Samsung Galaxy Watch Active review: A value-for-money smartwatch

Brand: Samsung
Product: Galaxy Watch Active
Key specs: AMOLED display, NFC, 4GB ROM, 1GB RAM and 230mAh battery.
Price: ₹19,990
Rating: 3.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is the company's most affordable offering in its smartwatch category. It comes with a sporty design and runs on Samsung's One UI.

Galaxy Watch Active is priced at ₹19,990 in India. The Galaxy Watch Active comes in four colour options of black, green, gold and silver. Unlike the previous Galaxy Watch and Gear models, this one comes with a plain strap and no rotating bezel. We used to Galaxy Watch Active as our daily wearable and here's our review on it.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active has a simple yet sleek design. It doesn't stand out much like the previous Galaxy Watch models. It looks more subtle and clean look with a sporty design. The Galaxy Watch Active is pretty comfortable to wear and fits perfectly even for someone with a tiny wrist like mine. The 1.1-inch AMOLED display is as good as a smartphone display. It's bright, clear and crisp and the AMOLED panel makes it even better. The screen is also very responsive and wakes whenever I lift my wrist up.

There are two buttons on the side of the Galaxy Watch Active - one to go back and the other for recent apps and power on/off. Navigating on the Galaxy Watch Active is comfortable and intuitive. Pre-installed features on the watch include activity results, exercise tabs, stress meter, heart rate, weather and calendar. You can add shortcuts to apps of your choice and widgets as well.

Notifications are displayed on the left side of the watch and one can keep sliding to read all of them. The Galaxy Watch Active positively alerts for every new notification and calls. You can add and remove apps for notifications and choose to let the watch display the contents of the message as well. There was no fumbling of notifications showing on the watch even with the phone in use.

You can type and reply to messages directly from the watch. That takes some getting used to as typing messages on that small screen isn't very feasible. The smart replies however are a big help to quickly respond to messages. You can also answer or reject calls and even make calls from the Galaxy Watch Active but you can't talk through it. That's a bummer.

Pairing the Galaxy Watch Active with a Samsung smartphone is seamless, obviously. But the process with other phones isn't bad either. The Galaxy Watch Active takes around an hour to fully charge. It's a little slower on wireless chargers. During my usage I found the Galaxy Watch Active last for two days including standby time.

Among the popular apps, Galaxy Watch Active supports Spotify. The app UI on the watch and controls are quite attractive and easy to use. However, Spotify on the Galaxy Watch Active is slow. It takes a few seconds for the next song to play from the controls and even from the list. While the feature is nifty, it isn't as fast as expected.

The smartwatch comes with 5ATM rating for water resistance meaning you can dip it up to 50 metres and for 10 minutes. While I didn't take it out swimming or anything, the Galaxy Watch Active can safely withstand occasional splashes. The strap is also easy to wipe off when it gets wet.

Verdict
Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active qualifies as an everyday wear. If you're looking for a smartwatch with all the regular features and requirements, you can definitely go for the Galaxy Watch Active. Samsung can still improve on the battery life and third-party app integrations.