 1.18 GHz Cortex-A55 within the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional. Reminiscence has been expanded from 1.5GB to 2GB, alongside sustained 16GB storage.

On the software program aspect, Put on OS 4 comes with Samsung’s One UI 5 Watch interface. Connectivity choices embody LTE6, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4+5GHz, NFC, and a spread of worldwide navigation techniques.

General, the perceived efficiency is nice, the contact interface on the show may be very responsive, and scrolling via the tiles may be very fluid.

Battery – Might Be Higher

Nonetheless, the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic characteristic smaller batteries — 425mAh for the bigger ones and 300mAh for the smaller ones—in comparison with the Watch 5 Professional’s 590mAh Li-ion battery.

Whereas we recognize the great efficiency packaged within the elegant physique, the battery life might be higher. The Watch 6 newest round a day utilization with common exercise and notifications, and fewer than a day with intensive use.

Charging instances clock in at 50% in half-hour and 94% in 60 minutes with a 50W Samsung charger you could purchase individually.

Viewfinder And Distant Management For The Galaxy Telephones’ Cameras

Like previous Galaxy Watch models, the Watch 6 transforms right into a handy viewfinder for capturing selfies and group photographs. The watch acts as a distant shutter button if the telephone is propped on a floor. It offers a glimpse of the digicam’s perspective to assist customers higher body their photographs. I extremely recognize the characteristic, particularly for my experiment with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. The digicam view on the watch delivers spectacular high quality picture high quality, additional enhancing the general person expertise.

Well being And Health Monitoring

The Galaxy Watch 6 options Samsung’s 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor, encasing sensors for optical coronary heart charge, electrical coronary heart indicators, and bioelectrical impedance evaluation. These sensors allow coronary heart charge monitoring, sleep monitoring, physique composition evaluation, blood oxygen stage measurement, and pores and skin temperature monitoring.

New well being options

New well being options
Redesigned on-watch Sleep monitoring app
New IHRN Irregular Coronary heart Rythm Notification characteristic added to ECG

Measuring ECG by resting my index on the highest button

Samsung improved the well being and health options within the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Basic. The Sleep report obtainable immediately from Watch 6 had a format redesign that emphasizes sleep rating and newly added pores and skin temperature, sleep consistency, and sleep animal image.

Customers want to connect with the Samsung Well being companion app to see extra sleep information, resembling in-depth evaluation, sleep phases, and 5 sleep contributors.

Samsung added the Irregular Coronary heart Rythm Notification characteristic to its present Electrocardiogram (ECG). I attempted it a number of instances, and 4 instances out of 5, the sensor positioned on the highest button discovered no irregularities in my cardiac rhythm.

Since February 2023, Galaxy Watches can monitor the menstrual cycle that leverages the temperature sensor, a operate developed in partnership with Pure Cycles.

Well being monitoring

Like within the earlier Samsung Watches, month-long Sleep Teaching is out there from the cellular utility and affords suggestions based mostly on customers’ sleep patterns and habits; after a number of nights of monitoring, the system assigns a sleep animal image.

For Smarthings customers, the Watch6 can detect while you go to sleep and mechanically modify the settings of linked residence units.

I created a customized exercise and named it “Bosu”

Health

On prime of 100 present exercise trackers, Samsung now affords the choice to create customized exercises, with the flexibility to call them, set a goal length, select a information frequency, and choose amongst 4 health information format choices for the display. A broad vary of coached health classes can be found for individuals who want steering.

Just a few of the free weight workouts I carry out on the gymnasium can be found, and I discover it distracting to should function the watch after every set to vary train, set the load by double tapping the again button, and take into consideration stopping the length when the set is completed. In the future, all of the free weights shall be linked to permit smartwatches to detect each motions and weights mechanically, and I can not look ahead to the sensible Galaxy Weights V1!

The Galaxy Watch 6 may observe indoor and outside swimming, and I used it on the gymnasium’s swimming pool. The kinds of strokes are mechanically detected, in addition to the splits, the pool’s size, and the gap for every set.

Customized exercise “Abs” – by default, it assigns the identical icon to all created customized exercises

Well being Fee monitoring accuracy – superb for a wrist-based sensor

Wrist-based coronary heart charge sensors aren’t as correct as those worn on the chest or the medical-grade ones docs place on our fingers. That’s the reason the ECG measurement on the Watch 6 requires gently resting the index on the highest button. Common coronary heart monitoring is recorded by the optical sensor in the back of the machine, and I measured its accuracy in opposition to numerous cardio machines that observe it from the fingers.

More often than not, the Watch 6 had zero or solely a one-point discrepancy with the exercise machine’s coronary heart charge measurement. Throughout my high-speed accelerations, the Watch 6 displayed a 3-point lag in comparison with the indoor bike’s sensor, and finally, the identical charges have been recorded however with a number of seconds lag.