What do you do when you already have the best smartwatch on the planet? Well, you make it more comfortable, more accurate, and add a few more features. That’s exactly what Samsung did this year with the Galaxy Watch 8.
One of the bigger changes that Samsung made this year was to make it thinner and also adopt the new lug system from the Galaxy Watch Ultra. Which makes it much more comfortable to wear, in fact, I’m having a hard time going back to my Pixel Watch 3.
Samsung also brought a slew of new features with One UI 8 Watch, including Antioxidant Index, Vascular Health, an AI Running Coach, and Gemini, thanks to Wear OS 6. Samsung also raised the price, so it now starts at $349. So is this enough to justify the higher price from Samsung? Let’s find out in our full review.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Hardware and Design
When we first started seeing leaks of the new design for the Galaxy Watch 8, I wasn’t a big fan of the squircle and round display style. But after seeing it in person, I completely changed my mind. And now after wearing the watch for over a week, it’s become my favorite style besides the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic.
Samsung already had one of the best looking watches on the market, so to see them change up the design was a bit surprising. But this was done to make it unique to Samsung. It also makes the watch more durable, with those cushions in the corner. This is the same design that Samsung debuted with the Galaxy Watch Ultra last year.
The other big design change is with the bands. Sadly, you can no longer use traditional watch bands with the Galaxy Watch 8, as Samsung is using its own proprietary connectors here. Which Samsung says the reason for this is so that the watch will sit more snug and flat on your wrist. Which is true, actually. That’s also part of what makes the watch so comfortable to wear.
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Samsung continues to knock it out of the park when it comes to build quality. The Galaxy Watch 8 is aluminum with a sapphire crystal display. Something that Apple really only uses on its Titanium watches, which are $600+. So it’s great to see Samsung continuing to offer this on its base model. Because it does really help protect it against scratches and dings.
On the bottom of the watch, you’ll find all of the sensors, as well as the charging connectors. It still uses a form of Qi wireless charging to charge up. It’s not quite the same as what your phone uses for wireless charging but it is similar. And doesn’t use pins like the OnePlus Watch and Pixel Watch use.
With the right side housing both of the buttons. Which are still easy to press, and it actually makes it really easy to take a screenshot now. Surprisingly, Samsung is the only one that makes it easy to take a screenshot on your watch. As Google forces you to turn on developer options and then take a screenshot from the app on your phone.
When it comes down to it, the Galaxy Watch 8 might have the best build quality of all the Wear OS watches right now. Google’s is all glass, so it’s pretty fragile, while OnePlus is more glossy so it can get pretty nasty pretty quickly. While Samsung is a brushed aluminum finish, making it look great all day long.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Display
This year, Samsung did bump up the peak brightness to a whopping 3,000 nits. That does bring it in-line with what Apple and Google are offering, but we didn’t really have an issue with seeing it outdoors at the 2,000nits of peak brightness on the Galaxy Watch 7. Keep in mind that is the absolute peak brightness, which you’ll almost never see. But the reason for this brightness is when you’re out hiking, outside in direct sunlight, and also for the flashlight feature.
The display itself is absolutely stunning. I would definitely like to see the display get thinner bezels, but if you’re using a watch face with a black background, you really won’t notice it. The bezels appear smaller on our 44mm unit, since it has a larger display than the 40mm.
The colors of the display are also really good. This is an AMOLED display, which Samsung are the king at making and tuning correctly, so this should be no surprise. But then again, it’s not like you’ll be watching a lot of content on this display.
As mentioned before, the Galaxy Watch 8 uses Sapphire Crystal to protect the display, which works quite well. This makes it nearly impossible to scratch the display, which is great, since it is on your wrist and will inevitably bump into things like the wall.
In the end, this is one of the best displays we’ve seen on a smartwatch, and that should not be a surprise, seeing as this is Samsung we’re talking about.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Performance
Samsung is sticking with the same Exynos W1000 processor in the Galaxy Watch 8, which is not a bad processor at all. We’ve really praised how well this processor has performed on the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra over the past year or so. And that continues to be the case here. In fact, it seems to be even snappier than the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 that’s in a lot of other wearables.
Whether activating Gemini, checking the weather, or starting a timer, the Galaxy Watch 8 really doesn’t miss a beat. Of course, a big reason for this being so snappy is Wear OS 6, the first watch to have this update from Google. It’s also using One UI 8 Watch, which means it does not have the new Material 3 Expressive redesign. To be honest, this feels like the snappiest watch I’ve ever used. And it’s not like I’m doing a whole lot with the OS on a watch, it’s mostly there for fitness tracking, maybe some weather details, and answering some questions with Gemini. That’s basically it.
But the Galaxy Watch 8 is able to do all of that with ease.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Battery Life and Charging
Samsung says on its website that the Galaxy Watch 8 can last 40 hours with AOD off, or 30 hours with AOD on. And in my experience, that does seem to be pretty accurate. I’m usually able to get close to two full days of usage out of the Galaxy Watch 8 – or around 46 hours. And that’s with AOD off. Samsung did say they were being pretty conservative with advertised battery life this year, which I’d prefer over being aggressive with their stats.
As someone who has worn an Apple Watch for the past 5 years (when I’m not reviewing another watch), I’m perfectly okay with the battery life of the Galaxy Watch 8. I typically will put it on the charger when I take it off for a shower. So it’s never really dead, and typically stays between 20-80%, which is better for the battery anyway.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Software
The Galaxy Watch 8 is the first device to launch with Wear OS 6, which we’ll see later this month on the Pixel Watch 4. It also has One UI 8 Watch, which brings quite a few changes to the software. The biggest one you’ll notice is that tiles can now scroll vertically. Take the Samsung Health tile for example, you can add additional widgets to that tile, and provide you with all of your health details right there on the tile, without opening the Samsung Health app. At first, I didn’t like this change. I thought it made the tiles busier than they needed to be, but I’ve grown to really like this feature. And I do hope Google adds it on the Pixel Watch 4.
The other big Wear OS feature here is going to be Gemini. While it is now available on older Wear OS devices, it’s not as fluid as it is here on the Galaxy Watch 8. With the watchface that I’m currently using, I have it set on the watchface at the top, making it super easy to trigger and ask questions or queries. Of course, you can also long-press the button to bring up Gemini, or just say “Hey Gemini”.
Having Gemini on your wrist is a pretty big deal. Now, yes, it’s not quite as good as the Google Assistant is/was, when it comes to controlling your smart home products. But for basically everything else, it’s a huge upgrade.
Wear OS 6 is a pretty nice upgrade on the Galaxy Watch 8, and it should continue to get updates for at least another five years. So this is a watch that will last for quite some time.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Fitness
Samsung Health isn’t new, so we won’t bore you with the basics. Yes, the Galaxy Watch 8 can track your steps, your calories burned, your sleep, etc. Now with One UI 8 Watch, Samsung did bring in a slew of new features.
One of those being the Antioxidant Index. This feature is, not that great to be completely honest. First off, you need to take off your watch and press your thumb on the back of the watch to even measure your Antioxidant Index. Secondly, it’s mostly measuring orange vegetables, primarily carrots. In fact, The Verge found that you can fool this sensor by pressing a carrot or Cheeze-it against the sensor, or even colored your thumb orange. So it’s a cool thing to check out, but I don’t think many people will put a lot of faith into this feature.
Next up is Vascular Load. This feature is here to help influence a holistic well-being. This will measure the amount of stress on the vascular system. You need to wear your watch to bed for three nights, before it’ll show you the vascular load. And it is only measured overnight, which means you’ll need to wear your watch to bed. For me, it kept showing my vascular load as being right in the middle. So I’m not entirely sure how accurate it is.
The last feature that I used quite a bit was Bedtime Guidance. This is actually pretty similar to what Whoop already does. It will recommend a bedtime for you, based on how active you’ve been. It also takes into account your sleep pattern to help you optimize your sleep. Like Vascular Load, this also takes three nights before it begins to actually guide you. It’s a pretty nice feature to have, and if you’re someone that struggles to get good sleep, this might actually help you.
Samsung also added a Running Coach to the Galaxy Watch 8 this year, which is apparently an AI-based coach that will help you push yourself further, and even help you get ready for a 5K, 10K, half marathon or a full marathon.
Right now, I think Samsung is truly leading the way when it comes to fitness and health features. The only company that can really match Samsung is Apple. Google has some great features with Fitbit, but they don’t work as well as they should.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8?
The Galaxy Watch 8 is a pretty easy recommendation for me. I love just about every aspect of this watch, except perhaps the price. I do wish the price hadn’t gone up. But as I already stated, the starting price does make it pretty compettive with the Google Pixel Watch 3 (and soon Pixel Watch 4) as well as the OnePlus Watch 3, which are both priced very similarly.
If you’re looking for a Wear OS watch that has all of your favorite Android apps, as well as some incredible fitness features, then the Galaxy Watch 8 is a really good choice. But if you’re looking for outstanding battery life, OnePlus is going to be a better option. That’s really about the only thing OnePlus has over Samsung here, actually.
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