I’m not going Ultra, and you don’t need to either

Samsung launched a bit of all the pieces throughout its second Unpacked occasion of 2024. It introduced the extremely anticipated Galaxy Ring to market, added two new foldables to the portfolio, and launched its first Extremely-tier smartwatch. Misplaced in the course of all that pleasure was one other wearable — the Galaxy Watch 7 — which obtained a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it point out earlier than Samsung moved proper alongside to its Galaxy AI bulletins.

And sure, I do know why Samsung solely gave its base smartwatch just a few seconds of showtime, it’s not that a lot totally different from the Galaxy Watch 6 that got here earlier than it, and the model new, far dearer Galaxy Watch Extremely has understandably taken middle stage. However I believe the much more modest Galaxy Watch 7 deserved higher. Although it doesn’t revolutionize what it means to be a smartwatch, I nonetheless suppose it’s the Galaxy wearable you can purchase in 2024.

Samsung hasn’t modified its base Galaxy Watch design in just a few years — at the least because the Galaxy Watch 4 — and you realize what? I’m okay with that. It was already a handsome wearable that was equally trendy and purposeful, and Samsung has solely refined its design since then. Its AMOLED panels have gotten greater, its bezels have slimmed down, and it’s shaken up the controls a time or two, however the Galaxy Watch 7 nonetheless feels acquainted as quickly as you strap it in your wrist. In actual fact, the final Samsung wearable I spent a lot time with was the Galaxy Watch 4, but I really feel like I can leap into this new mannequin like no time has handed.

In a world the place smartwatches are trending maximalist (together with Samsung’s personal now with the Extremely’s arrival), the Galaxy Watch 7’s unassuming, minimalist design appears like a breath of recent air. Don’t get me improper, I do know I’m a part of the issue — I nearly at all times have a cumbersome, do-it-all Garmin GPS watch on my wrist as a result of I barely need to cost it, however I’m glad Samsung isn’t catering completely to the likes of me. I imply, altering from one thing so sizable to one thing so slim makes me recognize the already comfy design that rather more. Carrying the Galaxy Watch 7 feels nearly like carrying a model of a traditional Put on OS watch just like the Moto 360, solely that wasn’t deserted and as an alternative reached its ultimate type — easy, responsive, watch-shaped.

On prime of that, I’d suppose twice about carrying most of my GPS watches to a proper event like a marriage, however I’d haven’t any drawback strapping on the Galaxy Watch 7 — with the appropriate watch face, in fact. Samsung’s dedication to its spherical AMOLED panel even means I can leap proper again to a few of my previous favourite faces. I’ll dip into the Endangered Animals face every now and then, or typically I’ll roll with the Steps Problem face (particularly on days after I run), however I’ve principally been having fun with Samsung’s Perpetual face. It’s… crowded, to say the least, cramming the day and month across the edges, in addition to the section of the moon within the middle. Perhaps the predominantly black background is only a method to present Samsung’s deep AMOLED colours, however it works for me.

There’s, nonetheless, one factor that Samsung modified about its Galaxy Watch 7 design: The Digital Bezel isn’t any extra, and I’m dissatisfied. It’s a characteristic I bear in mind from way back to the unique Galaxy Watch Lively, and now it’s simply gone. We had some points with its reliability on the Galaxy Watch 6 sequence, however I’d have reasonably Samsung tried to repair it than quit. There’s no possibility for a rotating bodily bezel on the Galaxy Watch 7, both — you must return a technology and seize the Galaxy Watch 6 Basic as an alternative.

As an alternative, the Galaxy Watch 7 makes use of a house and again button for tactile navigation, whilst you’ll need to swipe via the show for all the pieces else. The brand new controls work simply positive — they’re extra in keeping with what most smartwatches use — however there was one thing so satisfying about whipping your finger across the fringe of the face to scroll up and down.

Whereas the Galaxy Watch 7 could look like a forgotten replace, a few of the options hidden inside affirm that it isn’t true. Sure, Samsung spent most of its time introducing Galaxy AI options and well being updates whereas speaking concerning the Galaxy Watch Extremely as an alternative, however wouldn’t you? In spite of everything, the shiny new updates sound extra thrilling on a shiny new watch than sprinkled in on a type issue that’s already acquainted. Nevertheless, whereas Samsung could not have talked about its updates in relation to the Galaxy Watch 7, I’m comfortable to report that Galaxy AI is the significant replace this wearable wanted to stay a top-tier health tracker.

Sure, it’s time to speak about Samsung’s up to date method to well being monitoring. I’ll readily admit that I haven’t been satisfied by a lot of the generative AI options that dot flagship Android telephones proper now. There’s merely not sufficient polish on the Portrait Studio for me to make use of it, and Gemini hasn’t fairly taken Google Assistant out of my pocket, however I believe that Samsung infusing its Galaxy Watch 7 with Galaxy AI may be what lastly will get me onboard. I do know, I’m as shocked as you’re.

What largely received me over is a metric Samsung is looking the Power Rating. It’s like Garmin’s Physique Battery, which I examine nearly each day. Power Rating combines your sleep, yesterday’s exercise, and some different knowledge factors to point out the way you would possibly really feel on a given day. Nevertheless, whereas the Physique Battery merely provides you an general studying and a bunch of knowledge factors, Samsung’s Power Rating breaks down every a part of its readout to recommend find out how to enhance your rating.

My Power Rating readout isn’t fairly excellent — I don’t at all times work out with the Galaxy Watch 7 on attributable to my coaching plan being on my Coros Tempo 3, and I can’t at all times get the watch band tight sufficient on the 44mm case — however it’s extra digestible than another measurements and rather more helpful than Galaxy AI options like doodling a UFO over a baseball stadium and watching it come to life in Sketch to Picture.

Samsung’s Galaxy AI additionally permits you to compete in opposition to your self in just a few out of doors actions — at the least in very particular circumstances. In case you have a daily working or biking route, you need to use your Galaxy Watch 7 to race in opposition to a ghost model of your self from the final two weeks, battling over tempo and coronary heart fee to see the way you enhance over time. It’s a intelligent characteristic that I believe solo runners or cyclists would profit from as a method to encourage themselves, however I additionally see issues with it. It’s not wholesome to compete in opposition to your self each single day, as pushing your self too far can result in damage. However, when you’re simply beginning a working journey, it’s a great way to get your self out the door and solely fear about your personal earlier efforts.

A few of Samsung’s different Galaxy AI updates appear to be they need to be helpful, however they’re a bit trickier for me to check out. Sleep apnea detection, for instance, could be extremely helpful when you suppose you would possibly undergo from the situation, however I already know that I don’t, so I don’t have a lot use for it.

Additionally, take into account that you want a suitable Samsung telephone and to be signed in together with your Samsung account to make use of all the Galaxy AI monitoring options. You’ll be able to nonetheless monitor actions, sleep, and coronary heart fee with different suitable telephones, however the extra in-depth insights, like sleep apnea detection and Power Rating, are unique to Samsung telephones. Different non-health Galaxy AI options, like Advised Replies in Google Messages and voice-to-text summaries from recordings made in your Galaxy Watch 7, require a Samsung telephone, too.

One factor that nervous me when Samsung rolled out what regarded like an unchanged Galaxy Watch 7 was whether or not or not it had quietly fastened one in all our most important points with its predecessor — the sensors. Though Samsung had no issues packing the Galaxy Watch 6 sequence with spectacular options, we regularly struggled to get spot-on coronary heart fee knowledge throughout our actions, and we observed that the single-band GPS wasn’t at all times correct between tall buildings and beneath bushes. Effectively, I’m comfortable to report that Samsung has largely righted its wrongs.

For starters, single-frequency GPS monitoring is out, and dual-frequency monitoring is in. Samsung upgraded from its earlier L1 frequency to the extra fashionable (and extra correct) L1 plus L5 mixture that we regularly see on GPS watches, which places its Galaxy Watch 7 on a lot better footing in opposition to the likes of the Coros Tempo 3 and offers it a bonus over the Apple Watch Sequence 9 which nonetheless solely has single-frequency L1 monitoring. But it surely’s straightforward to say that the watch is extra correct; now it’s time to try it out.

So, I strapped my Coros Tempo 3 on one wrist and my Galaxy Watch 7 on the opposite and headed to a weekly run membership. Our weekly route has an excellent mixture of waterfront miles and dips between tall buildings, so I figured it will be an excellent likelihood to see whether or not or not the dual-frequency setup might sustain with a GPS watch I put on on daily basis. The outcomes are… combined, to say the least. Although each the Galaxy Watch 7 and Coros Tempo 3 have been spot-on whereas heading across the wide-open piers in Baltimore’s Internal Harbor, each struggled mightily when confronted with a stretch round taller buildings.

The map to the left is just about excellent, with slight variations across the piers as a result of every watch was on a distinct wrist, whereas the map to the appropriate is a little bit of a large number. It not solely put me contained in the partitions of the constructing with each watches but in addition dropped me within the harbor for a second with the Galaxy Watch 7 as I went across the first nook. The Galaxy Watch 7 additionally recorded my run as each quicker and barely longer than the Coros Tempo 3, selecting up an additional 0.07 of a mile within the final 14 seconds. So, whereas I’d say the dual-frequency GPS is general a bit extra correct than the Galaxy Watch 6, it’s nonetheless not excellent — however neither is a equally priced GPS watch.

Samsung additionally utterly overhauled its BioActive sensor — an announcement that it made previous to even launching the Galaxy Watch 7. It claims to have doubled the efficiency of its current photodiodes, thereby reducing the quantity wanted and releasing up area so as to add blue, yellow, violet, and ultraviolet LEDs to the present array of inexperienced, crimson, and infrared LEDs. This could imply that the Galaxy Watch 7 can monitor coronary heart fee, sleep high quality, blood stress, and stress ranges extra precisely, in addition to a claimed enchancment of 30% extra correct monitoring throughout exercises.

Since I already had two watches on for a weekly run membership and would most likely get just a few humorous seems to be, I figured including one other sensor to the combination wouldn’t do any hurt. So, I pulled the Coros coronary heart fee monitor round my bicep and obtained comfy with feeling like a science experiment.

As soon as once more, the up to date sensor setup is near that of my Coros Tempo 3 and coronary heart fee monitor, however not fairly excellent. I reduce out a 15-minute stretch the place I didn’t need to cease for any visitors lights, and the 2 wearables have been inside a heartbeat (or two) of one another for the whole length. The Galaxy Watch 7 skews a bit greater throughout the whole vary, peaking at 162 beats per minute (bpm) on the 27-minute mark to the Tempo 3’s peak of 160bpm on the identical level, however each watches completed with the identical general common of 153bpm throughout my whole 45-minute run. So far as I’m involved, that’s sufficient constant accuracy for most individuals to belief the Galaxy Watch 7 in a manner they couldn’t fairly depend on its predecessor.

It’s humorous — I don’t normally suppose that you can purchase one thing that feels prefer it’s been forgotten about. However, if you have a look at the Galaxy Watch 7, you notice that Samsung didn’t actually neglect about it. As an alternative, it saved a design that already labored (effectively, apart from the digital bezel) and spent most of its time updating the health-tracking metrics with the facility of Galaxy AI. In my eyes, that’s all it wanted to do.

I’m additionally comfortable to advocate the Galaxy Watch 7 for the sheer proven fact that most individuals most likely don’t want the Galaxy Watch Extremely. Just like the Apple Watch Extremely (which it bears greater than a passing resemblance to), Samsung’s top-tier watch has its largest battery, hardest construct high quality, and highest price ticket — most of which your common person doesn’t want. I’ve had no points carrying the Galaxy Watch 7 for runs on back-to-back days with out charging, and nothing concerning the new squircle design makes the Watch Extremely really feel like one thing I need to put on on daily basis.

The Galaxy Watch 7, then again, is an easy watch that checks all the bins that your common Galaxy fan wants and does so at a value that feels rather more comfy within the face of the far dearer Galaxy Watch Extremely ($649.99 at Amazon). You might perhaps complain about the truth that Samsung hasn’t bumped its battery capability (the 44mm case nonetheless homes a 425mAh cell, and the 40mm model solely packs 300mAh), however I believe the extra environment friendly 3nm processor makes up for it. I usually get two days of juice out of my watch earlier than I want a charger, and even then, I can get again to nearly a full cell whereas I eat breakfast and bathe.

Whereas some would possibly discover Put on OS 5 a bit underwhelming, I fairly like what Samsung is doing. It lets every widget stretch throughout the AMOLED panel, making it straightforward to learn your working metrics and the present climate and reply to texts utilizing Galaxy AI-powered ideas with even the fattest of fingers (it’s me, I’ve these fingers) with out by chance bumping different buttons. Whenever you evaluate it to the rounded pebble of the Pixel Watch ($349.99 at Amazon), Samsung’s massive however easy interface simply is sensible.

So, when you’re already within the Samsung Galaxy and in search of a brand new smartwatch, it’s powerful to look previous the Galaxy Watch 7 (and its non-compulsory LTE-enabled model, which prices a bit bit additional). It won’t be an entire evolution in wearable expertise, however typically, the perfect enhancements are those you don’t see instantly.