BEAUTY WITH BRAINS
IN THE HUGE CLUTTER OF SMARTWATCHES, this one stands out as a perfect blend of looks and performance. The watch sports a 42 mm circular case in black along with a 20 mm interchangeable black band. It has a bright and circular touch display at the front and is protected with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass DX+. There is an always-on option that prevents the display from going into the sleep mode and continues to show the watch face in the same way traditional analogue watches do. When turned on, the touch sensitivity option can be used to operate the watch even if you are wearing gloves. There are two keys on the right for easy access – the top one takes you to the previous screen and the secondary key is used to access apps/watch faces or to turn the watch on/off. Also, the bezel around the display rotates to help with quick navigation across apps, notifications and widgets. Rotating the bezel clockwise from the watch face showed different widgets and turning it anticlockwise showed notifications.
The Galaxy Watch runs on Samsung’s Tizen operating system and has a neat, intuitive interface. It took me less than five minutes to configure the watch with the Galaxy Wear app, a comprehensive one featuring all relevant information. Plus, it gives access to a lot of watch faces – both free and paid – to go with every occasion. When connected with a smartphone, it will also fetch e-mail, text messages and WhatsApp notifications in real time. I preferred to read my e-mail on the smartphone but often replied to WhatsApp messages using the preset replies and on-screen keyboard on the watch.
When it comes to health and fitness, the smartwatch automatically tracks footsteps, the number of floors climbed, heart rates and more, all neatly presented in a widget. It can track a wide range of activities such as running, walking, cycling, hiking, swimming, crunches, yoga and exercise on an elliptical trainer/step machine. It detected a spike in my heart rate and automatically recorded the number of steps and calories burnt during a morning walk. I also liked the inactivity alert that suggests some light workout such as torso twist, upward stretch or squats after one has been inactive for an hour or so. The watch also measures the stress level and it turned out to be neutral every time I tried it. But the best part of this gadget is the battery backup. The watch comes with a wireless dock for charging and a full charge, which took close to three hours, lasted me more than three days.