Samsung Galaxy Watch8 44mm review

Within the newest Samsung Galaxy Watch series, we have the addition of the brand new Galaxy Watch8 series. There are technically 4 watches within this generation – the Watch8 40mm and 44mm, the Watch8 Classic at 46mm, and also the Watch Ultra at 47mm.

We have the Galaxy Watch8 44mm with us today. I’m not a fan of the classic as I don’t use the rotating bezel at all, and the new Watch8 is thinner, sleeker, and minimalist. There are also quite a lot of changes – so let’s talk about it.

Design

Taking a look at the design first, the new Watch8 is actually more akin to the Watch Ultra’s squircle design, also known as the cushion design. Basically, it’s a square with very rounded corners.

While I initially hoped that the design is all circular instead of this hybrid, I am personally liking this design a lot. Honestly though, a square-shaped watch would be the most logical as the lithium-ion battery must be square anyway.

The watch in itself is very thin and it feels rather… surreal, especially since I was wearing the Watch Ultra. The flatness also kinda match my wrist shape of being a very long oblong shape too.

It’s very lightweight and sometimes, I forgot that I was wearing a watch on my wrist.

At the right side, we have only two buttons as compared to the Watch8 Classic and Watch Ultra with the extra Quick Button. It’s not exactly the most useful button ever, but it’s nice to have.

Still, we have the two buttons on the Watch8 44mm and it’s nothing out of the ordinary compared to the previous generations. The left side is where the speaker is located. That’s about it.

Screen

The screen is a simple one. It’s a 44mm size with a tiny bezel, and the screen looks great. It just makes the watch look so good. The screen is bright, colors look great, and it’s smooth to touch and swipe across.

Since we don’t have the rotating bezel, we can still use the virtual rotating bezel by swiping around the bezel. I prefer this more than the physical rotating bezel, honestly.

Features

Since we’re talking about swiping, let’s now talk about the features. The Galaxy Watch8 series will be using One UI 8 Watch on top of WearOS 6. It’s the first smartwatch to be using this – and wow, there are some major fundamental changes to the UI.

Of course, it is now using a pill design. It might look weird since it doesn’t match the watch’s design. But it actually makes sense.

As usual, we can swipe to the right to go through the tiles that we’ve set up. However, instead of just going horizontally, we can now go down vertically too. Yes, we can add tiles horizontally, then add tiles that goes down the list too.

That is a very nice change. That means I can now group everything into one single column before going down row by row. Kinda makes me smile since I don’t have to swipe so many times to the right side just to get where whatever tile I needed. That also means the rotating bezel is not particularly useful as it only scrolls through horizontal pages, not the vertical tiles.

The notifications is the same too. Previously, if one app has two notifications, we cannot read both notifications. We have to dismiss the one at the top before reading the second notification. Now, we can just swipe down. It’s that simple.

I wish I can show you how the notifications used to work last time but I already updated my Watch Ultra to One UI 8 Watch. The update came quickly and out of nowhere actually.

One complaint that I have is how weak the vibration is on the Watch8 44mm. Seriously, I can’t feel anything when it “vibrates”. It barely even tickles my wrist!

Health features

And now, the health features. I’m not going to talk about the accuracy of the tracking and whatnot because there are other more qualified YouTubers testing it out – and I recommend you to check out this channel instead.

As a summary, the new Watch8 44mm uses the same sensor as the Watch Ultra. What’s fixed is actually through the software, which improved a lot.

But, what I want to highlight is the extra features it has. First, there is the new vascular load that tells us how our blood vessels are performing. If it’s too high of a load then it signifies something wrong with our body. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but mine is somewhat steady and okay.

Sleep coaching is a brand new feature which I don’t think really helps a lot as I thought it would tell me the notification to tell me what time it is to sleep – but it doesn’t. I’m not even sure if it actually helps… but it does tell us what to do to improve our sleep.

Lastly, the antioxidant index that detects our carotenoid level via our skin. Again, not sure how accurate this is – but I think it’s rather weird that we have to take out the watch and press our thumb on the sensor for it to work.

Strap

Of course, for the watch sensors to work properly, we’ll have to wear the watch securely on our wrist. The included strap is this basic silicon one – and since we have the Watch8 44mm in silver color, the strap is in the cream color instead.

What’s new is the strap installation mechanism. It’s using this lug system that is the same as the Watch Ultra from last year. Now, for whatever reason, my brain went – oh, that means I can reuse my straps from the Watch Ultra on the new Watch8 44mm, right?

Haha, nope. The width of the strap is not the same. The Watch Ultra is wider and hence they’re not cross-compatible. It’s so frustrating to deal with these different sizes. That means, if I want to change over from the Watch Ultra to the Watch8 44mm, I have to re-buy the straps.

This is not an issue for most people. I’m just highlighting this to you, so you don’t buy the wrong strap for your smartwatch.

Battery life

The battery life is surprisingly great too. It can comfortably last 2 years with a single charge – as in 48 hours. I wear the watch everywhere I go, even when I’m going to sleep. I’m very actually surprised by how much battery life Samsung packed into this sleek, minimalist watch.

Some might say that a smartwatch with a 2-day battery life is not good – but I disagree. Any watch using WearOS having a 2-day battery life is actually great.

I’m not even going to talk about charger since it’s the same as before. Takes around like 2 hours to charge completely? I can’t really pin down the time it takes but yeah I usually just charge it during the evening and wear it again before going to sleep.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 44mm?

So, do I recommend you to buy this watch? I actually think yes if you are looking to upgrade from an older generation of the Galaxy Watch. While it might look simlar to the previous generations, the new thinner and sleeker design makes it look great, has amazing battery life, and also improved overall health tracking. One UI 8 Watch might also look similar but the changes are very much welcomed.

I’m truly disappointed with the vibration strength on the watch, but that’s my only complaint. Everything else about the Galaxy Watch8 44mm is really good – and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone who’s looking to get a WearOS smartwatch.

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