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Samsung Galaxy Watch on our wrists, in both sizes

Samsung's newest smartwatch goes for more battery life, plus LTE.

David Carnoy
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks.
David Carnoy
Samsung Galaxy Watch
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Samsung has another watch, just in time for 2018 smartwatch season: the Samsung Galaxy Watch.

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The new watch comes in two sizes: 42 and 46mm. Both have AMOLED displays.

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Here are both sizes on my wrist. The 42mm is $330 (£279) and 46mm is $350.

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The smaller 42mm watch comes in rose gold, black and silver. The 46mm version only comes in silver.

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Samsung Galaxy Watch is a new name for its smartwatch line. Before this, all the smartwatches were known by the Gear brand.

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The specs look promising: heart rate, GPS, swim-ready water resistance, and optional stand-alone LTE models.

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The 22mm (46mm) or 20mm (42mm) straps are replaceable.

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Battery life is improved: it's supposed to last several days on a charge.

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The 42mm watch has a 270-mAh battery. The 46mm version has a considerably larger 472-mAh battery.

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The case seems thicker than last year's Gear Sport watch. But this watch is 5ATM water resistant, which means showers, swims and more are all possible.

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The band feels nice.

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Spotify is available, just like last year. Songs can be streamed or downloaded.

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Keep in mind, these are the Bluetooth models. The LTE-equipped watches will arrive at a later date, price TBD.

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The leather strap looks sharp.

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The circular 1.3- or 1.2-inch display, depending on the watch size, has a 360x360-pixel resolution, is always on and is covered in Gorilla Glass DX+.

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A new calendar watch face has an interesting spin on appointment-keeping.

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Heart rate also measures stress in a new mode.

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Stress levels can be measured, and if you're iffy, a "breathe" mode is available that encourages deep breaths, much like what Apple Watch and Fitbit offer.

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The watch still uses Samsung's Tizen software and Gear apps. Samsung's watches work on Android phones, and even iPhones (but the conduits and app support aren't as good).

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The rotating bezel is back, and remains a clever spin on design and control. There are also two side buttons.

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Bixby will be the watch's voice assistant, when it launches.

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The watch has 4GB of storage.

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These watches also have Samsung Pay, and a built-in barometer.

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Apps are still shown in a wheel-like array.

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Keep in mind, though: this watch is sneaking out ahead of Google and Apple's next expected watches.

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A new wave of Wear OS devices could outperform this. And the Apple Watch will doubtless have new features, and maybe a new design.

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But the Samsung Galaxy Watch seems to have a really complete set of features, and a battery life that will stand above other high-performance watches.

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The watch recognizes 39 activities, and autorecognizes six.

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Watch faces still look good.

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Samsung's news-headline app.

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How will this watch perform? We haven't reviewed it yet.

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A look at some of the activity modes.

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Spotify might be worth it for those who subscribe.

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Also, Samsung's watches can do sleep tracking, something Apple Watch and Wear OS watches don't really do yet.

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Stay tuned for more, and read our Galaxy Watch hands-on.

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