Samsung was smart enough to refresh it with some key features. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is the fall detection and ECG feature, which makes it a direct competitor to Apple Watch Series 5. Let’s find out with the price of Rs. 39,000, Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 worth your money.

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 is a stunning watch without being showy

Specifications

Below the hood, there is a dual-core Exynos SoC clocked at 1.15GHz in Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2. You get 4GB onboard storage and 1.5GB of RAM. The OS, however, takes up the right amount of space, and you are left with only 1.4GB to install store offline music and apps. 

In Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, there is a Bixby voice assistant. You can say Hi Bixby, and start a workout, ask for weather updates, add reminders, and more. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2: Designing

The Galaxy Watch Active noticed a design departure where Samsung left the physical rotating bezel for a full display touch. And it didn’t go well with the users, So Samsung has attached a touch-based, capacitive ring on the Galaxy Watch Active 2. It simulates the rotating bezel, and you also get excellent haptic feedback as you scroll through the menu. You get a round 1.4-inch AMOLED screen with 360×360 pixels resolution. It is beautifully crisp and gives punchy color reproduction. It is also bright, and clarity under direct sunlight isn’t a problem either. The touch response of the screen is good.

The notable changes come in the buttons. On the right, there is a back button, and it is slightly elongated compared to the predecessor, for enabling ECG reading. You have the menu button below it, and there is a nice red ring, indicating the LTE model. There are two microphones at Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 – one on the right between two buttons and one on the top. The speaker is on the left.

The Watch Active 2 now has eight LEDs, compared to four on the Galaxy Watch Active. These help in estimating your pulse more correctly, especially while workouts (more on that later). And then, there is the ECG sensor too. But there is time till it becomes activated by Samsung, as it is waiting for the essential FDA approvals.

Fitness

The name “Active” is for a reason. The smartwatch is heavily focused on fitness enthusiasts. It can track a total of 39 workouts. Out of these, activities like cycling, running, and swimming can be tracked automatically. For the rest of them, you need to select from the list manually. These include squats, crunches, lunges, burpee tests, deadlifts, circuit training, plank, pull-ups, push-ups, and more. 

LEDs

Now talking about the eight LEDs at the back of Samsung galaxy Active 2. At times, on the Galaxy Watch and Gear smartwatches, the watch would skip heart rate readings. This often happens when you are working out, and your hands are moist. But that isn’t the case with Watch Active 2, which is an improvement.

The Samsung Galaxy Active 2 also improves on heart-rate monitoring and sleep tracking. A constant heart-rate monitoring option is there, but it does raise battery consumption. All this information is logged onto the Samsung Health app. You can access this anytime and also compare it with the previous day, week, and month.

4G connectivity

After Galaxy Watch LTE and Apple watch, the Watch Active 2 4G is the only always connected smartwatch. It uses eSIM.

Onboard 4G connectivity means you can go on a run while keeping your phone at home. You can reply to WhatsApp notifications and messgaes, dial and receive calls. There is a Spotify app in Samsung Galaxy Active 2, where you can stream music online without needing your phone. And if you are a premium user, you can download music on the in-built memory for offline playback.

Battery life

The Watch Active 2 4G features a 340mAh battery, and it surely lasts two days. And if you on the always-on display and standalone 4G connectivity all the time, it will still last your one full day.

It also supports wireless charging, which means you can use your S10 or Galaxy Note 10 reverse wireless charging feature to charge the watch.

Verdict: Is the Galaxy Watch Active 2 worth your money?

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 just falls short from being a complete smartwatch for Android users. It brings in key upgrades over the predecessor. 4G connectivity, better heart rate monitoring and fitness tracking, and improved battery life are pros. Performance is absolutely no issue. The only smartwatch for Android users to have ECG and fall detection features is Samsung Galaxy Active 2.