Honestly, the only reason I keep going back to the IPhone …from my S21U…is the Apple Watch. I have Active 2, GW3 and a Garmin Fenix 5s. None are even close to the AW6 imho. The integration with the apple platform is just on a different level, compared to what Samsung can achieve on their platform. Don’t get me wrong, it has gotten better, but still not even close.
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Any good alternatives to Apple Watch?
- Thread starter iHorseHead
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Too bad the Apple Watch battery life still leaves much to be desired. My 5 would wake up with 0%(bug? it never shut off!) to 27%. The only thing that made up for that was fast charging time. An hour and it was back to full.
Still, Galaxy Watch 3 does far more (IMO) and has better battery. Wake up now with 38-40% and it charges just as fast as Apple Watch.
I'd love to try Garmins out, as fitness trackers as well, but without a demo that works in any store here where I can see the UI or determine how user-friendly it is, and the hideously expensive prices, I cannot. I can't justify spending upwards of $400 on something that isn't a real smartwatch, just a fitness tracker. I'd expect more features than my Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch to get that type of price. I'm obviously not a hunter or outdoorsman so none of that type of navigation appeals to me, and I'm guessing (since all the demos are dead or dummies) that's where they excel at.
Still, Galaxy Watch 3 does far more (IMO) and has better battery. Wake up now with 38-40% and it charges just as fast as Apple Watch.
I'd love to try Garmins out, as fitness trackers as well, but without a demo that works in any store here where I can see the UI or determine how user-friendly it is, and the hideously expensive prices, I cannot. I can't justify spending upwards of $400 on something that isn't a real smartwatch, just a fitness tracker. I'd expect more features than my Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch to get that type of price. I'm obviously not a hunter or outdoorsman so none of that type of navigation appeals to me, and I'm guessing (since all the demos are dead or dummies) that's where they excel at.
I’ve had 3 Apple Watches (original, series 3 LTE and currently series 6 LTE) and I’m getting great battery life.
I place the watch on the charger while in the shower every morning. After getting dressed I put it back on (100%). Throughout the day I get a ton of notifications (email, iMessage, weather alerts, friends exercise goals, phone calls) and at least 2 workouts. I place the watch in DND and Sleep Mode before bed to track sleep and every morning I have at least 30% battery left. Get up, place watch on charter, shower, etc, repeat.
The only thing I don’t use is the Always On display.
Well I do use the AoD since a watch's intention is to tell the time and it's useful. It doesn't always wake up on wrist raise so having it enabled is convenient.
It wasn't terrible, I'd get a day or day and a half tops. I had other reasons as well (I prefer Samsung phones) and the square display feels very outdated these days. I guess I got used to the round watches. Also hated there being both a crown and a side button. I'd have preferred one button, either a side button, or just the crown centered properly. I never could adjust to the UI navigation of Apple Watch and it made me get frustrated. Naturally, I'd expect to be able to bring up control center or notification center with just scrolling the crown, but that never worked. I hated touching the screen and making it grimy. Samsung you can do everything by voice and rotating bezel. Very few instances needing to touch the screen. Another thing which spoiled me was watching the 2015 keynote for the Apple Watch. I was vastly disappointed I didn't have 'glances' along with 'time travel'. That would have been useful given a similar feature, widgets, exist on Galaxy Watches.
Also, Siri cant enable water lock mode, while Bixby can.
Additionally, the health apps matter. I hated the dark stark looking Apple version, and hated all my limited edition awards vanishing a month or so later. What's the point of earning them in the first place? To have them long enough to post a screenshot and that's it?
Samsung's health app is far more pleasing for me IMO. All my achievements, limited or otherwise remain intact.
It wasn't terrible, I'd get a day or day and a half tops. I had other reasons as well (I prefer Samsung phones) and the square display feels very outdated these days. I guess I got used to the round watches. Also hated there being both a crown and a side button. I'd have preferred one button, either a side button, or just the crown centered properly. I never could adjust to the UI navigation of Apple Watch and it made me get frustrated. Naturally, I'd expect to be able to bring up control center or notification center with just scrolling the crown, but that never worked. I hated touching the screen and making it grimy. Samsung you can do everything by voice and rotating bezel. Very few instances needing to touch the screen. Another thing which spoiled me was watching the 2015 keynote for the Apple Watch. I was vastly disappointed I didn't have 'glances' along with 'time travel'. That would have been useful given a similar feature, widgets, exist on Galaxy Watches.
Also, Siri cant enable water lock mode, while Bixby can.
Additionally, the health apps matter. I hated the dark stark looking Apple version, and hated all my limited edition awards vanishing a month or so later. What's the point of earning them in the first place? To have them long enough to post a screenshot and that's it?
Samsung's health app is far more pleasing for me IMO. All my achievements, limited or otherwise remain intact.
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Typically I wear my S4 paired to my XS and my S3 paired to my 11 everyday. I will also sim swap to my S10 and wear my S3 Frontier and I really like it. Tizen is a great alternative to the AW and I have been looking at getting a GW3.
Just don't go for the GW4 when it launches I hear it's going to WearOS which sucks compared to Tizen. I've had Wear OS and older Android Wear 1.1 and the latter was far superior to what it became after. Google Assistant on WearOS is awful compared to their speakers/phones.
GW3 is an excellent watch (though the 2018 Galaxy Watch has better battery) but the sleep tracking is sorta broken. It gets the hours right but the 'sleep score' is too low to be realistic. I got an Amazfit watch to make up for that which does far better in that regard.
I'd avoid SIM-swapping too often in a year, I've had SIMs 'hotlined' for doing it too often. Especially if I'm feeling nostalgic enough to pop one into my HTC Thunderbolt or my Galaxy S-Relay. AT&T and their MVNOs love hotlining SIMs placed into 'old' phones even if they otherwise still work.
GW3 is an excellent watch (though the 2018 Galaxy Watch has better battery) but the sleep tracking is sorta broken. It gets the hours right but the 'sleep score' is too low to be realistic. I got an Amazfit watch to make up for that which does far better in that regard.
I'd avoid SIM-swapping too often in a year, I've had SIMs 'hotlined' for doing it too often. Especially if I'm feeling nostalgic enough to pop one into my HTC Thunderbolt or my Galaxy S-Relay. AT&T and their MVNOs love hotlining SIMs placed into 'old' phones even if they otherwise still work.
Fitbit is good. Garmin has one, but if I didn't have the apple watch I'd go back to fitbit. I didn't like their charging port plug in, and at the time integrating it into the iPhone was a pain. What I did like was that I could go to a their site, log in and see all my data on the computer and then download or process it.
good luck. But fitbit would be my first choice after apple
good luck. But fitbit would be my first choice after apple
My GW3 does a great job with all the medical-related stuff. I can't speak to fall detection (which, let's be honest, is actually kind of a good thing ? ) but so far all the other stuff is just spot on.
Honestly, I think it's pretty much an Apple Watch-Samsung Watch-Garmin Watch world out there, with anything else being worn by purple who, frankly, just want something a little bit fancier than a standard mechanical or digital watch, but don't really want to spend anything for it.
Honestly, I think it's pretty much an Apple Watch-Samsung Watch-Garmin Watch world out there, with anything else being worn by purple who, frankly, just want something a little bit fancier than a standard mechanical or digital watch, but don't really want to spend anything for it.
I haven't had a fall triggered yet but I also haven't fallen since the one time on ice last winter where my Apple Watch failed to trigger a fall. Thankfully, actions such as swatting a fly, using a hammer or clapping doesn't trigger a false positive like the Apple Watch 5 tended to do.
However, if I am reading the documentation correctly, the GW3 only does fall detection during workouts. It's called 'workout fall detection' in the Galaxy Wearable app settings.
However, if I am reading the documentation correctly, the GW3 only does fall detection during workouts. It's called 'workout fall detection' in the Galaxy Wearable app settings.