The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 was announced on August 5 along with the Galaxy Note 20 series and became available for purchase on August 6 in most areas of the world. The new smartwatch offers many exciting new fitness tracking features and other options, making it a fitting successor to the Galaxy Watch Active 2. However, does that mean it is a better purchase than the Galaxy Watch Active 2?
The new Galaxy Watch 3 comes with a slightly different look, thanks to the rotating bezel and a thin minimalist design, making it more like a fashionable watch than a fitness tracker. In addition, it also has over 50,000 watch faces to choose from, which can help make the watch feel and look even more unique. Adding to its feature list is fall detection which allows a user to easily contact emergency contacts or a hospital from the watch itself. It also has a built-in and automatic sleep detection system, as well as a feature to help detect stress and walk the user through breathing exercises. However, the Galaxy Watch 3 costs around $100 more than the Galaxy Watch Active 2.
In addition to other features, the Galaxy Watch 3 also comes loaded with health features that help to make this smartwatch act as a superior fitness tracker. Its connection to the Samsung Health App allows the Galaxy Watch 3 to access hundreds of workout and training videos that can even be cast to a TV. It also includes a texting interface that makes it easier to respond to messages while on a run, by creating pre-written messages based on recent texts. That's all without mentioning the military-grade durability or the long-lasting battery life.
Is The New Galaxy Watch 3 Worth The Higher Price?
The Galaxy Watch Active 2 is still a great option for a smartwatch and especially as it shares many features with the Galaxy Watch 3, such as GPS, access to phone calls over LTE, music, and other fitness-related features. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 also includes stress and sleep trackers that are similar to those featured on the new Galaxy Watch 3 and while the battery life of the Galaxy Watch 3 is slightly better, it is very comparable. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 has a lighter weight which might make it a better option during exercise. Overall, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 looks more like a fitness tracker than a polished smartwatch and remains a very solid fitness-focused option.
In choosing between the two models, in most cases, the Galaxy Watch 3 seems like the better choice. It offers plenty of fitness-related benefits and adds many useful features and updates that make the $100 difference worth the cost. For avid golfers, Samsung offers a Galaxy Watch Active 2 Golf Edition that is probably a better purchase. It includes many golf-related features that the Galaxy Watch 3 and the Galaxy Watch Active 2 don't have, such as information on courses, shot history, and distance readings between the user and the green. Though Samsung's Galaxy Watch 3 is more expensive than the Galaxy Watch Active, the smartwatch is still reasonably priced when compared to the Apple Watch, and some of Garmin's comparable models.
Source: Samsung