Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is the company’s latest smartwatch with which it wants to redeem its smart wearable portfolio. Samsung is currently the second largest smartwatch maker after Apple, shipping more than 9.5 million units by June 2021. Previously, Samsung was able to ship 2 million units at the same time which led Apple to more than 7 million shipments which proves its popularity.

Samsung wants to replace the Galaxy Watch 4 with its first smartwatch to run ‘WearOS Powered by Samsung’, a new custom UI for smartwatches made in close partnership with Google. Until the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, Samsung smartwatches used Tizen OS, but earlier this year Samsung announced that it would take the best features from Tizen OS and integrate it with later versions of Google’s WearOS. Does it ask the price of Watch 4? Here’s what we found.

Price and availability of Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

Prices for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 with Bluetooth start at Rs 23,999 for 40mm band size in India and Rs 26,999 for 44mm band size which Samsung has sent us for this review. The offer has three colorways: Black, Green and Silver and is available for purchase from Samsung India Store and Amazon India.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Build and Design

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has a minimal design and a solid build quality. The frame is made of aluminum and comes with a silicone sport band

This 44mm version is 9.8mm thick and weighs 30.3 grams which is quite smooth and does not weigh on your hands. In comparison, it is thinner and lighter than the Apple Watch SE and Series 6.

The design of the Watch 4 is reminiscent of the Galaxy Watch Active series and has a modern look with a flat display surrounded by Chamford edges. A house key with a red accent and a back key just below it

The upper end of the Watch 4 has an atmospheric pressure sensor and on the back, you will find many sensors including an optical heart rate sensor, an electric biosensor and a pressure vent. There is a speaker unit on the left side.

The Watch 4 is also rated 5ATM and IP68 which makes it dust and water resistant up to 30 minutes for 1.5 meters of fresh water. In addition, the Watch 4 is resistant to water pressure up to a depth of 50 m. In my use, the Watch 4 was able to easily withstand a splash of water and although I did not take it for a swim, I am sure it will survive under freshwater for a long time.

Although the Watch 4 does not put too much pressure on your hands and is comfortable to wear most of the time, the Sport Band has a certain firmness where it bends along the lags. This is basically related to how Samsung designed this watch where the strap looks like an extension to fit. However, this design choice leaves some space between the straps and your hand and sometimes it may seem that the watch has an irregular fit.

If you are someone with a thin wrist then you should go for the 40mm model but for everyone else, the 44mm works just fine. It may not be the most glamorous smartwatch around, especially at night but otherwise, there is little to complain about the design of the Watch 4.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 display

The 44mm Watch 4 has a 1.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 450×450 pixels and has a layer of gorilla glass with DX + that offers scratch resistance and enhances visibility and contrast ratio.

The bezel around the screen is also touch-sensitive and it acts as a virtual rotating bezel, where you can swipe along the bezel to move along the tiles of the house. This is an intuitive feature and I will give it to Samsung, but the functionality is not perfect as it has a flat display and a slightly curved screen. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person.

The display of the Watch 4 becomes quite bright at full brightness level but you can set it to adjust automatically depending on the ambient light. The clarity of the sunlight is great and you can view and interact with the watch in bright sunlight without any problems.

Other features include an always-on display and increased touch sensitivity for use when wearing gloves. There are many different watch faces that are pre-loaded and third-party apps can also be downloaded for further design, thanks to Wear OS.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Performance

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is powered by Exynos W920 processor with dual-core CPU running up to 1.18GHz. Since the Exynos chip is built on a 5nm architecture and comes with 1.5GB of RAM, it is functional and the One UI Watch 3 interface looks very smooth.

Swipe animations feel quick and I haven’t encountered any time lag with it. It has 16GB of storage which is perfect for storing your playlists, apps, map data and much more.

A swipe up from the home screen lets you go to the app drawer where the icons are arranged in a grid-like grid. You can check all installed apps from the drawer; It’s all very minimal and clockwise.

Paired with your phone, you’ll receive notifications on Watch 4, and you can get calls, text messages, and more from it. The app drawer contains a recent apps icon that appears to be out of place and will be effective when combined with a physical button.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Tracking Features

The Galaxy Watch 4 has a wide range of sensors, including bioactive, accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic and light sensors. Although it is a standard setup, the bioactive sensor is actually a combination of optical heart rate sensor, ECG and bioelectrical impedance analysis that helps the watch to measure blood pressure and body composition.

However, you can only measure blood pressure and ECG if you use a Samsung smartphone which is a bummer but not something that the company cannot solve through OTA update.

The Galaxy Watch 4 can easily track all your fitness activities. It counts the number of steps you take in a day, the number of times you were active, and the number of calories burned during those activities. It supports more than 90 exercise modes, including swimming, running, circuit training, hiking, treadmill and bench press, to name a few. It also keeps track of your sleep cycle, stress level and blood oxygen saturation level. Also, the watch is able to detect activity automatically.

I used the Galaxy Watch 4 to track bike rides, and the Samsung Health app gave me an overview of data points such as a detailed GPS map of stretch, speed, altitude and heart rate.

I had the Apple Watch Series 6 and the Amazfit GTR 2 strapped to my wrist, and all three watches recorded approximately the same distance, speed, duration, and heart rate that only the tracking features of the Watch 4 believed.

It also offers a split-view of your lap’s performance per kilometer which you can filter by the average speed or how long it takes you to complete one kilometer.

A similar analysis is available if you take any other fitness activities like running, walking and hiking. In activities such as running, the Watch 4 analyzes advanced running metrics such as inconsistencies, communication time, stiffness and more and gives you an overall score based on the run.

One of the highlighting features of this year’s Watch 4 is the Body Composition or BMI (Body Mass Index) feature that measures your body fat, muscle mass, body water and much more an electric pulse that travels through your body. The house and rear keys should be with the middle and ring fingers. The watch calculates body composition for the whole period. It takes just 15 seconds for the clock to capture 2,400 data points from your body to analyze fat mass, body fat percentage, body water, basal metabolic rate, weight, BMI, and skeletal muscle.

Although we were not able to test the accuracy of body composition features, it should give you a baseline and to check your body fat changes over time. The Samsung Health app creates a chart across all BMI measurements and shows changes in your skeletal muscle, body fat and more.

The Galaxy Watch 4 tracks my sleep accurately and in minutes. The Samsung Health app shows sleep duration, then blood oxygen levels and snoring data during sleep. You can also find a detailed chart of split sleep across REM, light and deep sleep periods.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Health App

Connecting the Watch 4 to your phone is a fairly simple task. It uses Bluetooth 5.0 to connect to your smartphone and synchronize data in real time. The app is easy to use and has a lot of detailed data points in the app so that you can read and understand what numbers mean for your important level.

You can also connect the Samsung Health app with Strava and connect with your friends to share and accept workout challenges. The app is well designed and records data for all your exercises that you can access by tapping a date on the calendar.

In measuring body composition, the Health app provides a detailed description of how the BMI is measured and the information collected and analyzed during body mass measurement based on your weight.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Battery Life

The Galaxy Watch 4 is equipped with a 361mAh battery which Samsung claims can last for more than 2 days. In our use, however, we’ve been able to get one and a half days worth of regular use with notifications, always-on display, Bluetooth and WiFi enabled. If you use it to track workouts, sleep, and more, expect battery life to be reduced by about a day or more, just as far as Android smartwatches go. Even the Apple Watch Series 6 lasts about 18-20 hours on a single charge, but it costs twice as much.

When charging, the Watch 4 takes more than 2.5 hours to fully charge using the magnetic charger provided in the box which is annoying because the watch is not usable for the time being plugged in, when you lose data points to rest or sleep.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Roy

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is a versatile smartwatch that lets you keep an eye on your important and activities throughout the day with very little effort on your part. Samsung’s latest timepieces will delight those who like minimalist designs. The watch 4’s display is sharp and vibrant but we would have preferred a slightly curved screen instead.

For those who already own a Samsung smartphone, the Watch 4 is a no-brainer because it is the perfect companion for it. If you do not have a Samsung phone and you are looking for a good smartwatch that can track your fitness level, you can still buy it. Just keep in mind that some features like ECG and blood pressure only work on Samsung phones for now.

Overall, the Galaxy Watch 4 is a solid step from previous generations and is almost like the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Watch Active 2. If you have an iPhone don’t buy it because the Watch 4 is not compatible with Apple devices but we hope Samsung will support it soon. If you are looking for something more elegant, check out the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.