Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 & Watch 8 Classic: Iterative Upgrades, Compelling Value
When a product reaches its 8th version, the focus shifts from groundbreaking innovation to refinement and meaningful upgrades. This is precisely the story of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic. While iterative, these smartwatches offer a blend of aesthetic appeal, enjoyable user experience, and robust health and fitness features, making them highly compelling options in the Wear OS market, especially in India. This review was made in collaboration with Samsung India.
Design & Build: Slim, Light, and Luxurious
Both watches showcase Samsung’s commitment to design, though with distinct characteristics:
- Galaxy Watch 8: This is the slimmest Galaxy Watch ever made, measuring just 8.6mm thin and weighing approximately 30g. It features a full armor aluminum build, making it incredibly light and comfortable for daily wear.
- Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: This model brings back the much-loved rotating bezel, providing that traditional timepiece feel. Built with a more premium stainless steel material, it weighs 64g but remains comfortable. It also includes a programmable quick button, similar to the Watch Ultra, offering fast access to your preferred activities or apps.
New Dynamic Lug System: A significant design improvement is the removal of the traditional 20mm spring-pin connector for straps. Both watches now feature a new dynamic lug system with a button on the watch itself, allowing for easy and quick strap changes.
“Squirkle” Design: Both watches adopt the “squirkle” (square-circle hybrid) design, first introduced with the Watch Ultra. This design direction gives Samsung watches a unique look and might also contribute to the ability to make the watches slimmer while accommodating a larger battery.
Durability: These watches are tough. They come with a 5ATM and IP68 rating, meaning they are suitable for swimming and tracking aquatic activities. Additionally, they boast Military Standard 810H certification, confirming their ruggedness. Reviews confirmed that even accidental bumps on sharp objects left no scratches.
Battery Life: Significant Improvements
One of the standout upgrades is the improved battery life:
- Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: Delivers an impressive 2 to 3 days of battery life, rivalling that of the Watch Ultra.
- Galaxy Watch 8: Offers about 1.5 days of usage.
These figures are achieved with Always-On Display (AOD), sleep tracking, and LTE all active, and at 70% brightness. The displays can reach a peak of 3000 nits, making them incredibly bright and easily readable both outdoors and indoors. Both watches continue to use the same magnetic charging mechanism.
Displays & Performance: Vibrant and Fluid
- Sizes: The Watch 8 comes in 40mm and 44mm sizes, while the Watch 8 Classic is available in a single 46mm size.
- Display Type: Both feature vivid AMOLED panels protected by Sapphire Crystal glass.
Software & Responsiveness: Running One UI 8 on top of Wear OS, the interface is functional, fluid, and packed with features. There’s absolutely no lag, and the UI is extremely responsive, thanks to the new 3nm Exynos W1000 system-on-chip.
Storage & RAM:
- Watch 8 Classic: 2GB RAM and 64GB storage.
- Watch 8: 2GB RAM and 32GB storage.
Gemini Integration: A truly wild feature is the support for Gemini directly on the watch. A long press of a button or saying “Hey Google” activates Gemini without needing your phone. This enables superb use cases, like instantly checking calorie counts for food or initiating activity tracking via Samsung Health. LTE support further enhances this standalone capability.
Health & Fitness: Comprehensive Coaching System
The Samsung Health app has been refined, becoming more fluid and useful, offering serious health and fitness tools:
- Health Coach System: A ground-up redesign providing advanced tracking for sleep, running, and wellness, categorized into Sleep Coach, Running Coach, and Wellness Coach.
- Sleep Coach: After three nights of tracking, it provides personalized bedtime windows, assigns a “sleep animal” (e.g., unpredictable penguin, sensitive deer), and gives a daily energy score based on sleep quality, heart rate, SpO2, and consistency. It can also detect signs of sleep apnea.
- Running Coach: Requires a 12-minute run to track heart rate, V2 max, comfort levels, and pace. It then assigns a fitness level (1-10) and a personalized 3-5 week fitness plan, offering real-time pacing feedback and a full performance breakdown post-run.
- Wellness Coach: Includes unique features like “Vascular Load” (measures cardiovascular stress using various metrics) and is the world’s first smartwatch with an Antioxidant Index (measures skin car levels by placing your thumb on the bioactive sensor, indicating fruit/vegetable intake). It also provides an “Energy Score” for daily readiness.
- Standard Features: Regular health and fitness tracking features like high-stress alerts, ECG, and irregular heart rhythm notifications are still present.
- Step Tracking Accuracy: In a 1000-step test, the watches showed only a 1-2% variance, indicating excellent accuracy.
Conclusion: Best-in-Class Wear OS Smartwatches
For anyone seeking a premium Wear OS smartwatch experience, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and Watch 8 are arguably the best options currently available. Samsung has successfully re-introduced the beloved rotating bezel, significantly improved battery life, and priced these new watches sensibly.
With attractive cashback offers of ₹12,000 for the Watch 8 Classic and ₹9,000 for the Watch 8 (with various bank cards), the effective starting prices become approximately ₹35,000 for the Watch 8 Classic and ₹24,000 for the Watch 8. These are very attractive prices for fresh smartwatches with such a comprehensive feature set.
Are you considering the Watch 8 or Watch 8 Classic? Share your thoughts in the comments! We’re also keen to know if you’d be interested in a long-term review of these watches.
Key Specifications:
- Models: Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic
- Watch 8 Dimensions: 8.6mm thin, ~30g weight (full armor aluminum build)
- Watch 8 Classic Dimensions: 64g weight (stainless steel build)
- Watch 8 Sizes: 40mm, 44mm
- Watch 8 Classic Size: 46mm (single size)
- Display: AMOLED panels with Sapphire Crystal glass protection, 3000 nits peak brightness
- Processor: 3nm Exynos W1000 system-on-chip
- RAM/Storage:
- Watch 8 Classic: 2GB RAM, 64GB storage
- Watch 8: 2GB RAM, 32GB storage
- Battery Life:
- Watch 8 Classic: 2-3 days (with AOD, sleep tracking, LTE, 70% brightness)
- Watch 8: ~1.5 days (with AOD, sleep tracking, LTE, 70% brightness)
- Durability: 5ATM, IP68, Military Standard 810H certification
- Operating System: Wear OS with One UI 8
- Special Features: Rotating bezel (Classic), programmable quick button (Classic), new dynamic lug system for straps, Gemini AI integration, advanced Health Coach (Sleep, Running, Wellness), Vascular Load, Antioxidant Index, Energy Score, ECG, Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications.
- Connectivity: LTE support.
