Apple Watch Series 4 vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active By CNET

In, the $200 Samsung Galaxy watch active, give you just as good of a workout as the $400 Apple Watch. We put them through some heavyweight challenges finding out. This is Apple Watch Series fall vs. , Samsung Galaxy watch active, let's start with design, and here it really comes down to the round versus square question, except, unlike the original Galaxy watch, the active doesn't have that fancy rotating bezel the Apple Watch gives you the option of a forty or forty-four millimeter watch base. While the Galaxy watch active only comes in one thirty, nine point: five millimeter version, it's also slightly lighter and thinner than both sizes of the Apple Watch, both offered different metal finishes and stoppable bands to personalize your look, but the Galaxy watch active has way more watch faces to choose from we've been testing these smartwatches out for about a week at this point kind of switching back and forth and Lexie. Last time when we tested out the traditional Galaxy watch, it was a no-brainer for me when it came to design.

I was drawn to that round. Watch face and the rotating bezel the Galaxy watch. This time around I'm a little less clear as to which one I prefer I still love. That round watch face on the Galaxy watches active buddy, because it's more bare-bones now I do look a little cheap, and it is like it's half the price surprising that it feels a little like less premium in the Apple Watch. So in that case, I might just go with the Apple Watch for the design, just aesthetically in my opinion.

Well, I, don't I, think I love the galaxy watch active way more than they Apple Watch when it comes to the look in the feel, and the only thing that I'd really don't like about the galaxy watch active was the size of the bezel. Obviously, when you had the actual rotating bezel on the original galaxy watch, it was hiding that, but now you can actually see like where the screen ends, and you know where the edge of the watch actually starts to begin. The Apple Watch is more edge to edge, but then the galaxy watch active is so much lighter to wear, especially if you're doing a workout I feel like I can always feel when the Apple Watch was on my wrist. The galaxy watches active I just feel like it's so light. I, hardly even notice it's there, which is great, especially if I'm doing something really high-intensity I, never feel like I'm, actually tracking it I'm.

Just doing my thing, yeah for watch I'm like oh, it's kind of a little heavy. It's always there. These watches have almost everything when it comes to fitness features. The Apple Watch has 14 workout types built in. While the galaxy watch has 39, they can automatically detect certain workouts, and they're.

Both water resistant up to 50 meters to track your swims. Both watches, have an optical heart rate sensor for tracking calories, burned and other health features. The galaxy watch active also uses it to detect sleep and stress, while the Apple Watch uses it for the ECG or electrocardiogram app, and it notifies you of high or irregular heart rhythms. That may signal something more serious. The Apple Watch also uses its sensors for fall detection.

What the galaxy watches active has over the Apple Watch at least natively is sleep tracking I didn't think. I was a big fan of sleep tracking until I have tried it on the earlier galaxy watching now the galaxy watch active. It gives you a great breakdown of specs, whereas on the Apple Watch it's only available through a third-party app and I just didn't find. It was giving me the same level of accuracy that the Galaxy was watch was say. For example, I was awake one night for maybe like thirty minutes to an hour.

It always feels like an eternity. The galaxy watch knew I was awake. The third party app on the Apple Watch, just didn't it was like you had a great night's sleep and that no I did not so hopefully, first party, sleep tracking is coming soon to the Apple Watch through a watch, OS update or even the series 5, so fingers crossed for that. But what about some other health features when it comes to the fitness tracking, though I did have a couple issues with the Galaxy watch active I, like looking at my heart rate, when I'm exerting myself on a run, for example, if I'm going uphill or if I'm doing a sprint, I, always look down to make sure that I'm like reaching my heart rate. The Apple Watch is not perfect, but it catches up pretty quickly, whereas the galaxy watch it takes about eight minutes into my run, to start detecting my heart rate and then once I'm like going.

It takes a while to catch up to my actual heart, whereas the Apple Watch. Does it a lot faster, and that makes me question the accuracy of the calorie tracking and the fitness tracking in general of the galaxy watch. Active I could be wrong. It's just that made me question it because they both offer very interesting health features. The Apple Watch launched the EKG or ECG the electrocardiogram app, or you can take it from your wrist, and you can also have those notifications of the high heart rate, low heart rate and irregular heart rate, and then the galaxy watch saw TAS in there.

They're like we're gonna, raise your EKG, and we're going to get a blood pressure on the watch, and I was like, oh my god, that's so exciting. But then it turns out. There's a lot of caveats. It's still very much in beta. You have to sign up to be part of this study, and then you have to go through a huge long process, and you have to calibrate it with an actual cuff.

It's more like come join us on this experiment, because not a full-fledged working blood pressure monitor contrary to the EKG app on the watch. Like Apple went through the studies, they got the FDA clearance, it seems just like a finished, mature product and I. Think that's speaks as a metaphor for the watch itself, both Marin notifications from your phone. You can text place a call and have a variety of third-party apps to choose from which is basically everything. You'd expect from a Smartwatch, the Galaxy watch active works with both Android and iOS devices.

The Apple Watch only works with other Apple products both have GPS, and the Apple Watch has an LTE version that costs $100 more, so you can get text and call without your phone, and only the Apple Watch has a built-in speaker. The Galaxy watch lets you dictate texts and use a voice assistant, but it does rely on the phone to take calls the Galaxy watch active has an immediate advantage. That's really clear is that it works with both iOS and Android. That being said, of course, if you're pairing the Galaxy watch active with an iOS device, you don't get as many of the functions and the ease of replying to notifications, as you would say, if you're pairing the watch with another galaxy device, which is obviously the optimal use case, but you know considering the Apple Watch only works with iOS I think it's an immediately huge advantage, especially for someone that isn't like stuck to one platform exclusively that maybe swaps, phones, every you know every year or so, and changes ecosystems. It's just a big advantage.

That's a good point. However, there are some features that you are missing out on aside from the whole pairing thing, but that the galaxy watch active just doesn't have that the Apple Watch does in this case a speaker and that might not be important for you. We've determined that nobody wants to hear big speech anyway. Hey big, speak, hey Bixby, like nothing, hey, Biggs Oh. Finally, they were takes a couple tries for three times, but I think I, like Sea watch.

She sounded kind of scary anyway, so we don't want to hear it, but it is kind of nice to be able to respond on the go there's often times. I can't find my phone and I like end up taking a call, even though obviously the speaker quality is by no means great on the series 4, it is convenient. Have it's something I've gotten used to also the LTE option, that's something the galaxy watch active doesn't have I've gotten used to not taking a phone on a run and because I feel safe enough that if I really needed to call a Lyft or an Uber or if I need it to text one someone or make a call I run outside a lot. So that's an important feature for me. Now that I've gotten used to running phone free that I don't get on the galaxy watch.

They both work exactly the same when it comes to mobile payments, so both NFC based Apple Pay and Samsung pay just still upset that there is no MST support on the galaxy watch active the same as the galaxy watch. I know I say this, and people are like well because it doesn't have MST, but it's the big part of Samsung say that it's the reason why I was impressed that even at its price point I was used to the Fitbit. That is the same price point and didn't get as many notifications. You can't do as much with the notifications. I can even reply to a WhatsApp message on the Galaxy watch active.

So it's pretty good at just marrying all the notifications and let you have let you take action into the notifications, even at its price point, which was impressive. Yeah, I noticed that I had the Galaxy watch active paid to a Galaxy S ten and the Apple Watch paid to an iPhone 10 and both were on LTE, like the phones both receiving the same notifications. From my accounts, I did notice that the actual the galaxy watch active was just a little slower to get the actual notification pushed the watch. Then the Apple Watch was from the iOS device. Yeah both watches, let you store music locally, but the galaxy watch active has better Spotify support than the Apple Watch, so you can download entire playlists if you're a premium subscriber.

The Apple Watch only gives you basic playback control and Spotify, but you get a lot more options on Apple Music and if you have the LTE version, you can actually stream your music and podcasts. As for battery life, we tested both during a normal day, with a commute to work, a 45-minute workout tracking our sleep. Having notifications turned on and listening to a bit of music, we got almost two days out the galaxy watch active and just under a day and a half on the 40 millimeter Apple Watch. Now this is by no means scientific, and your mileage may vary, but essentially both will require charging them daily. The galaxy watch active also has a charging superpower.

If you own a Galaxy, S 10, you can charge the watch from the back of the phone so Vanessa. Now we have to make a decision is the winner for you, the Apple Watch Series 4 or is it the galaxy watch active a little torn on this one? Only because I think the most important feature in a Smartwatch, for me at least is are the Fitness feature and in that sense, I would give it to the Apple Watch Series for if I know wanted to spend on a watch that will be a great fitness. Companion. I think that one's the winner, it felt just a little more seamless, and it also felt like it was more accurate in my tracking, based on my usual routes and everything I do on a regular basis. That said, there's a huge drawback and that's the price.

It cannot compete with two hundred dollars of the galaxy watch active and the galaxy watch active. You know it's, it's a great watch, it's just not at the same level at the as the Apple Watch, but it's so much cheaper, and I am cheap, and so that's tearing me up inside I love pretty much everything that the galaxy watch active can do the price point. The fact that it's really light it works with iOS and Android. Even if you don't get everything that you can do on Android or at least a galaxy phone on iOS, you still have great functionality there, but then you go to the Apple Watch and it's so much more seamless in terms of setting up in terms of tracking navigation, even that bezel, the lack of the bezel and the galaxy watch active from the older and more expensive model really makes a difference in terms of that each abuse of navigation. For me.

So it's its two different price points in two different playing fields: okay, $200! You cannot go wrong with the galaxy watch active, but if you're on iOS, and you're going to spend money on a Smartwatch anyway, it's going to be this series 4. But what do you guys think you've seen the video choose your winner and let us know on the comments section below and come back to see me YouTube page for more of these types of verses.

Source : CNET