In 2016, we were seduced by the many qualities of the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier . Last September, the manufacturer announced its little sister, the Galaxy Watch, and we were, indeed, quite impatient to make him a place on our wrist. What was also a good idea, we explain why
All the same, but better
As for the Gear S3 Frontier, adopt the Galaxy Watch in its 46 mm version is to bring a watch with a somewhat imposing design. Certainly, the new Watch is also available in 42 mm version (also equipped with a slightly thinner case), but it is (necessarily) less enduring. The Watch 42 and 46 mm incorporate respectively 270 mAh and 472 mAh batteries. After wearing the Gear S3 Frontier daily (battery 380 mAh), there was no question of switching to a less enduring model.
Samsung announces a 30% greater autonomy in favor of the Galaxy Watch 46 mm against the Gear S3. According to our use, rather intensive, we had no trouble reaching the 4 days of use without recharging it, despite an excellent screen brightness (measured at 568 cd / m²), knowing that we have almost always used with mid-power lighting. But to do even better on the side of autonomy, it is advisable to take some good habits.
The first week we used it without even putting it to sleep at night. Result: 100% loaded the Watch announced us about 3 days and 7 hours of autonomy. Thanks to TizenOS 4, the new version of the operating system of the watch, it is easy to do better by following the advice given by the watch. It analyzes your habits and suggests, for example, the approach of the time when you are the least active in the evening, to spend the Watch in "night mode". Notifications are silenced. And if, before going to bed, you switch the watch to airplane mode, the range will be further improved.
What sets this watch flat faster is, as usual, the proliferation of sports activities that require GPS and heart rate monitor.
To return to TizenOS, its operation is at first sight identical, with a few graphic details, to the version on the Gear S3. You interact with the device not only with its touch screen, but also through two buttons located on the edge (which are used to open the menu or return to the home) and the rotating bezel, which provides access to your notifications and widgets. Multiple interaction possibilities that can cause some confusion at the beginning and that we would have liked a little more intuitive. However, it is quickly realized that the Exynos 9110 processor (1.15 GHz) integrated into this new model makes navigation even smoother than on the previous version.
Even better for the sport
The watch continuously monitors your physical activity. The counting of footsteps seems fair to us, but the calories expended seem still to be exaggerated. The altimeter and the barometer are also present, but for lack of comparison tools, it is quite difficult to judge the accuracy of the data. The measurements are in any case carried out quickly by the watch. During our tests, the Watch has detected a drop in atmospheric pressure warning us that this could lead to a change in weather. In short, the Galaxy Watch watches.
In the context of a more traditional use, for the practice of the race or the bike, the Galaxy Watch seems to us always adapted as well. The GPS tracks you and the heart rate monitor draws your heart rate on the GPS track.
TizenOS 4 brings an interesting new software, namely the possibility of recording the practice of several sports in one and the same session. Translation: at the end of a bike tour, for example, the watch offers you the opportunity to completely end the session, or to continue with the practice of another sport. It is possible to mix up to six different activities whose balance sheet is then detailed in the application Samsung Health.
And details, there is no lack in the interface of Samsung Health. Below, the activity report of the watch after a running session. In addition to the course of the race, we find below, under the tab "graph", the ability to display two curves simultaneously according to four available criteria. For example, you can display your speed and your heart rate or your cardio frequency and the altitude curve.
A summary of the activity also shows the average pace, average heart rate, average speed, etc.
Aways more sports supportedl
The list of sports that the watch can "monitor", precisely, has grown even larger. It now has about forty activities ... sometimes very close. For example, there are "slits" and "flexions". Both involve bending the knees, either forward or sitting. In the same way, we find the frontal elevation and the lateral elevation. One wonders if Samsung has not multiplied the variations to inflate a little artificially the sports that his watch manages. On the other hand, we were pleasantly surprised by the monitoring of the swimming function.
The Galaxy Watch is now 5 ATM certified (waterproof to 50 meters) and, without being a dive watch, it has proven particularly accurate in tracking our lengths. In the menus of the watch, you will find everything you need to configure the length of the pool, but also set goals. As soon as it is immersed in the water, the Galaxy Watch "locks" and it is no longer possible to get out of swimming mode before evacuating water from the watch with a dedicated function.
Like the Apple Watch, the Galaxy Watch uses its speaker to evacuate the water. Attention, if you have swam in salt water, it is imperative to rinse after swimming. Our biggest surprise was that the Galaxy Watch always keeps track of the cardio measurement in the pool. And this is obviously not an estimate here. At each of our stops on the edge of the pool, the watch updated the measurement on the screen of the watch.
Spotify on the wrist
The Samsung Galaxy Watch does not have access to a very large catalog of applications. The Under Armor Record app can replace Samsung Health in tracking your sports activities. Spotify can also be installed and used directly on the watch. Once your credentials are filled in on the application and connected to a Wi-Fi network, it is possible to download playlists. Attention on the 4 GB of memory of the watch, barely half is available to the user.
However, this is enough to download a few hours of music that can then be played with a Bluetooth headset. It is no longer necessary to carry your smartphone to run, for example, while listening to music
Sleep and stress
Let's move quickly to the sleep tracking functions. If wearing the watch during the night does not bother you, you will, on waking, report on the quality of your sleep. The data is based on the measurements of the heart rate sensor and the accelerometer of the watch, which will determine whether you have had a peaceful or rather hectic night.
If you have trouble falling asleep, or relaxing before an important meeting, the Galaxy Watch offers to help you through its function "stress". This one displays on its dial a visual guide on which it is necessary to stall your breathing. What focus your attention to try to appease you. We have not been particularly sensitive to this function, but you can check its effectiveness by launching heart rate measurements before and after the breathing session.
Angry Flaws
Now let's talk about what's wrong with this Galaxy Watch. Voice recognition first. On the Gear S3 Frontier, the S-Voice Assistant allowed you to call a person, dictate a message, or memorize a note to the voice. The Watch is now adopting the Bixby Home Assistant, who needs to be spoken ... in English. Too bad, even if it was not perfect, S-Voice speech recognition knew how to be practical. Bixby is expected to land in French one day, but Samsung still has no date.
The other regret is again a delay in ignition ... but this time Samsung payment services. In this case, the Galaxy Watch is equipped with an NFC chip, which makes it ready for contactless payment. But Samsung still has not given us a date for the official launch of Samsung Pay in France. On these two topics, which are the NFC payment and voice recognition, there is no doubt that the Apple Watch has taken the lead.
Last flat, we found that the function that allows to count the floors that we climbed is absolutely unreliable. When we had just climbed 5 floors, the Watch only counted one!