Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic: First impression disappointed

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It all sounded so good at the unpacked event. Samsung wanted to offer the perfect mix of good hardware and a completely redesigned Wear OS platform. For the time being, this will only work on paper.

Pleasure from the author of these lines. On Friday afternoon, DHL will deliver the 46-millimeter version of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. We chose the black version. It looks much more elegant and modern than the Watch 3. The workmanship suggests comparisons with the Apple Watch 6. The rotating bezel has become even more filigree and is visually less noticeable. In short: The Watch 4 Classic is a strong piece of hardware. First impression: great.

Even after we have switched the watch on for the first time, the good first impression continues. The screen is crisp and sharp and independent of the viewing angle. The watch does not react very quickly to user input, but fast enough – something like the watch 3. If you use the watch you can see the battery level when it falls. We already know that from the Watch 3.

The Wear OS operating system, which lies below the surface, is not noticeable. Samsung’s One UI makes the watch look like the Watch 3 running on Tizen. In this respect, the rotating bezel remains useful. Samsung has integrated them well into the new OS base. Watch 3 users don’t have to get used to it.

So far we are quite satisfied with the Watch 4. But then we try to connect it to a Samsung S21 Ultra and need three attempts. The two top models from the same manufacturer do not want to pair. The process fails in different positions. It is not clear what it is. We assume that the process was knitted with the very hot needle and therefore does not go through properly.

After a bit of fiddling, we finally succeeded in establishing a connection between the devices. However, it does not prove to be stable and breaks off unpredictably. The Bluetooth panel on the smartphone shows that the connection is established. The Watch 4, however, claims the opposite. The problem is intermittent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Of course, this is unacceptable in the long run.

Now we want to test the new functions and find out that not all of them are available. Despite installing the Samsung Health Monitor on the smartphone, we are unable to trigger an EKG or blood pressure measurement. Sometimes it fails because of the clock, sometimes because of the smartphone. Positive: blood oxygen measurements work, the new determination of body composition also yields at least one result. We will clarify whether this is realistic in a more detailed test.

Although Samsung set up the Wear OS together with Google, it clearly prefers its own services on the Watch 4. The clock comes as standard with the Bixby assistant and Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay can be called up with a long press on the lower hardware button and Bixby with a long press on the upper button. Both buttons cannot be reprogrammed. It is therefore not possible to place the Google Assistant and Google Pay on these buttons, for example.

Google Pay is not preinstalled on the watch. But we were able to install it from the Play Store. Calling up the app in the store remains inconvenient due to the lack of a button. It was not possible to test in the first hands-on whether the payment process works. The Google Assistant is neither pre-installed nor can it be installed later. This is a real shame, because Alexa can only access the Assistant – but Bixby by no means.

For those who switch to an older watch with Google Wear, the Watch 4 is therefore only recommended to a limited extent. Because two of the essential system apps are simply not available in the usual way. Those who switch from older Tizen watches, on the other hand, will hardly notice any changes. More apps are now available to you.

As with the last watches, Samsung sometimes only provides promises of future services. That is unsatisfactory, because paying full price without receiving the full scope of services cannot please any customer. Samsung would have done better to deliver the Watch 4 four weeks later and in the meantime to ensure that the coupling works smoothly and that all of the advertised features can be used.

Samsung’s strategic decision to only assign Bixby and its own pay to key shortcuts must also be rated as at least annoying. We would have expected more freedom of configuration in the cooperation between Google and Samsung.

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