12.4.2019

*** I've updated this review at the bottom with a section on blood pressure and irregular heart rate detection ***I've had smartwatches for years and I love them. They are the best gadgets ever! :) I've had loads and I change them at least once a year. If you look through some of my other reviews, you will see. In the last year I have had the Amazfit Bip, Huawei Watch GT and now this. Before that I have had the Moto 360 Gen 2, the Samsung Galaxy 2, Samsung Galaxy Sport, the Huawei Watch 2, the Sony SW2 and SW3. I could keep going on, but you get the idea. I've spent a couple of grand+ easily on smart watches.Anyway, my last purchase was the Huawei Watch GT. A lovely watch. Cheaper than this,but massive on my wrists and the notifications weren't very good. So I've been waiting for a small watch that was waterproof, had good notifications and was comfortable to wear. I had this on pre-order wating for it to be released and I've had it for a few weeks now and these are my initial impressions.Firstly, to get the elephant in the room done and dealt with. No, I don't miss the rotating bezel. If you have had Samsung Galaxy watches before and used it, you might think you will miss it. But honestly, it is more intuitive to swipe on the screen rather than turn the bezel anyway. I found on previous Samsung watches that I didn't use the bezel - it was often slippy and not very accurate. If you are coming from Androidwear, then you won't have ever been used to the rotating bezel, so this will allow you to interact with it just like any other Androidwear watcn you've had.It's not Androidwear of course, it's Tizen. There are pros and cons to this. There are nowhere near as many apps for Tizen, but all the ones you would want are there. Plus Tizen is much more efficient from a battery point of view and also less laggy. You will find that interacting with a Tizen watch is more of a pleasant experience than an Androidwear watch.It is very comfy on. You quickly forget you are wearing it. I certainly couldn't say that about the Huawei Watch GT that whilst comfy, was large and caught on my shirt sleeves. The strap has a neat way of tucking the loose end through the buckle so its on the inside of your wrist and doesn't catch. Very clever and very comfortable. You do get 2 strap sizes in the box. One for skinny wrists and one for larger wrists.The colour choices, certainly at pre-order, were limited. I played safe and got the all black. But I wish there had been an option for the silver one with a black strap. Bear in mind that you can easily replace the strap. But knowing how often I change watches, I played safe and just went for black on black with no intention of paying more than I needed too. Now I've decided the watch is a keeper (for this year anyway), I wish I'd put more thought in to colour choice. You may want to too.Navigating the watch is easy. As you turn the watch to look at the screen, it wakes up. If you get a notification, it wakes up too. You can press on a notification to read it, or you can just swipe it away and move on to the next one. If you press on the notification to read it, you can then scroll up and down (eg to read an email or SMS) and depending on the type of notification, you can interact with it - eg reply to some one.Here are a few examples of what you can do:SMS - Read, reply, deleteEmail - Read, reply, deleteTwitter - Read, follow backWhatsapp - Read, replyFacebook notifications - Read, show on phoneFacebook messenger - Read, show on phoneThey are the ones I use on a daily basis. There are probably more! :)If you miss a notification, you also get a little dot on the 9 'oclock marker. This dot shows that you have unread notifications so you know you can swipe right to check.I didn't buy the watch for it's fitness properties, I got it because it is new and I wanted to try it. However, they seem very good. The step count is as accurate as I've seen and much more accurate than my Amazfit Bip was. It matches my other devices to within a few steps over a mile. The continous heart rate monitoring is interesting and fun and I look forward to new developments with that - eg doing the same as Apple and monitoring for fibrilation. I also like the stress meter and the floor counter. Living in a 3 storey house, the floor counter gets some hammering I can tell you! But it keeps me fit I suppose. The best fit feature for me, working from home as I do, is that it nags me to get up and do some simple excersises. I like that. They are as simple as a torso twist or telling me to get moving, but it's still good.As a paddle-boarder, I wanted a waterproof watch that I could wear in the sea. It's waterproof to 50m - that's static of course and it does warn you not to wear it surfing, but under a wetsuit I've found it fine and surfing with it is no problem and with it being so light, you forget you are wearing it.Battery life? Well this is where most smartwatches except the Huawei GT and Amazfit Bip struggle. I have EVERYTHING turned on. Bright screen, continous heart rate detection, etc and at the end of a day I still have between 60-70% battery depending on how much I have interacted with the watch. I did go away for a long weekend and put the watch in to powersaving mode (B&W screen, no heart rate but still notifications) and I had 50% battery after 3 full days away. So that't not bad. The supplied wireless charging pad is great and very fast and charges the watch in no time. I'm looking forward to my wireless battery pack arriving then I can charge it on the go if I need to.The watch supports NFC but only, of course, Samsung Pay, not Google Pay. So support for that depends on your bank. Halifax, RBS, Lloyds etc don't support it. Santander and a few others do. Check on Samsungs website if this is a deal breaker for you. It sort of is for me. I use my phone to pay all the time and would use my watch. I am considering switching banks to get Samsung Pay support, but haven't decided yet.The phone support is good. If you use a Samsung phone, its all built in. If you use a non-Samsung phone (I'm on a Huawei handset) then you need to install the Wearable plugin and Samsung Health. Both apps are very good and give you lots of info on your watch and lots of info about your health. I have included some screenshots so you can see. I have also included some screenshots of me wearing my watch and it side by side against the Bip and a Citizen standard watch. I've also included a screen shot of my Huawei Watch GT on my wrist so you can see how big that is compared to how much nicer a size this is.I finally think that this is the killer watch that Android users have been waiting for. The classic looks that Apple watch users want (ie a round face). Small, light, powerful and a good price. What is not to like?Hope you found that useful. I waste my hard earned money buying stuff so you don't need too! :) In this case, it was wasn't wasted. I love this watch!Update April 2019On the manufacturer website and all advertisements for this watch, it states:"With blood pressure monitoring and irregular heart rate detection, you can ensure you’re on top of your health at all times."I have been unable to find this feature, nor download the "My BP Lab" app that is required. I have contacted Samsung Support and got mixed responses from "it's built in to the heart rate monitor" to "you need a third party app, we don't provide support for 3rd party apps" etc etc.In the end, I took it upon myself to find the answer. I contacted the developers of the My BP Lab app that is the app you are supposed to use and they said this:"Thank you for your email. In order to participate in this study, you will indeed need an eligible Samsung phone (Galaxy S9/S10, Note 9). Unfortunately, the calibration process requires users to take a blood pressure measurement on the specialized optic sensor that only the models listed above have. The Galaxy Active watch must be paired with an eligible phone in order to use the My BPLab watch app. We do not currently have plans to expand this app to older devices. We apologize for the inconvenience.Thank you,My BPLab Team"So if you want to monitor for irregular heart rate or check for blood pressure, you MUST have a Samsung Galaxy S9 or S10 phone or a Galaxy Note 9. No other phone is supported. There is no mention of this requirement on any Samsung web site. It misleads you in to thinking that the *watch* supports this feature. It does not. The watch requires a companion app that is only available (at the time of writing) on a S9/S10/Note9 phone.This may be a deal breaker for you. It isn't for me, so this watch still retains 5 stars as it is an otherwise great watch. If 4.5 stars was an option, I would knock some off for this misleading advertising. It may well be a deal breaker for you. So at least you have been warned.

16.4.2019

I've had smartwatches for years and I love them. They are the best gadgets ever! :) I've had loads and I change them at least once a year. If you look through some of my other reviews, you will see. In the last year I have had the Amazfit Bip, Huawei Watch GT and now this. Before that I have had the Moto 360 Gen 2, the Samsung Galaxy 2, Samsung Galaxy Sport, the Huawei Watch 2, the Sony SW2 and SW3. I could keep going on, but you get the idea. I've spent a couple of grand+ easily on smart watches.Anyway, my last purchase was the Huawei Watch GT. A lovely watch. Cheaper than this, but massive on my wrists and the notifications weren't very good. So I've been waiting for a small watch that was waterproof,had good notifications and was comfortable to wear. I had this on pre-order wating for it to be released and I've had it for a few weeks now and these are my initial impressions.Firstly, to get the elephant in the room done and dealt with. No, I don't miss the rotating bezel. If you have had Samsung Galaxy watches before and used it, you might think you will miss it. But honestly, it is more intuitive to swipe on the screen rather than turn the bezel anyway. I found on previous Samsung watches that I didn't use the bezel - it was often slippy and not very accurate. If you are coming from Androidwear, then you won't have ever been used to the rotating bezel, so this will allow you to interact with it just like any other Androidwear watcn you've had.It's not Androidwear of course, it's Tizen. There are pros and cons to this. There are nowhere near as many apps for Tizen, but all the ones you would want are there. Plus Tizen is much more efficient from a battery point of view and also less laggy. You will find that interacting with a Tizen watch is more of a pleasant experience than an Androidwear watch.It is very comfy on. You quickly forget you are wearing it. I certainly couldn't say that about the Huawei Watch GT that whilst comfy, was large and caught on my shirt sleeves. The strap has a neat way of tucking the loose end through the buckle so its on the inside of your wrist and doesn't catch. Very clever and very comfortable. You do get 2 strap sizes in the box. One for skinny wrists and one for larger wrists.The colour choices, certainly at pre-order, were limited. I played safe and got the all black. But I wish there had been an option for the silver one with a black strap. Bear in mind that you can easily replace the strap. But knowing how often I change watches, I played safe and just went for black on black with no intention of paying more than I needed too. Now I've decided the watch is a keeper (for this year anyway), I wish I'd put more thought in to colour choice. You may want to too.Navigating the watch is easy. As you turn the watch to look at the screen, it wakes up. If you get a notification, it wakes up too. You can press on a notification to read it, or you can just swipe it away and move on to the next one. If you press on the notification to read it, you can then scroll up and down (eg to read an email or SMS) and depending on the type of notification, you can interact with it - eg reply to some one.Here are a few examples of what you can do:SMS - Read, reply, deleteEmail - Read, reply, deleteTwitter - Read, follow backWhatsapp - Read, replyFacebook notifications - Read, show on phoneFacebook messenger - Read, show on phoneThey are the ones I use on a daily basis. There are probably more! :)If you miss a notification, you also get a little dot on the 9 'oclock marker. This dot shows that you have unread notifications so you know you can swipe right to check.As a paddle-boarder, I wanted a waterproof watch that I could wear in the sea. It's waterproof to 50m - that's static of course and it does warn you not to wear it surfing, but under a wetsuit I've found it fine and surfing with it is no problem and with it being so light, you forget you are wearing it.Battery life? Well this is where most smartwatches except the Huawei GT and Amazfit Bip struggle. I have EVERYTHING turned on. Bright screen, continous heart rate detection, etc and at the end of a day I still have between 60-70% battery depending on how much I have interacted with the watch. I did go away for a long weekend and put the watch in to powersaving mode (B&W screen, no heart rate but still notifications) and I had 50% battery after 3 full days away. So that't not bad. The supplied wireless charging pad is great and very fast and charges the watch in no time. I'm looking forward to my wireless battery pack arriving then I can charge it on the go if I need to.The watch supports NFC but only, of course, Samsung Pay, not Google Pay. So support for that depends on your bank. Halifax, RBS, Lloyds etc don't support it. Santander and a few others do. Check on Samsungs website if this is a deal breaker for you. It sort of is for me. I use my phone to pay all the time and would use my watch. I am considering switching banks to get Samsung Pay support, but haven't decided yet.The phone support is good. If you use a Samsung phone, its all built in. If you use a non-Samsung phone (I'm on a Huawei handset) then you need to install the Wearable plugin and Samsung Health. Both apps are very good and give you lots of info on your watch and lots of info about your health. I have included some screenshots so you can see. I have also included some screenshots of me wearing my watch and it side by side against the Bip and a Citizen standard watch. I've also included a screen shot of my Huawei Watch GT on my wrist so you can see how big that is compared to how much nicer a size this is.I didn't buy the watch for it's fitness properties, I got it because it is new and I wanted to try it and I also fancied playing with the blood pressure monitor and irregular heart rate detection. However, be warned, these features are NOT available at the time of me writing this review (April 2019). Samsung cannot tell me when or even IF the watch will support this. From my research, you can download a third party app called My BP Lab 2.0 from the Google Play store and this is supposed to install a companion app on your watch. But NONE of my devices are compatible with the app. It seems like you need a Samsung phone that already supports heart rate detection before you can even download the app. No mention of that on Samsungs website. There, it simply states (and this is a cut and paste): "with blood pressure monitoring and irregularheart rate detection, you can ensure you’re on top of your health at all times."The step count is as accurate as I've seen and much more accurate than my Amazfit Bip was. It matches my other devices to within a few steps over a mile. I also like the stress meter and the floor counter. Living in a 3 storey house, the floor counter gets some hammering I can tell you! But it keeps me fit I suppose. The best fit feature for me, working from home as I do, is that it nags me to get up and do some simple excersises. I like that. They are as simple as a torso twist or telling me to get moving, but it's still good.I finally think that this is the killer watch that Android users have been waiting for. The classic looks that Apple watch users want (ie a round face). Small, light, powerful and a good price. But, the adverts for this watch are misleading. If you are expecting to be able to monitor blood pressure, I don't think you can at all without some extra kit and if you are expecting to monitor irregular heart rate, good luck in getting it working!

29.10.2019

TL;DR: Excellent hardware and built-in apps, but heavily let down by Samsung's apparent desire to create its own ecosystem without having any decent apps.As the rating shows, I do like this smartwatch. It looks good, it's easy to customise, it doesn't make me look like I've strapped a discus to my wrist, and the sensors all work near-perfectly. However, I do have some rather unavoidable issues with it.In terms of aesthetics, it's perfect for this day and age. It's sleek, smooth, and very minimalistic. Most of the watch faces have large areas of black, allowing Samsung to show off their incredible AMOLED screens, along with saving a bit of battery here and there. Still, if you want to,you can put your own images behind the time. Similarly, you can easily swap out the stock straps for whatever fits, be it official replacements or third-party designs.The heartrate monitor works constantly, providing you with a pleasant (to look at) line chart. This also apparently helps them measure your stress, though this feature doesn't seem all too accurate for me. The step counter is fairly accurate, and the fitness trackers work well. The sleep tracking is also mostly on point, however, it occasionally thinks I'm sleeping when, in reality, I'm lying in bed scrolling through Twitter instead of getting up.On that matter, it also enjoys telling you to "get moving" after an hour of what it assumes is inactivity. This is certainly a useful feature if, say, you have a tendency to sit at your desk for upwards of five hours at a time without moving. However, I've found that it often thinks that I'm far more active than I am, often congratulating me for exercise that, in reality, was just me waving my arms to try and get rid of a fly.Notifications are a little bit fiddly, though you can choose what you get in the app on your phone.Battery life isn't terrible, especially for a watch with a screen as good as this, and that also constantly monitors your biometrics. If you're not doing daily workouts, you'll probably manage around two days, though you can push it for longer by placing it into battery saving mode. If you're in a pinch, charging isn't a problem as long as you've got the charger at hand. The magnets help it stay attached, which is obviously useful.Now, while all of that might make this smartwatch seem like a wonderful, appealing machine, it's not all praises and mild malfunctions.By a long way, my biggest issue with it is Samsung's choice to limit its compatibility to its phones and its Galaxy Store. You can still pair it and use it with a non-Samsung phone, but its functionality is vastly reduced - something you don't want in a smartwatch. To put it simply, Samsung seems to want to create its own ecosystem, much like Apple's. Unfortunately, doing so has only caused problems, for me, at least.You can only get apps for this smartwatch from Samsung's Galaxy Store. This immediately comes with two downsides: You're not going to be able to get the vast, vast majority of apps you can get from the Google Play Store, and many of the apps you can get work best with a rotating bezel - something this smartwatch lacks.For me, this is epitomised by the lack of any Google apps, especially Google Maps. My four-years-old Motorola Moto 360 - a vastly inferior, presently slightly damaged first-generation smartwatch running on the notoriously sketchy WearOS - manages to achieve this, all without the advantage of having on board GPS. Yes, there are third-party apps available, but they're nowhere near as convenient as just having Google Maps.To add insult to injury (true, since without visual aid, I went down a wrong lane and ended up crashing my bike), quite a few of these substitutes will cost you cold, hard money.Along with this, while there are a few big name apps on the Galaxy Store - Spotify, for example - you're not going to find much. However, even if you do find something interesting, its usability may be hampered by the lack of a rotating bezel since, as one would expect from a store focused around the Gear line, said rotating bezel is often a key part.To make it that bit harder, the Galaxy Store is sorely lacking in reviews, meaning that some downloads are a bit of a leap of faith in terms of quality.Overall, I'm actually fairly pleased with my purchase. As I said, the build quality is premium - as one would expect from Samsung. The small size is also welcome, considering how large almost every other smartwatch is, and on that basis alone, I'd recommend it to anyone with small wrists. The constant biometrics are, at the very least, interesting, if not useful for those who can use them, and I like the reminders to "stay active" as they might just eek out a few more years from my back - I'm in my early twenties, for context.However, it's important to note that a lot of the functionality of this watch comes from pairing it with a Samsung phone. Even then, since it's locked to the Galaxy Store, it doesn't have anywhere near as much as a WearOS smartwatch would in the same price bracket. If you don't have a Samsung phone, I'd recommend not buying this one.Although I have some significant problems with it, the rating still stands for me as it does still do its job well. You'll receive notifications, it'll track your fitness, and it will say nice things to you when you go to bed at the right time. It also helps that it compliments my Galaxy Note 9, as it can be a bit precarious taking it in and out of my pocket on a frigid autumn day. Though, really, if that's just what you're after, save some money and go for a Fossil Sport.

29.3.2019

2019-04-20: UpdateOver all I'm still enjoying the watch - a few comments on the Watch with the Samsung App (on a Android Pixel 2 XL phone) and Apple MacBookPro- Samsung Health App is pretty neat for viewing your activities (sleep,distance etc) and joining in with community health activity- Charging the watch on a non samsung charger (but for the larger Galaxy Watch) results in messages on the Watch about using the original charger. It sometimes also over heats when using a third part charger so be careful.- I've designed my own Watch Face using the 'Galaxy Watch Designer' App runs on Mac and Windows. It's fun doing time-transformations/graphics/clickable on screen buttons of your own Watch Design (if your that way inclined). I couldn't get bluetooth transfer to work so have to connect the Watch up via Wifi to upload my designed Watches. Remember to turn off Watch Wifi afterwards as it is a battery drainer.- SOS feature doesn't work on the Watch (The Samsung phone app mentions doing 3 clicks on the power button of the watch to send an SMS to your designated sos list. Sure the Watch doesn't have a sim slot but it feels like the phone would relay the SOS ! )- Blood Pressure monitoring doesn't work on anything other than Watches with Samsung phones.2019-03-31: after a previous day 13 mile hike (~4hours) with Strava logging my route (GPS) etc battery was still going good. I think it will easily last me over 24 hours between charges, but it is still a pain that I have to remember to take the charging pad around.06:30 - Battery status 20% left - see the photo it says that I still have 8 hours left having previously charged it 19 hours ago.This is a very comfy watch to wear all the time, the standard strap is a good design, I wear the larger supplied strap.2019-03-29: Initial Comments, more to follow:Foreword : I'm not an athlete in anyway - but enjoy walking/hiking/casual bike riding so I was looking for a 'light, non-bulky, smartwatch'. I'm a heavy usage android phone user (Google Pixel 2XL), not Apple iPhone.Just coming up for 24 hours. And already had to charge the 'Active' watch twice since I'm trying to understand my daily usage, but only let it get down to 42% from its initial 70% unboxing charge . Why did they make the charger an odd wireless charging !! I've got lots of old Qi chargers and non of them appear to charge this thing ! So that's 1 star less -- I'm already searching for Qi chargers that work with the 'Active' watch. For now the charger is always coming with me and my portable battery pack :(Display is nice size - maybe wished it to be a bit larger screen for my 'old-ish' eyes. But thickness is nice and thin compared with other smart watches I've seen so far. So I've accepted that the thinness will be battery saving.I've set the screen brightness to 3 but my eyes probably want it brighter - Brighter = Battery Consumption.Heart rate monitor compares to my manual measuring - still early days but have taken it out for a hike and while I saw it do some odd spikes it seems good. Maybe I'll increase the time between samples to save battery at some point.Sleep pattern monitoring - I'm a very light sleeper, I put the watch into night mode to save on battery. But liked the way it detected my sleep patterns. Note that I took a work call over the weekend and end up working 2am till 4am, but it said I was having a light sleep, so expect some odd things to happen.Customisation of Watch faces is really nice. Spent a lot of time downloading different faces, I can see that some will cause extra drain on this watch - hence why I think this watch isn't a 'hey look at my watch' but it's a 'log your activity watch'Apps:Samsung Health - Yes , it wants to enabled auto location sensing which means battery drain.Strava - Yes you have to download it via Galaxy Wear app - it works and it uploads it to Strava after you've enabled location sensing etc. which means battery drain.Komoot - Nope - no integration other than 'via notification jolt'Google Fit - No - it's not wear os, so it doesn't link to google fit

3.5.2020

So far, I'm VERY happy with my decision to go for the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active!I set out looking for a watch mainly for running (I do several 5Ks a week, looking towards 10Ks soon) but also for swimming at some point in the future. Standalone Spotify as well as GPS were two of the main features important to me, which is quite hard to find at a price-range of around GBP 150.00. Moreover, a nice design as well as an intuitive and user-friendly UI were very important to me.When doing my research, I read some mixed reviews on the GPS accuracy and overall running/ workout features of the watch. I was torn between several models, including some much more expensive ones and I almost went for the newer Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 or a Garmin Vivoactive 4S.But so far I'm very happy I didn't, as the watch delivers EXACTLY what I was looking for:- I went for my first 5K yesterday and the watch did a superb job of tracking my route and regularly updating me with KPIs needed throughout. There is also the option of having the display "always on", which is very useful. A VERY accurate map can now be viewed on the watch as well as in the Samsung Health app on my phone, so the GPS actually works really well!- Standalone Spotify works perfect! I was able to download my favourite playlists to the watch and the sound quality is just as good as on my smartphone. The latter can now stay at home, which is especially great during the warmer times of the year, where you might not have a pocket available.- I love the minimalist and light-weight design of the watch! It really looks very stylish and the overall manufacturing quality is very good. I love how great the watch looks next to my Galaxy S8 Smartphone. Big shout out to Samsung for doing their own thing and, once again, not "trying to be Apple"!I should stress that I did NOT look for an everyday watch to replace my analogue ones and that I bought the watch mainly for sports activities. But I now even consider wearing it more often on a daily basis, that's how much I like it! However, I can't comment on many of the other "smart" features that could be important to other people like stress, sleep and general activity tracking (steps taken per day for example). I'm of the strong opinion that an overall balanced and healthy lifestyle can be achieved without a smartwatch and I was mainly looking for something to measure my performance during workouts - I got that and even more :)The only slight negative I can think of so far is the battery life. Indeed, it's a bit on the weaker side and the watch needs charging every day or every other day max. But the slick magnetic charging dongle that comes with the watch makes that very easy and I simply put my watch to charge every night just as I do with my smartphone, so I don't see a big problem with that. Tip: use some removable adhesive tape or something similar to fix the charging dongle on your night table next to you.Lastly, as with every buying decision you make, I think it's VERY important to constantly remind yourself what a). you set out looking for and b). what it is you ACTUALLY need! It's easy to get carried away with the huge amount of reviews, test, etc. available online. Sure, there are better watches out there. BUT do I really need all the additional features? Try to keep that in mind when making your decision and don't get carried away!***** from me so far! I hope it stays that way and will make sure to update in the near future.

28.3.2019

I purchased this watch on pre-order with my Galaxy S10, mainly becuase I had lost my Gear S3 and this could be charged wirelessly through reverse wireless charging. In-between losing my old watch and buying this one, I ordered a WearOS alternative and returned it within two days. Tizen is just a nicer user experience by comparison. Anyway, I am pleased to report, this watch has not been a let down.The watch itself is made from an aluminium case and glass front, which uses Gorilla Glass 3. It may seem like 3 is an odd choice, however this is one of the most scratch resistant forms of Gorilla Glass, so is perfect for this application. It feels exceptionally well made and is very light,so wearing it for extended periods of time is a breeze. Indeed, it is much more pleasant to use than my old Gear S3. The silicone watch band is comfortable too, and comes in a large and small size. It employs a tuck-in design for excess strap, which is a little uncomfortable at first, but is not noticeable once in place.Set-up is super simple, and my S10 detected it as soon as it was turned on. I didn't even have chance to open up the Galaxy Wearables App! The on-screen instructions were simple, and I was able to restore most of my settings from my old S3. After a firmware update, it was good to go.Tizen is now sporting the new One UI skin, which has some nice features over the previous versions of the OS. The one I find most useful is the water-lock feature, which prevents the screen from being constantly activated when wet. This helps to prevent excessive battery drain and annoying buzzing on your wrist. Despite the Active not having the rotating bezel, it remains a simple and intuitive system to navigate, although I still find myself trying to rotate the watch face from time to time out of habit. The smaller screen is a bit of a bind when typing out messages on the on-screen T9 keyboard, but still perfectly functional. Anyone familiar with Tizen will easily adapt to the new skin. There is also a very informative on-screen tutorial if you're new to Samsung's watches.Battery life is pretty decent on the Active. With the always on display disabled and wrist gestures activated, I manage a solid two days. To be safe I usually put it on charge when I wake up on a morning which gives it enough juice to remain constantly topped up. The charging dock is magnetic and wireless, meaning finding it is easy, and there are no annoying pins to line up. Compared to the WearOS alternative, despite a smaller battery, the Active is much better. After all, Samsung tailor-make their processors, and many WearOS watches still rely on a rapidly ageing Snapdragon 2100 from 2016.Regarding the fitness oriented features of this watch, I have experienced no problems whatsoever. It auto-detects my running sessions (whenever I can drum up the motivation), and lets me know when I have been walking at a steady pace for a few minutes. The step-counter appears to be relatively accurate, and the heartrate monitor seems to be in-line with calibrated monitors I use at work. To be honest, I mainly use this for checking the time and notifications, which Tizen excels at.In conclusion, I absolutely love my Galaxy Active watch. It looks great, feels well made and is super easy to set-up. It also has some really nice features too, like displaying the battery life of my phone and the watch when charging from my S10's reverse wireless charging feature. Bravo, Samsung!

8.5.2019

I’ve had a number of android smart watches and they were nice but suffered from all the problems you get with android wear: huge size, slow and buggy software that changes every 5 minutes without ever improving. I’ve got an S9 phone now so when my Misfit Vapor started playing up after just a year I sold it and preordered a Samsung Galaxy Active.First off, it’s been a while since I got it and despite filling out all the paperwork I still haven’t received the preorder gift of a travel charger. I contacted Samsung and got an unhelpful reply that they’ve been inundated and can’t say when it’ll despatch. This was what made me take the risk in preordering without seeing it, so a bitter taste in the mouth.

9.4.2019

If like me and you're looking for an Android watch that's similar to the Apple Watch I'd say the Samsung Active is the closest match. It has a similar feel material wise to the apple watch, obviously the biggest difference in appearance is the shape, but it reminds me an awful lot of when I used to wear my Apple Watch (Series 2). I used to own an apple watch but soon realised I hated the Iphone but loved the Apple Watch so I have been waiting for a watch like this. It's almost weightless on your wrist, I feel comfortable sleeping with it on as I'm curious about tracking my sleep which comes standard as I remember on the Apple Watch it didn't come with a sleep tracker,

29.5.2020

Well I bought this as a present for my wife. As she has seen my smartwatch and loves the idea, And I had a good play around. Its a lovely bit of kit. For the price. you cant go wrong. The Rose Gold does look swish.Firstly the strap are perfect for the wrist width and you even get a spare strap that's slightly longer. I tried it on they fit good. Although don't like the strap style putting on your wrist and tightening up is fiddly. Also after long periods of wear you will find your wrist sweats. Maybe a fabric or metal strap could be used.But you can buy straps of different styles. I really love the watch faces. The screen is sharp and displays well in different lighting situations,

24.9.2019

Heart rate monitor doesn't seem 100% accurate as almost every day it says mine drops to 34 bpm (which it doesn't). I would like to use the watch for sleep monitoring but unfortunately, battery life doesn't last long enough as you need to charge it daily. Not many useful apps for the watch but believe most smartwatches suffer this issue.I love the look of it, it feels perfect for a watch, the touch screen is great. Waterproof is fantastic.Used it for a week of surfing and it performed really well. I have had other smartwatches but this is my favourite.The main negative is menu navigation, I much prefer how other manufacturers deal with their menus such as pebble.

2.5.2019

I love this watch. You can track most sport on it, including swimming which was a must for me as it tracks pace, stroke, efficiency and effort (continuous heart rate monitoring). It alsp has GPS so can track any runs that you do.You can connect apps easily and customise the look of the watch easily too.One thing I really like is the fact you can download your Spotify account allowing you to use bluetooth headphones whilst out running/at the gym without the need for carrying your phone around. Messages don't work without phone nearby though.The watch also looks really sleek, i think its really stylish. Its very comfortable,

24.3.2019

I've only had this a couple of days so it's way early to judge properly but it seems pretty good so far. I was put off by all the promo pics showing an ugly mustard colour display but it's easy enough to set up something more attractive. I saw a review saying the heart monitor read wrong but was ok after a reset and I found the same, but a reset is dead easy so might be best to do from the start. Don't start like I did by switching on everything available as it will sap the battery but otherwise it's probably frugal enough for a couple of days. It's very light on the wrist too, and quite comfortable. It's the same height as my Fitbit Charge 3 but with more width,

11.6.2020

There are a good selection of watch faces to choose from. The health tracking app is spot on. Records steps, heart rate, duration and type of exercise. Can also play music through outboard phone or Bluetooth speaker from your watch. You can give voice commands to Bixby to return information. It's got a water lock so you can't affect the screen skateboarding or swimming. You can swim in it but not dive. It has different workout modes you can select such as swimming, running, walking and some others as well as ones you can add in settings. You can receive notifications of texts, emails, calls and photos synced to you gallery. And you can create and send a message from you watch.

28.3.2019

Delighted with this so far. I have previously owned an S3 Frontier and found it to be too big, too intrusive and too overtly masculine.I was not a fan of the Samsung Health app either- but this has been improved enormously and is now matches up well to competitors' apps. No complaints any more.The new Watch Active is simple, stylish and a delight to use. Very light and comfortable, hardly know it's there. It's a lovely looking thing too and not too big - my wife is even considering one now as she's got tiny wrists and hands and this is the first smartwatch that hasn't looked ridiculously oversized on her.I've been using a rival watch for the past year (you know, the one that rhymes with Bersa)

26.7.2019

You can now pick up the Galaxy Watch Active for under £180 with a bit of shopping around. Its a decent saving on the the bigger version. Most women prefer the 40mm size but of course it a personal choice. Sadly, Samsung hasn't provided a bezel in this version which is disappointing; the bezel was quite handy in earlier version for navigation. The battery life is OK, it goes through the day but thats about it.Otherwise, its feature-set is almost identical to other Samsung watches making it excellent value for money for Samsung users, who will benefit most from its full functionality. It does work with Non-Samsung phones too but certain functionality (e.g. stress level) is limited.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active - Reviews

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