Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm Review – Gorgeously Slimmer, Sleeker and Brighter Smartwatch Tested

We previously unboxed and gave our first impressions of Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch6 44mm which we managed to experience at Galaxy Unpacked 2023. After putting it through its paces, here’s our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review where we share our findings on if their latest smartwatch is worth the money…

Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm Review – Performance and Specifications

The larger of the two existing Galaxy Watch6 variants with a 44mm dial and a 1.5-inch Super AMOLED display along with a silver colourway, our specific review sample is the non-LTE variant and has WIFi and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. To perform at its full potential, especially for several health tracking features, the watch is reliant on pairing up with a Samsung smartphone. Here’s how our Galaxy Watch6 44mm stacks up on paper…

Price	RM1,099 (40mm, BT only), RM1,199 (44mm BT only), RM1,399 (40mm, LTE), RM1,499 (LTE,44mm)
Display	1.5-inch Super AMOLED, 480 x 480 pixels (44mm) / 1.3-inch Super AMOLED, 432 x 432 pixels (40mm)
Processor	Exynos W930 1.4GHz dual core
OS	Android Wear OS 4 w/ One UI Watch 5
Memory	2GB RAM/ 16GB story
Battery	425mAh (44mm) / 300mAh (40mm)
Size/Weight	42.8 x 44.4 x 9 mm (33.3g) [44mm version] | 38.8 x 40.4 x 9mm (28.7g) [40mm version]

Getting my Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm review sample paired up and running with my Galaxy Z Fold5 took a few minutes but was a seamlessly smooth process without hiccups. The Fold5 identified the Watch6 in seconds and the pre-installed Galaxy Wearable app   started downloading the necessary plugins to run it. For non-Samsung phones, you’ll have to download the Galaxy Wearable companion app to get started.

While it can work with other Android phones running Android 10 or later, it works best with Samsung-issued gear as some features like the Camera Controller app only work with a Galaxy series phone. Owners of an iPhone aren’t going to have much luck here as the watch doesn’t play well with Cupertino-issued hardware.

Running under the hood of our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review sample and its other siblings in the series is a Samsung Exynos W930 dual-core 1.4GHz processor paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage which is a modest step up from the older Watch5’s Exynos W920 processor and 1.5GB RAM though the differences in performance aren’t discernible under actual usage scenarios. 

Our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review unit zipped about the menus without issue and proved to be responsive and fast on account of the polished experience of Wear OS 4 and Samsung’s own One UI Watch 5. 

Getting about the interface via the touchscreen was a relatively smooth affair with a combination of taps and sweeps across the touchscreen along with the haptic rotating bezel.

Using the virtual rotating bezel requires users to hold their finger along the edge of the round display and then move it along like a dial though it still doesn’t beat the physical feedback that an actual rotating bezel like what the Watch6 Classic has in its design. As our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review sample is a Bluetooth only model, it’s reliant on its paired device for data though an LTE-capable variant is available in Malaysia for RM300 more at RM1,499.

Once properly paired with our Galaxy Z Fold5 test sample, the Galaxy Watch6 44mm was an efficient way to take incoming notifications and calls off without having to physically reach for the phone in my pocket every time. 

This time around, there’s native support for Whatsapp and you’re able to conduct a truncated, if curt conversation with canned responses. If necessary, you can still draw up a virtual keyboard to type out a response and while the 1.5-inch AMOLED display itself is large as smartwatches go, you’ll still need to be fairly patient to type out a reply. Another welcome app that has native support on the Watch6 is Google Maps and you can get effective directions though you’ll need to pair it with your phone for best effect.

In terms of sharpness and clarity, our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review unit has one of the best displays in the market and clarity is superb even under direct sunlight.

The built-in speaker is surprisingly loud and does allow for you to take a call or dictate an audio message though it’s hardly the most efficient or practical means to do so unless you want to share your conversation with everyone within five paces of you. Fortunately, the speaker is of more practical use playing stored music on the phone though if you already own a pair of wireless earbuds, you can stream them from the Watch6 44mm instead for workouts where you don’t want to tote your phone around. 

For fitness and health buffs, the watch offers the full monty of fitness and activity tracking from more mundane minutiae like steps taken, calories burned and minutes of active time to exercise tracking for over 90 different exercises including swimming as well as automatic workout recognition for more mundane exercises such as walking, running and cycling.

In keeping with what happened with the Galaxy Watch5, the Galaxy Watch6 series offers the ability to measure blood pressure (you need a separate actual cuff-based blood pressure sphygmomanometer to calibrate it first though) and take an electrocardiogram (ECG). 

However, there’s a huge caveat here as these two specific health tracking measurements need the Samsung Health Monitor app that only appears on the Samsung Galaxy app store which is specific to Samsung Galaxy phones.

This effectively means that these two key health tracking measurements only work with a Samsung phone. Another feature unique to Samsung phones only is the ability to use the watch to control a smartphone camera which comes in handy for group shots.  If you own a phone from another brand, you’re out of luck here.

Our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review sample is also capable of more mundane fitness tracking including measuring stress levels, testing body composition to determine how much of you is muscle, bone and fat as well as more sophisticated sleep tracking.

The watch has to be worn when you sleep for sleep tracking and it will offer sleep coaching for healthier sleeping patterns. Amusingly enough, it can even assign you a totem animal that best represents your sleeping patterns and even determine if you’re snoring via your phone.

When tested, our Galaxy Watch6 44mm review unit had similar outcomes for measured blood pressure when tested on three separate occasions with an actual cuff-monitor and step counts and exercise detection were accurate in comparison with the prior Watch5.

Unfortunately the biggest quibble here is its battery life as the larger display negates the benefits of the larger 425mAh battery size. If you turn on all the bells and whistles including the Always On display, the GPS and other settings, you’re looking at about a day’s worth of actual heavy usage. Fully juicing it requires a couple of hours with an hour worth of charging getting you a 50% charge.

If you prune what stays on, you can conceivably double it to about two or so days of light usage though more realistically speaking, you’ll be charging this at the end of the day and you’ll likely need to if you want it to track your sleep quality. Fortunately, charging it in the field isn’t an issue as most Samsung phones like the Galaxy S23 series and the new Galaxy Z Fold5 and Flip5 have reverse wireless charging so you can juice it in the field.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm?

The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm is a sleek and stylish smartwatch with a large and vibrant display, excellent activity tracking along with ECG, blood pressure and sleep tracking functionality though battery life could be better.

Even so, this remains one of the best Android smartwatches that money can buy in Malaysia. For those who prefer a more tactile experience, the Galaxy Watch6 Classic beckons with its physical rotating bezel.

Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm review sample courtesy of Samsung Malaysia. For more details please visit https://www.samsung.com/my/watches/galaxy-watch/galaxy-watch6-44mm-silver-bluetooth-sm-r940nzsaxme/buy/