Samsung Galaxy Watch

[WolfieBot]

Anyone else tempted by this?

https://www.samsung.com/uk/wearables/galaxy-watch-...

Samsung are doing a pre-order of a dual wireless charging dock which would be handy.

I'd use it primarily as a replacement for my old Garmin for running but the idea of a smartwatch has been getting me interested for a while now.

I'd really like to see offline Spotify compatibility but there's no mention of that yet. That would seal it for me if it could do that as would be great for running. Hate carrying my bulky phone.

[snuffy]

I bought a Gear S3 Classic for £200 a few weeks ago on Amazon Prime day and I really like it. It looks like a proper watch which I think is a plus point.

Mine works very well with my S8 (as you'd hope it would of course).

[clockworks]

I've got an S3 Frontier, which I find quite useful. Shame that none of my banks seem to support Samsung Pay yet

[snuffy]

clockworks said:

I've got an S3 Frontier, which I find quite useful. Shame that none of my banks seem to support Samsung Pay yet

My bank does, but when I tried it the other day for the first time, it refused to work. It was in a car park when I've used Google pay on my dog and bone loads of times, but it would not read my watch.

[alorotom]

I’m massively tempted but would need to get an android phone as well and this is the limiting factor for me.

Looks ace!

[CAPP0]

alorotom said:

I’m massively tempted but would need to get an android phone as well and this is the limiting factor for me.

Looks ace!

I've got a Gear S3 Frontier and an iPhone - works fine. You don't get full 2-way transmission with some apps, but I wouldn't be trying to type a text on a watch face anyway.

Weekdays, it now gets worn more than any of my other watches.

[Tycho]

It does look nice. I've got a Huawei Watch 2 so changing would mean loosing Google Pay but I have that on my phone, Google Assistant isn't on the Samsung, just S-Voice which is terrible but on my watch it is usually quicker to use assistant on my phone so I may be tempted with the Galaxy Watch.

[hab1966]

I was thinking of this watch as my first foray into smart watches.

I've been watching Amazon deals a lot of late, they have had some good deals on the Huawei Watch 2 and a Ticwatch Pro but just never got around to making a purchase as the new Samsung watch was always at the back of my mind.

Buying now, gets me the free charging pod and as i have a Samsung S8 this is attractive over keep plugging in.

The one thing i'm not 100% sure about is using the watch to make payments. This is all new to me, but my understanding is that i would be limited to Samsung Pay via the watch as its Tizen OS not android? Currently i bank with Barclays but also have a Starling bank account which i'm currently trialling. I think i'm okay with Starling on both the phone and watch, but not convinced about Barclays.

[Essenn]

Think it looks pretty slick. I've pre-ordered, took advantage of the charger offer plus an extra £25 off for sending in an old watch. Should be delivered on launch day.

First smart watch for me, will complement the S9 I picked up earlier in the year.

[Front bottom]

I've pre-ordered one, I haven't read up on it tbh, but I have a Galaxy S9, so I thought I'd try and stay up to date.

[mike9009]

Does look lovely, but out of my price bracket at the moment!

I got this Skagen smart watch. Obviously it does not give you all the options of the Samsung, but

a) looks traditional
b) programmable buttons
c) quick look for notifications/ messaging from contacts/ calendar reminders (essential for my sieve like brain!)
d) can control music/ volumes etc. - useful when in the car and bluetoothed up.
e) monitors steps and sleep (interesting, but really?)
f) IMPORTANT for me - the battery lasts four months! I ve had mine for three months now and not needed to replace the battery - some comments suggest battery life is poor - but I suspect the users are getting notifications of every text and email - this can be user defined based upon the sender of said message/ notification.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skagen-Unisex-Hybrid-Smar...

<sorry for thread derail!! >

Mike

[Front bottom]

mike9009 said:

Does look lovely, but out of my price bracket at the moment!

I got this Skagen smart watch. Obviously it does not give you all the options of the Samsung, but

a) looks traditional
b) programmable buttons
c) quick look for notifications/ messaging from contacts/ calendar reminders (essential for my sieve like brain!)
d) can control music/ volumes etc. - useful when in the car and bluetoothed up.
e) monitors steps and sleep (interesting, but really?)
f) IMPORTANT for me - the battery lasts four months! I ve had mine for three months now and not needed to replace the battery - some comments suggest battery life is poor - but I suspect the users are getting notifications of every text and email - this can be user defined based upon the sender of said message/ notification.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skagen-Unisex-Hybrid-Smar...

<sorry for thread derail!! >

Mike

That does look er... smart!

[WolfieBot]

Essenn said:

Think it looks pretty slick. I've pre-ordered, took advantage of the charger offer plus an extra £25 off for sending in an old watch. Should be delivered on launch day.

First smart watch for me, will complement the S9 I picked up earlier in the year.

So did I in the end, figured I can have a play around for a couple of days and send it back if I'm not happy anyway. Didn't really want to wait and miss the pre-order deal.

[Lucas Ayde]

How much does this rely upon you having a Samsung Phone (vs a regular Android, I have a Sony Xperia)?

I do have a Sony SW3 which is a pretty great Android Wear 1.x device but Sony never upgraded it to 2.x despite it being a prime candidate hardware wise which has put me off Android Wear. Is te Galaxy Watch as well integrated as Android Wear is?

[GhostDriver]

out of stock everywhere

typical

[Essenn]

GhostDriver said:

out of stock everywhere

typical

Worth keeping an eye on the Samsung site as they have been out of stock a few times and then available to order again over the last couple weeks.

[Teebs]

I've had a dispatch email today..

[hab1966]

Just a heads up that you can now place an order on the samsung website.

[WolfieBot]

Did anyone else end up getting on of these?

I've had mine a week and to be honest I've been left disappointed.

My primary use was for running with Spotify offline playlists. My biggest gripes so far...

1. It doesn't stay on the running data screen, just constantly flicks back to the watch home face so whilst it tracks the run fine, as a live training aid it's almost useless.

2. It doesn't show current lap average pace as an option, instant pace is too variable to train with. It tells you this through the speakers at the end of each lap so it's definitely aware of what the pace is but doesn't display it.

3. Heart rate recording whilst running is somewhat sporadic.

4. The offline Spotify is good when it works, I've only managed to get one playlist on though, when I try again it keeps telling me I'm offline when I'm not.

5. Bluetooth headphones work well but don't control Spotify playlist, so I can't skip tracks from my headphones like I could when using them with my phone.

6. Getting notifications is unreliable, it doesn't give me all my messages and emails all of the time.

7. Battery life seems nowhere near as good as claims. With what I'd call normal usage, step counting, 45 minute run it's down below 50% at the end of the day. That's without wearing it at night too.

8. My phone's battery is also draining a lot quicker since having this watch connected.

9. Connection to my phone drops out a lot, it reconnects quickly and automatically but the constant vibration to tell me is annoying.


So overall I'm disappointed, it just about does what I was expecting but it's a buggy daffy experience. I'm very tempted to send it back.

For £300 I don't think I'm being unreasonable in expecting it to work well.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Conclusion I reached is that if you want a watch primarily for running get a Garmin.

The so called smartwatches just don't cut it in this field. For other stuff then I'm sure they've got their uses and I'm sure with time support for us sporting types will improve.