Samsung Galaxy Watch Active announced

Besides unveiling the new Galaxy S10 series and the Galaxy Fold, Samsung also introduced the world to some new wearables, the Galaxy Watch Active, and the Galaxy Fit series.

The Galaxy Watch Active is probably Samsung's sleekest smartwatch to date. Samsung has decided to scrap the popular rotating bezel for a thinner and sleeker one wrapped around the 1.1-inch circular AMOLED display. The rest of the device is made up of its aluminum casing paired with a rubber strap. The Galaxy Watch Active also features two round physical buttons along the right side which replace the previous pill-shaped ones. On the rear is a new glass panel on the rear that houses a heart rate monitor.

Samsung has outfitted the Galaxy Watch Active with a 236mAh battery. In comparison to previous devices, this battery is quite a bit smaller. However, the smaller display size and the new dual-core Exynos 9110 chipset will continue to ensure a full day of use with this wearable.

Completing the entire setup is 4GB of storage paired with Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC support for mobile payments. Unfortunately, the wearable isn’t available with 3G or 4G LTE support.

Color	Silver, Black, Rose Gold, Sea Green
Dimensions & Weight	40mm, 39.5 x 39.5 x 10.5mm, 25g
Display	1.1” (28mm) 360 x 360 AMOLED, Full Color Always On Display Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
Strap	20mm (interchangeable)
Battery	230mAh
Chipset	Exynos 9110 Dual core 1.15 GHz
OS	Tizen-based Wearable OS 4.0
Memory	768MB RAM + 4GB Internal Memory
Connectivity	Bluetooth®4.2, Wi-Fi b/g/n, NFC, A-GPS/Glonass
Sensor	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Barometer, Heart Rate Monitoring, Ambient Light
Charge	WPC-based wireless charging
Durability	5ATM + IP68 / MIL-STD-810G
Compatibility	Samsung, other Android: Android 5.0 or higher, RAM 1.5GB above
	iPhone: iPhone 5 and above, iOS 9.0 or above

Software

The Galaxy Watch Action runs the latest version of Tizen OS which brings several UI updates in the hopes to offer a unified experience across Samsung's entire product lineup.

Similar to One UI, which is Samsung’s custom Android skin, this updated version of Tizen relies heavily on dark backgrounds and splashes of color where necessary. This allows the device to fully take advantage of the AMOLED display, turning off the pixels and saving battery life when displaying black colors.

Samsung has opted to focus heavily on the user's health and physical activities. The new version of Tizen highlights three main goals to focus on each day: calories burned, minutes of exercise, and moving each hour. Each of these is tracked with their respective graphs that are highlighted in different colors.

Users will also be able to continuously monitor their heart rates through the day. Moreover, much like the Apple Watch, the Galaxy Watch Active will warn users if it detects any irregularities. Eventually, blood pressure monitoring will be available too through the My BP Lab app. This feature has been jointly developed with the University of California, San Francisco and will be available to download on March 15. Initially, though, only consumers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Singapore, Australia, and Germany will have access to it.

As expected, Samsung’s latest wearable supports a variety of different workout modes in addition to automatic workout detection. Owners don’t need to worry about getting it wet either as the smartwatch is water resistant up to 50 meters.

Release and Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active will be available to purchase in four colors (Silver, Black, Rose Gold, Sea Green) and costs $199.99 in the US. You can pre-order the wearable starting February 21 and shipments will begin on March 8. Those who pre-order it tomorrow will receive a free Wireless Charging Pad.

The Galaxy Watch Active will work with any Android smartphone running Android 5.0 Lollipop with at least 1.5GB of RAM. iPhone users will require an iPhone 5 or higher running iOS 9.0 or greater in order to use it.