Yet another Samsung smartwatch hit, the Galaxy Watch 3 features great design, immersive display, fitness tracking, and out-of-the-box battery life with long-term support.
Delivering one of the best smartwatch experiences on the market today, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is a perfect competitor to Apple.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
The Good
- Slimmer, lighter and classic design
- Bright & clear display with easy navigation
- Advanced health tracking and insights
- 48+ hours battery life
- Advanced running/walking metrics
- ECG support to come soon
The Bad
- Complex set-up process
- High price
- Difficulty using 3rd party apps
- Clunky and slow charger
It isn’t a revolution in the smartwatch market but provides a well-rounded experience with its stylish design, excellent performance and top-end specifications.
Let’s get started to a detailed review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Review India
The Galaxy Watch 3 by Samsung is an excellent refinement of its previous efforts in the field of smartwatch – it is lighter, sleek and has a bigger screen with the signature rotating bezel that makes navigating smartwatch a breeze.
You’ll find some of Apple’s familiar features in this smartwatch, like pre-built electrocardiogram (ECG) test for fall detection.
But it also has the manufacturer’s unrivaled legacy – Samsung Health – or the leading-edge Tizen OS that is doing exceptionally well for smartwatches.
And not to forget, Samsung clearly has an advantage over Apple when it comes to the design and aesthetic appeal of its devices. Galaxy Watch 3 is a clear winner here.
The smartwatch is only 11.1mm thick and weighs 53.8g so that it feels feathery-light on your wrist but attractive on your personality.
The smartwatch with 41mm dial is currently priced at around INR 34.5K while the 45mm has a starting price of around INR 39K – little expensive for a smartwatch but worth it if you are an Android fan and looking to buy a good smartwatch.
Design & Usability
One thing we liked most about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is its classic, sophisticated design.
It has a bigger display but is lighter and has a slimmed down frame – a perfect comfort wear for your wrists. The leather strap adds dignity and classiness.
The Galaxy Watch 3 has over 40 watch faces to choose from and that is quite impressive. It comes in two sizes – 41mm and 45mm – and is available in premium Mystic Silver, Mystic Black, and Mystic Bronze finishes.
And its impressive rotating bezel needs a special mention here. It not only looks elegant but also lets you navigate the features with ease.
The Galaxy Watch 3 features 1.2-inch (41mm) and 1.4-inch (44mm) AMOLED full-colour screen with 360×360 pixel resolution for a crisp, clear and smart display. It automatically adjusts the display based on ambient lighting.
Performance
Coming to its software and performance, the Galaxy Watch 3 runs on Samsung Exynos 9110 Dual-core 1.15GHz processor and is powered by Tizen 5.5 (One UI 2) operating system.
The RAM has been extended to 1GB, while it provides twice the storage space (8GB) of Galaxy Watch Active2. So you can also save your favorite music right into the watch.
Unlike Wear OS, this smartwatch is easier and faster to use. Moreover, it does not fall behind Apple’s latest smartwatch models in performance.
Launching third-party apps on Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is still cumbersome but its own widgets and apps load fast and provide almost everything you really want.
The watch has a high water-resistance ranking of IP68 and up to 5TATM which means it is swim-proof.
It can be seamlessly connected to your Android device via Bluetooth 5, NFC and Wi-Fi. But connecting to non-Android devices can be complex.
Smart Tracking – Health on Your “Wrist” Always
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 has the same powerful fitness and health tracking features as in Watch Active2.
It has a full suite of health monitoring capabilities – stress and heart health, sleep tracking, built-in oxygen measurement – posing a tough competition to Apple Watch 5 and way better than Wear OS.
Now you can track your running with insightful analysis that gives a breakdown of your foot contact time, asymmetry, form, regularity, flight time, stiffness and vertical motion.
It might not quite impress hard-core runners but is good to start with.
It uses infrared rays and red LED to measure SpO2 levels, i.e. the oxygen amount in your bloodstream.
Fall detection is another feature that we loved about this smartwatch. Though it isn’t anything new and we can already see it in Apple Watch, yet it is interesting to have this feature.
It has an advanced accelerometer that detects a hard fall automatically and sends SOS with your location to your emergency contact number.
The smartwatch has a decent sleep tracker that records your deep sleep, REM cycles and total sleep time. It scores you on these parameters and also provides tips to help improve your sleep.
The device is also equipped with 120+ built-in home fitness programmes that will keep you busy if you are health conscious.
Communication & Music
While Samsung claims to provide “Smartphone-level power” in your Galaxy Watch 3, it isn’t something out-of-the-box. It will show “auto chat history” and even images to keep you connected while on a run.
The device also introduces Bitmoji stickers to personalize your look and have fun in messages.
And if do not want to carry your phone around, this little watch will still allow you to call, disconnect or send message – all from your wrist.
You can also listen to songs on Spotify by playing it on your Smartphone and connecting it on the smartwatch through the Spotify app icon.
These features are certainly fun but nothing new or exceptionally impressive of a smartwatch.
Battery Life & Charging
Shockingly, Samsung has reduced the battery capacity in its Galaxy Watch 3 to 340mAH cell as compared to 472mAH in the original device.
Perhaps that’s the reason why they are able to design a lighter and slimmer smartwatch than the Galaxy Watch.
Yet we found the battery backup to be surprisingly good – you can’t expect long lasting performance for 4-5 days but two to three days in Galaxy Watch 3 is impressive enough.
And if you are using it a lot for exercising, the device can provide a battery backup of around 24 hours or little more.
On average, it takes around two and a half hours for the battery to recharge from empty to full.
Should You Buy the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3?
According to our review, we rate the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 a 4.5/5. It is certainly a great smartwatch on par with Apple and much better than other rivals.
The device is for you if you are looking for a classic smartwatch with advanced health and fitness features, smooth navigation, and fast performance.
However, if you are considering something on the pocket-friendly side or with a huge selection of third-party apps, this might not be a sound choice for you.
Overall, if you are ready to shell out money, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 ensures a good value and long-term support.