Samsung Galaxy Watch
Verified104 reviews
I have had this watch for 6 and a half years. Still going absolutely strong what a product. It's obviously discontinued but I can't recommend it enough - these type of products don't last that long these days but this proves all of that wrong. Show details · 2
Not good as expected or maybe I got the faulty one, my one, battery finishes every single day even though I don't put the screen on all the time, worst battery life and NFC doesn't work so can't use to pay through phone.
Shifty sales tactics – The saga of continues, after not wearing the watch for some time Thought I;d give it another go, cant get it out of set up mode, it now tells me information from 2 months ago, won't record my sleep information and now on a regular basis records a fall when no fall occurred and contacts 000. Greatest piece of crap. Samsung's customer support is is about as helpful as a chocolate tea pot
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Reviews with attachments
Stylish watch – Love how light it is and how I can upload my photos as watchfaces. Battery last all done which is great, sometimes it doesn't sync with the phone when it rings it only notifies me a minute later that l have missed a call. Good step tracker. All in all its alright but not worth the price tag. Show details
Slight evolution over Gear S3 rather than revolution – I had Samsung Galaxy Gear s3 for 3 years. It started slowing down and the battery didn't hold as well as I'd wanted it too. However, I was so impressed with watches software and apps speed, battery life and ruggedness that I decided to get my next watch from Samsung as well. The biggest hesitation was what model to buy. Samsung has Galaxy Active 2… Read more · 1
and Galaxy Watch. When both of them are almost identical there are significant differences in them. The biggest complaint about Galaxy Active 2 is fragility of the screen and how easily it scratches. The biggest advantage of Galaxy Active 2 was an improved heartbeat sensor that promises ECG function at some stage - pending approvals... Because of the first issue and watches technology isn't approved yet and there is no clear time frame for that I decided to go with Galaxy Watch 46mm as 42mm had a lot of reports about poor battery life... Also, I don't mind a bigger size watch. The good. Actually not much. It is a good smart watch, but after having Gear S3 for 3 years I can't see much change or improvement. Everything that was improved was perfection of what already functioned well. Also OS got a bit friendlier. That's all. Sadly, that is disappointing to see not much change in tech from leading brands for almost 5 years. The bad. Again, not much. Just vanilla. Same as for Gear S3, apps are not getting developed as much for Tizen OS and integration getting rapidly outdated. No ECG, sensors not as accurate. Applications almost limited to what Samsung gives you... etc.
Verdict. It is still a good watch if you can get it at a decent price. At full price it is not worth the investment as it didn't advance much in the last years.
Would I recommend buying one? Yes, but at the right price. Any regrets buying one? No, but a bit bored with it as it feels like I bought an extra 2 years warranty rather than better tech.
Warranty is not as it seems – I loved my Samsung watch, every day use,simple and dependent on it. However if the sensor cover comes off the back, it will no longer charge ,even if you are still paying it off and warranty period is still current it is classified as a "missing part" Samsung will not fix or replace. Show details
Positive reviews
Brilliant Samsung galaxy watch 4 – The galaxy watch 4 is so awsum, I never have a smart watch screen running all the time so battery isn't a option, this smart watch is awsum in every way, even loaded a keyboard for answering messages, great for answering calls and messages, great choices in exercises, I bought the Fitbit sense which I took back after 3 weeks as it was so bad, only… Read more
thing is battery life could be better, strap that comes with it you might as we put it in the bin, I ordered 3 new leather straps for it and fits awsum, it's the running and connecting with my Samsung phone that blows me away, I love it so much
Best smart watch i have tested – Pros - upto 5 days battery life - impressive clear screen - very stong and durable frame - speaker and mic for calls Cons Not as many apps as android watches I have pushed this watch to the absolute limit, out of every watch i have tested this watch absolutely handled everything and still works Watches compared Fitbit versa, fossil android watch. Show details
The best watch for your home – On Wednesday 31st March 2021 I bought this so I can text and talk with this using my Mobile Phone and track my sleep at night also monitor my heart rate and read/write emails as well. On Wednesday 7th April 2021 I got a refund since it wasn't the Australian model but the United Ahab Emirates model. Show details
Negative reviews
Watch 7 strap suitable for 10 year old – Just bought this smart watch ,latest from Samsung . Why pair it with a strap only suitable for a 10 year old . The watch is great , but the strap was placed by an idiot Show details
Software needed updating, good connectivity, short battery life – This is a review for the Samsung Galaxy Watch, model number SM-R805F (46mm and with 4G/LTE/Cellular) - just making it clear because of the plethora of names and confusing designations for the Samsung watches. As an example, apparently the successor to this watch was the Galaxy Watch 3, but there was no Galaxy Watch 2 .... who knows why. I… Read more
obtained this watch in late 2019. I understand that it was released in August 2018, but perhaps not in Australia at that time. I asked for it for a very specific reason - I swim daily at a public pool and wanted something to track laps and I also needed access to calls, emails and texts but I didn't want to take any of my phones to the pool because of the risk of theft. Given that this watch has an e-SIM I'd have access to phone calls, texts and emails, and it could stay on me when I was swimming. I'm also in the Samsung phone ecosystem so connecting it to my phone hasn't been a problem. Paying for things with it has worked most of the time.
I really only use it for counting laps when swimming and I don't access or use any of the other data that people use for training, like heart rate or SWOLF. I just want to get my target distance in the target time. It also automatically tracks my bike trips - I do a lot of long-distance rides - but again, whilst I'm not drilling down into it for performance stats, it is useful to see distance and time spent.
So, given that usage I was initially very, very disappointed with it as it simply didn't track laps accurately, which should've been a simple task. I did some research on-line and discovered that there had been a lot of very similar complaints when it was first released. Apparently Samsung had then done a software update and the problems went away for most users. Despite that update, my watch had the same problems. As an attempt to resolve my issues I uploaded the software patch - and my watch started working perfectly. A night and day difference really. It then became obvious that my watch had never been updated with the new software - was it from an earlier batch? Did they not update the production line with the new software? Who knows, but either way my watch had never had the new software loaded even though it had been available for some time. With the new software it not only tracked laps accurately it also didn't get confused by a change in swimming stroke, which is apparently an issue for some swim trackers.
I much prefer this to the Apple watches since it actually looks like a watch and the rotating bezel is a good way to operate it. It's also pretty durable. Taking calls on it actually works well but you do look like an idiot with your wrist pressed to your ear and then moving it to your mouth - very Dick Tracy, for anyone who's old enough to remember him. I'll look into getting some ear buds to pair with it.
The real problem with this watch is the very short battery life - it barely lasts a day and has to live on the charger. I recently took it on holiday and by the time I pulled it out of my luggage to use it was flat. As it turns out, it also only charges on the charger and you can't just use the USB cord that plugs into the charger - I should've realised that, but it's something to keep in mind if you're travelling with it.
So, where to from here? Having a phone connection on my wrist has actually been very useful on a couple of occasions when people needed to contact me urgently. Some of the Garmin watches have solar charging and can run for up to 70 days - if there was a 4G/LTE watch that combined that kind of battery life - or even just a couple of weeks- with the 4G/LTE connectivity - and also counted swimming laps - then I'd be keen to buy it.
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Faulty and only had it for four days – I signed up for the watch thru Telstra with my new phone. First day with full charge the the watch lasted only 9 hours. Second day I researched battery life saving tips and lasted approx 12 hours with basically no functions operable. I went back to the Telstra shop and the sales rep good me that that was an acceptable battery life!?!?! (Samsung… Read more
online told me that it should last at least four days as well as most online forum users in my extensive research on the issue.) I was advised to check some connectivity settings and gave it another day it lasted only 6 hours. I returned the watch to a different Telstra shop as it was clearly an Early Life Failure and the sales rep was not being honest. I was advised my watch should be replaced immediately and theyd contaxtvthe samsung rep to work it out however the shop sent it away and it has been over eleven days without the watch and I just paid my first bill. I went back to the shop and they said they had had three other watches returned with the same issue. I am extremely disappointed and am paying for the pleasure of no watch at this point and no eta of return. I am absolutely devastated that I went out of my comfort zone to buy this product but have been left without the product and no replacement despite evident and immediate flaws. Watch was refunded.
Recent reviews
Do not buy – Just a piece of junk. It won't connect t to my S23. At all. Just says unable to connect something went wrong. No shitless Sherlock!
Hey, I'm sorry to hear about the issues you're… Read more
Find out how Samsung Galaxy Watch compares to other Smart Watches / Fitness Trackers
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Buy a fitbit, it has way more capabilities – samsung smart watch is basically only good for looking at the time. Apps are garbage and heart rate monitor does not give a weekly data graph anymore. Be prepared to keep a physical journal for any of the health measurements. And how the hell does driving a car count towards steps walked?? Must be still in Flintstones era technology. I love the… Read more
phones, so, never imagined I would be as disappointed in a Samsung product as I always have been with Apple, but here we are. Do better Samsung, you make enough profit to pay a professional in the field of smart watch tech instead of using the guys who build the washing machine tech.
I really have to think twice to buy another one – Brought less than 16 months ago. Big problems less than a year old. They fixed it. Less than another after. The same was worse. And it was witnessed by jbhifi.
Don't Bother – Battery started to fail after 6 months and completely dead after 15 months. A lot of commentary on line about inability for battery to hold charge. Battery is difficult to procure and replace. Not great value for money. Show details
Expect watch to last for the price – Great watch when I first got it, but now the touch screen doesn't work and warranty just expired. Watch still sinks with phone, but time is half an hour out after returning to SA from Victoria (phone has correct time and adjusted to the timezone change correctly). I'd expect the watch to last longer considering the price I paid. I won't be buying a Samsung watch again. Show details
Back sensor will fall off – The sensor cover on the back fell off. Looks like a flaw with the design as its glued and the adhesive was not holding. The watch was under warranty and still worked so I assumed Samsung would glue it back and hand it back. The report was water damage and it is cheaper for me to buy another watch rather than repair it. I have never gone swimming… Read more
with it. They have refused to fix it and this seems to be a common issue. I will not buy another Samsung watch if the sensor is glued. Before you buy one read the reviews...I would not spend 500 for poor design and workmanship
do not waste your money – watch is supposed to be waterproof. first time in the shower it was full of water. took it back to JB and was told warranty does not cover water damage because there is a hairline crack in the case. i know i have always looked after the watch . never dropped or had it impacted, otherwise. poor quality and even worth after service. Show details
Samsung pay on galaxy watch only works intermittently – Bought watch from Telstra may 2020. I was really looking forward to walking out the house with just my watch, no handbag and be able to buy a cup of coffee. No can do with pay feature only working on my watch at best 50 percent. Very disappointed as was one of the main features for me. Haven't bothered taking it back but has turned me off samsung.
Poor performance with Samsung pay and Strava – Bought this watch in late November hoping to use it with Strava for rides, and Samsung pay for credit card transactions. Unreliable with Strava and autopause feature was inconsistent(stayed autopaused despite moving kms). Samsung pay worked 20% of the time with "Bad Card Read", and "Multiple cards Detected". Took it back early January for… Read more
assessment and detected a hardware problem, so changed the circuit board , back and battery. Only the screen remained as original. I would have thought replacement would have been the best as the device was just over 30 days old - no option, not even a call! It was a lemon After repair Strava still has problems, and on a ride last weekend, auto paused and then stopped recording altogether. Samsung pay is better but "Bad Card Read" common. I have to resort to paying with my S20 for payment on the same device, and it works instantly, without a problem. I have always been a big fan of Samsung, and happy with my now fourth phone, but this watch is not of the same standard. Don't buy this watch if you want to go out and expect to use Samsung pay, without a backup as you will stand there embarrassed, while people around you seamlessly use Apple pay. Don't buy this watch if you use it for Strava, unless you have a backup, like your phone or Garmin, as it may fail. Wish Samsung would tell you if it is a model specific problem, as I would happily pay for an upgrade to a more reliable model, rather than tolerating this one, and having to compromise. Disappointed!
Battery barely lasts 1/2 day – Don't waste your money - this watch has been terrible. The battery just doesn't last and the support from Samsung is the worst. I have talked to Samsung a number of times and sent it off to them once, when it turned of completely and wouldn't turn back on, they sent it back, it turned on again but the battery wasn't fixed. It's obviously an issue… Read more
that Samsung can't fix and can't be bothered dealing with complaints about battery from everyone so they just ignore. Get a garmin or commit to charging the watch twice a day (or using it as a watch only, with no other features) or spending your life chasing warranty claims.
Find out how Samsung Galaxy Watch compares to other Smart Watches / Fitness Trackers
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Lemon - waste of money – Purchased from JB HiFi. Came well recommended. Have had it in for repair under warranty twice: first time for glitching (screen would turn multiple colours & be completely unreadable, then watch face would double in size so that you could only partially read it). Heart rate monitor regularly fails - even after following cleaning of sensor as… Read more
requested. Latest issue: watch would be fully charged and turned on, but could not get screen to activate by motion, or by pushing buttons. Took it back again (gone for 2 weeks assessment....again) to be told there is nothing wrong with it. Customer service centre (outsourced overseas) is very hard to deal with and description of issues are often lost in translation. Very disappointing to be told that I would be contacted by Samsung 'VOC' - Voice of customer -Team to look into refund / replacement (as promised by customer service agent)....nothing but crickets !! Calls to the Customer Service line are supposed to be recorded - but they have no records of assurances that were made. This is an expensive watch that fails to deliver and has fallen short on many levels....it simply appears to be a Lemon. Spend your money on something that is reliable.
Smart in every way, except connectivity – I have owned my Samsung galaxy watch R805 for 4 days now, in that 4 days I have spent probably 2 hours trying to get the watch to connect re-connect or pair with my phone, including 1 full reset which takes at least half an hour. The watch has every single permission possible and still it wont reconnect with my phone when the phone was out of… Read more
range or turned off over night. I put this down to my experience with other Samsung electronic products where they seem to try and make it as difficult as possible to match non-Samsung products. My phone is a 6 month old Nokia smartphone with the latest Android OS, all up to date. I had a Ticwatch Pro and thought it was inferior to the Samsung but boy was I wrong. By comparison the Ticwatch connects flawlessly, probably because they don't care that you're not using a Samsung phone, and other than the lack of a rotating bezel, which I could do without, the Ticwatch pro is far superior AND cheaper. Anyway, if not for the connectivity issues I would probably give the galaxy watch 3 or possibly 4 stars, but when you have to turn the Bluetooth on and off just to get it to connect (at best) then to me this is not acceptable. If you are thinking of purchasing a Galaxy watch and you don't have a Samsung phone, you've been warned. (don't take my word for it, have a look at how many people have connectivity issues on all the online forums). Fortunately, I did not pay the retail price of around $480 as mine was a demo. UPDATE : I've made it 2 stars as the heart rate monitor is absolutely useless, Samsung pay works less than 50% of the time and as you can see for yourself, Samsung support is non existent
UPDATE: I have spent more frustrating hours trying to get this hunk of garbage to re-connect to my… Read more (+3 replies)
Just smashed it with a rock and best feeling ever. Do not waste your money on one – piece of crop nothing else to say. The day you smash it with a rock is the day you get some satisfaction and value for money.. do not make the mistake of buying this piece of crap. Show details
Garmin or Samsung – Always had Garmin watches but Samsung phones. Went new Samsung watch but battery life is terrible and Heart Rate monitor is terribly inaccurate. Garmin way better on both. My mistake. Show details
Lack of flexibility in loading Apps – Unable to load the Medisafe App. therefore the watch in lacking in flexibility and overpriced. The watch was bought for me on the basis I could use it to manage my medications this appears to be beyond the capability of the watch. Show details
A phone on your wrist – Its incredible. The features of this watch are amazing I think. I can send an sos to my husband. its a really smart cool watch. Battery life is dependent on how u use it. I use it to the max for everything with all the features that I need turned on. I charge it every night when I'm cooking dinner. I have it on night mode at night and dnd. U can… Read more
talk clearly and hear clearly. U can write a text msg. U can do everything its amazing. Beautiful watch. Battery saving tip, turn off bezel wake up and touch wake up.
Expected better – Got my G3 from JB and after a few days of wearing it failed to be a wow factor for me as yet. Though I do like the increased in storage capacity to 8GB is great for music. Set up up was fast, and hassle free. Watch weight is good and comfortable feel on he wrist. There are so many watch faces to chose from. Spotify App is very good on G3,… Read more
however Podcasts are not supported.
The fall detection is a great addition to G3; I like to run after work and I am in the remote area. I am sure other will find this helpful. I do like the addition of ECG and BPM tracking feature but not sure they are supported in Australia at this stage.
The workout app have a lot of activities to select and keep track, however I do question the accuracies; (1.) did compare the heart rate tracking with my MyZone Activity Belt and there is some glaring discrepancies e.g. at the start of my warm up run G3 is telling me I am at 160-180 BPM.
(2.) while using for Jacob Ladder exercise, I noticed the number of stair climbs does not reflect the real situation. On a few occasion while sitting at home it would register numerous stair flight counts.
Perhaps with future upgrade Samsung could add different colours zone heart rate training zone to make it easy to track while doing exercise.
Bixby I found so far is slow or non responsive; failed to recognise my contacts or dial a different contact e.g it dialed Mum Home instead of Mum Mobile.
Overall a bit disappointed, considering it a recent upgrade in the range. It failed in the battery life, fitness HR tracking/step.
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Great watch, terrible battery life – I was given the 42mm bluetooth watch as a birthday present. Being a Samsung product, the watch is very nice to look at. Super duper easy set up with the Samsung watch. Watch screen is also very nice. Coming from a Garmin watch its a big step up. So overall everything about the watch and app is great. Very easy to customise. Overall I give the… Read more
watch a big thumbs up in terms of look, UI and perfect integration with your Samsung watch. My biggest complaint with this watch, is the battery life. If I logged a 45 min pilates work out, a good 30 min walk, got majority of my notifications from my phone. The battery life from 100% at the start of the day, would drop to nearly 20% at the end of the day. I honestly couldn't stand this. I tried to play golf with this watch, yeah no go. 9 holes on a full charge, with screen on and GPS with the golf app going (2 hours play I was nearly out of batteries), 18 holes, definite no go. So as much as I loved this watch, I couldn't stand the battery life. I tweaked all the settings, I removed all the apps and functions and kept it as simple as possible, had brightness level at 3, even had a fairly dark watch face. On top of that, 2 hours to charge was too long. So if you're e a Samsung die hard fan and you don't mind charging your watch every day, then buy it. I sold mine and went back to the Garmin.
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Disappointing – Not sure why they say 4 day battery life... this must be only if you turn EVERY single feature off... there are some days i don't even get a full day out of mine if I've done more then one form of exercise ie running then a work out.... and it's funny that no matter how hard or how little I push myself during a work out the calories I burn are always exactly the same amount each time what!.... very disappointing Show details
We're sorry to hear of the battery troubles you're… Read more (+5 replies)
no charging dock supplied – On reciept of my watch no charging dock supplied, on trying to contact Samsung in relation to getting on after 1 hour and giving my details to 4 different call handlers, still no help so decided to return it, poor poor customer service. Show details
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Not really what I was looking for in a watch – I only purchased this watch because my old digital watch ran out of battery, and I thought it would be worth giving it a try. I've found that I don't use a majority of the features like the fitness tracking and the notifications because I find them annoying. About the only notifications I used is the email/text/call notifications. Having to… Read more
recharge the watch is annoying too, you never need to do this with a regular watch. This smart watch now resides in my bedside table where it will stay, and I will be getting the battery in my old watch replaced.
We're sorry to hear of the troubles you're experiencing… Read more (+1 reply)
It's beautiful and functional. But it's lacking – I've been using the watch for one year now so I think i'm ready to review it. In summary: The fairly slim design, easy swap bands, and custom watch faces makes it a very nice watch. But the battery life and functionality leaves a bit to be desired. The Pro's: - The call quality is crisp. I can comfortably chat via the watch and the person on the… Read more · 1
other end has no issue hearing me, and I can hear them clearly. I'ts not something you use for every call, but there have definitely been times where the watch made something much easier by letting me chat through it. - Notifications from your phone on your wrist mean much fewer 'hands on' time with the phone. I got used to using the auto reply and planning my calendar events to take advantage of my watch remind me of things. - It helps you to not leave your phone behind. It's only been a hand full of occasions, but it's happened where I have walked out of the house and forgotten my phone, only for my watch to let me know. By means of notifying me that I am not connected to my phone. - It's light, sleek, and beautiful. I cant think of much I would change to make it look better. The face dial is a perfect touch of Analog class and functionality. - The ability to easily swap bands is fantastic. I originally got a metal clip band and soon replaced it with a leather band. And if I want to with a quick flip of a little lever I can go back to a previous band. - It's bright. I've never had an issue seeing the face. - There are plenty of varied and pleasing free watch faces.
The Cons: -The battery life is not fantastic. Even when I've cut back on a lot of functions it still only really gets through a day and a bit. There was a time when my wife's watch (I got her one when I got mine) struggled to get through a day. Which is a red flag I think. This is a consumer product and a non-tech-native should be able to use it easily. And that is not the case. I had to spend a fair bit of time watching videos and reading guides to optimize her watch and get more battery life. - Glitches. They are becoming more frequent. I dont know if it's updates on the watch, on my Android phone. Or the apps. But more and more there are glitches. And I dont have many additional apps/widgets: 2 watch faces, 1 timer app - The lack of Google Assistant. This is a big killer, I didn't think I would mind, but more and more I do. Especially as I use the Assistant a lot around the home and on my phone.
Would I recommend this watch: not really. I think you should take a look at the newer watch and do a fair bit of research into smart watches and what you want out of one. If you just want some phone functionality and a few widgets on your watch with a fairly beautiful design, sure its a winner. But if your expecting something a bit more advanced and a true extension of your phone you might need a newer (pricier) model.
I dont regret the buy, but I will be replacing it soon I believe.
best looking smartwatch but not very smart – i definitely like the design. It is light, stylish and not bulky like other brands. HOWEVER, lt lacks of exercise. I am an ocean swimmer and can not use it in open water. Battery is definitely below standard. Not happy Show details
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