As a Samsung Galaxy-verse (?) fan, I wanted either a Galaxy Watch, or Active to go with my S10e. After much deliberation, I finally got off the pot and bought an Active 2. Here's what I got for you.Pros- I think the battery is great. AOD, I check my notifications when they come in, sleep with it on, and get 2 days of battery life. I could probably press this to 2 1/2 or maybe 3 full days, but I've got a routine of charging it to 100% every two days when I get off work. I'd have to leave it home or charge it at work to clear 3 full days.- The Galaxy connection is amazing. When I full restart the watch. When I accidently turn off my Bluetooth. When I connect and disconnect other Bluetooth devices (earbuds/speaker), it always quickly connects. That's the biggest reason to stay in the Galaxy-verse(?).- Display, damn that thing is beautiful to look at. Really, almost worth the $$ right there. Almost.- I haven't had other smartwatches to compare to, but I've never had a delay that seemed too long. Aside from the initial load of a new app.- SO comfortable to wear. It's not bulky. I'm in Utah in the winter and wearing sweaters or hoodies or jackets constantly. They don't catch on it because it's pretty slim.- I've got little kid wrists unfortunately. And the 44mm looks great. Don't buy this watch and not get the 44mm, that'd be silly.Cons, because of course.- Everything you heard or read about the lack of apps is true and it's a real bummer.- This is related to the above con, but Spotify is not my favorite. But there are no other options.- Pricey man, but you already saw that, didn't you?- Bixby still sucks. Which brings down the awesomeness of talking into your wrist for voice commands. Because you talk to your wrist, and it gets everything wrong.All in all, I don't regret this purchase. Buuut. If I could go back and talk to myself, I'd convince myself to by the Galaxy Active. Sure the screen size / battery would be a bit smaller. But I think with all of the limitations I would have been overall happier to spend $100 less. Still though, staying in the Galaxy-verse (?) was a good choice.

The media could not be loaded.  I’m not going to go through every feature of this watch, but I do want to talk about some of the more important features, my likes, gripes and final thoughts. First on the list is…Battery lifeAbout 3 days (always on display off) | 2.5 days (always on display)1.5 - 2 hours to charge a fully depleted battery to a 100%.Now there are optional power saving modes that can provide even better battery life, however those modes will turn off various features in return for longer battery lifeDIGITAL BEZELUnlike its predecessor, the active 2 has a digital bezel vs a physical oneFeels realistic (a tick vibration as if it was a physical bezel clicking as you turn)Still getting another navigation option besides swipingFITNESS TRACKINGYou also have all your expected fitness tracking capabilities. Steps, heart rate, calories burned, sleep tracking, workouts and more. Coming from a fit-bit, the Samsung GUI may take a little bit of getting used to, but nonetheless it feels modern intuitive.HANDS FREE TALKOne of my favorite features on this watch is the “hands free talk” feature. The active 2 has a built in microphone, speaker and allows you to talk hands free without ever taking the phone out of your pocket. I tested the quality of this with several individuals and they couldn't tell the difference between me talking on the handset vs the built in microphone.WATER PROOFIf your like me then sometimes you can get a little comfortable wearing a nice smartwatch and forget it’s even on your wrist. There’s been times where I went to stick my hand in dishwater or hoped in the shower forgetting that I was wearing a smartwatch. No worries with the Galaxy active 2. It’s rated at 5ATM, which means it’s capable of withstanding pressure equivalent to a depth of 50 metersThe active2 has plenty of premium and non-premium watch faces to choose from, as well as apps to extend its functionality. The built in voice assistant known as “Bixby” is pretty basic and to be honest, I don’t find myself really using that feature.If your locking for an android watch that can do a lot of different things very well...I think this is one of the better choices. Is it “the best” smartwatch? No, but it’s one of the better ones if not the best one in it’s price rangeMY GRIPESIn regards to Battery life. Well…. it isnt bad, but could be a little better. Yes, you can get better battery life by enabling one of the power saving modes, but you have to sacrifice some handy features as a result.Secondly is the voice assistant feature. Yes, bixby is an extra feature but really not that useful at the moment. It’s going to take some time for Samsung to improve that.MY LIKESThis watch has A LOT of great features! Hands free talk, digital bezel, apps, widgets and more.Also, that price is pretty nice. Currently $279 on Amazon for the 40mm model. Not bad…..not bad.Last but not least, this thing is attractive. It reminds me of a tiny Crystal Ball with glasses. (chuckle….don’t ask)

I dislike this product. The screen went out in less than 2 years, which is outside of the return policy. Cheaply made.

6 month review:I got this watch to track general fitness and as a running coach. It is replacing a fossil sport with wear OS and it is a major improvement. The battery needs to be charged before a run but otherwise it never dies on me. It also does a really good job of auto tracking walking and biking but be warned you must hit 10 minutes or it will not start. If you go for a 9'50" walk you will not get credit unless you start it manually.Major issue lies with the coaching and running portion. An ideal watch is one that just works. You dont have to think about it unless you want to.. this does not fit that bill.Using a training app from their "discover" section:First there is the frequency of updates: every .05 miles! As soon as you get into a rythym or a song it pauses to tell you that you have moved half a block. As far as I've been able to find it is either all coaching or no coaching. If I could have an update every .33 or .5 miles that would be perfect.In line with that issue is the general lack of personalization. If you use the main running coach app from s health you have 6-8 setting to choose from or you can set a custom distance. Why can't I make a program with distance and target pace and intervals and whatever else I want? And why can't I share that with other people or use theirs?The pace function also includes your warm up/walk which throws your data off. Either you have to warm up them start the workout or see your times drop overall.The heart rate monitor can be glitchy. I will have the watch tightly on my wrist for an hour run and find that there are major gaps in HR data. I'm not really sure what to do about that but it is very frustrating if you are trying to get an accurate VO2 max reading.The last main issue is another distraction thatay not be a big deal to others. I use Spotify to run but the watch comes with some kind of onboard music player with a single preloaded ringtone-like song. Randomly during runs when I try to change the song it will open that app with the one song. Then I have to go through the menu and find it (and I have to beat the updates! Those .05 miles updates will take you all the way back to the main menu. You have to either stop or keep running and try to open spotify before the 'coach' tells you that's you have run half a block.)Overall it is a major improvement on fossil/wear os experience but it just isn't there yet. I like android bc I feel penned in by their OS but if I have to choose between a few presets then why not just buy an apple watch?TL;DRGood battery, sleep tracking, syncs well with S10.Poor features means distracted runs. Spotty HR tracking and overzealous voice feedback plus preloaded bloatware.

I use this everyday and it works like a charm. Use it to track heart rate, control my music, and check who texted me while I'm at work. It doesn't really do anything really complex but it's wonderful enough to get the job done. The battery life is also quite a long time too. About a day and a half for me. The customization for the watch faces are also really good.

I've owned this watch for 7 months now, and so I hope my feedback would provide an accurate and detailed description of my concerns and fascinations with this watch. Before jumping in, I have the black 44mm Active 2 (wifi) watch paired with a Samsung Galaxy s10e.To get straight to the point, this watch does its job well...and that's it.It doesn't strive to jump through excessive hoops to overwhelm you with extensive features that will mark it different from the rest of the competition. It is a good watch with clear and abundant watch faces, it lasts for a while, it'll get you notifications, and minor app support. I'm not an expert reviewer, but I'll try to touch on these points since they are - as I feel - the highlight of the watch.PROS1. It's a good watch. Since the battery management on this watch is fairly good, you can set it up to have a "Screen-always on" feature enabled. What this does is that when you are not "flicking your wrist" to get the screen on, the screen remains a dim (but fairly visible) colorless version of your watch face. In this mode, some designs would even disappear from the watch face to only show the time, and when you adjust your wrist to turn on the screen (gesture), the whole watch face will come back. I think this is nice since I wouldn't have to keep enacting the gesture just to see my watch; at that point, I feel it defeated the efficacy of its main purpose as a watch.2. The Galaxy watch store (which I believe is just Samsung's galaxy store) has a ton of options for watch faces. Some are tacky, but if you look through, you can find some of which may fit your style. Some watch faces could also be customized to place tidbit of information on the face, information such as step count, weather, heart rate, etc.3. Battery Life. The battery is some of the best in the market I would say. It may not last as long as a Fitbit versa, but considering what it does, it does it well. With an Always-on Screen, the battery lasts easily 2 days. Without it, maybe 2-3 days. There is a power-saving mode that may limits features and can give it an extra day, but the ultra power saving mode apparently lets you use it as a clock only for 41 days. I haven't tested that, but I think it's a feature worth noting.5. Notifications. Nothing out of the ordinary here. You get notifications, and you can reply to some of them (I am not sure how well this works on iOS). There are quick reply options and then there is that Bixby voice thing. Eh. It;s ok. Not always accurate, but if you need it, it can get the job done. You can also limit what app notifications show up on your watch!CONS1. Minor app support. I don't think this is Samsung's fault entirely. I just don't see a lot of apps on their store that seems...well...good. They are tacky, pointless, or terribly designed. I am not saying that the app is what makes the watch great, but if you are buying a premium watch with money, I sort of expect at least an app store that could provide some users more functionality if they so desire.2. Oximeter? There was a rumor of the watch having this capability. It hasn't been unlocked in my entirety of owning this. I guess Samsung doesn't want to release it?3. Heart Rate sensor. Fitness on this app is otherwise great! I am just a tad bit skeptical of the accuracy of the heart rate sensor. I would use it more as a guide rather than an actual metric. When you check your heart manually, I tend to get it slightly different. Hopefully, an update would fix this.

So originally I was going to get a Wear OS Ticwatch S2 by Google and Mobvio because Wear OS looked appealing and whatnot and it seemed convenient. Originally I bought a pretty lackluster Fitbit Versa 2, the tiny screen, lack of apps and mediocre health capabilities and their OS was just not doing it for me at all. I returned it and got my money back and spent just a little bit more to get this one. I should note that even while the Fossil Gen 5 was on special for Prime Day I STILL ended up getting this one. The 44mm, the Samsung OS, apps (albeit a bit lacking in amount), battery life and overall performance and look... I'm extremely happy with this one. The truth is that while some watches over 350+ have everything in it (built-in gps, nfc, etc) this one has it for just a bit less than your other watches that either have 1 or the other or none at all. I was genuinely surprised at how it performed and just how many features it had on top of everything. Built in speaker? Yes please. Waterproof? Um duh yeah. 44mm screen, interchangeable bands and accurate health data collection on top of gps and nfc, it's a no brainier.Honestly some smartwatches are just glorified watches with a few gimics and no real value. If you buy a fitbit you're not necessarily buying the product for the device itself rather the Fitbit OS and app that comes with it. Meanwhile you buy this watch and it's almost like you're buying a mini-phone because of all the features and necessities of a smartwatch and a health tracker. As much as I didn't try the Fossil Gen5 and gave it a chance I really don't regret it as i'm quite happy with my choice especially with my Samsung Galaxy phone that pairs even better than expected and I wouldn't get that with a Fossil or Diesel or Ticwatch I was looking at. If you're worried about battery life like I was wary before buying you won't really have a problem with the Active 2 as it charges EXTREMELY fast with my anker charger and if you tweak your settings right the battery should last you 2-3 days no charge. Just lower the brightness as much as you can and keep it so it's active only when you touch it and the battery should last as advertised.The watch itself is a bit heavier than the Fitbit I tried however the band is really comfortable for prolonged use and I have no problem sleeping with it. Also if watchfaces are your thing don't buy them from the Galaxy store and whatnot use the Facer app and you can get some pretty cool premium looking watch faces for free or less than 5.99 that are interactive and adaptive which is pretty cool thing I discovered. What else can I say, if I had a couple cons to this watch it'd be that you'd probably be happier if you have a Galaxy device beforehand maybe I'm not sure how well it might perform without a Galaxy phone or that not all of my cards worked with Samsung Pay. Maybe also that app selection is a bit bland, however still better than fitbit not sure about Google WearOS. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. If you're looking for a pretty nice all around watch this is probably the one for you. There are still many features I've yet to figure out and it feels a lot like my phone on my wrist. I can think of a lot of cool things to add like a Blue-light filter but I figured that if I mess with the visibility accessibility setting I can reduce the amount of blue light given by changing the screen color opacity to orange because you can do that and deactivate it during the day but I would like something like that.Anyways if you got this far, this watch is excellent and definitely in the top 10 2020 smartwatch lists. Right up there with the Fossil Gen5 or the Garmin Active and others.

I've only had this watch for three days now, but I highly recommend it. I'm writing this in hopes of helping others choose this watch.Backstory (skip if you don't want to read): I've had two other Samsung galaxy watches over the years. The s2 and the s3 frontier. I got the s3 as a gift and just a week ago, it unexpectedly broke. I bought this as a replacement. The only things I've only ever used my watches for has been for tracking my cycling (I go everyday) and for telling the time and controlling music. The previous two have worked perfect for this.Sizing: the s2 and s3 were 42 mm and 46 mm respectively. I always thought the s3 looked a little big on my wrist, as my wrist is about 6.3 inches in circumference. I had a lot of trouble deciding whether to buy this watch in 40 mm or 44 mm, as many people on reddit recommend 40 mm for wrists below 6.5 inches. I ended up buying the 44 mm, and I think it looks great. The pictures don't show it, but I think it fits my wrist perfectly. The only problem is the band for the watch is on the tightest setting. I might even puncture a hole to have a tighter fit.Sports tracking: I don't run or do many other sports, but I do go 15 miles a day via bike. The s3 worked great for that, and this watch does as well, so far. The only problem I've had is with the auto pause feature (when off the bike to take a water break, the watch is supposed to automatically pause). It's very finicky, but that's the only complaint. It takes my heart rate accurately and I synced my Samsung health with strava via the phone app to track my biking.Battery life: I've only had it for a few days, but these past two days I've tried charging it to full in the morning and seeing where it was at night. Keep in mind that I go cycling in the morning and use GPS the whole time. For both days, it drained about 30% battery (from 100 to 70ish) for a day that was 7:30 am to 11:30 pm. I think that's pretty good, and I charge it while I'm in the shower and wear it to sleep for sleep tracking. The charging is relatively fast, enough for it to almost be 100 before I sleep after a 15 min charge.Durability/ waterproofing: I heard a lot of people say that they use this watch for swimming, but I'm too scared to take a 250 dollar device into the pool. I wouldn't personally recommend it. The durability seems good though, but I haven't run into any problems.Accessories: I have a few recommendations so far. I bought a screen protector and a ringke bezel protector. Both are present in the photos and I think it looks great, as well as providing looks. I highly recommend both, as it gives me comfort that I won't break the watch. On my old s3, I scratched the bezel a lot, but that one was metal and this one isn't. Also, for watch faces, the one I have is called minimal data weather. I also recommend iris25. The apps on the store for the watch are cool and all, but they don't serve much functionality in my eyes. The charging base is a little inconvenient as it's just a small disk, so I recommend getting a base that it can click into so it stands like the s2 and s3 charging bases do.Overall review: I'm very happy with the watch and I recommend this to anyone needing a watch. Read the other sections for my personal views on the watch, and I hope everyone has an amazing day. Hope this helped.Update:After two weeks of having the watch and using it everyday, the back panel/plate came off. The adhesive stopped sticking well. Luckily, I was within the return period and I replaced it with a new one. If the same issue occurs again, I'll be leaving a one star but for now, it mightve just been a fluke with that watch. Still a good watch.