A couple of months ago, Samsung announced its new Galaxy Watch6 lineup, consisting of the regular version as well as the Watch6 Classic. I’ve spent some time with the new Classic and, full disclosure, it’s my first time using a smartwatch as a daily driver. For that matter, I need to make a disclaimer here that I don’t have a Samsung phone, so my experience with this is solely based on using the watch with a non-Samsung Android smartphone, which comes with a lot of limitations.
What Am I Looking At?
The Galaxy Watch6 Classic comes in two sizes, 43mm and 47mm, as well as two connectivity variants with one only coming with Bluetooth and another adding LTE cellular support on top of Bluetooth. Mine is the base model, meaning it’s 43mm and it doesn’t come with data support.
It sports a 1.3-inch touch AMOLED display with a 432×432 resolution with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. The main difference between the Classic and regular Watch6 is the rotating bezel which, by the way, is the best feature of this device.
For protection, it has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating as well as a 5ATM rating, meaning that you can take a dip in the pool without taking off the watch. There’s also the sapphire crystal on the display for added toughness, with the casing made out of stainless steel.
Internally, it runs on Samsung’s in-house Exynos W930 chipset with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC — oh, and there’s built-in GPS. Powering it is a 300mAh battery and it runs on a very Samsung-heavy skin on top of Wear OS 4.
What’s Good About It?
First, let’s talk about build quality. I can’t diss Samsung for this – it’s a stellar watch with a solid, premium-feeling build. There’s a bit of heft to it but it gives me a feeling of security to know that it’s not some flimsy device that would fall apart the moment I accidentally bump or graze it against another object. The display can get really bright, which makes outdoor use relatively easy.
As I said, my absolute favourite thing about this watch is the rotating bezel for controlling it. The bezel has a good grip and a very satisfying clickiness to it that makes using the watch all the more fun. Like I said in my hands-on, I would sometimes fiddle with the watch even when I had no reason to. Yes, I simply played with it on purpose, just to fidget with the bezel and distract myself.
The side buttons are also pretty good; they’re not mushy and they’re big enough that I can click on them easily. Mine came with a faux leather strap and it’s surprisingly comfortable — it still irritated my skin after a whole day of wearing it, but that’s more of a personal condition of mine.
For customisation, the watch face, settings, and tiles can be adjusted either on the watch itself or through the Galaxy Wearable app. I do like how quickly the changes take place when I make an adjustment through the app, although some of the watch faces lack a level of customisation that I would prefer. Of course, there are plenty of third-party watch faces on the app store to choose from.
Its water resistance makes it a boon for clumsy folks like me who always forget to take off my accessories before doing the dishes and it’s great that I don’t have to bother taking it off when showering. The built-in GPS is convenient because it allows me to use Google Maps more accurately even when my phone has no data (as long as I set the route before being disconnected from the internet).
When it comes to health and fitness, I’m not much of a gym buff but its auto-detect features can give me some sense of accomplishment whenever it tells me how long I’ve walked during my morning commute, without having to turn on any tracking apps. The sleep-tracking function is also quite accurate, so that’s good for anyone who actually needs this.
What’s The Catch?
The reason why I probably won’t be using the Watch6 Classic often after this review is because of how bad the software is, at least without a Samsung phone. Setting it up was a headache in and of itself, requiring you to sign up for a Samsung account and then multiple instances where I just got stuck on a blank page.
The connection with the phone isn’t consistent, with it varying on whether or not a call on my phone would appear on my watch. Annoyingly, as I was writing this review, the watch decided to just completely remove itself from the Wearable app on my phone for no reason, requiring me to reset the watch if I wanted to reconnect it.
Samsung’s walled garden excludes other Android brands from accessing some simple features of the watch.
I can’t say for sure whether or not these issues would occur with a Samsung phone, but even if it actually were more stable when used within the Samsung ecosystem, I see no reason why something as basic as the connection should be affected by using any Android device.
While I do find it frustrating as an Apple user that the Watch6 series can’t be used with iPhones at all — even Apple Watches still have some limited functionality with Android phones — it’s even worse that Samsung’s walled garden excludes other Android brands from accessing some simple features of the watch.
For one thing, the camera remote app is only available for Samsung phones despite the fact that you can install third-party shutter apps on the watch to do the same thing with any Android phone. Moreover, the ECG app is exclusive to Samsung devices even though there’s no reason they couldn’t make this widely available on the Android platform.
Battery life isn’t something the watch can boast about either. With Always-On Display (AOD), I usually got around 27 hours of usage. When AOD is disabled, it can last about a day and a half but ultimately, it still means you have to charge the Watch6 Classic every single night if you want a full day of use out of it the next day.
Should I Buy It?
The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 classic is definitely a good, premium smartwatch that looks great with casual and even formal outfits. The quality of the hardware feels solid and its customisability, while lacking in some areas, should be good enough for most smartwatch users.
I don’t know if I would have felt differently about this watch If I were using a Samsung phone but as it stands, the brand’s extremely exclusive ecosystem bricks a lot of the functionality of this watch if you’re using it with any other brand.
Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed that there’s such a walled garden within the Android platform itself, as it goes against the openness and interoperability that Android is largely known for. That being said, if you already own a Samsung phone and are itching to get a smartwatch, then the Galaxy Watch6 Classic is probably one of the best options for you.
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