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Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 review: Health data overload, but built for the future
Galaxy Watch 9
pros and cons
- Longer-lasting battery and upgraded processor.
- It's a functional, general-purpose smartwatch with intelligent touches.
- It's great for exercise and training, with accurate heart rate metrics in my testing.
- It takes a long time to charge.
- The accompanying band is not super comfortable.
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Consumers are catching on to the fact that not every generational upgrade to their favorite tech can be life-changing. Instead, companies are forced to improve their products little by little.
I've thought about this a lot as I tested the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9. It arrives with a few improvements under the hood: a new processor, some additional health metrics, and a longer battery on the 40mm device.
Also: Galaxy Watch 9 vs. Galaxy Watch 8: I've compared both models, here's my advice
It isn't a groundbreaking smartwatch, but it's great for a first-time buyer, with upgrades that point to the future Samsung aims to create through its wearables. The question is whether those upgrades are as helpful to users today as they will be when the next generation of wearables arrives.
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The future of wearables
One of the goals of the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip is to divest in the smartphone as the center of the personal device ecosystem, adding instead several different AI-powered wearables that integrate and work together. "Intelligent eyewear represents that next step," Samsung's press release says, hinting at smart glasses to come -- something we've been watching closely now for over a year.
Also: How Qualcomm's new wearables chipset could spell the end of smartphone dominance
It would follow then that Samsung's forthcoming smart glasses will work with the Galaxy Watch 9 to summarize what wearers see, read and translate information, contextualize content, and activate gestures recorded by the watch, making the Galaxy Watch 9 a crucial component in its smart glasses' ecosystem integration (and maybe one of the reasons why its taking so long to launch). In fact, the intelligent eyewear will operate through voice activation and gestures, but those gestures are activated through the Galaxy Watch 9.
What Galaxy Watch 9 does best
I love working out with the Galaxy Watch 9. It's mighty good at what you're buying it for: counting steps, tracking your exercise, and delivering post-workout encouragement. The bright, 3,000-nit super AMOLED screen is easy to see between weight-training reps, and the bevy of new health-tracking features means there's always lots to look at.
The Galaxy Watch 9 ships with Google's Wear OS 7 and Samsung's One UI 9 Watch, including features like Heart Health Score, Fitness Index, and Daily Cardio Load. They offer a nice blend of short-term and long-term insights, allowing me to check daily cardio load to see if I'm getting my steps in, and then checking Heart Health Score just how those daily changes evolve into a longitudinal metric.
Also: I went running with the Galaxy Watch 9 in London, and it taught me something new
It's accurate, too. I put the Galaxy Watch 9's heart-rate monitor to the test during a recent Stairmaster workout and compared that data to the gold standard heart rate monitoring chest strap, the Polar H10. What I found surprised me: the Galaxy Watch 9's average heart rate for the workout was within 3 beats per minute of the Polar H10's, and the max heart rate was within 1 bpm of the Polar H10. That's stellar agreement. The Polar H10 measured around 8.3 calories burned per minute, while the Galaxy Watch 9 measured 7.9.
The Galaxy Watch 9's hydration guidance is also helpful on runs, buzzing you with a reminder to hydrate based on your energy exertion. While it may seem intuitive, I can imagine this feature being useful for cardio warriors spending hours in the sun training for a marathon or casual users who tend to forget to hydrate.
Battery life and wear
Samsung said the watch will last you around 30 hours with the smartwatch's always on display enabled, and that's exactly what my testing proved during the first week of wear. The watch was charged at 98% at 9:33a.m. on July 27 and depleted to 2% at 9:15 p.m. on July 28. This puts the watch's run time at around 36 hours and 30 minutes.
The Galaxy Watch 9 lives up to its 390 mAh battery claims, but I'm still wishing for a faster-charging device, especially after testing the Pixel Watch 4, whose battery was replenished in around 45 minutes. It takes the Galaxy Watch 9 around an hour and 20 minutes to recharge from 0%. That's too much time to wait.
Also: Galaxy Watch 9 vs. Galaxy Watch 8: I've compared both models, here's my advice
You might not have an issue wearing this watch, but my small wrists did. Its silicon band felt heavy, sticky, and clingy around my wrist, and toggling between the two adjustment holes either made the watch too tight or too loose. The fixed loops that hold the strap in place regularly move, so the strap has ended up flying free as I run or go about my day. I've never liked a silicon watch band and would highly suggest buying an additional watch band built to wick water and be a little more comfortable to wear around the clock.
Health data overload?
Samsung doesn't skimp on quantifiable health scores. Take Vitals, one of many new health metrics scored on the Samsung Health app, for example. It monitors a selection of biomarkers the watch already records, including resting heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, and blood oxygen, to detect deviations (or illness) from a person's baseline.
Also: I wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for a week - it's a true Apple Watch Ultra 3 rival
In fact, the app delivers tons of scores: one for sleep, sleep apnea, energy, heart health, cardio load, antioxidant levels, and metabolic health. I am still left wondering, after several days testing these features, how this groundswell of graded health data will result in my own behavior changes.
Right now, it just feels like more data to parse through with no core focus. This is where an AI health coach or agent would be most useful. I can see how Samsung is laying the groundwork for an intelligent tool with these metrics (and testing a health coach of its own in beta), but the contextual layer is currently missing. In its absence, users are left with a bevy of numbers and ratings.
ZDNET's buying advice
I'd recommend the Galaxy Watch 9 to first-time smartwatch users. It's easy to navigate, tracks every possible metric you'd want, and is a functional, everyday smartwatch. I can't say I enjoyed sleeping with the watch, though. And I'd recommend buying a different band if you plan to wear the watch 24/7, as the one that comes in the box is too airtight and impermeable for my liking.
But I'd highly suggest buying this watch for exercise tracking and general health purposes, especially if you want a smartwatch that can take messages and phone calls and pose as a smartphone for your wrist. The battery boost sweetens the deal, making this a smartwatch you can wear for over a day before its next charge.
Why the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 gets an Editors' Choice award
Samsung's latest flagship smartwatch does all the big stuff well: exercise tracking, sleep monitoring, with both short- and long-term health insights. The battery lasts more than a day, and you can use those 36 hours of device time to gain insights into your daily and historic cardio trends, understand your blood pressure, and potentially improve your sleep. The Galaxy Watch 9 is worth its asking price, and is a great general purpose health-tracking companion.