Review: Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic

Tactility is important to me. I don't like cars that go all-in on touchscreen interfaces—I want buttons! I use a Keychron mechanical keyboard to get that clickety-clack experience when I type, and I love using the little knob to control my PC's volume. This is partly why I really like using Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch6 Classic.

Most smartwatches have you swipe on the tiny screen to move around the operating system, but the new Watch6 Classic brings back the famed mechanical rotating bezel you can twist to scroll through the various tiles and apps. Tick-tick-tick-tick. It feels like spinning the combination lock for your high school locker. Samsung removed this feature on last year's Galaxy Watch5 series, but it's back. It makes using the watch fun.

Samsung Galaxy Watch6.

Photograph: Samsung

I tested the Galaxy Watch6 Classic, and I've had a pleasant experience with it overall. Its 47-mm size is large but comfy on my wrist, with a minimal gap under the lugs. There are actually four Galaxy Watch6 models, and I appreciate this because they all have varying prices and, more importantly, sizes. I am a 6'4" man, and my wrists and palms are huge—they're better suited to the larger models. The Galaxy Watch6 has 40- or 44-mm case size options, and then there's the Galaxy Watch6 Classic, which lets you choose between 43- and 47-mm cases.

The standard Watch6 and Watch6 Classic differ in two ways outside of screen sizes and battery life. The latter is made of more durable stainless steel, whereas the Watch6 sticks with aluminum. The Classic also gets the fun rotating mechanical bezel that I love, but the basic Watch6 uses a touch bezel, which Samsung used on last year's models. I really dislike the touch bezel—mechanical all the way! These models are priced from $300 for the smallest Watch6 all the way up to $430 for the largest Classic, but you can also opt for the LTE model, which ticks the price up.

Everything else is more or less the same, from the 5-ATM and IP68 water resistance to built-in GPS support. Samsung has integrated a little button into the 20-mm straps you can push to release them from the case if you want to swap them out, but I found that it really requires some force. I wish these buttons were a smidge bigger. I swapped the silicone band out for the much nicer fabric band, but the straps aren't proprietary. You can still use any 20-mm straps you want.

Smartwatches are passive devices that I mostly interact with when they pester me. I've used the Watch6 Classic to respond to messages, delete notifications, and take the occasional call when my hands are full of grocery bags. (I used my chin to rotate the mechanical bezel to the right to accept the call!)

The Watch6 runs the new Wear OS 4 version, and the app selection on Google's smartwatch platform is slowly improving. I've used it to check my Google Keep notes, and I love using the Google Home app to control my living room fan and the window AC in my office. I really want to see more messaging apps join the platform, though. WhatsApp is now available, which is great for starting new conversations if your phone is in another room, but can Telegram come back? Or Facebook Messenger?

One new crucial addition in Wear OS 4 is the ability to finally switch phones without having to completely reset the smartwatch. As someone who tests a new phone once every few weeks, I have been asking for a feature like this for years, and I am so happy to see it here. Naturally, when I was switching back to the Pixel Fold from the Galaxy Z Fold5, it took a few minutes and everything was set up exactly the way it was before within minutes. We live in the future.

Wear OS watches have always been laggier than Apple Watches, and while Samsung and Google have made strides to reduce the stutters you see while moving through the operating system, it's still not as buttery smooth as using an Apple Watch. Even with the upgraded Exynos W930 chipset inside, you will see some slowdowns here and there.

I like using smartwatches to see basic health metrics too—mostly the ability to see what my heart rate is at any given moment and to track how little sleep I get. There's also the peace of mind with features like fall detection (you have to manually turn this on), and the option to quickly contact 911 by pressing the top side button five times. If you menstruate, you can also take advantage of skin-temperature-based cycle tracking.

The Watch6 series now has FDA-cleared irregular heart rate notifications too, along with the existing electrocardiogram, which is a nice addition. Weirdly, you still need to download a separate app for these functions (Samsung Health Monitor). There is blood pressure monitoring, but it's not available in the US, and it's not cleared by the FDA. Just keep in mind that this trio of features is restricted to people who pair the watch with a Samsung phone. If you use another Android phone like a Google Pixel, you won't be able to use the ECG or get irregular heart rate alerts.

One area where Samsung does fare well is battery life, at least when compared to smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 8 and the Google Pixel Watch. Yes, there are Garmins, Coros, and Suunto watches that can last much longer, but the 47-mm Classic lost only half its battery after a full day of use. Come morning, it had around 30 percent left, which was enough to last roughly until 5 pm the next day. This is with the always-on display, so when I turned it off, the battery comfortably stretched to two full days (with activity tracking thrown in there). It's nice not having to charge the battery every single day, but keep in mind that this is the largest of the Watch6 models. That means every other Watch6 will not last as long, which is a shame.

When compared to watches from Apple and Google, my sleep data didn't line up in terms of how long I was in REM or deep sleep, but too often, I did find that the Watch6 Classic thought I was sleeping for an extra 20 minutes longer than the Pixel Watch. It did, however, accurately catch when I fell asleep on the couch once, which the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch did not.

My favorite part of using a Galaxy Watch is the workout auto-detect and auto-pause functions. Samsung has always had excellent auto-detect capabilities, and I love not having to fiddle with the tiny screen just to start an activity. With an Apple Watch and Pixel Watch in tow, my workout results matched up pretty well—steps, active calories, and average heart rate. Even the GPS map it made of my power walk was accurate to a tee on all three.

The heart rate measurements did have some discrepancies sometimes, though. It was accurate when I did an indoor bike ride, but during a walk, I noticed that there were moments when the Galaxy Watch6 Classic showed my heartbeat was decidedly lower than the Pixel Watch and Apple Watch indicated. When I looked at the heart rate chart in the companion app post-workout, Google and Apple's chart had a similar trajectory, but Samsung's looked different. This didn't happen all the time though.

The Watch6's capabilities are fairly robust, and Samsung has been improving the app to make all the data the smartwatch collects easier to parse. However, I still think hardcore fitness folks using Android phones will want to stick to fitness trackers from the likes of Garmin. Anyone who prioritizes design (me) will probably keep the gorgeous Pixel Watch on their wrist, and if you want the absolute best battery life on a Wear OS watch, then Mobvoi's TicWatch Pro 5 beats out Samsung. Then again, no one else has a bezel that rotates. Tick-tick-tick-tick.