Review: Samsung Galaxy Watch8 and Watch8 Classic

For the length of our tenure at WIRED, editor Julian Chokkattu and I have differed on one significant point: He prefers the circular face of the Pixel Watch, while I counter by saying that you can see more text on a square Apple Watch. It is clear to me that Samsung has somehow learned of this debate from afar (ChatGPT, is that you?), which has resulted in this … well, the “squircle” design. It is neither a square nor a circle, but both? Samsung refers to this as its “cushion” design.

The cushion design appears to have migrated over from last year’s Galaxy Watch Ultra, which was a pretty blatant copy of the Apple Watch Ultra. In a crowded smartwatch and fitness tracker market, Samsung is struggling to carve out a unique niche. Besides the squircle, that niche right now includes several health features of dubious utility. We’ll go over those in a bit.

Making Compromises

Photograph: Adrienne So

There are currently three Watch8 models: the standard 40-mm Watch8 (which I tested), a larger 44-mm Watch8, and the more sporty 46-mm Watch8 Classic with the popular rotating mechanical bezel (which Julian tested). Samsung also debuted a reskinned Watch Ultra, which is the same as the 2024 model but in a new blue color and with more internal storage. Samsung says the Watch8 series is thinner and lighter than previous models. At 8.6 mm tall, it is indeed slimmer than the competition, like the Pixel Watch 3, which is 12.3 mm tall.

These watches are the first to launch with Google’s Wear OS 6 platform, which offers fun, colorful faces that are easy to use and understand. The interface also feels more condensed, presenting more information at a glance—I like the new tile design with combined widgets. The case is aluminum, with a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal display over a big, bright 1.5-inch AMOLED that I found easy to read in direct sunlight.

I do find this watch to be quite pretty, especially when contrasted with the bulkier squircle and more confusing interface of the Watch Ultra. However, Samsung’s specs suggest that the watch will run for up to 40 hours, and I found it to be half that. Yesterday, I put on a watch with a 20 percent battery and found that it had died by the time I reached my destination an hour later. My kingdom for a smartwatch that lasts longer than a day!

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Julian says the bigger Watch8 Classic got close to two full days on one charge. That's with a few auto-tracked activities per day, too. Naturally, expect the 44-mm Watch8 to sit somewhere in the middle, likely a day and then a few hours extra. (You could extend that battery life a bit if you also purchased a Galaxy Ring, as the ring and the watch share health-monitoring tasks when used together.)

In addition to brighter screens, there’s also the by-now standard dual-frequency location tracking, which helps with fitness tracking, and the new Running Coach feature, which copies what Google introduced last year on the Pixel Watch 3. Google Assistant has also been replaced with Gemini, but I mostly used it as I would Siri, for simple verbal commands like turning on the flashlight or starting a timer.

It's also worth noting here that Samsung recently switched to a new Dynamic Lug system. Instead of using a tiny pin to swap bands, you just slide and click to swap proprietary bands in and out. I first failed to notice this because this is how you swap the bands on last year's Samsung Watch Ultra, as well as the Apple Watches.

Personally, I like this system a lot because I find using the tiny pins to be horrible and annoying, and they break my nails. But I'm sorry for everyone who was expecting to be able to use your old round watch bands on the new squircle watch. Samsung offers four new bands with Dynamic Lugs, but that's not many if you've been building your collection for a while now.

Eat Your Veggies

Courtesy of Adrienne So

I compared basics like my step count, sleep tracking, and heart rate to my Oura ring and was shocked by how closely the two matched. On one day, the Watch8 tracked me as having walked 14,100 steps; the Oura, 14,099 (thanks, dual-frequency GPS!). Sleep counts and heart rates were tallied mostly, too. Automatic activity tracking worked well, as it usually does with Samsung watches. Dog walks got picked up within a minute or two, as did runs and pool swims.

However, for health guidance to be helpful, it needs to be clear and actionable. Health data without context is just anxiety-inducing, and Samsung has struggled with this in the past. Last year, I reported that the AGEs index (advanced glycation end products) didn’t provide enough context to be helpful; today, there’s still no information in the app about it. The Health app doesn't even tell you if a lower or higher score is better.

The new Bedtime Guidance is weirdly hard to find. Track your sleep for at least three nights in a row, then click Sleep in the Health app on your phone, and click on the three little dots at the top right to enable it. The feature is intended to measure your circadian rhythm to suggest your best bedtime, but you already know how to do this if you can count. If you normally have to wake up at 6:30 am to go to work, you can count backwards to 10:30 pm and lo, you have just Bedtime Guided yourself to a full eight hours of sleep. Why is it separate from the much more involved Sleep Coaching (which already rips off many of the key features of Fitbit’s sleep coaching)?

Vascular Load is another new feature that sounds helpful, but it's a little inconsistent. Samsung says it measures the load on your vascular system (your blood vessels that carry blood throughout your body), and you'll need to wear the Watch8 for three out of the last 14 days to get results. A consistently high vascular load “is associated with various chronic conditions.” I haven't seen a result yet, but Julian has for only one single day. On the second day, it said, “Not enough data,” which could have been because his watch didn't maintain proper skin contact during sleep, or he moved in his sleep enough that the watch thought he was awake.

Photograph: Adrienne So

The one day of data he does have shows his vascular load right around the baseline, and Samsung recommended “plenty of sleep and physical activity, and eating a heart-healthy diet." Not exactly new information. We'll continue to monitor this feature to see its usefulness over a longer period, but keep in mind that you need to reset your baseline if you make lifestyle changes. If you decide to start eating healthier or exercising more, for example, you should reset the baseline to reflect your current state of health.

Antioxidant Index uses optical sensors to measure the amount of carotenoids in your blood to make sure you’re eating healthy food. In theory, this is a shortcut to get around the tedious task of logging your meals manually, which is something I have a really hard time remembering to do, even when wearing a continuous glucose monitor. To measure your Antioxidant Index, you click the feature, then press your thumb to the back of the watch.

The Watch8 said my Antioxidant Index was low at 54. What the Galaxy Watch8 doesn’t know, however, is that my diet is already really high in antioxidants. There's a lot of fresh, vibrant produce that is high in antioxidants, but not carotenoids. I have a berry protein shake every morning for breakfast, a salad every day for lunch, and I live in Portland, Oregon, at the height of fruiting season. Every time I go on a walk, I pick fresh plums, blueberries, and blackberries to eat. At the pool this afternoon, a friend said, “Is your purse full of … lettuce?” (It was basil! And figs!) The suggestion that I need to add 50 grams of canned pumpkin puree to have a healthier diet was so off-base that it was hard to take the feature seriously.

Courtesy of Adrienne So

I do like the new Running Coach, though, which was more helpful than Google’s version on the Pixel Watch merely by being simpler. The time trial run wasn’t buggy and didn’t stop recording if my pace fell off (threw up in the heat); it accurately assessed my current physical condition, and the assigned workouts were the standard training plan of slow jogs at assigned paces, intermixed with fartleks and interval training. Standardized training plans exist for a reason. Very few people need insanely personalized 3-mile workouts.

Samsung has been working very hard at carving out a unique look and features for itself, but unless you’re all in on the Galaxy system with a Galaxy phone and a Galaxy Ring, it’s still hard for me to recommend the Watch8 series over the Pixel Watch for Android owners, especially since certain features are still locked exclusively for Samsung phones. You just wouldn’t get this watch if you didn’t already have a Galaxy phone (which you might, because the phones are great!).

When it comes to overall design, battery life, and health tracking, however, the Pixel is still prettier, and Garmin’s fitness software is better. And you wouldn't be muttering to yourself that berries are a good source of antioxidants. Samsung, let me talk to your staff nutritionists!