Samsung Unpacked is here, so that means we got some goodies on the way. The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic have been revealed and are available for pre-order right now.
Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic start at $299 and $399, respectively, and their larger versions start at $329 and $429, respectively. Yes, the Classic version is actually more expensive and comes with additional features (confusing, I know).
Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic officially release August 11. Here's everything we know.
Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Classic: What we know
The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 comes in 40mm (Graphite, Gold) and 44mm (Graphite, Silver) sizes, while the Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic comes in a larger 43mm (Black, Silver) and 47mm (Black, Silver) size.
They share the same displays across models despite the size difference, but not within the model size structure. So that means that the smaller versions of the Galaxy Watch6 and Galaxy Watch6 Classic are outfitted with a 1.3-inch (33.3mm) 432 x 432 Super AMOLED, Full Color Always On Display. The larger versions are outfitted with a 1.5-inch (37.3mm) 480 x 480 Super AMOLED, Full Color Always On Display. Samsung claims that these babies have a 2,000-nit peak brightness -- I can't wait for our lab to test that.
Commonalities among all four watches is that they sport an Exynos W930 Dual-Core 1.4GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. Samsung claims that they can last up to 40 hours with the Always On Display off, and up to 30 hours with it on. They feature fast charging and wireless charging. All of them are powered by Wear OS 4.
As far as durability goes, they meet 5ATM + IP68 / MIL-STD-810H standards. 5ATM means they're water resistant to up to 50 meters in depth for 10 minutes (not suitable for diving or high-pressure water activities). IP687 means it provides ingress protection (IP68) against dust and fresh water to a maximum of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.
In terms of connectivity, you can get LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4+5GHz, NFC, and GPS/Glonass/Beidou/Galileo.
Finally, when it comes down to the sensors, there is only one difference, which is that the Classic comes with a 3D Hall sensor. Otherwise, all of them come with Samsung BioActive Sensor (Optical Heart Rate + Electrical Heart Signal + Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, and Light Sensor.
Outlook
I'm not much of a smartwatch guy, but I can respect a pretty display. When these babies come through our lab for testing, I hope we can verify Samsung's claims about the brightness. 40 hours is also a chunky amount of time to stay alive for a smartwatch. I am also excited to see how that pans out.
However, what's interesting about all of this is that in Samsung's press release, they still recommend the Galaxy Watch5 Pro for its better GPS features. Where's the Watch6 Pro, Samsung?
