Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic are some of the safest Wear OS watches to buy if you want something reliable, stable and packed with features.
Samsung didn’t go back to the drawing board with either of these watches, having just evolved its design slightly and updating the specs with a few new features thrown in for 2023. But that fits the same trend other smartwatches have adopted this year; the Apple Watch Series 9 and Pixel Watch 2 are iterative updates to solid smartwatches, and Samsung’s newest Galaxy Watches are no different.
With slightly bigger screens, upgraded sleep tracking, more accurate heart rate tracking and some neat software tricks, are the $300 Watch 6 and $400 Watch 6 Classic worth picking up? Let’s find out.
The standard Galaxy Watch 6 is a great pick for Samsung users who want the most affordable, sportiest watch in the company's lineup.
If you're willing to pay up for a more refined design, the Watch 6 Classic is an excellent choice.
What we liked about them
Bigger and brighter screens for the win
The Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic both come with bigger, brighter screens than their predecessors, which in turn make them easier to see in practically any condition you can think of.
The displays are about 20% larger on each model. The smaller 40mm and 43mm models feature 1.3-inch displays, while the 44mm and 47mm models have 1.5-inch displays. This gives you more room to see things like fitness stats, your watch face and apps. The size difference isn’t gigantic, of course, and you still have to deal with some slim but noticeable bezels. But compared to the Watch 5 series and the Watch 4, I’ve definitely enjoyed the extra room afforded by the Watch 6 and 6 Classic.
What’s even better than a bigger screen? A brighter one! Samsung cranks both watch screens all the way up to 2,000 nits, which lines up with other smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. It’s abundantly easy to see these screens in direct sunlight, which is especially helpful if you use these watches for hiking or kayaking where you’re spending a lot of time in the sun.
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is a stunner, while the regular Watch 6 is perfectly sporty
Both screens sit atop watches that, well, look a lot like Galaxy Watches. Samsung isn’t reinventing the wheel here; instead, it’s sticking to a familiar design language that’s recognizable from a mile away as a Galaxy Watch.
That’s not a bad thing, mind you. Both the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic are good-looking watches with metal and glass enclosures, 5 ATM water resistance for withstanding up to 50 meters of water and military-grade drop protection. They’re both round, which will appeal to folks turned off by the Apple Watch’s squared-off appearance, and they both pair nicely with what you’re wearing.
The Watch 6 is the sportier one of the pair with a clean, minimal aesthetic that’ll pair great with your gym fit or otherwise. Meanwhile, the Watch 6 Classic resurrects Samsung’s more luxurious design aesthetic from Watch Classic models of the past. It comes with a raised rotating bezel that makes controlling the UI a lot easier, stainless steel instead of aluminum, a faux leather band with a silicon undercarriage and a beefier build that looks and feels more substantial. Overall, it’s the one to buy if you care the most about style.
You get two sizes to pick from with each watch, as well as two colors each. For the Watch 6, that includes black or gold, while the Watch 6 Classic comes in black or silver. I think the silver option is the winner on the Watch 6 Classic, as is gold on the Watch 6, but hey, you do you.
For this review, I was sent the 44mm Watch 6 and 47mm Watch 6 Classic, and they sit nicely on my wrist. I’m surprised that the 47mm model isn’t impossible to pull off given the size of my wrist. It doesn’t look egregiously obnoxious or anything; it just wears more like a G-Shock than a typical smartwatch. Of course, if you want something a bit sleeker and understated, the regular Watch 6 will be the way to go.
Straightforward fitness tracking with a ton of variety
Strap these watches to your wrist and you have some of the most advanced fitness trackers on the market at your disposal. As you’d expect, Samsung has thrown in basically every health sensor you could ask for to monitor everything from heart rate and blood oxygen to body composition and — new to the Watch 6 — skin temperature. Paired with more accurate health-tracking algorithms and a tweaked fitness-tracking experience, the Galaxy Watch 6 series with its 3-in-1 BioActive sensor is great for both beginners and gym enthusiasts alike.
Over 100 different workout options are available through the Samsung Health experience on the Watch 6, which is great if you like to track specific workouts during a session. Speaking of which, you can also string together workouts during a session to keep tabs on them more easily. All of your data gets fed into the Samsung Health app on your phone where you can see your stats over time.
New to the Watch 6 are irregular heart rate notifications, which can alert you if your heart goes above or below your average range over time. While the feature should not be used as a medical device, it can be helpful for tracking signs of atrial fibrillation (Afib). Also new is skin temperature monitoring, which can not only be used while sleeping but also to anticipate and track menstrual cycles. I obviously didn’t use that feature during my testing, but I’ve heard from some of my fellow reviewers that it works well.
Samsung has also improved general heart rate tracking to help you reach certain goals during your workout. With Personalized Heart Rate Zones, your Watch 6 will automatically identify the range your heart is capable of and give you a few intensity levels to achieve certain goals like burning fat, maintaining your cardiovascular health and more. Once you reach them, it’ll alert you and help keep you on track. I found this abundantly helpful, especially for those who want to lose weight, since it’ll flat out tell you how hard to work your heart rate to start burning calories.
Beyond that, the experience of tracking your fitness with the Watch 6 will feel familiar to anyone who’s used a modern-age smartwatch. Samsung kept it largely the same as the Watch 5 and Watch 4 with similar iconography, interfaces and experiences throughout Samsung Health. It’s easy to pick up on, customize to your liking and manage your fitness progress over time.
Better sleep tracking that actually helps you catch more Zzzs
Samsung made a few improvements to sleep tracking on the Galaxy Watch 6 that don’t just offer you more data, but actually can help you get more rest at night.
The watch will track your sleep stages and outline when you’re getting light sleep, REM or deep just like with other Galaxy Watches. You also get snore detection to help you keep tabs on when you snore during the night, as well as skin temperature readings. All of that data can be viewed in the Samsung Health app, just like before.
New with the Watch 6 are Samsung’s Sleep Score Factors, which generate scores based on your total amount of sleep, the quality of your sleep and how well you’ve physically and mentally recovered from the previous day. These scores are tallied up and given to you each morning so you can understand how well you’re sleeping. What’s more, you’ll also receive Sleep Messages and Sleep Coaching, which will give you tips on how to improve your sleep. After wearing the watch for seven days to bed, you’ll even get a sleep animal that represents the kind of sleeper you are (similar to Fitbit).
Compared to other smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch, these data points are far more valuable than just a chart showing you how much REM sleep you got last night. Having my watch actively encourage better behaviors like pumping the brakes on alcohol or caffeine too late in the day, going to bed earlier or getting more fresh air is abundantly helpful, especially if I’m going through a tougher time going to sleep at night.
Wear OS + One UI = an easy smartwatch experience
Samsung includes Wear OS 4.0 on the Galaxy Watch 6 with One UI 5.0 on top. That’s an upgrade over Wear OS 3.0 which was included on the Watch 5, but it’s largely the same operating system save for a few UI tweaks.
That’s not a bad thing, mind you. Ever since Google and Samsung started developing Wear OS together a few years ago, it’s become a viable alternative to Apple’s watchOS. There are plenty of ways to customize the watch face (including a slew of third-party options in the Play Store), Tiles are a convenient way to glance at information, third-party app support is solid (and getting better with new additions like WhatsApp and Audible), and it’s easy to find whatever you’re looking for through a combination of taps and swipes. If you’ve never used Wear OS before, you won’t have any trouble getting acclimated.
One thing I like about One UI on the Watch 6 is the notification system. Swipe right on the watch face and you can cycle through all of your notifications with full-screen previews. The Apple Watch has a separate sheet that you pull down from the top to see your notifications, and you only get tiny previews of each one. The notifications you get on Wear OS are much larger and more interactive, which is convenient since you can quickly act on something or swipe it away if it’s of no interest.
Oh, and there’s a new Samsung Wallet app that lets you store all of your credit and debit cards, rewards cards, tickets and more right on your wrist. It’s a much more convenient app than the old Samsung Pay app was, and I’m glad it’s here.
What we don’t like about them
Performance and battery life are spotty
The Galaxy Watch 6 is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos W930, its newest processor designed for smartwatches. Unfortunately, it faces the same issues as many Exynos processors have in the past, including inconsistent performance and battery life.
Day to day, the Watch 6 and 6 Classic would perform well enough to fire up a fitness session or manage my notifications, but at random times, they’d slow down for no apparent reason. Swiping the quick settings panel down was enough to freeze the watches a handful of times, as was swiping through my Tiles or trying to hit the home button to return to my watch face.
Compared to other watches I have on hand like my Apple Watch Series 8 and Pixel Watch 2, the Galaxy Watch 6 is much slower. The Apple and Google watches feel smoother and more responsive, and their performance is far more stable than what Samsung’s Exynos chip can kick out. It isn’t unusable, but it’s not as pleasant as other smartwatches.
Battery life is also a letdown. Like I said earlier, I have the two big versions of the Watch 6 and 6 Classic, and I struggle to get through a full day with each of them. Samsung claims they can last up to 40 hours on a charge, and that might be true if you barely use your watch.
But if you’re like me and keep the always-on display turned on, track your sleep at night and track a couple of workouts throughout the day, you’ll be running out of battery life before you go back to bed. I’ll admit, on days when I didn’t work out I would have about 35% to 45% in the tank, which was enough to carry me into the second day. However, I was never able to get the full 40 hours Samsung claims, so if long battery life is a requirement of yours, the Watch 6 won’t be for you.
Need a “Pro” watch? You have to buy the old one
While the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic are great for average fitness enthusiasts and even quintessential gym rats, you won’t find an Apple Watch Ultra-equivalent experience with either.
That’s because there’s no Watch 6 Pro this year. Instead, Samsung is keeping the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro from last year in the lineup, which means if you want features like a more durable design, GPS route tracking and longer battery life, you have to buy a watch from a year ago with slower performance and shorter software support.
That might not be a big deal to some who just want a Galaxy Watch that they can take hiking or rock climbing, but for anyone who wants the latest and greatest from Samsung, you’re out of luck.
Galaxy watches remain best when paired with Galaxy phones
You can technically pair a Galaxy Watch 6 to an iPhone or another Android phone, but if you want to take advantage of all the watch’s features, you have to own a Samsung phone.
Things like electrocardiograms and irregular heart rate rhythms require the Samsung Health Monitor app, which is only available on Samsung phones. Other features like do not disturb syncing and the remote shutter for your camera also require a Samsung phone to operate.
If none of the above are features you use in your everyday life, you may not mind losing access to them if it means you can use the phone of your choice. But for anyone looking to maximize the functionality of their Galaxy Watch 6, you’d better pair it to a Galaxy phone.
Bottom line
The Galaxy Watch 6 is a nice upgrade over the Watch 5, while the Watch 6 Classic brings back a fan-favorite design and a performance boost over the Watch 4 Classic. But should you buy either of them?
The short answer is yes. In the world of Android smartwatches, Samsung’s have always reigned as some of the best smartwatches you could get, and that’s no different with the Watch 6 series. If you have a Samsung phone, they should be the first watches you think of, since you’ll get the most seamless experience possible.
For those with other Android phones, another popular pick is the Pixel Watch 2, which is faster and more capable this year. It’s a good alternative to the Watch 6, but if you need something a little bigger or aren’t a fan of Fitbits, you should definitely go the Samsung route. And of course, if you own an iPhone, just buy an Apple Watch.
At the end of the day, Samsung has designed two smartwatches with great fitness features, nice designs and all the smartwatch goodies you could ask for. While performance and battery aren’t quite up to par with other watches on the market, the Galaxy Watch 6 remains one of the best smartwatches you can get, and it’ll stay that way well into 2024.
