Hi Samsung Nembers,
Haven't see anyone post a review on Galaxy Watch3, I would like to give some brief review on how I feel about this Galaxy Watch3 45mm 😃
The watch is pretty and the obvious changed is the buttons. Now is round shape buttons. The bezel become more responsive and the click is more accurate than the 1st generation. I love the bezel click now 😀.
For the software, seems like all widgets are there, I noticed that barometer widget has gone and not include in GW3. But if you have made a backup from Galaxy Watch, you can restore the widget from the backup. One excited widget when first seen, Blood Oxygen. However, not able to save on watch or use. Health Canada not approve yet. So sad. 😭😭😭
Couple weeks ago, @Cprice posted a youtube link that we can use ECG and Blood pressure on GW3 and Watch Active2. I guess some members already happy about it. I took this advantage too. I try out on GW3 since it is expensive and this really make my GW3 have its own value.
For the ECG, wow, the top button is a sensor. You need to touch the button continuos to get the heart beat. But for normal heart rate, the watch use the sensor underneath the watch.
I am not going into details on ECG and BP since this will be a long topic and Health Canada not approve yet.
Tips here, I first got the watch last week, restored all my previous Galaxy Watch data, and turned on all new features. I noticed that my GW3 watch drain battery so quick. I fully charged each day and my battery used 50% - 60% each day. Then I reset my watch again. Same thing happened. Until I reset again, not restore old data, not configure anything. Battery seems to be not draining. Then finally found out what drain my battery, which is the new feature, SOS: Detect falls 😨
Well...I think I don't need it then as I don't have black-out health issue. I prefer save more battery. But for seniors, this is a must feature and just charge the watch everyday.
The only complain for me is battery. I don't know why Samsung reduce the battery size, even on phones too. My Galaxy Watch 46mm has 472mAh, now this new GW3 45mm only has 340mAh.
My habbit is charge my watch before bed so that I can wear my watch to record my sleeping data. My Galaxy Watch3 from 100% battery decrease to 91% when I woke up in the morning. Approx. from 11pm to 7:30am. But I am not impressed on the battery usage. My old Galaxy Watch, same watch face, same settings and same habbit, it only used 2% for record my sleep data.
I inspected my GW3 battery usage, I noticed 2 apps use the most.
Settings and Samsung Health. I have no idea what is running in the background. But very sure I have nothing running while I went to bed. I have WiFi off, Bluetooth off, Sleeping mode on. Basically just recording sleep data and alarm clock. Hope the future firmware update can optimized these software to have better battery usage.
So after 1 day of use, include normal usage, measure heart rate, samsung health for exercise, messages notifications, receive phone calls, my GW3 still have about 75%. Let say I use 25% per day, ideally can use up to 3 days without charging. But for power users or users who use it for exercise, I think last for 2 days or 1 1/2 days is the max. If I wear it out for tenting, use it for backpack hiking, I have a feeling GPS will drain all my battery and 2nd day may need to charge it for good. 😑 Time to invest external battery pack for my N20U so that I can use power sharing for my watch.
For the new features under Labs:
Tried, but doesn't work for me unfortunately. 😅 But it is a good try.
And the last thing for all Watch users, not sure if you all do such thing. But I do recommend turn on these security features. These features might save your watch when someone stole your watch or you left your watch in public.
On your watch, go to Settings-> Security and privacy-> Lock
Set your passcode
If you left your watch behind, then some stole it, the first thing to do is shutdown the watch to avoid owner tracing it. However, if you have passcode, they cannot shutdown your watch until they have the correct passcode. That means you still have chance to use your phone get bluetooth connect to watch and find your watch. 😉
If you are really bad luck, the watch run out of battery and not able to retreive it, make sure you have Reactivatio Lock on. Even though thief have your watch, but they can activate the watch again without your permission. So they can't use it at all. 😏
In conclusion, Galaxy Watch3 is a beautiful and powerful watch. It can looks classy and can be sporty. I love the ECG and BP features. I am looking forward to Blood Oxgen and Stress features too. If all these features are unlocked, I can say this is the best Smart Watch from Samsung. 😄👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you for reading such a long post.
