Does the New Samsung Galaxy Active compare to its Closest Rivals?

Samsung’s Galaxy Active announced in July this year, pitched as a lower cost version of last year’s Galaxy watch, is half the price of the Apple Watch Series 4 and closer to the price of the Fitbit Versa.

Samsung has created a watch with all of the essential features but at half of the cost of its direct competition. But is it really offering users a win-win situation? Let’s take a look…

What does it look like?

If you’re familiar with the Samsung Galaxy Watch, the Active won’t hold too many surprises at first glance. It still has a round face, but the rotating bezel – which offered extra precision when navigating your way around the apps – has been ditched. However, its loss does help the Active become 20% smaller and around 60% lighter than its predecessor which will be welcomed by those who find other watches bulky and cumbersome when working out.

Minimalistic design, great display

A smaller watch means a smaller screen, but Samsung has not scrimped on the resolution. It has an AMOLED 360 x 360 resolution, better than the Fitbit Versa, for example, though you may only notice this, however, when looking at them together. Third-party watch faces are also on offer to choose from to personalise your watch just how you want it.

Easy to use and plenty of fitness features and tracking options

Two buttons and a touch screen are used for navigation – easy enough to use, but the now-absent bezel did make navigation more accurate. The watch shows daily activity, including exercise, standing and movement goals. Its three heart-shaped components fill up during the day as you move and achieve your goals. Some users have complained that it is slower to register increased heart rate and didn’t update as frequently as other watches, but for most users this won’t be a deal-breaker.

If you’re inactive for a period of time, you’ll be alerted and encouraged to move. If your heart rate increases while not moving, the watch assumes your stress levels have risen. You are given breathing exercises through the watch to manage your stress levels. You can share your activity with your friends and compete with each other to reach goals and take part in challenges.

One interesting feature of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is a Blood Pressure Tracker. For this, though, you are required to sign up to be part of a study then go through a lengthy process to use it with a standard blood pressure cuff. While a good idea in principle, this make you feel like part of an experiment, and is a lot of work for what it is does. The Active comes with a choice of colours and lots of strap options.

Pros and Cons

If you’re still interested in comparing the Active, here, we offer some pros and cons of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active and a comparison table with some of its direct competition:

We like:

• Smaller
• Lighter
• Wider choice of workout types
• Water resistant
• Auto detects workouts
• Sleep and stress detector
• Wireless charging
• Able to be charged from the back of Galaxy S10

We don’t like:

• No speaker
• Cannot receive calls
• No LTE Option
• Lengthy process for blood pressure tracking

Feature	Galaxy Watch Active	Apple Watch Series 4	Fitbit Versa
Watch Face	Round	Squared	Squared
Resolution	AMOLED (360×360)	OLED retina (340×272) – 38mm (390×312) – 42mm	Colour LCD (300×300)
Size	39.5 x 39.5 x 10.5mm	Choice of 38mm or 44mm	34mm x 24.075mm x 24.075mm
Weight	25g	Between 28.7g – 52.8g depends on which size you choose and which casing you have.	Lightweight
Compatible Platforms	Android and IOS	IOS Only	Android, IOS, Windows OS
Connectivity	Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou	Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS	Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, NFC
Notifications	Yes	Yes	Yes
Workouts	39	14	15+ and On-Screen Coach
Step Count	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sensors	Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro sensor, Heart Rate, Light Sensor	Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro sensor, Heart Rate, Light Sensor	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Heart Rate, light sensor, Sp02 Sensor
NFC	Samsung Pay	Apple Pay	Fitbit Pay
Battery	230 AmH	279 AmH	145AmH
Memory	0.75 GB + 4GB	13GB	7 Days of detailed motion data
Water Resistant	Up to 50 Metres	Up to 50 Metres	Up to 50 Metres
Wireless Charging?	Yes	Yes	Yes
LTE  (4G)	No	Yes ($100 Extra)	No
Make calls and texts?	Can Reply to texts	Yes	Can reply to texts
Speaker?	No	Yes	Yes
GPS	Yes	Yes	When connected to phone
Able to unlock devices?	No	Yes	No
Colour options	Black, silver, rose gold, green	Gold, Silver, Space Grey, space Black	Black, Rose Gold, Silver

So, all-in-all, there are not too many differences in when it comes to features and quality. For us, The Galaxy Active wins overall thanks to its price tag – it has everything you need in a comfortable, more affordable watch.

Last Updated on December 31, 2019