Best Samsung smartwatch: Helping you find the perfect Samsung wearable

Ever since the original Samsung Galaxy Gear was
unveiled back in September 2013, we’ve seen some great
smartwatches land from the Korean company – but which Samsung smartwatch should you buy? What Samsung smartwatch is the best for you?
With Apple continuing to be a major player, Fitbit entering the smartwatch game with the Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Versa along with the horde of Wear OS smartwatches, the crop to choose from has never been stronger.
Read this: Complete guide to the Samsung Galaxy rangeIf you’re interested to see why you should opt for a Samsung smartwatch, though, then read on to see what’s currently on offer.
Got any questions? Let us know in the comments section below.
The best Samsung smartwatch: Samsung Galaxy WatchThe Galaxy Watch is clearly Samsung taking everything it’s learned in smartwatches and finally putting it all together. The design is a blend of the Frontier and Classic S3 models. It’s also decided to go to two sizes for the first time, with 42mm and 46mm options.
Elsewhere, you’ve got a 1.3-inch (46mm) or 1.2-inch (42mm) AMOLED display with a resolution of 360 x 360. There’s 5 ATM water certification so you can take it swimming, NFC for contactless payments, GPS and – of course – a heart rate sensor.
This is also the debut device for Tizen 4.0, which comes with a new My Day watch face that gives you a lovely overview of your day. There are also new wellness features like stress and sleep tracking. Plus, 21 new workouts for those of you who want to track the likes of lat pulldowns.
Plus, like other Samsung smartwatches, it’s still got Spotify support, offline music support with 4GB of storage and a healthy selection of apps – though not quite to the level of Wear OS or Apple Watch. There’s also a 4G model if you want that extra hit of connectivity support.
All of this is in a package that’ll last you two to three days on a single charge. Plenty for a couple of nights of sleep tracking without having to worry. You can also push to four days if you avoid certain features, like GPS. Samsung has done everything right here, and that’s why it’s the best Samsung smartwatch you can buy.
Price: £279.99 | AmazonWareable verdict: Samsung Galaxy Watch reviewBuy it if you want… a classy smartwatch packed with features
The next-best Samsung smartwatch: Samsung Galaxy Watch ActiveIn close second is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, natural successor to the Samsung Gear Sport.
Like its predecessor, it’s all about keeping you moving offering many of the same features as the Galaxy Watch. So you’re getting built-in GPS, a heart rate monitor, swim tracking, 24/7 fitness tracking and mindfulness features like guided breathing exercises.
It’s significantly smaller than both Galaxy Watch models featuring a gorgeous 1.1-inch 360 x 360 touchscreen display. One thing you won’t get is that rotating bezel you’ll find on the Galaxy Watches and the most recent Samsung Gear models.
Samsung’s Tizen OS runs the show with the company’s OneUI landing on a smartwatch for the first time. It handles notifications well, offers solid music features including Spotify offline playlist support and decent collection high profile apps you can download from the Galaxy Store.
With the drop down in size comes a drop in battery performance, so it’ll manage 1-2 days but it’s likely to be closer to one and half days based on our experience. But for the price, the Galaxy Watch Active offers great value for money.
£229.99, AmazonWareable verdict: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active reviewBuy it if you want… a smaller (and cheaper) alternative to the Galaxy Watch and Wear OS watches
Best Samsung smartwatch for battery life: Samsung Gear S3 FrontierBased on our time with all of these smartwatches, it’s the Gear S3 Frontier that served us up the most playtime before we had to reach for that charger.
The sportier, more rugged of the Gear S3 models is still crammed with features including built-in GPS, a heart rate monitor, Samsung Pay and all of those staple smartwatch skills. There’s also an LTE option if you want a more standalone experience too.
The 46mm watch body means it’s not going to be a great fit for those with skinnier wrists, but if you’re all about that outdoor watch look, the Gear S3 is going to have appeal. It has a great touchscreen display and includes that rotating bezel to help navigate Samsung’s Tizen OS operating system.
Samsung has been good in offering regular software updates to the Gear S3 adding new features and optimising existing features since its launch, so it’s a smartwatch that has improved over time and should be supported for some time yet.
While it’s essentially now been replaced by the Galaxy Watch, you can still pick up the Gear S3 Frontier for a decent price from other retailers. If you don’t mind having the latest Samsung smartwatch and can live without things like Bixby and a waterproof design, there’s still a lot to like about this big Samsung watch.Price: £209| AmazonWareable verdict: Samsung Gear S3 reviewBuy it if you… want a big Samsung smartwatch that offers big battery life
The cheapest Samsung smartwatch: Samsung Gear S2Not everyone will embrace the bigger design of the newer Gear S3 or want the active look of the Galaxy Watch Active – or they simply don’t want to spend big on a smartwatch. So what’s stopping you from taking a look at a smaller sibling?
Boasting a beautiful round-faced display that guns straight for the Apple Watch, the Samsung Gear S2 was the company’s first model to feature the revered and intuitive rotating bezel.
Like its successors, the range offers two variants – the standard Gear S2 and the S2 Classic – with the latter also offering a 3G model and GPS tracking. This means the device is still able to compete alongside the smartwatch heavyweights and assist you with all your fitness and activity tracking needs.
You will miss out on features like waterproofing and it doesn’t offer as much room for customization as other models on this list. But we’re still big fans of the Gear S2, and we think you will be too.
Price: £149.99| AmazonWareable verdict: Samsung Gear S2 reviewBuy it if you… want a cheaper, smaller Samsung smartwatch, which still packs that all-important rotating bezel.
The best Samsung fitness tracker: Samsung Gear Fit2 ProWe should start that Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Fit and Fit e fitness trackers that look set to replace the Gear Fit2 Pro. However details of when they’ll land are still scarce. So if you’re desperate for a Samsung fitness tracker that’s more band than watch-like in design, this is the one you should be going for.
Things haven’t changed since the previous Fit; you still have the 1.5-inch curved AMOLED display, for example, which is one of the best in the business for brightness and vibrancy. However, the headline act here is the waterproofing up to 5 ATM.With swimming allowed, there are also some new abilities for swim tracking. Expect the Fit2 Pro to record lap time, lap count, and stroke type. You can also link it up to the Speedo On swimming platform.
Almost everything else is the same. You’ve still got GPS and GLONASS support, Tizen is still under the hood to power apps, the Fit2’s automatic exercise tracking makes a return, and there’s 4GB of storage for music. Samsung also partnered up with Under Armour, which means its suite of apps, which include MyFitnessPal, Endomondo, UA Record and MapMyRun are all pre-loaded.
Price: £129.99 |AmazonWareable verdict: Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro reviewBuy it you want… a fitness tracker and a smartwatch but haven’t got money for both. There are Garmin and Polar devices that tick this box, too, but none with such an awesome display.