Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic review

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When the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 was launched, it was not joined by the Watch Active 4, as we expected, but by the Watch 4 Classic, which uses the same software as its brother, but has a more premium design, and a higher price.

The main reason why you should choose this watch over the non-classic version is its rotating physical bezel, which you can use to smoothly scroll through menus to navigate the watch; The Standard Edition Watch 4 has a touch version of this feature which doesn’t work nearly as well.

The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic also launched a new version of Wear OS, Google’s smartwatch operating system, which Samsung had a hand in designing. This means you can access the Play Store, and the fitness apps of both Google and Samsung.

It’s not a perfect watch, and it has the same issues as many other wearables. The design is big and bulky, and wasn’t comfortable on our wrist, due to some strap issues that we’ll explore further. As a result, the Watch 4 Classic shook when we moved our wrists, and wasn’t particularly comfortable.

(Image credit: Future)

The price is a bit high also. Sure, you’re buying a premium device, but many Chinese brands offer well-made, feature-packed watches for much less money.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic release date and price

The classic version of Samsung’s new smartwatch comes in four versions: There are 42mm and 46mm models, and both come with Bluetooth or LTE options, starting at $349 / AU$549. You can see full pricing in our table below:

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic Prices Size Connectivity US Price UK Price AU Price 42mm Bluetooth $349 $349 LTE ​​54942mm LTE $399 $389 $64,946mm Bluetooth $379 269 or 46mm LTE $429 £409

For context, the “standard” Galaxy Watch 4 starts at $249.99 / £249 / AU$399, which in itself is a bit pricey for a smartwatch, and the prices for this classic version are hard to swallow – although the two watches are slightly different. Sizes are hard to compare accurately.

The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic was revealed on August 11, with pre-orders now open – the official release date is August 27 everywhere except in Australia, where it is September 10.

(Image credit: Future) Design & Presentation

As mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic has more screen options than its standard counterpart; Insert the large rotating bezel, a much larger device.

The watch is 11mm thick and weighs around 50g depending on which size you choose, so it’s a chunky monkey, and doesn’t sit comfortably on that wrist as a result.

Unlike most other watches, where you can adjust the angle of the strap relative to the body, on the Watch 4 Classic (and the Standard Watch 4) the straps can only protrude directly from the sides of the body, creating a large gap between the strap and your wrist on either side of the body; Look at the picture of this problem on the standard form below – and consider that our wrists are very average

(Image credit: Future)

The straps are interchangeable, so Samsung will likely offer different versions made of different materials, which means you could be able to buy alternatives that fit more easily on your wrist – but we weren’t impressed with the straps on the review models we tried.

The watch body is made of stainless steel, so it is very durable, and there are two buttons on the left side. The top is to go back to the main watch face when you’re in the menus (although it doesn’t show the app menu when you tap it from the watch face, unlike every other smartwatch out there, which threw us off).

We found the rotating bezel to be easy to use – it gives you a satisfying “click” when you rotate it, and it was a lot easier to use than the standard watch’s scroll equivalent 4. Is it worth the extra cost, though? We are not very sure.

Specifications and software

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic uses the company’s own Exynos W920 chipset, which is paired with 1.5GB of RAM. What do these slides bring to the table? Well, not much we haven’t seen before – the watch feels very smooth to navigate, and multiple apps will probably work just fine. There’s also 16GB of storage, which is quite a bit of space for a watch.

The chipset has the advantage of making the always-on display less power-hungry thanks to some improvements, and the fact that it has a separate sub-processor that handles this feature. This technology isn’t new to smartwatches, as Qualcomm’s Wear 4100 series does the same thing, and hopefully means the watch lasts longer when you’re not using the screen.

Together with the standard Galaxy Watch 4, this watch marks the emergence of WearOS 3, a new version of Google’s smartwatch operating system designed in collaboration with Samsung. It’s definitely less woody than the last version, with tiles now really handy, and with lots of options and lots of apps, but we’ve had some issues as well.

First, the app menu displays each option without naming a name. We found ourselves staring at a bunch of app icons with no idea what most of them did, which is really confusing, although if you did buy the watch, you’ll probably get used to it.

(Image credit: Future)

Second, navigating this device is not like navigating every other smartwatch. Instead of pressing the top button to open the app menu, you have to swipe up from the main watch face, which is less convenient; In other areas, the watch is easier to navigate than competitors, thanks to the bezel. You win a little, you lose a little.

WearOS 3 is something we need to test in depth, both on the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and on future smartwatches. It’s a decent open-source operating system, with plenty of options for third-party apps, but it drains battery life pretty badly, and Google seems to have abandoned the supportive version 2 for most of its life.

Fitness and battery life

We’ve only tested the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic for a short period of time, so we haven’t yet had a chance to try out any of its fitness features; So while we’ll talk about some of them below, we can’t explain how well they work.

(Image credit: Future)

There appears to be a wide range of health features, which you can access by swiping through the tiles, with measurements of heart rate, sleep, stress, blood oxygen and body composition; We tested the latter, and it was a tricky business, although the stats it brought back to us seemed within the areas of probability.

In terms of exercise, you have all the basics, like running, cycling and swimming, and they’ll display all the metrics you’d expect like heart rate, time and distance, with a built-in GPS that ensures that the location data is fairly accurate. There is also a selection of specialized sports, such as yoga and kayaking. The list includes a lot of single exercises such as squats, leg press and crunches, which are quite rare in the world of smartwatches.

(Image credit: Future)

Don’t expect a long list of specialized sports modes like skateboarding, surfing and dancing, and some smartwatches offer. Samsung seems to have focused its hours on offering fewer modes, but making sure those modes work really well.

Since we only tested the watch for a limited amount of time, we weren’t able to test its battery life, but Samsung’s wearables tend to have good staying power — two days. That’s fine compared to the paltry one-day life of Apple Watches or most Wear OS watches, although it pales in comparison to the two weeks or even a month that some other smartwatches can last.

The 42mm watch has a 247mAh battery while the 46mm model has a 361mAh power pack, so despite the different screen sizes we expect it to last about the same amount of time.

early judgment

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic promises to be a useful smartwatch, with wide app compatibility, decent battery life, and plenty of workout modes for the gym.

The things that make the classic watch distinct from the standard edition are hit and miss. While the rotating bezel is really nice to use, the watch doesn’t hold well on the wrist, and doesn’t offer much to justify its high price tag.

There are also some important questions that we will need more time and testing to answer. The watch’s battery life, its durability in actual use, and whether or not Google decides to support WearOS this time around will ultimately determine the value of Classic over time.

So, if we were you, we would look at the standard watch along with this one, and think about which one is more useful for you. Oh, consider the competition too, since there are plenty of affordable smartwatches from Chinese brands that rival Samsung’s uncompetitively priced wearables in terms of specs and features.

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