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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2023
I have used two fitness trackers in the past: the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Fitbit Versa 2. I will compare the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 to the Fitbit Versa 2, since it's the only other smartwatch I have used. I tried the watch with two different Samsung Galaxy smartphones: the S22 Ultra and the Z Flip 5.
Pros:
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 has a beautiful, wide-enough display. It was the biggest reason I could never go for a Watch 4 or 5.
- 2 side buttons with different customizable shortcut options.
- It has both a microphone to dictate text messages, e-mails, commands, etc. AND a loud speaker. You can play back YouTube Music, for example, without bluetooth earbuds.
- It has Wi-Fi, so it can connect to your network instead of just your smartphone, which helps with downloading / streaming.
- Temperature sensors which can aid better cycle tracking (ovulation timing, etc.)
- The watch can consistently charge up an extra 55% in 30 minutes. Great for quick morning or evening routines.
- If you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone with wireless power sharing features, you can place this watch on the back of your smartphone to charge up if you don't have the watch charger with you and need a top up. If you do have the watch charger, you can plug it into any USB-C smartphone or tablet and pull charge there.
- Unlike Fitbit Pay, there are more banking and credit card partners that work in both Google Wallet and Samsung Pay.
- You can control playback on your smartphone with the watch.
- GPS tracking for long walks and hiking provides a map, similar to Fitbit.
Cons:
Unfortunately, every Pro also has a con with this watch!
- While there is fast charging, the battery life is 24 hours at best. Fitbit Versa or Sense users--be prepared! I turned on the Sleep tracking feature and lost 15% overnight! I charged the watch up to 100% at 6:30 am and by 9:00 pm I was at 34% (Wi-Fi, Location, Bluetooth and NFC were turned on, and I used NFC to set up several credit cards in Samsung Pay). If I turned most of these off, where's the appeal in a smartwatch?
- I initially set up the Galaxy Watch 6 on the S22 Ultra, and it was so confusing. First, I needed to set up the watch in an app called Galaxy Wearable, then I needed to install Samsung Health to get fitness and wellness tracking, but finally I needed Samsung Health Monitor to use the ECG feature of the watch! Of course, each of these apps has its own T&C, privacy policy and profile set ups required!
- Samsung Health is presumably made by a Korean company which uses the metric measuring system, but I can only enter in glasses of water in U.S. 8 fluid ounce increments. I understand I purchased the watch in the U.S., but it's poorly thought out. They should turn on the ability to track food and water intake in metric units, like Fitbit.
- The first time I did the ECG test, I had to place 2 fingers on the two different buttons. Three days later, I went to the ECG test again, and had to go through another policy agreement screen and then was told to only use 1 finger. No idea why this has changed. Some information about how it works vs. before would be interesting.
- The watch cannot sync your sound settings with your Galaxy smartphone. If I am in a quiet space and put my phone on Silent, the watch cannot sync that setting. I have to manually go into the watch's control panel and put it on silent. If you use the Modes and Routines function of Samsung's One UI 5, you'll know how convenient it is to use Location or Wi-Fi connections to stipulate if your phone should be on silent! Connected to library wi-fi? = phone silent. At home = phone vibrate+sound. If this watch could sync with the smartphone, it'd be truly "smart."
- I feel that the Galaxy Watch 6 overstates my level of activity. It feels like I get a trophy just for puttering about. I walk around the office here and there for 2 minutes and by the time I get back to my desk to leave at the end of the day, it says I've reached my level of activity for the day?? Fitbit is more drill sergeant in that regard--I need to actually be moving for a consecutive amount of time and energy level for it to register as "exercise/workout." No freeby trophies.
- I had to figure out through complex swipes how to stop my walking workout--it was not intuitive. The Fitbit uses a simple Flag as the goal icon to end the workout.
- Although not fitness related, one of the big draws for this watch was the ability to use Google Wallet since some of my banks do not allow Fitbit Pay. Although Google Wallet works with manager major U.S. credit card issuers, and although one credit card in particular (Discover) could show up in my smartphone's Google Wallet, it just will NOT allow itself to be sent to the watch's Google Wallet app.
This isn't Samsung's fault, I thought. So I decided to try out Samsung Pay. First, the app has to be installed and set up on the phone, which defaults to an annoying Quick Access gesture which is nearly identical to the swipe up to show all apps gesture. I tried multiple times to add the Discover card and several other credit cards, and finally was successful the 3rd time I tried to add. This is after getting multiple frozen screen prompts to Add to Samsung Pay.
- The apps that are on the Watch and accompany it on the Samsung Galaxy smartphones, as ever, have English spelling mistakes littered throughout that I have never seen in my Apple Wallet or with Apple Pay. Language Localization should not be so poorly done.
- Since I started with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra but was transferring over to a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, I decided to use the Watch > Settings > Transfer to New Phone. This app did not work. It would find the watch 6 when I had the Galaxy Wearable app open on the new Flip 5, then ask if I would agree to automatic updates (optional) - I selected NO - then next. Nothing happened. Blank white screen, and a failure notice on the watch. After 4 attempts and seeing 2 different Galaxy Watch 6 options appear in the new Flip 5's Galaxy Wearable app for syncing, I finally decided OK FINE I WILL DO THE OPTIONAL AUTOMATIC UPDATES -- still a blank white screen. I didn't want to erase and set up all over again, so I am still on the S22 Ultra. I do not know if this is a Google WearOS issue or a Samsung issue, but it was a sour experience.
- Another USB-C to USB-C device with no charger brick or USB-A adapter. At the very least, a C to A adapter would have been nice and of very little weight to help bridge the hurdle to an all USB-C world.
Beautiful, stylish smartwatch with a gorgeous screen is ruined by software quirks of Google WearOS and Samsung's fragmented health-related apps. Maybe progressive updates will fix this. Do you want to gamble $299 on a maybe?
Pros:
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 has a beautiful, wide-enough display. It was the biggest reason I could never go for a Watch 4 or 5.
- 2 side buttons with different customizable shortcut options.
- It has both a microphone to dictate text messages, e-mails, commands, etc. AND a loud speaker. You can play back YouTube Music, for example, without bluetooth earbuds.
- It has Wi-Fi, so it can connect to your network instead of just your smartphone, which helps with downloading / streaming.
- Temperature sensors which can aid better cycle tracking (ovulation timing, etc.)
- The watch can consistently charge up an extra 55% in 30 minutes. Great for quick morning or evening routines.
- If you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone with wireless power sharing features, you can place this watch on the back of your smartphone to charge up if you don't have the watch charger with you and need a top up. If you do have the watch charger, you can plug it into any USB-C smartphone or tablet and pull charge there.
- Unlike Fitbit Pay, there are more banking and credit card partners that work in both Google Wallet and Samsung Pay.
- You can control playback on your smartphone with the watch.
- GPS tracking for long walks and hiking provides a map, similar to Fitbit.
Cons:
Unfortunately, every Pro also has a con with this watch!
- While there is fast charging, the battery life is 24 hours at best. Fitbit Versa or Sense users--be prepared! I turned on the Sleep tracking feature and lost 15% overnight! I charged the watch up to 100% at 6:30 am and by 9:00 pm I was at 34% (Wi-Fi, Location, Bluetooth and NFC were turned on, and I used NFC to set up several credit cards in Samsung Pay). If I turned most of these off, where's the appeal in a smartwatch?
- I initially set up the Galaxy Watch 6 on the S22 Ultra, and it was so confusing. First, I needed to set up the watch in an app called Galaxy Wearable, then I needed to install Samsung Health to get fitness and wellness tracking, but finally I needed Samsung Health Monitor to use the ECG feature of the watch! Of course, each of these apps has its own T&C, privacy policy and profile set ups required!
- Samsung Health is presumably made by a Korean company which uses the metric measuring system, but I can only enter in glasses of water in U.S. 8 fluid ounce increments. I understand I purchased the watch in the U.S., but it's poorly thought out. They should turn on the ability to track food and water intake in metric units, like Fitbit.
- The first time I did the ECG test, I had to place 2 fingers on the two different buttons. Three days later, I went to the ECG test again, and had to go through another policy agreement screen and then was told to only use 1 finger. No idea why this has changed. Some information about how it works vs. before would be interesting.
- The watch cannot sync your sound settings with your Galaxy smartphone. If I am in a quiet space and put my phone on Silent, the watch cannot sync that setting. I have to manually go into the watch's control panel and put it on silent. If you use the Modes and Routines function of Samsung's One UI 5, you'll know how convenient it is to use Location or Wi-Fi connections to stipulate if your phone should be on silent! Connected to library wi-fi? = phone silent. At home = phone vibrate+sound. If this watch could sync with the smartphone, it'd be truly "smart."
- I feel that the Galaxy Watch 6 overstates my level of activity. It feels like I get a trophy just for puttering about. I walk around the office here and there for 2 minutes and by the time I get back to my desk to leave at the end of the day, it says I've reached my level of activity for the day?? Fitbit is more drill sergeant in that regard--I need to actually be moving for a consecutive amount of time and energy level for it to register as "exercise/workout." No freeby trophies.
- I had to figure out through complex swipes how to stop my walking workout--it was not intuitive. The Fitbit uses a simple Flag as the goal icon to end the workout.
- Although not fitness related, one of the big draws for this watch was the ability to use Google Wallet since some of my banks do not allow Fitbit Pay. Although Google Wallet works with manager major U.S. credit card issuers, and although one credit card in particular (Discover) could show up in my smartphone's Google Wallet, it just will NOT allow itself to be sent to the watch's Google Wallet app.
This isn't Samsung's fault, I thought. So I decided to try out Samsung Pay. First, the app has to be installed and set up on the phone, which defaults to an annoying Quick Access gesture which is nearly identical to the swipe up to show all apps gesture. I tried multiple times to add the Discover card and several other credit cards, and finally was successful the 3rd time I tried to add. This is after getting multiple frozen screen prompts to Add to Samsung Pay.
- The apps that are on the Watch and accompany it on the Samsung Galaxy smartphones, as ever, have English spelling mistakes littered throughout that I have never seen in my Apple Wallet or with Apple Pay. Language Localization should not be so poorly done.
- Since I started with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra but was transferring over to a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, I decided to use the Watch > Settings > Transfer to New Phone. This app did not work. It would find the watch 6 when I had the Galaxy Wearable app open on the new Flip 5, then ask if I would agree to automatic updates (optional) - I selected NO - then next. Nothing happened. Blank white screen, and a failure notice on the watch. After 4 attempts and seeing 2 different Galaxy Watch 6 options appear in the new Flip 5's Galaxy Wearable app for syncing, I finally decided OK FINE I WILL DO THE OPTIONAL AUTOMATIC UPDATES -- still a blank white screen. I didn't want to erase and set up all over again, so I am still on the S22 Ultra. I do not know if this is a Google WearOS issue or a Samsung issue, but it was a sour experience.
- Another USB-C to USB-C device with no charger brick or USB-A adapter. At the very least, a C to A adapter would have been nice and of very little weight to help bridge the hurdle to an all USB-C world.
Beautiful, stylish smartwatch with a gorgeous screen is ruined by software quirks of Google WearOS and Samsung's fragmented health-related apps. Maybe progressive updates will fix this. Do you want to gamble $299 on a maybe?
I have used two fitness trackers in the past: the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Fitbit Versa 2. I will compare the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 to the Fitbit Versa 2, since it's the only other smartwatch I have used. I tried the watch with two different Samsung Galaxy smartphones: the S22 Ultra and the Z Flip 5.
Pros:
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 has a beautiful, wide-enough display. It was the biggest reason I could never go for a Watch 4 or 5.
- 2 side buttons with different customizable shortcut options.
- It has both a microphone to dictate text messages, e-mails, commands, etc. AND a loud speaker. You can play back YouTube Music, for example, without bluetooth earbuds.
- It has Wi-Fi, so it can connect to your network instead of just your smartphone, which helps with downloading / streaming.
- Temperature sensors which can aid better cycle tracking (ovulation timing, etc.)
- The watch can consistently charge up an extra 55% in 30 minutes. Great for quick morning or evening routines.
- If you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone with wireless power sharing features, you can place this watch on the back of your smartphone to charge up if you don't have the watch charger with you and need a top up. If you do have the watch charger, you can plug it into any USB-C smartphone or tablet and pull charge there.
- Unlike Fitbit Pay, there are more banking and credit card partners that work in both Google Wallet and Samsung Pay.
- You can control playback on your smartphone with the watch.
- GPS tracking for long walks and hiking provides a map, similar to Fitbit.
Cons:
Unfortunately, every Pro also has a con with this watch!
- While there is fast charging, the battery life is 24 hours at best. Fitbit Versa or Sense users--be prepared! I turned on the Sleep tracking feature and lost 15% overnight! I charged the watch up to 100% at 6:30 am and by 9:00 pm I was at 34% (Wi-Fi, Location, Bluetooth and NFC were turned on, and I used NFC to set up several credit cards in Samsung Pay). If I turned most of these off, where's the appeal in a smartwatch?
- I initially set up the Galaxy Watch 6 on the S22 Ultra, and it was so confusing. First, I needed to set up the watch in an app called Galaxy Wearable, then I needed to install Samsung Health to get fitness and wellness tracking, but finally I needed Samsung Health Monitor to use the ECG feature of the watch! Of course, each of these apps has its own T&C, privacy policy and profile set ups required!
- Samsung Health is presumably made by a Korean company which uses the metric measuring system, but I can only enter in glasses of water in U.S. 8 fluid ounce increments. I understand I purchased the watch in the U.S., but it's poorly thought out. They should turn on the ability to track food and water intake in metric units, like Fitbit.
- The first time I did the ECG test, I had to place 2 fingers on the two different buttons. Three days later, I went to the ECG test again, and had to go through another policy agreement screen and then was told to only use 1 finger. No idea why this has changed. Some information about how it works vs. before would be interesting.
- The watch cannot sync your sound settings with your Galaxy smartphone. If I am in a quiet space and put my phone on Silent, the watch cannot sync that setting. I have to manually go into the watch's control panel and put it on silent. If you use the Modes and Routines function of Samsung's One UI 5, you'll know how convenient it is to use Location or Wi-Fi connections to stipulate if your phone should be on silent! Connected to library wi-fi? = phone silent. At home = phone vibrate+sound. If this watch could sync with the smartphone, it'd be truly "smart."
- I feel that the Galaxy Watch 6 overstates my level of activity. It feels like I get a trophy just for puttering about. I walk around the office here and there for 2 minutes and by the time I get back to my desk to leave at the end of the day, it says I've reached my level of activity for the day?? Fitbit is more drill sergeant in that regard--I need to actually be moving for a consecutive amount of time and energy level for it to register as "exercise/workout." No freeby trophies.
- I had to figure out through complex swipes how to stop my walking workout--it was not intuitive. The Fitbit uses a simple Flag as the goal icon to end the workout.
- Although not fitness related, one of the big draws for this watch was the ability to use Google Wallet since some of my banks do not allow Fitbit Pay. Although Google Wallet works with manager major U.S. credit card issuers, and although one credit card in particular (Discover) could show up in my smartphone's Google Wallet, it just will NOT allow itself to be sent to the watch's Google Wallet app.
This isn't Samsung's fault, I thought. So I decided to try out Samsung Pay. First, the app has to be installed and set up on the phone, which defaults to an annoying Quick Access gesture which is nearly identical to the swipe up to show all apps gesture. I tried multiple times to add the Discover card and several other credit cards, and finally was successful the 3rd time I tried to add. This is after getting multiple frozen screen prompts to Add to Samsung Pay.
- The apps that are on the Watch and accompany it on the Samsung Galaxy smartphones, as ever, have English spelling mistakes littered throughout that I have never seen in my Apple Wallet or with Apple Pay. Language Localization should not be so poorly done.
- Since I started with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra but was transferring over to a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, I decided to use the Watch > Settings > Transfer to New Phone. This app did not work. It would find the watch 6 when I had the Galaxy Wearable app open on the new Flip 5, then ask if I would agree to automatic updates (optional) - I selected NO - then next. Nothing happened. Blank white screen, and a failure notice on the watch. After 4 attempts and seeing 2 different Galaxy Watch 6 options appear in the new Flip 5's Galaxy Wearable app for syncing, I finally decided OK FINE I WILL DO THE OPTIONAL AUTOMATIC UPDATES -- still a blank white screen. I didn't want to erase and set up all over again, so I am still on the S22 Ultra. I do not know if this is a Google WearOS issue or a Samsung issue, but it was a sour experience.
- Another USB-C to USB-C device with no charger brick or USB-A adapter. At the very least, a C to A adapter would have been nice and of very little weight to help bridge the hurdle to an all USB-C world.
Beautiful, stylish smartwatch with a gorgeous screen is ruined by software quirks of Google WearOS and Samsung's fragmented health-related apps. Maybe progressive updates will fix this. Do you want to gamble $299 on a maybe?
Pros:
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 has a beautiful, wide-enough display. It was the biggest reason I could never go for a Watch 4 or 5.
- 2 side buttons with different customizable shortcut options.
- It has both a microphone to dictate text messages, e-mails, commands, etc. AND a loud speaker. You can play back YouTube Music, for example, without bluetooth earbuds.
- It has Wi-Fi, so it can connect to your network instead of just your smartphone, which helps with downloading / streaming.
- Temperature sensors which can aid better cycle tracking (ovulation timing, etc.)
- The watch can consistently charge up an extra 55% in 30 minutes. Great for quick morning or evening routines.
- If you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone with wireless power sharing features, you can place this watch on the back of your smartphone to charge up if you don't have the watch charger with you and need a top up. If you do have the watch charger, you can plug it into any USB-C smartphone or tablet and pull charge there.
- Unlike Fitbit Pay, there are more banking and credit card partners that work in both Google Wallet and Samsung Pay.
- You can control playback on your smartphone with the watch.
- GPS tracking for long walks and hiking provides a map, similar to Fitbit.
Cons:
Unfortunately, every Pro also has a con with this watch!
- While there is fast charging, the battery life is 24 hours at best. Fitbit Versa or Sense users--be prepared! I turned on the Sleep tracking feature and lost 15% overnight! I charged the watch up to 100% at 6:30 am and by 9:00 pm I was at 34% (Wi-Fi, Location, Bluetooth and NFC were turned on, and I used NFC to set up several credit cards in Samsung Pay). If I turned most of these off, where's the appeal in a smartwatch?
- I initially set up the Galaxy Watch 6 on the S22 Ultra, and it was so confusing. First, I needed to set up the watch in an app called Galaxy Wearable, then I needed to install Samsung Health to get fitness and wellness tracking, but finally I needed Samsung Health Monitor to use the ECG feature of the watch! Of course, each of these apps has its own T&C, privacy policy and profile set ups required!
- Samsung Health is presumably made by a Korean company which uses the metric measuring system, but I can only enter in glasses of water in U.S. 8 fluid ounce increments. I understand I purchased the watch in the U.S., but it's poorly thought out. They should turn on the ability to track food and water intake in metric units, like Fitbit.
- The first time I did the ECG test, I had to place 2 fingers on the two different buttons. Three days later, I went to the ECG test again, and had to go through another policy agreement screen and then was told to only use 1 finger. No idea why this has changed. Some information about how it works vs. before would be interesting.
- The watch cannot sync your sound settings with your Galaxy smartphone. If I am in a quiet space and put my phone on Silent, the watch cannot sync that setting. I have to manually go into the watch's control panel and put it on silent. If you use the Modes and Routines function of Samsung's One UI 5, you'll know how convenient it is to use Location or Wi-Fi connections to stipulate if your phone should be on silent! Connected to library wi-fi? = phone silent. At home = phone vibrate+sound. If this watch could sync with the smartphone, it'd be truly "smart."
- I feel that the Galaxy Watch 6 overstates my level of activity. It feels like I get a trophy just for puttering about. I walk around the office here and there for 2 minutes and by the time I get back to my desk to leave at the end of the day, it says I've reached my level of activity for the day?? Fitbit is more drill sergeant in that regard--I need to actually be moving for a consecutive amount of time and energy level for it to register as "exercise/workout." No freeby trophies.
- I had to figure out through complex swipes how to stop my walking workout--it was not intuitive. The Fitbit uses a simple Flag as the goal icon to end the workout.
- Although not fitness related, one of the big draws for this watch was the ability to use Google Wallet since some of my banks do not allow Fitbit Pay. Although Google Wallet works with manager major U.S. credit card issuers, and although one credit card in particular (Discover) could show up in my smartphone's Google Wallet, it just will NOT allow itself to be sent to the watch's Google Wallet app.
This isn't Samsung's fault, I thought. So I decided to try out Samsung Pay. First, the app has to be installed and set up on the phone, which defaults to an annoying Quick Access gesture which is nearly identical to the swipe up to show all apps gesture. I tried multiple times to add the Discover card and several other credit cards, and finally was successful the 3rd time I tried to add. This is after getting multiple frozen screen prompts to Add to Samsung Pay.
- The apps that are on the Watch and accompany it on the Samsung Galaxy smartphones, as ever, have English spelling mistakes littered throughout that I have never seen in my Apple Wallet or with Apple Pay. Language Localization should not be so poorly done.
- Since I started with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra but was transferring over to a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, I decided to use the Watch > Settings > Transfer to New Phone. This app did not work. It would find the watch 6 when I had the Galaxy Wearable app open on the new Flip 5, then ask if I would agree to automatic updates (optional) - I selected NO - then next. Nothing happened. Blank white screen, and a failure notice on the watch. After 4 attempts and seeing 2 different Galaxy Watch 6 options appear in the new Flip 5's Galaxy Wearable app for syncing, I finally decided OK FINE I WILL DO THE OPTIONAL AUTOMATIC UPDATES -- still a blank white screen. I didn't want to erase and set up all over again, so I am still on the S22 Ultra. I do not know if this is a Google WearOS issue or a Samsung issue, but it was a sour experience.
- Another USB-C to USB-C device with no charger brick or USB-A adapter. At the very least, a C to A adapter would have been nice and of very little weight to help bridge the hurdle to an all USB-C world.
Beautiful, stylish smartwatch with a gorgeous screen is ruined by software quirks of Google WearOS and Samsung's fragmented health-related apps. Maybe progressive updates will fix this. Do you want to gamble $299 on a maybe?
Images in this review
