Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Gets The Rotating Bezel Charm And Health Focus | Tech News

Samsung’s new Watch 8 Classic gets the rotating bezel back and AI upgrades.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 series moves back to the classic, literally. The latest version brings back the rotating bezel, something that is functional and useful. We’ve already given Watch 8 a thorough test, which showed us the improvements with the One UI 8 watch version and how the blend of Wear OS and Galaxy UI gives us a functional and a health-centric platform.

The Watch 8 Classic is of the same breed but cut from a more premium cloth and it looks the part when you wear it on the wrist. But does the premiumness warrant its starting price tag of Rs 46,999 for the regular version? We try to find out. 

Premium And Durable Touch 

The Watch 8 Classic definitely shows its premium side with a stainless steel frame compared to the aluminium on the regular Watch 8. The durability standards are the same on both the devices but the unique difference comes with the rotating bezels on the Watch 8 Classic. Having this back is nice to see but it does eat up into the screen estate available on the costlier model by a decent measure. 

You get three buttons on the side, and all of them have different use cases. The dial version activates fitness modes and acts like a quick startup interface. 

The Watch 8 Classic (63 grams) is also double the weight of the Watch 8 version (34 grams) which does make it a handful on the wrist, especially while you wear it to sleep. While the Watch 8 Classic looks good on the hand, it might not be ideal for all users, especially with its heft and the single size option. 

The Rotating Novelty 

Rotating bezels came out with the erstwhile TizenOS-powered Galaxy Watches and is now making a comeback of sorts with the Watch 8 Classic. It does what it is supposed to. You rotate the bezel to swipe across different screens where you get the weather, your step count and other customised features.

The 1.34-inch Super AMOLED delivers 3,000 nits of peak brightness which is crazy good and you will never ask for more brightness to see alerts and content on the watch. The sapphire crystal protection sounded more like a gimmick initially but while testing the watch and bumping into things a few times made us feel assured about its quality. 

We’ve always felt that more brands should adopt the bezels for their wearables but it seems to have become a signature Samsung tool and that’s not a bad thing either. 

One UI Versatility 

The One UI 8 version for the Watch gets the Now Bar to the small screen, as well as Gemini on the smartwatch. Samsung got it before the Pixel Watch 4 was launched and tells you the close knit relation between these supposed rivals. The software relies on the same Exynos W1000 chip which was also there on the Watch 7 series. Wearables don’t need phone or PC-like power so keeping the hardware running for a longer stretch is not a deal breaker. 

The new Wear OS 6 version is slick, responsive to your touches, sometimes a little too sensitive but that’s fine. Samsung has also added new AI tools to the Galaxy Watch 8 series which combine well with the Wearable and Health app to offer you suggestions, coaching and more. 

The Right Health Track 

We’ve never been a fan of having multiple apps to use one device but Samsung continues the pattern with the new Watch 8 series. However, you gradually realise its worth, especially with the number of features (health and in general) packed into the device.

The wide range of sensors have usually delivered with the right metrics and ability to help the user beyond the regular. Now the company is making things further enhanced so that the in-depth data looks at your eating lifestyle, how much you (or should) run and other beta features available in the Labs vertical. The sleep reading is also well detailed and easy to decipher, enabling you to change the sleeping patterns, schedule and more. 

Battery Pains Continue 

Wear OS 6 promises a lot but does it help the Watch 8 Classic with its 445mAh battery last beyond a day? Well, sadly, it seems the OS and all the features ensure the new model also struggles to run for around 24 hours non-stop.

We got the Watch 8 Classic to run for over 15-18 hours, and some days the level was even lower. Considering the Watch 8 has a 435mAh unit, the premium version doesn’t really benefit from the additional 10mAh on board. The device only gets 10W wireless charging speed with the bundled charger but that takes over an hour to charge up as well.