Samsung Galaxy Watch 3: Everything you need to know

Alongside the Galaxy Note 20, Samsung also announced a couple of very interesting devices at the just-finished Galaxy Unpacked Event. While much of the chatter has been on the latest update to the legendary Note series, the Galaxy Watch 3 was also announced—and yes, they kept the physical rotating bezel, as leaks suggested.

In fact, a lot of information that was drip-fed over the past few days/weeks/months has been confirmed. If you’re looking to find out what Samsung has in store with its latest new flagship wearable, here’s everything that you need to know, plus some extra tidbits for good measure.

Ready?

Price and availability

The Galaxy Watch will be available in two different sizes: 45mm and 41mm—both are available in LTE and Bluetooth-only variants. The larger 45mm Galaxy Watch 3 is available in Mystic Silver and Mystic Black, while the smaller 41mm watch has colour options of Mystic Bronze and Mystic Silver.

Meanwhile, you can also opt between a stainless steel watch case or a pricier titanium version which will only be available in Mystic Black. Pricing has not been confirmed yet, although we’ll be sure to update this article when we receive word.

The Galaxy Watch 3 will be available in select markets from the 6th of August 2020, with plans to expand after. However, the titanium edition will only be available at a later date in the future. Meanwhile, official pricing in Malaysia is as follows:

Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 (41mm) – from RM1,699
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 (45mm) – from RM1,799
*Pricing for titanium version TBA

Pre-orders will begin in Malaysia at 10am, from the 6th of August till the 20th of August 2020 (while stocks last), with a complimentary wireless charging pad worth RM239 included.

Specs

As expected, the physical rotating bezel returns as an intuitive way to navigate through Tizen OS, although this time Samsung has designed a slightly slimmer bezel for a sleeker overall look. According to Samsung, the Galaxy Watch 3 is 14 percent thinner, 8 percent smaller, and 15 percent lighter than the original Galaxy Watch.

Despite the lack of an “Active” moniker, the Galaxy Watch 3 still offers much of the same fitness features: over 120 video fitness programmes via Samsung Health, SpO2 and VO2 Max tracking, running form analysis, and an after-run report that gives you a summary of your performance.

You can also use the smartwatch as a remote with compatible phones—including the Galaxy Note 20, of course—and control the camera, presentations, music playback, and more. Overall, much of the software aspect of things is already (or will be) available on other Galaxy watches: Tizen OS makes sure of that.

Onto the watch itself. The Galaxy Watch 3 comes in two variants: a 41mm version with a 1.2″ AMOLED display, along with a larger 45mm version with a 1.4″ display. That’s a smaller overall footprint with the same display, compared to the previous Galaxy Watch.

Other notable upgrades include an ECG sensor (subject to region) and a blood pressure monitor, while you’ll still have IP68 and 5ATM certifications, which should be good for the swimmers out there. You also have 8GB of onboard storage for storing tracks from supported music streaming services such as Spotify, while there’s also 1GB of RAM—pretty much expected.

There’s also the addition of fall detection, something that Apple Watch users have been enjoying for some time now. Basically, the Galaxy Watch 3 detects cases of potential falls, with an SOS notification automatically sent out to preset emergency contacts.

Finally, the launch also confirmed the new hand gestures that have been rumoured for awhile now. Clench your fist to receive a call, rotate your wrist to ignore—you get the picture.

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