I moved over to the Pixel Watch 2 last year after getting one for free with my Pixel 8 Pro and have been really happy with the software and health tracking improvements over my prior GW4 and GW6 however I still greatly preferred the hardware of the Galaxy Watch.
With the rumors of the Pixel Watch 3 upgrades being mostly minor (brighter and slightly bigger display along with UWB but otherwise same processor, RAM, storage, and battery) I am wondering if anyone is being tempted to check out the new Galaxy Watch 7?
Obviously at this point all we know for sure is that the GW7 will have a brand new 3nm processor that should be considerably faster and more efficient than their prior processor which was quite inferior to what was in the PW2. The GW7 also has a much better screen to body ratio over even the newer slimmer bezel PW3 (the 40mm GW7 has a 1.31" display while the 41mm PW2 will have a 1.26" display) and we know that the GW7 uses far superior sapphire glass instead of the PW’s scratch prone Gorilla Glass 5.
At least for me a lot comes down to whether or not Samsung finally fixed their wonky health tracking which has been pretty mediocre for years and is far inferior to the PW2. Samsung claims they have made pretty big improvements this year, to the point that they even stated that they removed wireless power sharing to make room for the larger sensor.
Anyway, just curious on other people’s thoughts as well.
I am a runner and I wanted a running watch that also included LTE capabilities for safety reasons. Very narrow field to choose from. I bought the GW5 44mm two years ago this September. Loved it. Only problem was, those sensors you mentioned. They were simply awful, as in downright unusable. It went back in a week. The next February, I picked up the PW1. It has been outstanding, especially since I discovered a fabulous 3rd-party workout app so I could ditch FB, which I quickly came to despise. I still love my PW1, but I would like a bigger face than the 40-41 that we have currently. My eyes are just too old.
For me, my next watch will come down to just HOW big is the Ultra AND did Samsung finally get it right with the HR/GPS sensors. I anxiously await DC Rainmaker and others to do their testing. I am a smallish (5’6") male and my wrists are not big. If the Ultra looks like a hockey puck on the end of my arm, I can’t see myself wearing it. However, if it looks ok on me and the sensors are good, yes my head has been turned by the Ultra over the PW3.
Hey fellow runner/need to run more…er here! Currently on the Garmin Venu 2 and have been waiting and waiting for a 45MM PW option. I’m all in on Google and can’t wait for the PW3! Can you share the 3rd party app you use? I’m not super impressed by FB and won’t use it (unless they integrate the bundle of FB Premium with Nest aware like they did for our UK brethren a few months back)
I own both a PW2 and a GW5Pro. I had hoped to be able to upgrade the GW5 this year, but I’m not seeing any reason. I use the GW for refereeing soccer and it can run every match I have during the day without issue. The specs on the GW7 do not make it worth my while.
My PW2 is my daily driver. I use it, like most people posting here, for health metrics and basic workouts. The only time I use the GW5 for workouts is when I’m in training as the Samsung Health app has the ability to create interval training routines for running.
If the PW line had a comparable battery life and similar functionality, I’d stick with the PW line, no questions asked.
I am not tempted by any of Samsung’s garbage products. I had the displeasure of using one of their “smart” TVs this past weekend. I have never used a worse, slower, more unresponsive interface.
There are software features I want from a watch that my pixel watch 2 doesn’t provide.
Activate screen when a new notification comes in to see it at a glance instead of any gesture or tap.
Reliable lift-to-wake.
The ability to change or remove the drop-down-tray icons (I use all of 3 out of the 12).
Ability to reassign the long-press of the more-accessible rotating button; it’s locked to Google wallet but I rarely (basically never) use wallet on my watch but I frequently use Google assistant to set timers, change home AC and other devices. Not having to be relegated to the less-accessible secondary button for this, as an option, would be really nice.
Also you cannot turn off the vibration upon watch unlock on the PW2, but you can on the PW1…!
There is no native active notification that your watch has disconnected from your phone Bluetooth (there is a developer option for change of connection state, but it’s not elegant, doesn’t send a visual notification card, and doesn’t obey DND/bedtime mode).
When I started a Fitbit workout on the watch and then lower my wrist before the logging starts, it cancels out of the exercise entirely (have list parts of workouts multiple times).
It’s just a lot of lacking of fit-and-finish on the software in my opinion.
I also don’t particularly like how Fitbit represents data in the app.
I also have a galaxy watch 6, which I’ve never using since stopping my PW2 because of these and other reasons, and I opted to trade it in toward the galaxy watch 7 since the galaxy watch 7 should have better, more accurate, and more insights (perhaps more relevant insights). I like the OneUI watch design (minus the notification card design, which I wish they would have taken to a vertical list instead), I like that it’s more-customizable and less rigid.
The Galaxy Watch 7 might look nearly identical to the Galaxy Watch 6 but it now features a brand new quad core 3nm processor which is claimed to be significantly faster and more efficient than prior generations. It also has a brand new health tracking sensor and 50% faster charging than prior generation watches.
Obviously none if this might amount to anything as Samsung often makes big claims that it can’t keep but I am mostly just curious of these improvements are making anyone think about switching.
I do agree that the Samsung hassle is something to think about as I haven’t used a Samsung as my primary phone since I got a Pixel 7 Pro in October 2022 and the watches don’t work as well with non-Samsung phones although it’s not as bad as it used to be.
Not a fan of Sammy products anymore. Theyve stopped caring and been money grabbing ever since the 10 series. Note 9 was their last truly great flagship
I was kind of surprised by this, this morning. I saw where Samsung was giving up to $350 off the Ultra with a watch trade-in. When I went to their page to check it out, the only models that you could pick from were Samsung, Apple, Fitbit, and Garmin. Google nowhere to be found! If you want to trade in your Pixel Watch, you just have to select the generic “other” brand, and they’ll give you a whopping $100 off! I would have thought they’d be a little more aggressive in trying to convert Pixel Watch owners but apparently that isn’t true