Samsung has announced a large number of devices in this year's Unpacked program. There were the Galaxy Fold 5 and Flip 5 folding phones, the Galaxy Tab S9 tablets and the Galaxy Watch 6 series sports watches.
If you were expecting massive improvements, you will be disappointed. That said, there are some significant changes to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 this year that might appeal to some people who aren't quite sold on the Galaxy Watch 5 yet.
However, the basic principles are the same. These watches use Google's Wear operating system. You can track your run and period, you can download additional apps, and the smart heart rate sensor hardware notifies you when it detects unusual heart behavior.
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However, today I'm only going to cover the main differences between the Galaxy Watch Series 5 and Galaxy Watch Series 6.
The return of the classic model
The Galaxy Watch Classic series was discontinued last year. Gone is the Galaxy Watch 5 with the rotating bezel that was once the hallmark of Samsung's "classic" watches.
This line is back, as is the Cell Phone Ring. As an alternative, the Apple Watch Digital Crown is used, for example, which makes it possible to move around the user interface without hiding the touchscreen.
However, you have to pay more. That's $100 more for the Classic than the standard Watch 6, with starting prices of $299 and $399, respectively.
The Classic models are also slightly larger at 43 or 47mm across, compared to 40 or 44mm for the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. Bigger screen,
smaller
bezels
. larger screen for a body of the same diameter.
The 44mm Galaxy Watch 5 has a 1.4-inch display, while the Galaxy Watch 6 has a 1.46-inch display. They believe that this rendering serves to increase the visibility of what is shown on the screen. Not exactly. By cutting the edges of the screen, the Galaxy Watch looks smoother and stands out a bit better than the Apple Watch Series 8, which has very sharp edges.
Slightly larger battery capacity
Battery capacity has improved slightly this year, but not enough for Samsung to make any big claims about battery life.
The smaller versions of the standard and classic Galaxy Watch 6 have 300mAh batteries instead of 284mAh. The higher variants range from 410 mAh to 425 mAh. 3.5-6% does not significantly change the actual resistance of the battery.
Faster Processor
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 uses the Exynos W920 processor, while the Galaxy Watch 6 and W930. The chipsets are quite similar.
Both support Bluetooth 5.3 and are based on the same 5nm manufacturing process. However, initial reports suggest that the new model offers around 10% more power.
First Verdict:
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is clearly not a must-have for Galaxy Watch 5 owners. Again, this is a conservative upgrade. But one has to wonder what Samsung could have added without changing the cost. We're paying $20 more this year, which isn't a huge increase given the current rate of inflation.
So the good news is that the Samsung Galaxy 5 Pro falls behind. Its XL battery sets it apart from the standard Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 6.
Intervention of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Series 6: the triumphant return of the rotating ring.
