Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Review & Analysis

We are writing about Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 review & analysis. The Samsung Galaxy Watch have been one of the most complete options as far as smartwatch is concerned, with the addition that they are compatible with both iOS and Android. In its latest version there are design changes and some functions added to previous models, which we have tested and verified in the analysis of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.

The formula is similar to what we saw in the previous ones, especially in the Samsung Galaxy Watch in terms of design. Many of the features we tested on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 have also been preserved, so even though it has an elegant and almost “classic” aesthetic, it is still suitable for monitoring sports activity.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 data sheet

Design: the return of the bezel and the most classic style

The first images of the clock anticipated what we check after trying it: They return the sensations of the “classic” version and vanish which we had especially with the first Samsung Galaxy Watch Active. Those guilty: pink tones, which in addition to following the wake of the previous ones is the new official color that stained all the unpacked 2020, and the turn of the rotating bezel.

Although it still inherits something from the genes of those Active, a bit more softened, when I now see a bezel completely smooth and without any detail. Bezel with a matte finish together than the buttons, which perhaps are what collides in the aesthetics to be much more striking and protruding than in the previous models.

Of course, what first draws attention is the thickness. It is a voluminous, thick and relatively heavy smartwatch, with a weight between 9 and 22 grams more than its predecessor (according to the Watch 3 model and the Watch Active2, the latter with two sizes and two materials). Depending on what we are used to this, we will notice it more or less, but unless we come from watches as a Huawei Watch GT (which is even lighter) or the like it will seem great.

After a few days with him it is something that we are noticing less, but it does not stop being an aspect that also influences certain activities. Those that involve moving the arms quickly as kick boxing will be less comfortable with this device, although we have it adjusted to the maximum (without tightening). Swimming, it shows less and we do not notice the “pulls”, yes.

Leaving aside this, the look of the clock is rather classic and elegant, moving away from more sporting designs or that clearly give the impression of being digital. The Mystic Pink tone is very recalls that of the previous Watch in Rosa, in this case going with a leather strap and built on titanium and steel. It is resistant and robust, holding a lots of a lot of the dip and resisting the fingerprints well (both bezel and screen). At a personal level I think the design of the physical buttons has not gone better at aesthetic level, being now more striking and maybe looking for a more retro touch. But the truth is that they work well at pressure and it is a merely superficial appreciation.

Screen: That’s how you see a smart watch screen

One of the characteristics that we liked most in Samsung’s smart watches is how well you can see your screen and it is something that is maintained in this Watch 3. It is a 1.2-inch super AMOLED panel, with a resolution of 360 x 360 pixel.

AMOLED technology usually gives, on these wristband devices, a good experience and in this case we have seen the contents of the screen without problems both sun and under water. The contrast and resolution are adequate and when viewing some photograph is not missing in clearness or colors, with a good job talking about the automatic shine adjustment.

Something very important in this type of devices is also tactile sensitivity. In our experience the panel is sensitive to touches, both the singles and sustained, and we have been able to navigate the interface without problems at this level. In the screen settings we will see that there is not much change and that we can configure the screen time on hold, if we want the brightness to fit automatically or the background style. We will not be able to choose theme or configure an environment screen, but if we go to the advanced settings of the system we will see that we have more options to activate the screen and for the interaction with the Start button (the lower one).

In general, the reaction of the panel is instantaneous both on the activation by motion of wrist and the touch, turning off if we cover the whole panel with the palm of the hand. The software has unique dark theme, but we can change the sphere both from the mobile app and from the clock, directly by keeping press over the current sphere. There are some new spheres with more or less personalization, which give options from the most minimalists and emulating an analog clock to the most sporting or the most configurable. The assortment is quite abundant and it is likely that we give with one or more to fit in our use, being able to change it easily as appropriate.

To highlight those that are more customizable and give an option to show continuously and real-time aspects such as time, calendar, pass count or pulsations among many others. Of the new one of the most complete and adjustable is the digital panel, analog panel and the honeycomb, although in the face of having the day’s agenda at a glance that of “my day” is still very useful.

Performance and Software: We miss fluency

Maybe it’s the point where we expected more evolution, because it just has not been and even somehow, something back is gone back. We see in this Watch 3 the Exynos 9110 processor, a double core at 1.15 GHz that has been maintained with respect to the Watch Active 2, with a single RAM configuration for both sizes: 1 GB. Thus, in the same way as before it reached 1.5 GB, now the maximum is 1 GB.

Maybe half GB does not seem appreciable, but as long as we barely notice change when we go from 6 to 8 GB or even from 8 to 12 GB on mobile, at SmartWatches this difference is remarkable. So much, since from the beginning we found that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 has lag, quite manifest and more than we saw in previous brand watches.

We are missing in a lack of fluency in general and we noticed this slowness especially when opening or loading some task, taking sometimes something more than a second and getting to see the black screen for a few tenths (as long as it passes from one task to another). What continues to go very well and fluent is the step of widgets and menu screens with the bezel, as well as the selection of exercises.

Experience of use

The initial step in most smartwatches is to link to a mobile and in the case there are no changes, being able to use it both in a iOS and Android smartphone. In our analysis we have tried it in both cases, specifically with a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and an iPhone 11 Pro, the Galaxy Wear app is available for free for both (it is necessary for synchronization, also Samsung Health for Synchronization occurs especially simple on Samsung’s mobile, having experienced more problems in the case of IOS but being able to finally link. Here it may be convenient to have an account in Samsung’s services, with which we can back up the device or retrieve some previous configuration.

We will have to accept several permissions for the functions of Watch 3, such as location, storage or notifications. In any case we are notified and asks, with more information if we want to know in detail what is being asking and why. Once we have the clock linked with the device, there is a tutorial in Watch 3 itself that guides us in navigation and system spaces. As in previous Samsung Wearable system versions, we have an apps drawer to which you access with the start button and start from a home screen with the sphere that comes or we have selected, to which the access screen is added It is a fairly simple system to which the point is packed quite fast, with the addition of having the interaction with Bixby both by the buttons and a microphone. We will see below that it is quite complete at the level of functions and configuration, with the inconvenience we said before noticing some LAG.

In the mobile app we can configure what we have commented before on the screen, as well as the answer we prefer at the audio and vibration level and the configuration of the notifications. It will depend on each app that there are notifications available, but in any case it is very comfortable to activate or deactivate them as suits us from the phone app.

Here we already see that it is a particularly nourished software in widgets, and the usual ones are combined by oxygen in blood, health for women (menstrual cycle control), challenges and some other related to the Samsung Health service / app. Hence, in order to take care more thoroughly the smartwatch is convenient to download this app and configure it to take data directly from the Watch 3 (the ones that measure and those who add by the widgets, such as the water or food glasses).

There are also novelties in the aspect of quantifying sports activity, given that new activities are incorporated and more possibilities for each one in some cases. The clock seems to evolve with more attention to runners, incorporating a training for racing and the possibility of showing oxygen saturation in real time. Now we will talk more specifically about sports, but in general we see there the most notable evolutions in the interaction and possibilities.

Sleep analysis is also more detailed and quite accurate as to monitor from the moment we are going to sleep. From the same clock we can see the stages of sleep and the depth of it throughout the night.

Watch 3 has GPS and we will see that this will be useful for HERE maps or to register careers, but it is still dependent on the mobile to show us the weather forecast to be an online query. As for calls, we can pick up and assist them from the clock and the experience is good: you hear well, we are heard well and touch control responds properly. As we have seen in the previous Watch, this time we still remember that we rid up and move at least a little every hour. It does not change the assortment of stretching or squats, and the count is still somewhat more demanding in this last case.

Everything to get that “we complete our heart”, which is nothing other than the graph of daily goals that also remains in shape and palette of colors with respect to the prior. Of course, we can go varying the goals if we see that we are going short.

Of course, mobile app remains somewhat more complete in the case of Android, both for the options that appear as at the synchronization and operation level. In IOS, problems of the past are crawled as the point disconnections and it is added that we have not been able to pass screenshots to the mobile, as it happens without any problem with an Android mobile. There are also differences when it comes to interacting with notifications, with more possibilities when it is Android since IOS in most apps we can not respond from the clock.

Also, we will see that we can still find any lack in the apps store for the Galaxy Watch, such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter. Although on the other hand we find popular apps such as endomondo, strava or spotify. Speaking of music playback, it is very comfortable to use it to control playback remotely. We will see that it automatically detects that we are playing music on your mobile and we can use the bezel to change songs or to change the volume, the task can be left in the background and consult while other apps and widgets. Making sports with Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 The new Samsung Smartwatch is not only designed for athletes users, but it is possible that if we are fits rather for their performance and resistance. Like the above, it supports up to 5 pressure atmospheres and has IP68 resistance certification, so we can swim and shower with it. The assortment of activities to be monitored is extended, although above all by focusing on fitness exercises such as strides, pulleys, squats or push-ups (all that in vitonic explain us with thousands of possibilities and tables). For cardio training in general (from Les Mills or the like) we will have to resort to “other exercise” or “training circuit” if it is something more hiit or some table, or change according to the type of training we do. If we prefer to go counting types of exercises or we will register a varied table of them, we can establish a basic count or prepare the series that suit us. According to what we have tested normally there is a margin of error from one to two movements, maybe counting 10 when we have done 12, but it is quite faithful. Perhaps the problem can be solved with a shorter locution when giving us indications, since it seems that when it emits it stops counting. As for what we see on the screen, each case will have some options to personalize what we see during the exercise, with which we can choose between aspects such as heart rate, distance traveled or rhythm (according to exercise). Started the activity, it is changed quite comfortably on the screen with the bezel, and we can leave the active record in the background if we want to consulate a notification or other widget.

The activities are easily stopped with the physical button, being able to follow or end them if we want it. Special mention to how incredibly sensitive it is to detect stops and restarts when we walk, at Watch 3 is not going to escape a traffic light or if we stopped three seconds to greet someone (although it will not be so sensitive to running and this does not happen As for running programs, we can monitor a career or start in this activity. For the second the clock has training programs, and can select the level of difficulty and indicate with text and audio what we have to do. It works pretty well and it is a good way to go from scratch to first strides.

We will see that in the race it shows us the cadence (in purple), which is also new, although what stands out in addition to the ease of visualization during the march is the detailed of the final report, including a map of the route. Especially if we consulted the app on the smartphone, being able to see more data and more clearly.

In our experience, the kilometers count seems quite accurate and also the rhythm. He is an incentive to also have information about oxygen saturation, which we can see in that detailed report after exercise.

We will also have information about the quality of footsteps and strides, indicating if we run symmetrically and if we have something to improve in this aspect (something that should be guided, since they are valuable that usually require a tape and other sensors). We emphasize that we do not think of the most comfortable smartwatch to run, but this may be a matter of weeks.

Swimming with the Galaxy Watch 3 is also possible and we can consult how we go during the bathroom, both the pools and the long-stranded ones (in Crol counts those of each arm and according to our experience is quite accurate). The clock is automatically locked and we will have to expel the water at the end, but the device itself already pulls sounds and vibration to help empty it. Of course, you have not always told us well the pools having a length of +1 long.

Autonomy: Facing minimums and leaving us wanting more

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 has the same batteries we saw in the previous model (different according to the size) of 247 or 340 mAh. This made us think that we would not see too much progress with respect to the previous one, but the truth is that we do notice some evolution. Although there are more components (and, therefore, there may be more consumption with information requests) and that the battery has not grown, it is not too complicated to arrive almost at 48 hours by monitoring between one and two activities.

The remaining feeling is that we take it every two days, although sometimes autonomy in practice is in a day and a half. For the load we will need your own cable (which is included with the clock, but not the charger) and takes about two hours and 20 minutes to complete, so it becomes something more comfortable to use in this sense than its predecessor. It is clear that there are two leagues talking about autonomy in wearables and the Galaxy Watch is far from aspiring that of the champions, but inside of yours we see that it has been better.