Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Flavio Iyer photo
1 Level
1345 Review
54 Karma

Review on SAMSUNG Galaxy Watch (46Mm by Flavio Iyer

Revainrating 4 out of 5

I really wanted to like this watch but for now I'm sticking with S3

I've wanted a smartwatch for a long time and finally decided to pull the trigger. My main criteria was that it should be a reasonable size and price, have GPS, and have offline maps. I liked the look of the Gear S3 Frontier and the Galaxy watches (let's be honest - the new 42mm black Galaxy watch is basically the Frontier's little brother) and I LOVE the rotating bezel. I tried both S3 Frontier and Galaxy Watch. Galaxy and came to the following conclusions. 1) Appearance - The style of both watches is very similar (as you can see from the product photos). 2) Size - The 46mm Frontier watch is significantly larger than the 42mm Galaxy. The Frontier watch strap is thicker and slightly wider, making it appear larger than it really is. I ended up buying a smaller strap similar to the Galaxy style to fix this. For me, the 42mm Galaxy wins in terms of size. The screen is only slightly smaller, but the watch is much smaller overall (as you can see in my comparison images). The thickness of these two watches is about the same. 3) Rotating bezel. I found the bezel on the frontier to be more comfortable to use. It's slightly larger than the Galaxy and the side cutouts are larger. The Galaxy bezel fits the dial more smoothly, requiring it to be rotated from the top of the watch, while on the Frontier it can be rotated from the side or top. 4) Navigation - Navigating through the various widgets and apps was intuitive on both watches. You can use the bezel or the touchscreen to navigate through the items, and the two buttons on the side to select and navigate. 5) Maps - this was ultimately the element that made Frontier what it was for me. You can download the HERE WeGo app, which provides directions from your location to your destination. Very similar to how Google Maps works. However, it also supports offline features that allow you to download maps of an area (state/province/etc.) so that you can access them without being connected to your phone. The downside to this is that it doesn't have a satellite or topographic view, but I checked it out on site and all the routes I took were there. So if I'm hiking somewhere and I get lost, I have a rough idea of where I am - I can see it on the map. When I tested HERE WeGo on the new Galaxy watch, it didn't work when you weren't connected to your phone because you can't upload offline maps to the Galaxy. I contacted their support team and they said they will look into this for the future (but it doesn't help me at the moment). I ended up keeping the S3 Frontier and returning the Galaxy. The Galaxy won in terms of size and water resistance, but I just couldn't justify paying almost double the price for the Galaxy if it didn't meet one of my most important criteria (offline maps). It's not Suunto, Garmin or Casio, but for the price it meets my needs for a GPS watch.

Pros
  • Smartwatch
Cons
  • Slightly Torn

Similar reviews