Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Review: Samsung’s wearable at its best

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Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is Samsung’s flagship smartwatch that comes in at a lower price than the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and more rugged Galaxy Watch Ultra, yet still gets you many of the features packed onto those pricier Samsung smartwatches.

That includes running on the latest version of Google’s Wear OS operating system, the latest sensors for both health and fitness tracking, and it now even shares a similar design to other Samsung smartwatches to make things feel more like a family.

AI is also a big play as the new Galaxy Watch 8 becomes one of the first smartwatches to feature Google Gemini, while it also turns to artificial intelligence to help you sleep better and make better decisions about your day.

Android users aren’t exactly short of smartwatch options, and while the last few Galaxy Watches haven’t been all that different, that’s changed for the latest instalment.

Design and screen

• Same 40mm and 44mm sizes as Watch 7
• New cushion case design
• New lug system for changing watch straps

While the last few Galaxy Watches have looked largely the same, Samsung has decided to change things up for the Watch 8 with some very welcome changes.

You still have the option of 40mm and 44mm case sizes like the Galaxy Watch 7, but that case has moved from a round case to more of a squircle one, or a cushion, as Samsung likes to call it. 

I liked that new cushion case on the Watch Ultra, and rather than shoehorning it in, it’s introduced in a way that ensures it’s still in keeping with the more minimalist look of the entry-level Galaxy Watches.

Unlike the Watch 8 Classic, there’s no physical bezel to twist, but you do still get a digital one that lets you slide a finger around the screen to skip through watch screens. Whether you’ll use it as much as a physical one, however, I’m not so sure. It’s easy to forget you even have the capability to do it.

The strap that’s attached to the aluminium case is a pretty simple, silicone one that now uses a different lug connector to make it easier than ever to clip in and clip away straps. It feels similar to the Watch 7’s setup, albeit less fiddly to reposition the strap once you’ve decided which one to clip in. 

It also doesn’t have to be a silicone band, as Samsung offers a good range of straps made from other materials to create a more formal-friendly or more relaxed look.

The screen on the 40mm Watch 8 I tested is a 1.3-inch, 438 x 438 resolution Super AMOLED panel. The comparative 40mm Galaxy Watch 7 sports the same-sized 1.3-inch screen, albeit with a slightly lower 432 x 432 resolution. 

As such, you shouldn’t expect a major leap in quality here, but it remains a very good AMOLED, and whether it’s viewing angles, overall brightness or crisp visuals, it ticks the key boxes.

Samsung sticks to the same level of waterproofing as the Watch 7 at 5ATM, which makes it safe to be submerged in water up to 50 metres deep. That was perfectly fine for swims in my local pool.

Performance and software

• Runs on Wear OS 6.0 and One UI 8
• New 3nm processor for improved power efficiency
• Google’s upgraded Gemini AI assistant

All of the new Watch 8 models come running Google’s Wear OS 6.0, giving you the latest that Google has to offer in smartwatch operating system smarts with Samsung’s One UI on top.

That’s all powered by a new 3nm processor to keep things running smoothly, and I’d certainly say that’s been my experience. This isn’t a software or OS that stutters in any concerning way.

It’s been hard to get excited about this software combination in the past, but things feel different on the Watch 8. From a user interface perspective, the move to contain widgets for aspects like health or fitness onto one screen makes finding features easier than on previous watches. It streamlines things in the best possible way.

The added depthless notifications and now bar to show live notifications or running apps from the main screen are valuable additions and, on the whole, make using the Watch 8 so much more intuitive and far less busy.

As a smartwatch, you get everything we saw on the Watch 7, including rich notification support, the ability to control your Samsung buds or smartphone camera from your Watch, access Google apps like Google Maps and the Play Store, along with contactless payment support via Samsung Pay.

The big smartwatch addition this year is Google Gemini. Samsung’s Bixby is still knocking around in the app tray, but you’ll be ignoring it when you find out how much more useful Gemini is. 

I’ve tested smartwatches for a very long time, and Gemini is the smartwatch assistant I’ve genuinely found the most useful. I threw a range of questions and queries at it, and it managed to fire something back useful on all occasions. Is it the perfect smartwatch assistant? No, but I can see this is going to be a feature more will tap into than previous assistants.

Health and exercise tracking

• Richer sleep features
• Added health and wellness features
• New personalised running coach mode

Samsung doesn’t disappoint in terms of offering plenty on the sports, fitness, health and general wellbeing tracking fronts. It’s the execution and the performance of those features that are often lacking. I’d say it’s a similar story on the Watch 8, where some parts are great and others not so.

The health features are led by the ability to take ECG measurements and monitor blood pressure, once you’ve calibrated the Watch with a cuff-style monitor first and continue to do so. These features, along with Samsung’s new sleep apnea feature, is available only through Samsung’s Health Monitor app, which remains accessible via Samsung smartphones. It’s a shame this still hasn’t opened up to other Android phones.

The sleep apnea tracking is an FDA-authorised feature to detect signs of moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that could indicate a serious underlying health condition. You have to wear your watch to bed for at least 2 nights before it’ll report back, and thankfully, it didn’t detect any signs of it.

Sleep tracking does gain some new smarts, mainly led by a new bedtime guidance mode, that will notify you both on the watch and the Samsung Health app when you should go to bed, based on recent sleep to form a better sleep routine. It’s not entirely a new sleep feature for smartwatches, but is a nice addition here to an overall strong sleep tracking performance.

For heart health and those interested in what they eat, Samsung has added new vascular load and Antioxidant index insights. The vascular load is tied to sleep and assessing the stress on your vascular system. If it’s high, that’s not good; if it’s low or consistent with your baseline, then that’s what you want to see. 

The antioxidant index is designed to tell you whether you’re getting enough antioxidants in the body and, essentially, eating enough fruit and vegetables. That’s done through a measurement from your thumb when placed on the rear watch sensor. It’s quick and then tells you whether your index is very low or adequate. 

Mine never budged from low, but I do question just how useful and accurate this feature actually is and it reminds me a lot of my feelings when Samsung added its body composition analysis feature.

Samsung’s sport tracking prowess is boosted by a new personalised running coach that, after completing a 12-minute fitness test and filling in a short questionnaire, will create a training plan based on a target running distance you’d like to tackle based on your performance in that test.

This test isn’t too dissimilar from a fitness test that some sports watches offer and leads to what I’d say are plans that make some significant assumptions about running performance off a single run.

Battery life

• Up to 40 hours battery life (always-on display)
• Lasts a day with always-on display mode
• Fast charging supported

The battery life you’ll enjoy on the Watch 8 will depend on the size you go for. What I can say about my time with the 40mm one is that battery life isn’t significantly better than the Galaxy Watch 7.

There’s a 325mAh capacity battery on the 40mm Watch 8 that Samsung says will get you up to 40 hours (shy of two days) when you use the raise to wake display mode. There isn’t a number quoted when the screen is on at all times, but based on my testing, I found that the battery typically lasted a day before being prompted to use the battery saver mode.

With the always-on display mode off, I found it lasted roughly just over a day. It’s not great, and it should be so much better. Especially when other Wear OS smartwatches like the OnePlus Watch 3 have shown you can push Wear to last for longer.

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Should you buy it?

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