Introduction and specs
The ring is back, and not thanks to Frodo. Samsung has thankfully reconsidered, and it brought back the unique rotating bezel for the new Galaxy Watch6 Classic after scrapping it with the Galaxy Watch5 Pro. This is perhaps the biggest change in the new Galaxy Watch6 Classic, along with the new Exynos W930 for wearables.
However, we can’t shake off the feeling that Samsung may be running two separate Galaxy Watch flagship lineups – Pros and Classics. After all, a two-year upgrade cycle is the norm, and the company is probably targeting Galaxy Watch4 Classic owners with this one. Those who are not interested in the rotating ring (anyone?) can stick to the Pro series.
Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic specs at a glance:
- Body: 46.5×46.5×10.9mm, 59g; Sapphire crystal front, stainless steel frame; MIL-STD-810H compliant, 50m water resistant (IP68), ECG certified, Blood pressure monitor.
- Display: 1.50″ Super AMOLED, 480x480px resolution, 9:9 aspect ratio, 453ppi; Always-on display.
- Chipset: Exynos W930 (5 nm): Dual-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A55; Mali-G68.
- Memory: 16GB 2GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android Wear OS 4, One UI Watch 5.
- Rear camera: No.
- Front camera: No.
- Video capture: Rear camera: No.
- Battery: 425mAh; Wireless (Qi).
- Connectivity: LTE; eSIM; Wi-Fi 4; BT 5.3; NFC.
- Misc: Accelerometer, gyro, compass, heart rate, barometer, thermometer (skin temperature), 3D Hall sensor; Natural language commands and dictation, Samsung Pay.
The concept of two watch lineups could well explain why Samsung sees no issue in reducing the battery capacity of the Watch6 Classic down to 425 mAh from 590 mAh on the Watch5 Pro. It’s because it’s still an upgrade over the Watch4 Classic from 2021, which had a 361 mAh cell. Samsung believes the new chipset is more efficient, which we’ll put to the test in our battery section of the review.
Efficiency is one thing, but what about performance? Well, the new Exynos W930 offers higher clock speeds and is paired with 2GB of RAM, instead of 1.5GB in the previous two generations. This ensures smoother visuals and faster operation.
Speaking of visuals, the display is now bigger – 1.5″ and with a higher resolution to match (480 x 480px).
And on the fitness-tracking front, not much has changed except the added skin temperature measurements. Fall detection is a new feature too, which may be facilitated by the new 3D Hall sensor.
A new Wear OS 4.0 with Samsung’s proprietary One UI Watch 5 software ties everything together while the rest of the device is practically unchanged. Of course, there are nuances, and that’s why we have this review, so keep reading.
Unboxing the Galaxy Watch6 Classic
The device comes in a pretty standard retail box containing just the user manuals and the charging pad with a cable attached. The only change this year is that the cable is now USB-C instead of USB-A.
There’s no dedicated charger in the box, but you can use pretty much every USB-C wall charger or a PC/laptop. Once again, charging the watch with a third-party Qi charger is impossible, and another limitation is you can’t reverse wireless charge with a non-Samsung phone.
