The key features of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 were released via a post on the Amazon Canada site.
The details provided in the post are for the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 classic Black Stainless Steel.
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Here are the key features of the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4
This is the first time that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is under the banner of “Google Wear OS smartwatch”, as expected this year.
- The screen size on the 46 mm is 1.36 inches and it features a circular design with a touchscreen and an input dial, as expected.
- The new watch has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, and GPS covering all the connectivity essentials.
- The new 46mm watch weighs 208 g
- The sensor design looks pretty much the same. It has not changed since the Samsung Galaxy Active 2.
- The new watch features a 5ATM Water resistance which is typical of the new smartwatches out there.
Health and Wellness Monitoring via Samsung Galaxy Watch 4
In terms of health and wellness monitoring, the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will feature the following features:
- 24 / 7 Heart rate monitoring
- Blood Oxygen level monitoring (SpO2)
- VO2 Max measurement
- Advanced Sleep Monitoring
- Body Composition Analysis
- ECG Monitoring
- Blood Pressure Monitoring
The two new features in terms of health and wellness monitoring are advanced sleep monitoring and body composition analysis.
It is not clear if the advanced sleep monitoring feature will be along the lines of what Fitbit is pursuing. Fitbit’s sleep monitoring not only provides details around the sleep stages and resting heart rate but new algorithms are being designed to facilitate snoring detection and identification of sleep disturbances.
It is unclear if the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will feature the same advanced sleep monitoring features as Fitbit or if it has expanded its offerings along the lines of Apple’s features by including features such as wind-down.
The body composition analysis is a brand new feature on the new watch. This will make Samsung Galaxy Watch the second on-wrist device to essentially offer this feature. Amazon currently offers this feature with the Amazon Halo band. Amazon has even started offering a new mobility /flexibility measurement feature as of last month.
Samsung has been testing out the new Body Composition feature over the last year and we have written extensively about it. Please check out our featured piece on this topic below.
Although the product description does not explicitly call out ‘Blood pressure monitoring’, we are assuming that the new watch would essentially carry over this feature from the prior Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.
Rumors surrounding the inclusion of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring never came to fruition with this watch. 2022/2023 will probably be the year when there is going to be competition for metabolic health monitoring features supported on a smartwatch.
Established players in the Diabetes market such as Dexcom are getting ready to release the G7 this year which is being heralded as an attractive option for type-2 diabetes and pre-diabetic patients. It will be interesting to see how this health monitoring area evolves within a year or two as smartwatch leaders position their unique technologies.
There are no smartwatches on the wearOS platform today that offer FDA-approved ECG functionality. There are rumors that Mobvoi might be looking to license AliveKor’s ECG functionality for its next-gen TicWatch Pro series (wearOS).
Adoption of Wear 3.0 this year by both Samsung and Fitbit will lead to a line of smartwatches that offer not only FDA-approved ECG capabilities but also extend other health and wellness monitoring features into the Wear 3.0 platform.
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is priced at $471.14 (Canadian dollars), about $380 USD, and will be made available for purchase starting on August 27th. This means that we can definitely expect Samsung to unveil more details on August 11th.
This would also imply that the new Google Wear OS details will be showcased sometime during the month of August and users will be able to get a better picture of how the new Samsung products would operate using the new Wear OS.
Do you plan on upgrading to the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 this year or plan on waiting out for the next product iteration?
