Second Opinion Reviews

Second Opinion #78: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 1 Review

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Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 1, and the verdict is there are not enough apps for this to even be a smart watch.

Episode summary
  • Watches
    • I don’t like watches, they’re touching me
    • Ambient display is my preference
      • But I get in trouble anyway when I walk away from my phone
      • Samsung included coupon for another Samsung-product in the Note 10+ order in 2019
        • Couldn’t use it on the Active 2; so stuck with this
        • Physical Look and Feel
          • Default band is a sporty rubber
          • The weight is minimal
          • It’s still too thick for my tastes
          • Screen isn’t close to edge-to-edge, bezel all the way around
            • No flat tire though
            • Two buttons, home, and back
            • Software
              • Default screen is time + “widget spots” where you can add whatever widgets are available
                • My choices were heart rate, date, steps and sunrise/set
                • Fitness apps by Samsung are built in
                  • The cal/sleep/movement counters are available
                  • Exercise tracking
                  • “Stress monitoring” — just breathe
                  • Heart rate sensor is actually nice
                  • A weather app, but not my DarkSky data
                  • Google calendar integration, but needed who knows what Samsung permission
                  • Shows notifications as they come in
                  • Messages app (via Samsung); you can use a bad build in keyboard, send an emoji or voice dictate
                    • Some can be interacted with
                    • For example, Telegram has no Tizen app, but you can use the “reply” function on the notification instead; but no initiation
                    • The true lack of apps makes this not so useful; if I can’t use Slack or Telegram on the device, it’s not enough
                      • Android or bust; but Wear is a bust too
                      • If you want a real watch with real apps and integrations, get an Apple Watch
                        • Attributions
                        • Free Music Archive: Beat Doctor – Organic (electric edit)
                          • Connect With The Nexus
                          • Support us on Patreon
                          • Discuss this episode on our Subreddit
                            • Copyright

                            Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to https://thenexus.tv/so78.

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