The software on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 offers the best experience I have had with Wear OS. I’ve been fooled before by smartwatches with older Wear OS (they started out working well and then started oozing glitches), but the Galaxy Watch 4 hasn’t stalled. I will say that the software still feels very Tizen-like, which is a good thing. It didn’t take me long to find my rhythm and I was able to seamlessly switch between apps, menus and settings pages.
Complementing Wear OS, One UI Watch makes the Galaxy Watch 4 a more active member of the Samsung device ecosystem. The software skin automatically transfers settings and tools from Galaxy smartphones to Galaxy smartwatches and vice versa.One UI Watch also makes use of an extensive watch face library with its own editing suite for developers. Bubbly numbers, animated animals and colour-coordinated complications reminiscent of Android 12 are my frequent dial choices.
The highlight of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is the revamped software, which combines the look and feel of Samsung’s existing Tizen platform with Wear OS features. It has a full range of fitness features, long battery life and a comfortable design. There are some compatibility issues, which may frustrate some potential buyers, but mainly the Galaxy Watch 4 is an interesting iteration of Samsung’s top smartwatch formula.
The fitness features are not much different from what we have seen so far, but there is a new body composition monitor that can give you an indication of your body fat percentage Fitness features such as GPS and heart rate monitoring are well thought out on the Galaxy Watch 4 Fitness features such as GPS and heart rate monitoring are well thought out on the Galaxy Watch 4, and the Galaxy Watch 4 is not the longest-lasting smartwatch we have seen, although battery life is not a major concern. It will last up to two days with normal to intensive use, and three days if you don’t use features such as workouts or GPS.
The 44mm Galaxy Watch 4 has a 361mAh battery, which proved to have strong battery life during our testing period – we found that the smartwatch lasted at least two days from a single charge even with intensive use, if you regularly If you’re not using the fitness features, you can expect the watch to last a full three days – the 40mm version comes with a smaller 247mAh cell, and we’re yet to test how well this works. Previous experience with Samsung smartwatches has shown a slight difference in battery life between the smaller and larger models, but don’t expect the 40mm variant to be dramatically different.