Samsung‘s new Galaxy Watch is unarguably its best smart wearable ever. The watch boasts significant improvements over its predecessor, the Gear S3, as we saw in the comparison here. We also compared the Galaxy Watch with TicWatch Pro, arguably the best Wear OS smartwatch in the current market, and then with the Apple Watch Series 3. The Samsung Galaxy Watch do have some loose points — such as fewer apps — but it wins in certain areas to make a strong case for itself.
So here are five ways in which Galaxy Watch beats the Apple Watch Series 3:
Navigation
Samsung’s patented rotating bezel makes its smartwatches stand out from the rest of the crowd, and Galaxy Watch is no exception. The bezel makes navigation extremely smooth as you don’t need to swipe through the tiny screen on your wrist. Also, every single movement of the bezel is accompanied by a satisfying click, making it more fun to turn than the Apple Watch’s digital crown.
Add to that, Galaxy Watch’s circular design, which looks much more classic than the rectangular one in Apple Watch. And it comes in Rose Gold, a color no longer offered by Apple.
Battery life
With up to four days of battery life, the Galaxy Watch (46mm) outlasts almost every other smartwatch in the market. The 42mm model also lasts for about two days, which is still better than the battery back-up offered by Apple Watch.
So going on a weekend trip with friends to some remote places? You need not worry about running out of charge. Your Galaxy Watch can easily run throughout the weekend.
Samsung Pay
Although, and quite surprisingly, Samsung removed MST from the Galaxy Watch, it still wins the race of mobile payments against the Apple Watch. Both the watches have NFC, but Samsung Pay has a far greater reach than Apple Pay. It is available in 24 markets globally and is accepted at around 30 million point-of-sale (PoS), compared to 4 million for Apple Pay.
Spotify
Yes, Apple Watch does have Apple Music for streaming music, and it has more songs than Spotify too. But Spotify on the Galaxy Watch still does a few things better than Apple Music, and they matter a lot. First, you can use Spotify online without having to pay a monthly subscription fee. Also, it is compatible on many more platforms away from your wrist, such as smart speakers, and more.
Smartphone compatibility
This is another sector where the Galaxy Watch wins against the Apple Watch. The Galaxy Watch is compatible with both Android (5.0 or later) and iOS (9.0 or later) smartphones, whereas the Apple Watch works only with iPhones. However, Samsung Pay will not work on a Galaxy Watch paired with an iPhone. But even after putting that aside, there are simply more smartphones out there for the Galaxy Watch will work with.
So as you can see, the Samsung Galaxy Watch does have some strong areas against the Apple Watch Series 3. But remember that the Apple Watch Series 4 is just around the corner, so Apple could catch up in some of those areas. Also, Google is putting in a lot of efforts in improving its smartwatch platform, Wear OS. And with some efforts from Qualcomm, we might very soon see some competition from Wear OS watches as well.
