So guys, another year has passed, and Samsung has finally launched two new phones. The Galaxy Watch 8 and the slightly more premium Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. Now, guys, I will tell you what is new in the Galaxy Watch 8.
- But the more important question is which one is right for you?
- Should I buy this or will I get the Galaxy Watch 7 or 6?
- And if you connect it to a non-Samsung phone, do you miss out on any features? Let’s talk about all this.
Design and comeback
See, guys, build-wise, the Galaxy Watch Series 8 is similar to the Galaxy Watch Series 7. Galaxy Watch 8 has an aluminium body, and Watch Classic has stainless steel, and both have sapphire crystal glass display protection. Well, both watches are military-certified, so you can easily handle extreme weather situations. And it is also IP68 water and dust resistant. So you can take it for swimming, or even if you go to take a bath, you will not need to take the watch off.
But this time, there are many changes in both the watches from a design point of view, which you should know. First of all, the rotating buzzer has returned in the galaxy Watch Classic 8. Secondly, Classic also has a quick button like Ultra, which you can configure with many actions. The third thing, and I think this is very important from the comfort point of view.
The system of bands of Watch 8 is now much more comfortable and moves around nicely on your wrist. The Galaxy Watch Series 7 was quite stiff and moved around loosely. So the watch seemed a bit big and was a bit uncomfortable. Now that thing is fixed with these watches.
And of course, like before, you can remove the band very easily and can also clip it back. But yes, keep one thing in mind that the clip system has changed now. So if you had any old bands, they will not work in galaxy Watch 8. Anyway, the fourth thing, and I don’t know if you have noticed this or not.
But now the Watch Series 8 and the old Ultra series, if you look at them, all have a squarish design. So now all of them look the same, meaning they look uniform now, and finally, the regular Watch 8, which is so light and thin, has made it so much fun to wear this time.
I mean, guys, it is very difficult to explain this on camera. You go to any store and just try it once, pick it up, and you will understand. This is Samsung’s lightest Galaxy Watch to date. So guys, overall, if you see, the Watch A Classic has a rotating bezel. The quick button has come. Both watches have become very comfortable now. And Watch 8 has become super lightweight.
So, if you see build-wise, I think there are significant improvements. There are not many massive changes compared to Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 7. Especially if you just look at it like this, but you will understand the differences in wearing and using it. Another thing
Both of these watches do not charge wirelessly. The Watch 7 also does not plug into the back of a phone. Just so you know, these don’t either.
minor hardware upgrades
And guys, if I talk about a hardware upgrade, the processor is the same as last year. So you know the voice promise, etc., process very quickly. And since it is one UI 8, it runs very smoothly. But the battery capacity has been increased by about 10%. But the battery lasts the same.
If you keep the always-on display on, it will last for about 30 hours, and if you keep the always-on display off, it will last for 35 hours. Yes, a hardware update has come that allows the display brightness now go up to 3000 nits. This is the same peak brightness that you got in Galaxy Watch Ultra last year, so 50% higher peak brightness.
New features
So guys, these are the changes related to the design and hardware. But there are a lot of changes in the software. First of all, guys, these are the first watches to feature one UI 8, based on Google Wear OS 6. That means all the apps from the Google Play Store that can be installed on the watch will be included. Now see, there are some new features in these watches which will remain in this and will not come in the old one, and some which are in this will still come in the old one. So let’s talk.
So guys, as I said, these are the first watches in which you will get one UI 8. See, functionally it is the same as the old one, but there are changes aesthetically. Like here, you get pill-shaped widgets. Like you can see here. Now bar is available like you get on the phone. But guys, a big change is that now, in every swipe, you get a customizable multi-info tile page. Like here, there is a health page. All the health-related tiles are here. Similarly, there is a fitness page. There are all the fitness-related things, and there is a basic one that has the basic things. And all this is customizable.
So you go to the wearable app, go to the tiles section, and now you can see all the pages here. Now, in just the health one, you can add more tiles, which can be health-related or tiles of any other app. And you can also rearrange all these tiles.
And if you want to give this health page some other name, like fitness, you can do that too. And obviously, you also get some new watch faces, which is a nice refresh whenever a new watch comes. Well, guys, if you are wondering whether 1UI 8 will come in other watches or not, then the Galaxy Watch 4 series on-wards Galaxy Watch 4 including all of them, will have one UI 8.
In some, it has already come, and in some, if it has not come, then it will come towards the end of the year. And obviously, guys, some things are still the same. For example, like the previous watches, you get gestures in this too. So knock twice and the torch turns on.
Double pinch and the call gets answered, or you can see the notifications, or you can dismiss the alarm by doing this. If you are trying to take a selfie, your hand is too far. You can double pinch and the camera will take the photo. These are quite cool things.
AI on your wrist
But now the coolest thing is that you have an AI assistant on your wrist. It means that if you say “Hey Google” to the watch, Gemini will be activated and you can ask anything. And it will come in old watches too, or in fact, it has come in some watches. But what can you do with it? Like I asked the watch, how can I remove a red wine stain from a white shirt? Gemini integrates with Google search and fetches the result. The result is here. Great. Now what else can you do? And it can also send messages with voice commands.
And guys, all these things can be done right here without picking up the phone. And you can do many other small things like start a timer, start a stop watch or add a date to the calendar quickly or create a reminder. Like I said remind me to pick up the monitor stand at 8:30 AM. So Gemini will integrate with my Samsung phone’s reminder app and set a reminder. And guys, you can try these kind of prompts with a lot of Samsung’s native apps. You can try it with your music apps and some of Google’s apps as well.
More health tracing
Finally, let’s talk about what is in it from the health monitoring point of view. Look, guys, obviously it monitors heart rate, blood oxygen, stress levels and also gives you all the details of sleep quality. And all these things are available in all watches. Be it Samsung watches or non-Samsung watches. All provide it. And all this data is recorded in the Samsung Health app where you can easily see everything and it is preloaded on Samsung phones and you can install it in other phones. But Samsung watches can also monitor your blood pressure and can also create ECG reports for you like I have done for myself here.
And these are two things that only Samsung Galaxy watches can do, and that too only when they are connected to a Samsung phone, because for these you need the Samsung Health Monitor app, which is only for Samsung phones. But guys, with the Galaxy Watch 8, they have improved their sleep tracking algorithm a lot and have made it more accurate.
Well, it also tells you sleep latency, as to how much time it took you to fall asleep, which is a very interesting metric. It took me only 2 minutes to fall asleep here. But it is not so. The day before this, it took me 8 minutes, and the day before that, it took me 45 minutes. So guys, it does the job.
Well, there is also a bedtime guidance that tells you when you should go to sleep based on your sleeping pattern so that you wake up fresh in the morning. And this time, there is also a running coach inside the watch that will train you with real-time voice prompts on how to run. So firstly, it will take a 12-minute test run from you.
So firstly, it will tell you to take a 12-minute test run through which it will judge your capability that how well you run now and according to that, it will give you personalised training programs so that your running becomes better.
Thirdly, it will now also tell you your vascular load. See, your blood vessels carry oxygen and nutrients. Right? How much load is there on those blood vessels. Now your watch will tell you this. Just keep one thing in mind. It does not tell you whether your vascular load is good or bad. It just tells you whether it is good or bad from the day you started wearing it. This is a very important thing, keep this in mind. Fourthly, you must know that antioxidants are very good for the body so that you look young and your heart health remains good.
And this watch tells you your antioxidant index. And if it is low, it means you should start doing something. Me too. And guys, like before, the watch can track all kinds of exercises. In fact, if you are thinking which exercise should I do? Just look at its list. It is so long that you will definitely like some exercise.
Connection with other device
Now, guys, the question is if you are using these watches with a non-Samsung phone, are there any features that you will miss? You don’t get everything, just like I said; it will not be able to monitor blood pressure and ECG. But guys, there is a little confusion about Samsung Pay.
See if you use these watches with Samsung phones; both of them have tap-in pay. You can configure it. But there is a little confusion about whether it will work with other phones or not. Some people have reported that I am able to use it. Some people are saying that I am not able to get it, and there is a little risk.
Price and variant
Galaxy Watch 8 (Standard) –
Variants & Prices:
Available in Graphite and Silver finishes.
Buy from Samsung US:
🕰️ Galaxy Watch 8 Classic –
Variant:
Available in Black and White colour options.
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