The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is officially here
After months of waiting, the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event is finally upon us today, announcing a whole slew of novel products to be released into the world as of August 11.
Not least among them—alongside the innovative Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3—arrives the newest generation of Samsung's popular smartwatches: the Galaxy Watch 4, together with its counterpart the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.
The Galaxy Watch 4, on the one hand, seems to be a fresh take on Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active 2 from 2019, geared towards people who enjoy an active lifestyle and will use it plenty for their sports needs.
When it comes to the hardware specifications, both the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Watch 4 Classic are nearly identical. Both feature the newest Super AMOLED display technology, together with scratch-resistant glass (namely Corning Gorilla Glass DX+). Both also come with an ambient light sensor, which automatically dims or brightens the screen according to the brightness in your surroundings.
Both watches feature 1.5GB of RAM (a 150% upgrade from last year), and a hulking 16GB of storage this time around—exactly double the space in the Watch 3! The processor behind all the action is Samsung's own new 5-nanometer Exynos W920 chip, which is making its first appearance in this very smartwatch series. The chipset is supposed to be 20% faster than its predecessor, the Exynos 9110, and bring 10x faster graphics performance.
Not least among them—alongside the innovative Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3—arrives the newest generation of Samsung's popular smartwatches: the Galaxy Watch 4, together with its counterpart the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.
The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, on the other hand, is a direct successor to last year's Galaxy Watch 3, maintaining the traditional sleek, businessy no-nonsense look of the line. The naming system may be a little confusing this year, we know, but it does make some sense when you think about it.
Colors
The Galaxy Watch Classic comes in two colors, both matching its business-like style: Black and Silver, each coming out-of-the-box with matching silicone straps. You can switch up the bands with any other ones to match your taste, either from Samsung or other retailers, as long as they're also sized at 20mm.
The sportive Galaxy Watch, on the other hand, comes in Black and Green for the 44mm size, and Pink Gold and Silver for the 40mm size.
The replaceable watch band allows for much greater customizability, however, and Samsung additionally offers over 40 unique always-on watch faces to match whatever vibes you're feeling that day.
The Galaxy Watch 4 series are the first to feature Samsung's new Wear OS operating system, with the One UI skin on top.
Galaxy Watch 4 Series Sizes
The Galaxy Watch 4 comes 40mm and 44mm sizes, following the same trend as its predecessor, the Galaxy Watch Active 2. The more premium Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, on the other hand, comes in a slightly wider array of sizes, namely 42mm, 44mm, and 46mm. This provides a bit more variety than last year's Watch 3, which only came in sizes 41mm and 45mm.
Galaxy Watch 4 Series Features
Samsung clearly put a whole lot of thought regarding users' overall health into this year's Galaxy Watch 4 series, with both the active and traditional models sporting plenty of health-oriented features designed to help you achieve and maintain optimal physical health.
The following features are a part of both of the Galaxy Watch 4 series:
- Body composition monitor
- Sleep analysis monitor
- Blood pressure monitor
- Heart rate monitor
- Samsung BioActive sensor (for PPG, ECG, and BIA analyses)
- Group challenges to promote physical activity
- 95 included workouts
- Up to 40 hours of battery life on a single charge
- LTE / Bluetooth (in different watch versions)
Both watches also have a built-in GPS, apart from the quintessential mic and speaker—which you can use to take calls (with the LTE version) or talk to Bixby or Google Assistant, both of which are compatible with the devices. They are also water and dust resistant, with an official IP68 rating.
With the 5ATM added to them, this also makes them perfect for wearing while swimming; in fact, swim.com is one of the apps Samsung advertises it supports. The watches aren't recommended for diving, however.
Galaxy Watch 4 Series Specs
When it comes to the hardware specifications, both the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Watch 4 Classic are nearly identical. Both feature the newest Super AMOLED display technology, together with scratch-resistant glass (namely Corning Gorilla Glass DX+). Both also come with an ambient light sensor, which automatically dims or brightens the screen according to the brightness in your surroundings.
The battery capacity is 247 mAh for the 40mm and 42mm models, and 361 mAh for the 44mm and 46mm models.
Both versions of the Watch 4 will also be the first to come out of the box with Samsung's new Wear OS operating system (created in collaboration with Google), with the One UI skin on top providing a user experience as interactive and easy as it gets.
Things that are NOT allowed: