Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review - Solid smartwatch, inaccurate fitness watch - Android - Canadian apps and news

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review - Solid smartwatch, inaccurate fitness watch - Android

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Read our Galaxy Watch Active 2 review to see if Samsung's smartwatch is right for you.

Update: May 25, 2020: We have updated our Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review with details on ECG monitoring. Read on for more details!

It may not have looked like it, but the original Samsung Galaxy Watch Active was in need of a refresh. There was nothing wrong with the design, but we found plenty of problems under the hood — particularly with fitness and activity tracking. That’s why I was so excited to see the company release the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 so soon after the original.

We’re happy to report that Samsung fixed some of the gripes we had with the first Watch Active, but left a few of the fitness features hanging. Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review to find out why you should buy it, and why you might want to stay away.

$229 .00

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2

Buy it Now

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 Buy it Now

$229 .00

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review notes: I’ve been using our Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review unit for around four days, running OneUI Watch version 1.5, Tizen version 4.0.0.6, and software version R820XU1ASHF. Our Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review unit is the 44mm Bluetooth-only model and has been paired with my Google Pixel 3 for the duration of this review.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review: The big picture

The Apple Watch Series 5 might be far and away the best smartwatch on iOS, but Android users don’t have it that easy. Wear OS has some nice options, but doesn’t have much support from Google on the software side. And Fitbit’s smartwatches are getting better, but they’re still in their infancy.

As long as Samsung nails the hardware and continues to support its software, it should come out on top, right? Not so fast. We ran into a few big problems with the original Galaxy Watch Active — for a fitness and health tracker, it wasn’t very good at tracking fitness or health. So, whether we recommend this product or not wholly depends on if Samsung fixed those issues.

Design and hardware

Aluminum and stainless steel models
40/44mm case, 20mm strap
1.2 or 1.4-inch Super AMOLED
- 360 x 360 resolution
Touch-enabled bezel

Dual-core Exynos 9110 at 1.15GHz
Bluetooth model: 768MB of RAM
Bluetooth + LTE model: 1.5GB of RAM
5ATM, IP68, MIL-STD-810G
Built-in speaker

At first glance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 looks to be essentially unchanged from the original Galaxy Watch Active; however, there are actually a handful of notable upgrades with the second-gen device. The watch now comes in 40 and 44mm case sizes (mine is the 44mm), along with your choice of stainless steel or aluminum build materials. The stainless steel model will no doubt feel like the more premium device, but I can’t complain about the aluminum model I have on hand.

The Watch Active 2 still comes with two physical buttons on the right side of the watch case — one back button, one home/all apps button. Double-tapping the home button calls up Bixby, and a long-press of the back button brings up Samsung Pay (more on that later).