Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Review: Bezel Dazzle

The Galaxy Watch 7 inherits the band-latch mechanism from the previous model. You have a button that you press to release the strap and then reattach it again. It's simple enough, but if you've trimmed your nails a bit more you might have trouble pressing that button. Good news is that you can still use standard 20mm straps with spring bars.

The Watch 7 comes with a selection of new, colorful Ripple bands. We like the attention to detail and loved the provided sporty strap. The green color was nice and not boring with the stitching on the side, plus it seems extra durable.

Galaxy Watches have been running Wear OS for a while now, but, of course, Samsung couldn't resist adding its own seasoning. Enter One UI Watch, the company's glossy skin on top. Think of it as Wear OS dressed for a night out — slicker and curated.

Everything here looks nice, animations are smooth, and the software mostly stays out of your way.

After using the Pixel Watch and a few others, we have to mention just how wonderful it is that the Samsung Health app is completely free to use. No asterisks, no monthly subscriptions. Compare that to Google’s Fitbit app, which has taken to paywalling useful data.

But the real star this year? Gemini. Yes, that Gemini. On your wrist. It’s as cool as it sounds, but keep in mind that it will work when your watch is connected to Wi-Fi or LTE. Otherwise, you'll need to drag your phone along for the ride.

So, what can you actually do with Gemini from your wrist? You can ask it questions, anything from "How far to Mars?" to “What’s the best pizza in Philadelphia?” and it will answer right on that lovely round screen you have. One thing to know: it will not whip up custom training plans for you just yet. It's smart, but it has not yet transformed into a personal coach.

The Watch 8 Classic has not gotten a new sensor this year (not a surprise), but thanks to the new cushion-y design that hugs your wrist snugly, the data it collects is a little more trustworthy. Better fit, better readings. Who knew?

In our tests (consisting of sweaty runs and the occasional brisk walk), heart rate accuracy was solid. Meaning, it was mostly in line with readings we get from an Apple Watch or Garmin’s finest.

Then there’s the automatic workout detection, which might just be the best we've ever seen on a smartwatch. You start walking and boom — the Watch 8 knows. Hop on a bike, look at your wrist and the workout is already going. It’s almost eerie, in a good way.

Dual-band GPS is still here, as it should be. If you live in a city full of tall signal-scrambling buildings, this is the feature you need. Route accuracy was spot-on in our testing.

And let's take a moment to applaud Samsung's workout summaries. All your stats are cleanly laid out, explained like someone actually wanted you to understand them. Nice!

The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic has taken up a new hobby: looking into your vascular health while you snooze. It's a feature called vascular load tracking, the idea being to assess the pressure on your arteries over time. With three nights of data it can start sliding your results along a scale based on you, not just some generic average. I consistently landed in the calming green zone, which was reassuring, but a little opaque. It would have been helpful to see a comparison to others experiencing the same kind of mid-life crisis in their early 40s, but alas.

The real star, though, is Galaxy AI and its new tricks. This year, it brings the coaching tips for sleep. In case you need a replacement for your grandparent reminding you should not scroll until 2am.

To be fair, Samsung's been on its sleep game for a while. Previous models could already track your REM, SpO2, temperature, even snoring (with your phone on the night stand). And from the Watch 7 onward, there's sleep apnea detection too.

Sleep reports are in-depth without being overwhelming: sleep stages, apnea red flags and now (most usefulle!) a suggested bedtime window based on your recent patterns. As someone having troubles falling asleep lately, I appreciated this.

Samsung, being the innovator it likes to be, has decided that this year it will become your nutritionist by providing you... an antioxidant index. However, it needs your participation. For this test, you need to remove the watch, press your thumb to the sensor, and hold for a few seconds. It’s a bit of a ritual.

Then comes the result. It slots you into one of three vague categories. But here’s the twist: out of five testers, everyone landed in "low." Either we're all woefully lacking in spinach, or the scale’s a bit... off. Worse still, try it twice in a row and you might get two different numbers.

The post-scan advice is where I started losing faith in this feature. Basically, you need to check your phone for dietary suggestions, which, amounted to: "eat more veggies." Don't we all know that already? With such vague advice, I doubt many people would bother measuring their antioxidant levels regularly.

Samsung also admits this antioxidant reading hasn't been clinically validated, so think of it less as a diagnosis and more like a nudge from a friend.

If this rings a bell, it's because Samsung used the same playbook for last year's AGEs index, another flashy acronym aimed to help you understand your biological aging based on lifestyle choices. What it actually measures? Still a bit of a mystery (and do let me know if you know someone who actually measures this regularly).

The Watch 8 Classic still keeps the old faithfuls around: ECG, blood pressure monitoring, and the rest. Blood pressure is still a no-show on the competition like Apple Watches, but honestly, if you're serious about tracking it, an actual cuff is still your best bet.

Compared to the Watch 6 Classic, though, here you get a new and more efficient Samsung W1000 chip, so that should help a bit with efficiency.

The battery numbers by Samsung, however, remain unchanged. Both the new and older classic models get the same 30 hours battery life estimate with the always-on option enabled and 40 hours if you turn it off. In other words, you have to charge the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic every single day (okay, day and a half).

There are no changes to charging speeds either, which is disappointing considering that the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch both charge faster. And don't even mention the OnePlus Watch 3 series which is lightning fast to charge.