Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review

During the big Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, the South Korean company unveiled new foldables. However, the wearable device category is likely stealing the show this year, as Samsung is releasing a new Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and an Ultra version. While the Ultra looks familiar, we've never seen a watch like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 before. What are the differences between it and the Classic version?

Unusual design meets…

Unlike a smartphone, a smartwatch is much more dependent on its design. After all, you wear the watch on your wrist 24/7, ideally. That's why many manufacturers are opting for a classic wristwatch design. Samsung, on the other hand, has now opted for a "squircle" design . The actual watch case is therefore angular, with rounded corners - if that makes sense. The screen sits on top of this and is not embedded in the case. This makes the watch slimmer at 8.6 mm . Samsung has also installed a new quick-release fastener. Fabian was at the launch event and confirms a comfortable fit and better contact between the skin and the heart rate sensor on the bottom.

However, Samsung is now limiting the colors to graphite and silver; there's no colorful version like the green of its predecessor. The watch is available in two sizes: 40 and 44 mm. The smaller watch measures 40.4 x 42.7 x 8.3 mm and weighs 30 g, while the 44 mm version measures 43.7 x 46 mm and weighs 4 g more. Both watches offer a 5 ATM and IP68 rating and are even protected against dust and water according to the military MIL-STD-810H standard. However, the watch is not suitable for scuba diving or water skiing, for example.

As with its predecessor, Samsung once again uses sapphire glass as a screen protector. The two sizes differ in this respect, with a 1.3" and 1.5" diagonal display of the round AMOLED screen. The brightness is impressive: a maximum of 3000 nits is possible . Thanks to the AMOLED display, the watch also supports an always-on display, which naturally decimates battery life. There are also two function buttons on the right side, the top one serving as an AI assistant.

Familiar hardware

Both the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic are powered by the Exynos W1000 quintessential core chip , manufactured using the efficient 3 nm process. Unfortunately, this isn't an upgrade compared to its predecessor, but rather the same processor, combined with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage.

The watch runs WearOS with Samsung's OneUI 8.0 interface , an open operating system with the Google Play Store. This means you can, for example, reply to messages, stream music, install apps, make contactless payments, or navigate using Google Maps. The manufacturer has installed LTE (LTE version only), Bluetooth 5.3, dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, and dual-band GPS. The battery capacity of 325 mAh (40mm) or 435 mAh (44mm) is said to provide a runtime of 40 hours, just like its predecessor.

New features include software features like the new Sleep Coach. It can personally determine the optimal bedtime and even offers a European-certified measurement for the early detection of moderate to severe sleep apnea . It also measures the vascular load of the cardiovascular system at night, and the antioxidant index can be measured based on carotenoid levels. This should provide you with a better assessment of your health.

For athletes, there are again numerous sport modes, focusing on running and featuring a built-in running coach. This can determine your fitness level on a scale of 1 to 10 and provide personalized coaching based on your goals. Such training sessions can now also be easily initiated using Gemini's voice control . This runs natively on the watch, so the LTE version can also be used without a smartphone. For health tracking, Samsung integrates a temperature, acceleration, altitude, gyroscope, light, and geomagnetic sensor in addition to the BioActive sensor (e.g., for heart rate).

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