Samsung Galaxy Watch

I bought one of these bad boys about a month ago. Quick tip – if you want a cheap one, go to duty-free in Singapore. As a tip, that is obviously of limited use but you never know. For the younger generation, I should explain that a ‘tip’ is what we now call a ‘life-hack’ for some fucking stupid reason. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Watch.

My first quandary stemmed from the fact that it is obviously a brand specific device. I am writing this on a Microsoft Surface while listening to the radio on an iPad. I only buy media that are available across all makers and devices as I hate the thought of getting trapped by one brand. However, every review said that the best smartwatches were the Apple or Samsung ones and you need their phones to use their watches. I already made the switch to Samsung after the iPhone 4 and have been in that camp ever since, so it seemed a worthwhile commitment.

The first thing I thought when I had finished pairing it, was that it doesn’t seem to have many apps. I wanted to have, for example, Wunderlist notifications, all my different email accounts popping up along with Line, Whatsapp, Messenger and so on. It didn’t seem to be able to do any of that. Then a Line message popped up on it, followed by a Wunderlist reminder. It was then I realised that all the stuff I have set to pop up on my phone, will also appear on the watch. Additionally, you can interact with whatever appears – reply to a message or skip to the next Spotify song, etc. The built-in and downloadable apps are extra for things like exercise, weather, health, watch faces, etc. After fiddling with it for a while I found I can do other things like add an hour-long event to google calendar and have that appear around the rim of the watch face for that hour, reminding me of what I was supposed to be doing. It’s pretty damned sweet.

The Samsung Galaxy watch battery life is several days as opposed to a day for some other brands. It charges pretty quickly too. I have the charger on the corner of my desk and just charge it for a bit every now and then.

The main drawback is people asking what it is for. The first few days reminded me strongly of when I bought the shiny new iPad 1 just after it came out. Then people were asking what the point of the iPad was, as it was essentially a big iPhone. “What can it do that your phone can’t?” is a question I have heard a tedious amount of times. Often even from people with expensive watches who fail to see the irony of the question. I now just say it tells the time and some other stuff.

I have debated getting a smartwatch for years and was worried if it was something I (or anyone) needed. The answer, obviously, is that I (and most people,) don’t need one. But then nor do really need a watch these days. Thinking on it, I barely even talk on the phone any more and actively discourage people from calling. I mostly use my mobile as a WiFi hub and audio player, so I don’t really need that either. Ideally, I would get by in the future with a tablet/laptop hybrid and a smartwatch that can make phone calls and play audio. All of which we already pretty much have.

I will admit to being a gadget lover, that much is apparent, and the Samsung Galaxy watch has slotted nicely into my life. While not essential, it has made a load of different tasks a bit easier. I recently went to a tropical island for a week and was going to leave the watch at home. I have not worn a watch for over a decade, so I assumed it was going to be easy. After only owning it for a fortnight, I realised I couldn’t do it. It was too handy. I wanted to measure how much I swam each day. I could plug my phone into a power-bank, leave it in a bag and be able to check if any work assignments had come in on the watch and if I had to respond immediately. If not, I could carry on reading books and magazines on my Surface and if the watch said a lengthy reply was needed, I could attach a keyboard and work from a hammock.

So to summarise – it’s a great device that grew on me really quickly. I would describe it as something non-essential that I can now no longer live without. Until the next great device, obviously.