Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Review: An all-rounder with rough edges

Introduction

Samsung has officially revived its rotating bezel tech with the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, but is it worth its high price tag?

The Watch 8 Classic is a strong upgrade over the Watch 6 Classic with improved fitness tracking, a brighter screen and a whole new version of Wear OS, but that doesn’t mean it’s flawless. Or does it?

I’ve spent a week with the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic on my wrist, and here’s what I’ve learnt. 

Design

• New squircle design based on Watch Ultra
• New programmable button
• A little thick and heavy, but reassuringly so

The Galaxy Watch Classic collection is, as the name suggests, based on classic wristwatch design. While the regular Galaxy Watch 8 has a minimalistic design, and the Galaxy Watch Ultra offers a more rugged build, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is supposed to bring a more luxurious, traditional look.

But that’s not really the case this time around. Sure, you’ve still got the leather-effect straps, buttons on the side and even the rotating bezel with its machine-milled detailing, but it just looks different. It’s largely down to the new aluminium ‘pillow’ that the screen ‘sits’ on – a design element first introduced on the Ultra model before rolling out to the 8 and 8 Classic. 

As such, the Watch 8 Classic feels more like a hybrid of the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and Watch Ultra, rather than sporting its own signature look. Opinions have been varied on the look of the watch while I’ve been reviewing it; some say it looks nice and premium, but others have said that it looks quite cheap.

But I think that might be more to do with the white colourway that I’ve been sent, which doesn’t look anywhere near as sleek as the black alternative. It also doesn’t feel like a top-end watch, with a clearly plastic element on the right of the case where the buttons sit.  

Speaking of buttons, there’s a new one on the side of the Watch 8 Classic. While the home and option buttons have made a return, there’s now a third, programmable button that sits in the middle. I assume that’s why that odd plastic frame is there – to stop it being accidentally pressed – but there are way cleaner ways to achieve the same aim.

As you’d expect, the programmable button provides quick access to a specific app or function. By default, it takes you to the exercise app, but it can also be set up to trigger a specific exercise, as well as toggle elements like the torch (i.e. making the screen brighter). 

New features and look aside, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is still a fairly chunky wearable at 10.6mm thick. That is slightly slimmer than the 10.8mm Watch 6 Classic, but it’s also far from the slimline 8.6mm from the regular Galaxy Watch 8. 

As such, it remains a noticeable presence on the wrist, and I have found it occasionally gets caught on sleeves and such. However, there will be some that appreciate that extra heft – traditional wristwatches aren’t exactly slim, are they?

Screen

• 1.34-inch AMOLED screen
• Super bright and easy to use outdoors
• Not the biggest screen for the size of the watch

The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic’s screen is a joy to use. The 1.34-inch AMOLED screen is super bright – up to a boosted 3000 nits – and is easily legible, both in brightest sunlight and when viewed off-angle. It’s also suitably vibrant and sharp for a premium smartwatch, aided by the screen’s 327ppi pixel density, and it offers an optional always-on mode so it’s ready whenever you are.

That said, the raise-to-wake alternative does feel very responsive, only rarely missing the slight gesture of me tilting my arm to see the screen. I did have to turn it on manually, however, while it’s usually activated by default on most watches.

There is a black screen bezel that sits between the edges of the screen and the rotating bezel, but it’s so slim that it’s basically unnoticeable – even when using an all-white watchface like I am.

Really, I think my only real complaint about the screen is that it feels a bit, well, small, especially for a 46mm watch. 

In fact, despite having a larger body than the regular 44mm Galaxy Watch 8, the cheaper, more compact smartwatch has a bigger display at 1.47 inches. It might not sound like a lot, but it makes a difference, with a little more screen size for stylish watchfaces, notification text, graphics and everything else that Wear OS has to offer. 

It seems that it’s largely due to the rotating bezel, which occupies space on the front of the watch that would otherwise be used for the screen on the cheaper Watch 8. As such, you’ll need to make a decision: do you opt for the ease of use of the rotating bezel, or choose a larger screen? 

It’s a very personal decision, but one that needs to be pointed out before you proceed with the purchase. 

Smart features and software

• Wear OS 6 with One UI smarts
• New notification system is smart, but takes getting used to
• Gemini support is a welcome addition

One of the main reasons to get the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic – or the regular Watch 8, for that matter – is the software. The Watch is among the first to feature Google’s upgraded Wear OS 6 with boosted One UI smarts, and it makes for a familiar – yet vastly improved – Wear OS experience.

It might take a bit of getting used to, as the layout is different to previous versions of the software. Notifications, for example, are now accessed by swiping right on the screen instead of swiping up, while swiping left will take you to your tiles. 

Notifications are now also grouped by app, with different app notifications on different screens. It does mean it’s harder to get a quick at-a-glance look at all your notifications, but I do like being able to see all my Gmail or WhatsApp notifications in a dedicated view. 

The tiles have also been redesigned, with the ability to add multiple smaller widgets into a glanceable tile, allowing you to create ‘themed’ tiles – one for health and sleep, one for weather, one for music and device controls – you get the idea. 

It also boasts the upgraded Google Gemini in place of Google Assistant, making for a way more capable personal assistant on your wrist. It can do pretty much anything it can do on a connected smartphone, from answering general knowledge queries to controlling aspects of the Watch experience. 

While Gemini is rolling out to other watches running Wear OS 4 or later, Samsung’s version comes with compatibility with Samsung apps, allowing you to, say, start tracking a run with just your voice. It’s a great upgrade, and one that makes me way more likely to use the virtual assistant in daily use. 

Then there’s all the One UI smarts to consider, with elements like the Now Bar present on the watch, giving you at-a-glance information on things like call duration, exercise timing and more – though I’d love if it also tied into third-party apps like Just Eat like Apple’s Live Activity alternative. 

Elsewhere, however, the Wear OS experience is familiar; it offers rich notification support with the ability to reply to messages from the watch itself, it handles calls flawlessly and, with Google Play, there are thousands of apps to download and use – some of which can replace the default Samsung alternatives. 

General performance is also slick, thanks to Samsung’s new 3nm Exynos W1000 chipset powering the experience. Apps open nearly instantly, and there’s very little lag in day-to-day use. I have noticed a few issues, such as the watch face becoming unresponsive and buttons not activating when tapped, but I feel that these are pre-release issues that’ll be ironed out with a day-one software update – I hope, anyway. 

Overall, though, it’s a joy to use, offering one of the smartest and sleekest Wear OS experiences to date. 

The only frustration is the number of apps required to use the wearable. In addition to the Galaxy Wearable app that you need to set up the watch, you also need Samsung Health to view your health data, and if you want to use more advanced features, you’ll need the Samsung Health Monitor app. 

That’s three dedicated apps, when in reality, Samsung could’ve easily rolled them into a single interface. It’s not an alien concept either; alternative wearables from OnePlus already do the same thing, and the experience of using the companion apps is much sleeker for it. 

Health and fitness tracking

• Holistic approach to health and fitness tracking
• In-depth tracking, including sleep apnea and antioxidant levels
• New Running Coach helps runners of all levels

Samsung doesn’t just deliver on the smartwatch experience; it pairs that with some pretty in-depth health and fitness tracking not seen by the majority of smartwatches available in 2025.

It, of course, continues to cover what we’d describe as the basics, measuring elements like heart rate and blood oxygen via its BioActive sensor, but it goes much deeper than that. Elements like body composition scanning give you a quick look at elements like body fat and water weight without the need for a fancy Withings scale, while ECG measurements and even sleep apnea detection are all present and accounted for. 

On the latter point, I actually got an alert that I might have sleep apnea after monitoring my sleep for a few days during the review period – I’ll check in with my GP on that and see just how accurate the detection is. If it’s as accurate as Samsung says, it’s a real game-changer – and crucially, now available in the UK and EU.

The only annoyance is that some of the more advanced features – ECG, sleep apnea detection, blood pressure monitoring – are locked to the Samsung Health Monitor app, a separate app from the regular Samsung Wearable and Samsung Health apps. 

The catch is that the Health Monitor app is exclusive to Samsung devices and, as such, you won’t be able to use it if you don’t have a Samsung phone. That could be a massive dealbreaker for some, as aside from Apple, it’s not something we see from many smartphone manufacturers. Other wearable makers, like Garmin and OnePlus, offer the same wearable features to everyone, regardless of OS.

New to this year’s watch is the ability to track antioxidant levels, which is performed by placing your thumb on the BioActive sensor located on the back of the watch. It’s a bit of a faff having to take the watch off to measure it, but it takes just a few seconds, and you’ll get a reading of your current carotenoid levels in the Samsung Health app. There’s also advice to help you increase your reading if it’s low, but it’s just generic pointers, such as eating more fruits and vegetables.

Aside from those big, exciting features, Samsung’s watch will continuously monitor your health and fitness, providing insight into your daily life in terms of steps, active minutes and more as it has done for years, with notable improvements to sleep tracking this year. 

Sleep tracking was already a highlight of Samsung’s wearables, with in-depth metrics like blood oxygen, HRV and more, as well as tailored insights into how to improve the quality of your sleep. The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic kicks it up a gear with elements like sleep environment monitoring – though this requires SmartThings-integrated devices – and, more importantly, Bedtime Guidance.

It’s an element offered by competing wearables like the Whoop MG and Oura Ring 4, and essentially gives you a guide on when you should go to sleep and wake up based on your recent timings to improve the quality of your rest.

The problem? It seems to get confused every now and then. For much of the testing, I’ve been told to go to bed at around 1am – my regular bedtime – but for reasons unknown, my recommended bedtime today is between 6:40pm and 8:40pm. There’s clearly a little more work needed here, but I’m confident that’s something that can be fixed with a software update. 

In addition to holistic health tracking, Samsung offers impressive dedicated exercise tracking, with the ability to automatically track a range of exercises – and surprisingly, this works very well. Other wearables claim to do the same with hit-and-miss accuracy, but I’ve found the Watch 8 Classic would pick up on smaller forms of exercise like my morning walk to the train station every single time.

The core exercise tracking experience is similar to that of Galaxy Watches that came before it, offering a suite of dedicated per-exercise metrics at a glance on your wrist, as well as generally accurate HR and GPS data. All this data is available both on the watchface and in the Samsung Health app. 

However, the Running Coach is a welcome new addition that essentially utilises AI to provide a personalised running plan based on your current fitness levels. It achieves this by getting you to go for a simple 12-minute run. That’s all the information it needs to calibrate itself and provide you with one of several running plans to stick to. 

Then, when you’re on a scheduled run, the Watch will provide feedback on your run – whether you’re running too fast, beating your personal best and more – to keep you motivated. It’s a great feature not only for those just getting into running, but even for those who run regularly, with advanced plans on offer to really push your limits.  

Battery life

• 1.5 or 2 days of use at most
• Lots of features are disabled by default
• Full charge in 90 minutes

Despite an otherwise top-end smartwatch experience, battery life is one key area where the Watch 8 Classic falls behind the Wear OS-enabled competition. Samsung claims that you can squeeze up to 30 hours out of the new Classic model, though there are caveats with that number – not using optional tracking metrics etc.

But what’s the point in using a smartwatch if you can’t use all the features available? With that in mind, I enabled features like stress monitoring and the always-on display, which were disabled by default, to see just how long it could really last.

While it’s not as painful as an Apple Watch that’ll get you through a day – just about – the Watch 8 Classic managed 1.5 days with the AOD active. That’s pretty close to what Samsung claims.

I managed to squeeze an extra half a day out of the watch by disabling the always-on display tech, but even at two days, it falls far behind the likes of the OnePlus Watch 3 that can last five days in Wear OS mode and up to 16 days running a more basic OS. 

As a result, I found myself taking the watch off every day or two throughout the review process, something I thought we’d conquered at this point. At least the charging process is somewhat speedy; using a wireless charging puck, the Watch 8 Classic can go from flat to full in 90 minutes.

Should you buy it?

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