Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is one of the best Android smartwatches that I have come across so far. A watch with the right blend of fashion and fitness, it comes with a dazzling design, a vivid display, and features like a blood oxygen tracker.
While the blood oxygen feature can measure and track oxygen saturation over time, the 120 home training programs help you track workouts at home. Besides its fitness and wellness purposes, the design is also an attraction. Samsung has stuck with a traditional circular shape for the display, with a rotatable raised bezel that enables you to physically cycle through on-screen menus.
ACTIVITY AND FITNESS
The most integral part of a smartwatch is its fitness features. The Galaxy Watch 3 offers multiple fitness options: running, walking, swimming, cycling, rowing, elliptical workouts, and dynamic workouts. It detects when your workout starts and ends, which is always helpful when you are trying to monitor your fitness.
Samsung has also equipped Watch 3 with stress tracking, which takes into account peak heart rates and suggests breathing exercises too. In the latest update, the watch also gained SPo2 monitoring, which allows you to monitor blood oxygen levels. However, to test this, you’ll have to be extremely stable as even a slight shake will result in the test being aborted. The watch also has a women’s health section for monitoring menstrual cycles and its effects on the wearer’s fitness.
Design and display
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is thinner, lighter and smaller than its predecessor, but gets a bigger screen. The watch is comfortable to wear even while sleeping.
The traditional round dial looks sleek and beautiful. The beige strap with my review unit made the dial stand out even more. The display is bright and easy to read in all types of light, be it indoor or outdoor. To the right of the smartwatch, there are two buttons. The bottom one acts as a power button and is also customizable to perform tasks with a long press and double click. It also acts as a home button. The button at the top is for going ‘back’. For navigating through the UI, the user will have to use the rotating bezel, the buttons and the touchscreen – all of which works flawlessly.
The watch is available in two sizes: 41mm and 45mm. The core features are the same in both the models, with just a few minor differences in the specifications.
Performance
The Galaxy Watch 3 is powered by Exynos 9110 chipset and runs on Samsung’s Tizen software. The chipset is loaded with 1GB of RAM (as compared to the 1.5GB RAM on the LTE version of the original Galaxy Watch). The watch is preloaded with several apps and third-party apps can be downloaded from the Galaxy store or the Tizen store. Apps load as quickly as expected and moving between multiple apps is also an easy task.
The smartwatch comes with e-SIM support too. As of now, only Jio and Airtel are supported, but Samsung has said that it will add more carriers soon.
Battery
After a full charge, the Watch 3 let me have a total usage time of one-and-half days. There is a battery saver option but that takes away most of the smart features and leaves you with only the phone and SMS apps to use. However, you can also manually select the apps that you want to receive push notifications from and avoid other notifications on the watch, helping you save more battery.
VERDICT
The Galaxy Watch 3 can be an easy choice for you if you are looking for good specs along with dazzling design. The price and the battery may be disappointing for a few, but on every other ground, this watch is a true winner.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is available in two sizes. The 41mm variant is priced at Rs 29,990 for the Bluetooth version and at Rs 34,490 for the 4G one, and will be available in the colours, Mystic Bronze and Mystic Silver. The 45mm variant is priced at Rs 32,990 for the Bluetooth model and at Rs 38,990 for the 4G variant, and will come in Mystic Black and Mystic Silver.
