Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic review

Hardware and sensors

After two generations of running on the Exynos W920, the new Galaxy Watches now rely on a more powerful and supposedly more efficient Exynos W930 SoC. The new chip is still based on the 5nm manufacturing process, but the dual-core Cortex-A55 CPU is now ticking at 1.4 GHz instead of 1.18 GHz even if with the same Mali-G68 GPU. The internal storage remains 16GB and operating memory is now 2GB instead of 1.5GB.

It's either this or the more polished software (or maybe both?), but the Galaxy Watch6 Classic feels way smoother than its predecessors. Animations are fluent and navigation is fast and snappy.

The most obvious change, however, is the display. It's now 1.5" in diagonal, and although that doesn't sound much on paper, it's definitely a noticeable change coming from the Galaxy Watch4 Classic, or the Watch5 Pro, for that matter. The OLED panel has higher resolution to match the new diagonal too - 480 x 480px.

In addition to the said hardware, the device incorporates a slew of sensors, most of which are not new. The Galaxy Watch6 Classic is equipped with an accelerometer, gyro, compass, heart rate, barometer, thermometer (for skin temperature) and a 3D Hall sensor. The latter is a new addition to the list and although Samsung didn't specify why the new Galaxy Watch6 Classic has a 3D Hall sensor, it's fairly obvious that it's used for more accurate tracking and positioning. It's essentially a 3D magnetic position sensor that can detect the strength of the magnetic field on the x-,y- and z-axes. It can measure three-dimensional, linear, angular, and rotational movements.

It's important to note that the temperature sensor can be used for more than just skin temperature. Samsung has opened up its Skin Temperature API to developers and partners, so they can develop apps taking advantage of this new functionality. The Thermo Check app, for instance, allows users to measure the temperature of their meal or the ocean before dipping their toes. Since the sensor works with infrared, the watch doesn't have to be in contact with the surface.

The so-called BioActive sensor is also on board to measure your body composition. Electrodes on the bottom of the watch and inside the two buttons help measure water through impedance and assess your body composition in terms of lean muscle mass, body fat percentage, water weight, BMI and even basal metabolic rate. It takes just 15 seconds to do 2,400 measurements to figure out those. More about accuracy and usability on the next page.

Galaxy Watch4 Classic vs. Galaxy Watch6 Classic

Last, but not least, a few good words about the vibration motor. It seems to be pretty strong, crisp and precise. Samsung has worked on the haptics, and it shows - over the course of our testing, we were able to distinguish the different taps and buzzes from the watch - when using the virtual bezel, notifications, incoming calls, navigation through the menus, etc. Moreover, NFC payment works great this time around. We don't know whether Samsung moved the NFC chip or upgraded it, but the watch is so much easier to use for contactless payments now.

Battery life

Battery life is a mixed bag. The Galaxy Watch6 Classic offers a small upgrade over the Galaxy Watch4 Classic in terms of total capacity (361 mAh vs. 425 mAh). But compared to the Galaxy Watch5 Pro, it's a noticeable downgrade, which has a 590 mAh cell. Our first-hand experience with the watch on day-to-day usage confirms the downgrade from the Galaxy Watch5 Pro.

We were able to squeeze out only 48 hours or a bit more than that on a fully charged battery. For context, the watch's display was set to automatic brightness, raise-to-wake function active, at least one 2-hour long indoor workout, some steps/walking outside, heart rate measurement every 15 minutes and sleep tracking at night. We also didn't use the power-saving mode - we just let the battery run completely empty. The Always-on display cuts the runtime in half.

That's roughly the same battery life we get from the Galaxy Watch4 Classic. The Galaxy Watch5 Pro, on the other hand, has about 72 hours on a single charge, so it's sad to see the Watch6 Classic taking a step back in this regard.