The Galaxy Watch 4 Injects Samsung's Capable Hardware With Google Software (theverge.com) 25
Today, Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic -- two new wearables that are "the fruits of Samsung's smartwatch collaboration with Google," writes Becca Farsace via The Verge. From the report: The Watch 4 Classic starts at $349 for the Bluetooth model, rising to $399 for the LTE model, while the Watch 4 is a little less expensive with a starting price of $249 (or $299 with LTE). Both are available to preorder today, and ship August 27th. The big difference between the two models is that the Watch 4 Classic has one of those physical rotating bezels that we've liked so much on Samsung's previous smartwatches, while if you opt for the standard Watch 4, there's a touch-sensitive bezel accessible by swiping at the edges of the screen. The Watch 4 Classic is also made of a more premium stainless steel rather than the aluminum you'll find on the Watch 4. On the right of both watches are a pair of control buttons.
External differences aside, internally both watches share a lot of the same specs. They're both powered by the same 5nm Exynos W920 processor Samsung detailed yesterday, paired with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Battery capacity varies between sizes, but Samsung reckons you'll average around 40 hours of battery life regardless of model. There's LTE on select models, but if you were hoping for 5G, you'll be disappointed -- Samsung says it doesn't think it's worth it because the amount of data smartwatches process is too small.
But the biggest departure from Samsung's previous smartwatches is that the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic aren't running its own Tizen operating system. Instead, their software is the result of a collaboration between Samsung and Google, which was announced in May. Samsung is branding the watches' operating system as "Wear OS Powered by Samsung" although Google has called it Wear OS 3. But either way, the hope is that it combines the best of Tizen with the best of Wear OS. On Samsung's watches specifically, the interface you're looking at is One UI Watch, which is effectively Samsung's skin sitting on top of Wear OS. Think of it as Samsung's One UI software on phones, which works with Google's Android. It gives the Watch 4's interface a similar look and feel to Samsung's previous Tizen-powered watches. Google has promised its collaboration with Samsung will lead to a host of high-level benefits for Wear OS, like improved battery life, faster loading apps, and smoother animations.
External differences aside, internally both watches share a lot of the same specs. They're both powered by the same 5nm Exynos W920 processor Samsung detailed yesterday, paired with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Battery capacity varies between sizes, but Samsung reckons you'll average around 40 hours of battery life regardless of model. There's LTE on select models, but if you were hoping for 5G, you'll be disappointed -- Samsung says it doesn't think it's worth it because the amount of data smartwatches process is too small.
But the biggest departure from Samsung's previous smartwatches is that the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic aren't running its own Tizen operating system. Instead, their software is the result of a collaboration between Samsung and Google, which was announced in May. Samsung is branding the watches' operating system as "Wear OS Powered by Samsung" although Google has called it Wear OS 3. But either way, the hope is that it combines the best of Tizen with the best of Wear OS. On Samsung's watches specifically, the interface you're looking at is One UI Watch, which is effectively Samsung's skin sitting on top of Wear OS. Think of it as Samsung's One UI software on phones, which works with Google's Android. It gives the Watch 4's interface a similar look and feel to Samsung's previous Tizen-powered watches. Google has promised its collaboration with Samsung will lead to a host of high-level benefits for Wear OS, like improved battery life, faster loading apps, and smoother animations.
Infomercial nonsense (Score:2, Troll)
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It's a Slashdot rule that every story has to be posted two times. Since someone had already decided to post this story yesterday, they were contractually obligated to post it again.
$100 for a bezel? (Score:2)
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The summary is misleading. The more premium model looks entirely different.
The lower end model is obviously more targeted at the sporting/fitness demographic, while the higher end model is targeted at the premium demographic.
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Savvy.
We care about privacy now. (Score:2)
"The Galaxy Watch 4 Injects Samsung's Capable Hardware With Google Software"
Ew.
Who buys this crap? (Score:2)
Honestly, who is buying watches that have to be charged daily?! I don't get it, I really don't!
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I had a few surgeries over the past year and nearly every nurse has an Apple watch. As for charging, are you sleeping with your wristwatch on now? It charges while you sleep.
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What?
a feature of these fancy watches is sleep tracking. How can it monitor your sleep if you're not wearing it?
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nearly every nurse has an Apple watch.
But why?!
As for charging, are you sleeping with your wristwatch on now? It charges while you sleep.
Honestly, haven't used a wristwatch since they started having clocks in personal communicators.
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"But why?!"
Heh,If it matches my experience in other environments, it's because they aren't permitted to be using their personal phones 'at work', but the rules haven't caught up to watches. So if they wear a smart watch they can still get texts from their kids, and various other notifications without getting busted.
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Now that is interesting. I approve of this rule skirting since they aren't exactly going to be playing Angry Birds on their watch.
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I have an $10 Decathlon electronic watch.
After some three years on the same battery, it starts to degrade - while the backlight is basically as strong as ever, when it's lit the display loses contrast.
If I wake up at night, I can see the time without fumbling for a mobile phone - which might fall from the nightstand.
Also, the mobile phone's background light changes intensity only slowly, and starts from the value of the last "lock screen" - which means that, if the screen was locked in bright light, the fir
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The real trick is getting it to explode at the right time.
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I have an older smartwatch (Amazfit Pace) for about three years now, and it is still doing two weeks on a charge, give or take.
I was kinda looking forward to this until I say the battery life. I'm not getting one I need to charge every f* day.
Does it make calls? (Score:2)
If so, I can throw away the phone in my pocket.
Otherwise, I guess the LTE market is for joggers that want to stream music from the internet to their Bluetooth airbuds. But why not just download an offline playlist before you leave the apartment?
I guess there's a 'family' device and data plan common to all of the 4G devices one might own or the monthly bills could get expensive.
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A friend had a previous generation LTE wristwatch. It could only send and receive SMS.
Any 'phone' operations had to be tethered to a smartphone. Which kind of defeats the purpose if you leave your phone at home while you're doing your daily step counting and someone calls you.
Re: Does it make calls? (Score:2)
"Otherwise, I guess the LTE market is for joggers that want to stream music from the internet to their Bluetooth airbuds"
My smartwatch works fine as a remote control for my collection of MP3s.
I like to keep much of my stuff off line because I don't want to depend on "the cloud", and sometimes "the cloud" is not accessable at the moment.