Satisfying exterior

After experiencing seven smartwatches including the Galaxy Watch, I have come up with certain criteria in assessing the case. It’s to compare with the case of an analog watch manufactured by a professional watch brand of the same price level. Based on that criteria, the case finishing of the Galaxy Watch is satisfying. The watchmaker has applied a satin finishing for parts that jut out and can be scratched, and skillfully polished the parts less prone to scratches. Because of its unique pattern, scratches are less visible in the satin finishing than the polished sides. Moreover, if two types of finishing are applied alternately, the watch will shine more beautifully because of the angle of the watch moving on the wrist. This is why many professional watch brands apply such type of finishing. It could be considered trivial but the finishing of the Galaxy Watch is quite outstanding for a brand that has only made a few watches, because most of the watches I have previously experienced lacked the understanding of such meticulous details. 

The quality of the strap is good, and the many holes of the buckle help the strap to be optimally adjusted to the wrist. The 46mm-sized case is big but was pleasantly wearable and I liked the way the buttons were clearly manipulated. What I liked the most was that I could control the functions by rotating the bezel. In fact, users can rotate the bezel for GMT(universal time) or diver watches. This feature can naturally appeal to watch lovers. 

Immense functionality

Frankly speaking, I was very surprised that the smartwatch functions have advanced to this extent. The Galaxy Watch left out any unreasonable functions and included most of the functions an urbanite of the modern society would require out of common sense. What other function would a watch with a PPT controller need more? Not only that, features that were provided by other smartwatches have also been delicately upgraded. For example, a pedometer function which most smartwatches have, would provide the step counts, amount of burned calories and travelled distance. But the Galaxy Watch thoroughly provides all data one could be curious about such as the heart rate by section, workout time, average pace, maximum heart rate and speed. High-end watch lovers will applaud and cheer about the part that various displays can be selected, and diverse reflections can be made depending on the angle when the Guillocher(a technique of repetitively engraving intricate patterns like tree rings) dial is selected. There were plenty of advantages such as the watch being waterproof down to 50 meters despite having a speaker, military-grade shock resistance, sufficient battery capacity, extremely fast charging, easily placeable charging cradle, high connectivity with the smartphone and the ticking sound of mechanic watch hands. The Galaxy Watch completely outplayed the functionalities of other watchmakers I’ve previously experienced.

Shortcomings

The shortcomings of the Galaxy Watch, simply put, were like taking care of a very talkative and an excessively talented child. The watch has many notifications as much as its functions. When I was working out during the day wearing the watch, I was getting notifications every twenty minutes. The watch will notify me of incoming calls, text messages, fine dust warnings and about how much I have worked out. Someone could use the watch as a personal trainer, but I felt like the watch was nagging especially when I was focusing on my workout. I was aware that I could set the time and select the ‘do not disturb’ mode, but it was quite a hassle to change the many settings for that mode. I almost thought the watch had ADHD because of its mouth(speaker) which didn’t exist in other watches. If my hobby were doing yoga, I would never wear this watch at yoga. Using a smartwatch means that I want to have more convenience in my life, but this watch provides the so-called TMI or too much information. But then I also thought, maybe this could be the best advantage for a person who likes to have talkative counterparts. If it were Joaquin Phoenix, he would recklessly fall in love.

Overall review

If someone would ask me what smartwatch I would opt for, I would say without any hesitation, the Galaxy Watch. It’s not only because I am using a Galaxy smartphone, but more because I thought that the Galaxy Watch is the final version of the smartwatch evolution. Also, since I have never considered the smartwatch as a substitute for an analog watch, the product of an IT company comes a bit more attractive than that released by a watch brand. The price tag of ‎₩359,700 is not that much of a burden too. Since I personally think that the lifespan of a smartwatch is under three years at the most, I don’t feel much resistance about the price. It will just be spending ‎₩10,000 every month if the gadget is used for 36 months. It’s likely that I will not be experiencing the Apple Watch myself as I am an Android smartphone user, but I can say that the Galaxy Watch is probably a smartwatch with the least shortcomings, if most of the notifications are in the ‘turned off’ mode.