Design
The Samsung Watch8 Classic is a great smartwatch with long battery life. The design can be a bit unusual, though, featuring a unique combination of a circular screen and a square frame. While I don't mind the shape, I feel this design choice makes it a bit chunkier.
In addition, the band of the watch doesn't have a lot of holes, and for a big guy like me, I had to put the band in the last hole. One drawback is that this watch won't fit bands made for previous watches. It uses a proprietary attachment mechanism that clicks into place. The mechanism is easier to install compared to previous watches, but the button can be a bit hard to press with your bare hands. I had to use a pen to press down on the button to remove the strap.
Although the watch can be worn at night to track your sleep, I find the watch a bit uncomfortable for to wear all night. It affected my sleep quality, causing me to wake up several times.
As with the other classic lines, the watch has a dial to help navigate the menu without touching the screen.
It also comes with 3 action buttons. However, the buttons are not as customizable as I would like.
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| Action buttons on the watch. Note that the watch is using the Spigen Lite Fit Strap |
Only the top button is customizable to launch any app. The middle button is relegated to a few Samsung apps:
- Samsung Health
- Stopwatch
- Flashlight
- Water lock
- Camera Controller
- Voice Recorder
It can also be turned off if you don't use it.
The bottom button is relegated to recent apps or going to the previous screen.
Performance and Software
The watch comes with Wear OS 6. This comes with a slight change in interface. The notifications are grouped vertically. In addition, you can combine some tiles into a daily recap screen. For me, this feature allows me to see all the important daily stats, such as weather, upcoming events, battery life, and physical attributes, all on the same page rather than having to scroll through one tile at a time.
Otherwise, the interface is similar to previous Samsung watches, which I can't complain about since the UI is refined enough to make navigation through the different options seamless. The watch is snappy and responds well to user input.
However, what I find frustrating is that some of the old watch faces that I used on my previous watches do not work and require me to edit them to get them working.
The watch routines sync with the phone, and almost all the watch functions can be adjusted using the connected phone. That means you don't have to fumble around the screen to adjust the options you want.
Health features
The watch comes with a wide array of health features, along with the usual heartbeat, blood oxygen monitor, and activity tracker.
It can also measure blood pressure, but it needs regular calibration with a physical blood pressure machine.
A new sensor on this watch is the antioxidant measurement, which supposedly can measure the amount of antioxidants in your blood. However, I have no way to test whether it's accurate or not.
The watch can detect signs of sleep apnea, which can be handy.
Battery life
I was able to squeeze 4 days of use from this watch, but I don't wear the watch overnight.
Summary
In summary, this watch's main benefit is its long battery life. However, the watch is a bit chunky, and I don't find the default watch band too comfortable. The chunkiness means that the watch may not be too comfortable to wear to bed. Nevertheless, it is a good and stylish smart watch to wear to events or during the day.
