The Galaxy Watch 4/44mm+Bluetooth:
By: Joel Jerez
Tags: Galaxy Watch 4, Google, Technology, Samsung, Smartphones

The Galaxy Watch 4/44mm+Bluetooth:

I went to Best Buy to pick up the Watch 4, my first pre-order ever. I’ve only ever owned the Watch Active 2 almost 2 years ago, but then I stopped using it. I felt a little restricted with Samsung’s Tizen OS because it felt like I could “do” more with it, but the limitations of the OS didn’t allow me. However, Samsung’s recent adoption of Google’s Wear OS piqued my interest and I needed to try it out for myself. After a week of playing around with it with my Galaxy S21 Ultra and treating it as a digital watch with smart features, I have a lot to say about this wearable.

My wrist is 7 inches around, strap is on the 2nd to last hole. Fits well.

Day 1 — August 27th

This was the evening after picking the watch up. I was waiting for the screen protector to be ready so I can jumpstart my review that same day, but Best Buy messed that order up and I had to order a pack of some on Amazon. The only things I did that day with the watch was 10 minutes worth of exploring and updating the watch. It came with 57% battery, and charged it after I was done with it. Then, I turned it off for until I received my screen protector for it.

Day 2 — August 28th

Resisting my temptations to touch the watch, I finally succumbed towards the evening. I just needed to see what the Watch 4 could offer me that the Watch Active 2 couldn’t. My first impressions were:

Being able to use the Play Store

Smoother interface compared to what I remember from the Watch Active 2

Flat screen compared to curved on the Watch Active 2

In addition to the last bullet point, my own research led me to the conclusion that the Watch Active 2 screen protectors work just as well on the Watch 4 because of the flat screen.

I used Samsung’s Notes app to record the Watch and my usage with it. Only 3 things you need to take note of: Time, Battery Percentage, and Watch Activity.

I started the time recording late for this day. But starting the day after, I became more consistent.

Day 3 — August 30th

Took a day off to wait for the screen protector. But here’s what I did for this day.

This day was me really using it how I would expect to use it from that day forward. I permanently turned on location mainly for weather services and NFC for GPay. Media controller will be the main part of your watch if you’re constantly listening to music or watching something on YouTube on your phone.

Day 4 — August 31st

This was a slow day for activity. Mainly just let the watch operate on standby, seeing how the battery life is.

Forgot to add “turned off”, but almost 6 hours and only 4% lost? Not bad.

Day 5 — September 1st

This day, I was stuck on deciding between raise and tap to wake.

Day 6 — September 2nd

Slow day again.

Day 7 — September 3rd

Another slow day.

Day 8 — September 4th

Finally found a watchface that fits my style, permanently enabled Always On Display for now/to test how much it really drains battery. Might turn off in the future depending on how I’m feeling.

Day 9/10 — September 5-6th

September 5th

After using the watch more productively on the 5th and using it on standby for the rest of the day, I let it drain to 15% before I turned it off, to fully charge it the next day on the 6th.

I conveniently saved the best parts for last, which I noted on the 6th.

September 6th

I waited for the right moment to fully charge the watch.

A good hour will give the watch some juice for the rest of the day, especially if you use power saving mode.

In total, it took almost 2 hours to charge from 16% to 100%. Bigger battery, longer charge time.

Last, but not least, all the options I have turned on and the apps I downloaded from the Play Store.

September 8th discovery: turning off Wi-Fi in the watch settings, turns to “Auto Wi-Fi”, which turns it back on if Bluetooth is unavailable or if the watch needs it. The weather app only needs location on for refreshing.

This watch is works well. GPay was one of the things people were worried about not working, so I’m surprised to see that it works as it should.

Another thing people were worried about was the Always On Display feature, draining the battery. I haven’t seen any significant drain. I still see myself charging up almost every other day. However, there’s a weird bug/feature? where if you have AOD on and you’re doing something on the watch and let it go idle, a regular digital watch shows up and the background blurs, when it should just go straight to the AOD.

It stays there for a while before turning off and entering “Always On Display”. Doesn’t really bother me, but hope an update fixes it.

User Interface

Google Play Store

Looking forward to the lifetime of this device!