Samsung Galaxy Watch8 Review: Better Than an Apple Watch?

It feels like every other week there’s a new, flashy fitness tracker making the rounds—but no smart watch seems to compare to the classic Apple Watch. Over the years, I’ve watched friends and family members give into this high-tech wrist piece, but I’ve managed to hold out, since I haven’t felt a need to make the investment.

Still, I’m not opposed to purchasing a smart watch per se, so I was excited to try a promising competitor: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch8 ($350, amazon.com), the newest version of the tech company’s flagship wearable. Maybe, I figured, I would turn over a new wellness leaf based on my experience.

Samsung

Galaxy Watch8

$350

Amazon

$349

Walmart

$350

Samsung

The setup

When a box containing the Galaxy Watch8 arrived one summer morning, I didn’t waste any time in breaking out the scissors. There it was, nestled in layers of cardboard packaging: a circular armor aluminum watch face attached to sleek white Dynamic Lug System bands that “wrap around your wrist to take heath readings with minimal space between sensor and skin,” according to Samsung.

Not being all that tech-savvy myself, I ran my new toy over to the nearest T-Mobile location rather than attempt to navigate the setup process solo. There, a friendly employee helped me out and sent me back on my way within 15 minutes—not bad at all. If you don’t have an existing Samsung account, you have the option to link your Google account, although I did have to create a Samsung account later in order to access some of the watch’s more advanced features.

Why the Watch8?

I was most excited to test out the device’s health metrics. How precisely would it evaluate my sleep, exercise, heart rate, stress level, blood oxygen level, body composition, and other biomarkers? The watch also introduces a few new statistics, including your running level, vascular load (a.k.a. heart stress), and antioxidant index (which measures carotenoid levels in your skin and is billed as the first smart watch metric of its kind; more on that in a bit!).

Even though you should never let a smart watch or other device rule your life, as SELF has previously reported (much less treat it as a replacement for your annual checkup!), it’s pretty convenient to have access to a constant stream of insight into your body (especially if you’re worried about sudden changes). Getting a personal trainer, nutritionist, sleep coach, meditation instructor, and diagnostic lab in the form of one tiny wrist accessory? Pretty damn decent for a one-time payment starting at $350. (By comparison, the latest Apple Watch Series 10 costs around $430.)

Let’s get physical

Because my personal phone is an iPhone and I don’t regularly wear a smart watch, it took me a bit to adjust to the Samsung settings and display. But, like most smart devices, the Galaxy 8 was fairly user-friendly. Instructions flashing onscreen walked me through how to swipe up, down, right, or left to bring up the specific display I wanted and how to navigate the various apps.

Once I had the basics down, I started exploring the health metrics. You’ll want to keep in mind that most of the biomarker detections aren’t automatic, so you can’t simply power on the watch and see your latest stats in real time. For example, calculating your antioxidant index requires you to take off the watch, press the pad of your thumb to the back of it, and wait a couple seconds. In a similar vein, measuring your blood oxygen level involves moving the watch up to the top of your wrist (so, taking it off yet again), placing your elbow on a flat surface, and holding the watch to your heart.

Every morning, the watch analyzes your sleep activity and heart rate from the day before to deliver your Energy Score. This number is designed to give you a quick overview of how you’re feeling, which you can then use to adjust your workouts, recovery, and sleep schedule for the day ahead. You can also tap into your Energy Score for a more detailed breakdown. (FYI, lots of other fitness trackers do this, including the buzzy Oura Ring 4.) I found that my Energy Scores were mostly accurate, but not the easiest to read (more on this in a sec).

All about the data

While most of the biomarkers were easy to figure out, I had trouble with a few. Maybe it was that I simply wasn’t all that familiar with the Samsung tech as opposed to my trusty iPhone, but I had difficulty viewing my Sleep Apnea and Energy Score stats specifically.

I also found myself wishing that some of the biomarkers delved deeper—especially the antioxidant index. Carotenoids—yellow, orange, and red pigments found in plant foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, and dark leafy greens—are hardly the only antioxidants out there (hello, flavonoids, polyphenols, and many others!), so treating them as the sole benchmark feels…flawed. Besides, what average Joe or Jane knows what a carotenoid is (or where to find them)? Without a follow-up message letting me know how to boost my intake when my levels are low, the feature struck me as gimmicky—more useful in theory than in practice.

I should note that my stress level as recorded by my watch often contradicted what I felt inside. While working on a story draft in the office one day, for example, I noticed that I was pretty tense—heart rate increasing, shoulders tight, the whole works—so I took the opportunity to test the accuracy of the watch’s stress level sensors. When I checked my reading (it seems to be based on your heart rate), I naturally expected to see a spike—but no, I was supposedly “relaxed.”

When I repeated the experiment a couple more times, I clocked the same results. Maybe I wasn’t as stressed as I thought I was? Maybe my mental stress wasn’t reflected in my physical stats (or I hadn’t been stressed long enough to see a change)? Regardless, I was disappointed to see that the watch hadn’t picked up on my emotional shift.

Bottom line

Would I buy the Galaxy Watch8 myself? Maybe—but probably down the line. While I did like a lot of the health features, I was a little dismayed by the apparent inaccuracy of certain sensors, the inconvenience involved in some of the detection processes (who wants to repeatedly take on and take off their watch throughout the day to check one specific biomarker?), and the lack of specificity in some readings (the antioxidant index, for example).

I also thought the screen could have been easier to navigate, since I had to constantly swipe every which way to pull up the apps I wanted. And, the battery life could have been longer (while the brand claims the battery can last up to 30 hours, my fully charged watch died in less than 24, and that’s with occasional use).

That said, I can very much see the Galaxy Watch8 appealing to people who are personally or professionally invested in improving their health and wellness—and willing to put in a little extra legwork to do it on the regular. After all, even if you know you should make a change for your health (like eating more vegetables or running more), there’s a big difference between hearing it from yourself and hearing it from an independent third party that’s designed to offer health advice. For me, however? I think I’ll wait until the tech has progressed a tad further to swipe my credit card.

Related:

• Oura Ring 4 Review: Is the Newest Smartring Worth the Splurge?
• I Tried Jane Fonda’s New VR Workouts, and It’s Clear the Fitness Icon Hasn’t Lost Her Groove
• Whoop 5.0 Review: A Fitness Tracker With a Holistic Focus on Health

Get more of SELF’s great product recommendations delivered right to your inbox (for free!).