Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Impressions: A Pleasant Upgrade!

Things I Like

• IP68 Water Resistance
• Wear OS 3
• Elegant Design
• Plenty of Tracking Features

Samsung has unveiled its Galaxy Watch 4 series with some major changes. For one, the “Active” moniker is gone and we get the “Classic” version with a rotating bezel.

Samsung Watch 4

The Watch 4 Classic starts at $349 for the Bluetooth model, rising to $399 for the LTE model. Whereas the standard Watch 4 is a little less expensive at $249/$299(LTE). These will be arriving in Nepal in the first week of September.

I have used these devices for a few hours and this is my impression of the Samsung Watch 4 series.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4/4 Classic Specifications

• Body: Watch 4: 40mm and 44mm, Watch 4 Classic: 42mm and 46mm
• Display (Watch 4): 40mm: 1.2-inches Super AMOLED / 44mm: 1.4-inches Super AMOLED
• Display (Watch 4 Classic): 42mm: 1.2-inches Super AMOLED / 46mm: 1.4-inches Super AMOLED
• Chipset: Exynos W920 (5nm)
• RAM: 1.5GB
• Storage: 16GB
• Connectivity: LTE (available in select models)
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • Wi-Fi b/g/n
  • A-GPS/GLONASS/Beidou/Galileo
  • NFC
• Battery Capacity (Watch 4): 40mm: 247mAh / 44mm: 361mAh
• Battery Capacity (Watch 4 Classic): 42mm: 247mAh / 46mm: 361mAh
• Sensors: Samsung BioActive Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro, Geomagnetic, Light
• Software: One UI Watch 3
• Charging Port: WPC-based wireless charging

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Price in Nepal: TBD

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4/4 Classic Impressions

Design

• Watch 4: 40mm and 44mm, Watch 4 Classic: 42mm and 46mm
• IP68 Dust/Water Resistance
• Aluminum Frame (Watch 4), Stainless Steel Frame (Watch 4 Classic)

Watch 4 Design

The Watch 4 comes in two sizes: 40mm and 44mm and the Watch 4 Classic comes in slightly bigger 42mm and 44mm sizes. The physical rotating bezel makes the Classic version a bit bigger than the standard Watch 4.

The Classic version looks a bit bolder and rugged whereas the standard Watch 4 looks a bit more trendy and stylish. I personally prefer the standard version over the Classic variant. This will come down to your personal preference. However, the Watch 4 classic gets a stainless steel frame compared to the aluminum frame of the normal Watch 4.

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Both of these watches also come with 5ATM and IP68 Dust/Water resistance.

Display

• 40mm: 1.2-inches Super AMOLED / 44mm: 1.4-inches Super AMOLED
• 42mm: 1.2-inches Super AMOLED / 46mm: 1.4-inches Super AMOLED

Body Composition Feature

Samsung is debuting its BioActive sensor that can measure ECG in real-time. The BioActive sensor is a 3-in-1 sensor that uses a single chip to precisely run 3 health sensors – Optical Heart Rate, Electrical Heart, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. This helps users to monitor their blood pressure, detect irregular heartbeat, and measure blood oxygen levels.

There’s also a new feature called Body Composition which measures things like skeletal muscle, basal metabolic rate, body water, and body fat percentage. The two buttons on the side also act as an input to check your body composition.

Furthermore, the Watch 4 series has advanced sleep tracking that can also detect the sound of your snores using a compatible smartphone. It also measures your blood oxygen level when you’re sleeping for advanced sleep scores and analysis.

The Watch 4 series is packed with health and fitness tracking features. But, things like ECG and blood pressure measurement won’t be available in regions like Nepal.

We will dive deep into all of these features in our review.

Wear OS 3

Samsung has made the switch to Google’s Wear OS 3 and Samsung is calling it the Wear OS powered by Samsung. Basically, it feels like a Galaxy Watch with Samsung software sprinkled with Wear OS elements.

The Watch 4 uses a Samsung One UI Watch overlay on top of the Wear OS 3 with Samsung apps and services. But, the Google Map support is a welcome addition with updated navigation support. Samsung has also opted to keep the Bixby instead of the Google Assistant.

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Likewise, the availability of the Play Store brings plenty of software support to the Watch 4. Some of the popular titles like Sleep Cycle, Adidas Running, Strava, Swim.com, Period Tracker, and Calm will be launching all-new Wear OS experiences starting August 20.

Battery & Others

• 247mAh battery (40mm/42mm)
• 361mAh battery (44mm/46mm)

As for the battery, the 40/42mm models feature a 247mAh battery. Whereas the 44/46mm models feature a 361mAh battery. Both models support WPC-based wireless charging.

Samsung claims 40 hours of battery life on a single charge and charging the battery from 0 to 100 takes under 2 hours.

Other features include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, built-in GPS, and NFC for Samsung Pay and Google Pay.

Follow Up

The Galaxy Watch 4 series looks very good. Samsung’s spin on Google Wear OS 3 looks swift and practical. On top of that, Samsung has added lots of cool health tracking features such as Body Composition.

Even though, this is just an impression of the Watch 4 series. I can say that this is the best wearable from Samsung to date.

This is just an initial impressions article after a few hours of usage of the Samsung Watch 4 series. I’ll revisit what I talked about here in my full review.

Also, watch our impressions of the OnePlus Nord 2 in Nepali.

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