The Galaxy Watch 8 continues a trend we've seen among Samsung smartwatches for years: It's loaded with fresh lifestyle and health features, but you’ll still need to charge it every day. On the features side, Google’s AI Gemini comes built-in for voice-controlled convenience, and Samsung’s AI improves on the platform’s already extensive repertoire of activity, exercise, sleep, and stress tracking abilities. The Galaxy Watch 8 can measure antioxidant levels, and its AI coach can help you train for a marathon and get a restful night’s sleep. Physically, it’s thinner and has a brighter screen than the Galaxy Watch 7 , but it bumps the starting price by $50 to $349.99. Despite the price increase and its middling battery life, the Galaxy Watch 8 packs enough helpful capabilities to stay ahead of Wear OS competitors and earn our Editors' Choice award for Android-compatible smartwatches .
Price: $50 More Than the Previous Version
For this review, I tested the $349.99, 40mm, Bluetooth-only Galaxy Watch 8 with a silver-tone frame and a white sport band. A 44mm model is also available for $379.99, and adding LTE to either size costs $50 more. For comparison, last year's Galaxy Watch 7 was priced from $299.99 at launch.
Despite the price bump, the Galaxy Watch 8 is still competitive with flagships from other companies . The Pixel Watch 3 starts at $349, and the Apple Watch Series 10 is priced from $399.
Both sizes of the Galaxy Watch 8 come in silver or graphite colorways. You can pick from a few different band types when you order on Samsung's website, including a rubber sport strap or a comfy, lightweight fabric band, and all styles come in multiple colors.
The Watch 8 launches alongside the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic , an update to a line known for its physically rotating bezel that offers old-school appeal and an easy way to browse the interface. The Classic comes in one 46mm size for $499.99, with an LTE version again adding an extra $50 to the sticker. The Watch 8 Classic comes in either a black or white finish, and it shares the same features and sensors as the base model , other than the case size and physical bezel.
Like the Watch 7, the Galaxy Watch 8 is powered by a five-core Exynos W1000 processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. To use the Galaxy Watch 8, you’ll need to pair it with an Android phone running Android 12.0 or higher and with more than 1.5GB of memory. The Watch 7 works with any phone running Android 11 or later. Both, however, save some of their advanced features (like AI insights, snoring detection, and gesture controls) for Samsung phones specifically.
Features: New AI Assistance
On the Watch 8 series, Samsung's Galaxy AI can help you train for a marathon or a 5K with a custom-generated plan based on a 12-minute fitness test. The watch will even offer active feedback and coaching to help you stay on pace while you're on a run.
The upgraded AI can also offer detailed sleep coaching to help you optimize your rest based on your schedule and circadian rhythm. While you sleep, the Watch 8 can measure your vascular load, or the efficiency of the heart in pumping blood throughout the body, to give you deeper insights into your arterial health.
The Watch 8 takes a few nights to establish your vascular load baseline, then compares each subsequent night to that baseline with an eye on consistency instead of any static value. My early results proved Steady and led to rote advice like "Focus on getting plenty of sleep and physical activity and eating a heart-healthy diet."
There's also a new antioxidant test, which can offer insight into your dietary health and provide a warning sign for long-term diseases like diabetes. The test is quick and easy—you take the watch off and put your finger directly on the sensor on the back for a few seconds. This feature is unique among wearables, and you'd otherwise have to go to a doctor or a medical lab and get blood drawn to find out your antioxidant levels.
According to the Galaxy Watch 8, my antioxidant levels are low. I ran the test a few times to check for consistency, and I got nearly the same number repeatedly, as well as a different number when I asked a friend to take the test. After the test, the watch encouraged me to include more vegetables in my diet, offering specific suggestions like five pieces of kimchi or a serving of radish greens. Having this information so readily accessible will be handy for those concerned about long-term health conditions.
These software updates come packaged as part of Samsung’s One UI 8 interface, which is one version newer than what’s currently available on the Galaxy Watch 7. While the Watch 7 will likely get access to One UI 8 at some point, the AI features mentioned above will be exclusive to the Galaxy Watch 8, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and last year’s premium Galaxy Watch Ultra ($649.99).
Beneath Samsung’s interface, the Galaxy Watch 8 runs Google’s Wear OS 6, which is again one version newer than the software currently on the Watch 7. Google’s latest smartwatch software allows wrist-based access to Gemini. Google’s voice-activated AI assistant can answer questions, send texts, and interact with Samsung Galaxy Watch apps like Calendar, Clock, Health, and Reminder. Unlike Samsung's Galaxy AI features, Gemini will be available on older Samsung watches as part of the Wear OS 6 update.
While Galaxy AI and Google Gemini add a lot of usefulness to the Galaxy Watch 8, it also carries forward the features of its predecessor on both the lifestyle and health tracking fronts.
Thanks to Google’s watch software, the Watch 8 offers access to Google Play, complete with every major third-party smartwatch app you could want to download, as well as Google’s staples like Maps and Gmail. You can use the watch to make calls, send texts, and tap for mobile payments as you’d expect. With gesture controls such as a double pinch of your fingers or a twist of your wrist, you can answer calls, take a photo, or dismiss an alarm.
For health tracking, the Galaxy Watch 8 has the same robust sensor suite as the Galaxy Watch 7. Samsung's BioActive sensor allows for optical heart rate and electrical heart monitoring, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to measure body-composition stats like body fat percentage, fat mass, and skeletal weight, similar to a smart scale . The watch also features an accelerometer, a barometer, a compass, a gyroscope, and a temperature sensor.
Like previous Galaxy Watches , the Watch 8 series can monitor your blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels, a feature missing from the latest Apple Watch models. It also offers all of the Galaxy AI health insights that first launched on the Watch 7, including a daily holistic Energy Score that encapsulates all of your tracked fitness and sleep metrics, and personalized wellness tips to help you improve your score.
When it's time to exercise, the Watch 8 offers workout-tracking modes for a wide range of activities, including biking, hiking, running, swimming, and walking. You can even use it to track circuit training or specific sports, ranging from archery to baseball.
When you wear it to bed at night, the Watch 8 tracks the depth and quality of your slumber, your sleep cycles, and key health metrics, including respiration, skin temperature, and SpO2. If you have a nearby Samsung phone, it’ll even monitor for snoring. In the morning, it gives you an overall Sleep Score based on the duration and restfulness of your shuteye. It can also detect sleep apnea and give you a detailed picture of your metabolism through overnight advanced glycation end products (AGEs) index tracking, features that debuted last year on the Watch 7.
Design: Minor Modifications
The new AI tools account for the most impactful upgrades available on the Galaxy Watch 8, but the hardware received a few changes from the last generation, as well. The Galaxy Watch 8 is thinner, has a brighter screen, and packs a bigger battery than its predecessor.
The Watch 8 looks different from the Watch 7 at a glance because of its larger, squarish bezel, similar to the one on last year's Galaxy Watch Ultra. The Watch 8 also adopts the Ultra's dynamic lug system for watch bands.
In testing, I missed the simpler look and smaller bezels of the Galaxy Watch 7, but the Watch 8's "cushion shape," as Samsung calls it, helps the watch move more naturally and comfortably with the wrist.
The design also allows for an 11% thinner frame on the Galaxy Watch 8 compared with the Watch 7. The 40mm version measures 40.4mm by 42.7mm by 8.6mm (LWD), compared with the Watch 7’s dimensions of 40.4mm by 40.4mm by 9.7mm. The 44mm variants measure 43.7mm by 46mm by 8.6mm for the Watch 8, and 44.4mm by 44.4mm by 9.7mm for the Watch 7.
The 8's display matches the Watch 7 in size and resolution: 1.34 inches with a 438-by-438-pixel resolution and 327 pixels per inch (ppi) on the 40mm model, and 1.47 inches with a 480-by-480 resolution and 327ppi on the 44mm model. The Watch 8 screen gets much brighter, however, with a maximum light output of 3,000 nits compared with 2,000 nits on the Watch 7.
Both the Watch 8 and its predecessor have the same durability ratings. An IP68 rating offers peace of mind that the Watch 8 can withstand dust and submersion in water. Its 5ATM water-resistance rating means it can be submerged in up to 164 feet of calm fresh or salt water for 10 minutes. It also has a MIL-STD-810H certification, meaning it can endure extreme temperature changes, blowing sand, and other environmental stressors such as vibration and shock. That military-grade endurance is impressive for a baseline model.
Battery Life: Better, But Not by Much
The Galaxy Watch 8's battery life isn't very impressive, though it does slightly improve upon its predecessor's. The 40mm Watch 8 has a 325mAh battery compared with a 300mAh capacity on the corresponding Watch 7. The larger variants have a capacity of 435mAh (this generation) and 425mAh (last generation).
Samsung deliberately tempered expectations around the larger capacity, claiming it's mostly used to manage the extra functions of the new watch without a functional battery decrease from the last generation. The company says that both Watch 8 sizes should last 30 hours on a charge with the always-on display enabled, or 40 hours with it disabled.
In my real-world testing, the 40mm Galaxy Watch 8 came in just under those estimates. It lasted 26 hours with normal use and the always-on display enabled. I did not enable any battery saving functions when prompted after it dipped below 20%, and plugged it in after it reached 5%.
In my testing, the Galaxy Watch 8 lasted 39 hours with the always-on display turned off. During both battery tests, I wore the watch night and day and did at least one workout using the GPS. After I plugged it in, the Watch 8 recharged from 5% to full in roughly 64 minutes.
While below the company’s estimates, both times exceed those of the Galaxy Watch 7, particularly with the always-on display disabled. In my testing last year, the Galaxy Watch 7 lasted just 22 hours with the always-on display enabled and 28 hours without it.
Generally speaking, you should expect to charge the Galaxy Watch 8 daily. While Samsung has the best list of features of any Android watch, battery life has been a weak spot of the line since the Galaxy Watch 6 . Meanwhile, the competition has lapped it on the battery front. In my testing, the small and large Pixel Watch 3 lasted 34 hours or 46.5 hours, respectively, with the always-on display enabled. For an Android-compatible smartwatch that can last a full weekend on a charge, check out the OnePlus Watch 3 ($349.99), which powered through 98 hours with the always-on display enabled in my testing.
Setup and Controls: Intuitive and Customizable
If you’ve used any recent Samsung smartwatch, you’ll feel right at home with the Galaxy Watch 8 because Samsung kept the setup process and controls consistent from one generation to the next. The box includes a USB-C cable attached to a magnetic charging pad. It doesn’t include a brick to connect the cord to the wall, so be prepared to supply your own or charge the watch by plugging it into your laptop. You can also find a small booklet with warranty information in one of the pockets of the box.
The straps click onto the watch case easily. Detaching them is also intuitive, but I found it difficult to press the buttons far enough with my trimmed nails. Keep a paperclip nearby for convenience if you want to frequently swap between bands.
I set up the Galaxy Watch 8 using my Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 . To start the process, you simply turn on the watch by long-pressing the top button. The watch will then send a prompt to your nearby Samsung phone to start pairing. If you don’t see it or you have an Android phone from another brand, you can manually start setup by adding a device in the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app. From there, the app walks you through the rest of the steps.
Once connected, you can indicate if you’re setting up the watch for yourself or a child. You’ll then need to agree to various terms and conditions and location permissions. Next, you’ll be prompted to sign into your Google account, pick your wrist of choice, and specify the orientation of your buttons.
The app then walks you through optionally enabling various features like vascular load detection and snore detection. You can choose to download any number of preselected apps, or find the ones you want later on the Play Store. Finally, the Galaxy Wearable app sends an update to the watch while offering a tutorial on controls. The watch itself also offers a visual walkthrough of the controls when you first put it on.
The Galaxy Watch 8 has two physical buttons. The top one is the home button. You can press it to return to the main screen from any other screen. You can press it five times to send an SOS call to your emergency contact, double tap it to open your most recent app, or long press it to launch Google Gemini and give a voice command. Both the double tap and long press functions are customizable if you’d prefer to map them to some other feature.
The bottom button simply goes back one screen. You can also go back by swiping right from the left edge of the screen. Swipe right from the middle of the screen for notifications. Swipe down for a quick panel of settings. Swipe up for your app drawer. Swipe left for a customizable list of information tiles.
These tiles have seen some refinement since the launch of the Watch 7. Now, instead of a single tile like Energy Score taking up a whole screen, the tiles compress multiple cards of information vertically on top of each other. At a glance, you can see your steps, Energy Score, and Sleep Score, for instance. You can also tap any of the cards for more details.
The tiles are customizable. You can rearrange the data cards on the tiles, or add, remove, or rearrange the tiles themselves. You can also manage the options shown in the quick settings menu or rearrange the app drawer right from the watch screen.
While tinkering with settings and using Watch 8 in general, its controls consistently proved snappy and responsive. I never noticed any significant lag during my week of testing, and most responses were instantaneous.
You can also tinker with tiles and other watch settings in the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone. That app also lets you manage notifications and other settings, as well as rearrange your quick settings panel or app drawer.
To utilize all of the Galaxy Watch 8’s functions, you’ll need two additional apps. The Samsung Health app shows your tracked activity, sleep, stress, and workout details. The Samsung Health Monitor app initiates the sleep apnea test and shows results if you use your watch to take an ECG.
I do find it tedious to have to use three apps to manage the tracked data of a single wearable device, but the number of necessary apps at least hasn’t increased from last generation, and Apple has a similar count for its smartwatches.
Activity Tracking: Fun on the Run
For the second consecutive year, the Galaxy Watch has improved the accuracy of its heart rate monitoring. In our Galaxy Watch 6 review, we mentioned minor but noticeable issues with heart rate accuracy. The Galaxy Watch 7 performed better with its BioActive sensor. The Galaxy Watch 8 proves even more precise as the dynamic lug system keeps the sensors closer to your wrist as you move.
It also eliminates the odd discrepancies in GPS distance and route mapping that I noticed on the Galaxy Watch 7. The Galaxy Watch 8's dual-frequency GPS tracked all of my runs and walks precisely during testing.
I tested the Galaxy Watch 8 during a few workouts while wearing the proven Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($799) on my other wrist as a control device. The Watch 8 picked up on and started automatically tracking my CrossFit workout more quickly than the Ultra 2. Its automatic workout tracking was also more reliable than the Ultra 2's for casual walks to various locations in my Chicago neighborhood.
Across all of my workouts, the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2's heart rate readings generally stayed within 5 beats per minute (bpm) of each other. The Galaxy Watch 8 sometimes had a tendency to jump up or down a few bpm whenever I first raised my wrist to check, but it always settled at or near the same spot as the Ultra 2, and the graphs afterward did not show any extraneous spikes or dips. On both gadgets, heart rate readings spiked appropriately and with reasonable speed when I increased the intensity of my activity during workouts.
Like the Apple Watch Ultra 2, the Galaxy Watch 8 tracks extra form details during runs and walks in particular. In addition to the basics like average heart rate, heart rate zones, cadence, pace, and speed, the Galaxy Watch 8 monitors form metrics like asymmetry, contact time, and vertical.
While the Galaxy Watch 7 is equally good at tracking running form, the Galaxy Watch 8 goes a step further with its Running Coach. To start using the AI-enabled guidance, the watch asks you to fill out a survey on your phone, which includes your height, weight, and running experience. Then, it guides you through a 12-minute test run.
I enjoyed this test, as the watch gives fairly specific instructions. It tells you to warm up first, then run at a "comfortably hard pace." It asks you to push yourself to the extent that you’re using most of your breath in the effort, and I had a reasonable idea of what that meant. Throughout the run, the watch chimed in every 30 to 60 seconds to offer an audible update on my pace. Early on, it kept encouraging me to pick up the pace if I could. In the middle, it switched to simple encouragement to keep at it, noting that I was getting close to the finish. At the end, it switched back to encouraging a push.
I was not using any synced headphones during this test, so I had to raise the watch to my ear to consistently hear its guidance, but I enjoyed the flexibility of not needing extra equipment. For comparison, Apple is gearing up to launch a Workout Buddy with similar vocal encouragement as part of its watchOS 26 software, but it requires synced Bluetooth headphones like AirPods and a recent iPhone with Apple’s AI built in. With Samsung’s coach, the watch itself is enough, as I'd left my phone at home while testing it.
After the test, the Running Coach told me I was at a level 2 out of 12, and set a program for me to train for a 5K. Garmin and Polar have similar long-term training programs with their wearables, though the Samsung Running Coach is a bit more dictatorial. Garmin and Polar let you choose your event and date. Samsung’s is more generalized based on that initial test, aiming more for general physical fitness than training for an actual event.
The day after my running test, I completed the first recommended run. This time, it walked me through a 40-minute routine in which it prompted me to walk for 20 minutes on hilly terrain, and then jog for 20 minutes. Thankfully, it noted that I could simply walk on ordinary ground if I didn’t have hills nearby, which is the case for me in the middle of the midwestern city I call home.
This time, instead of giving a pace goal in the form of a perceived exertion level, it set a specific target. It wanted me to walk at roughly a 15-minute-a-mile pace during the first half, then jog at a pace of roughly 13 minutes per mile. The watch display also has a handy graph showing your pace against the target zone, so I could speed up or slow down to try to hit the center area of the graph.
Throughout the 40-minute workout, the watch interjected every minute or so with updates on my pace. The updates became mundane quickly, as it simply said I was above, below, or on pace each time, with no extra details. Apple’s Workout Buddy is expected to offer more specific and unique feedback.
That said, the workout did feel appropriate for my general fitness level, and I felt tired but exhilarated afterward. Even the slight annoyance of the Running Coach’s feedback started to blend into the background. While testing the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, my progress from the base Watch 8 carried over, and I completed two additional workouts in the program that were shorter and easier. I thought they were too easy at first, but I found my Energy Scores and actual awareness levels increasing. I do think having such specific and attainable goals helped me improve my fitness over time, so I’d call the Running Coach feature a win, even though its guidance can be monotonous.
During testing, I also used the Watch 8 to take an ECG, measure my stress, and calculate my body fat. The results all seemed anecdotally accurate, and the process for each was the same as on the Galaxy Watch 7.
Sleep Tracking: No More Data Gaps
The Galaxy Watch 8 measures the same sleep metrics as its predecessor, but it does a better job of it. Samsung has either improved the software, or the dynamic lug system does better at keeping the watch in a good position throughout the night. Either way, I saw no gaps in sleep data while testing the Galaxy Watch 8, a problem I experienced with the Galaxy Watch 7.
I wore it over the course of five nights with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 on my other wrist, and both devices showed similar results for my total sleeping duration and time spent in each phase of sleep. Even the charts showing my sleep stages matched to a reasonable degree. The Galaxy Watch 8 might not have any extra sensors, but it is a more accurate sleep tracker than its predecessor.
For help with your shut-eye, you can consult the Galaxy Watch 8's AI-powered Sleeping Coach. It first asks for some information, mostly about your work schedule, so it can separately track your sleep times on nights when you don’t have to get up for work the next day and nights when you do. When it has enough data, it calculates the best times to sleep based on your schedule and your body’s circadian rhythm.
I appreciate that it tracks work nights and off nights separately, as I often sleep during different hours on weekends. Specifically, it asks that the midpoint of your sleep stays within a two-hour range, and I was usually able to fulfill that criterion.
After a week of testing both the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, the Sleep Coach finally told me that I sleep like a penguin. Apparently, penguins stay alert to protect their eggs, and I get enough rest but wake up too frequently throughout the night. The Sleep Coach fully engaged at that point, and prompted me to start getting ready for bed roughly two hours before my usual bedtime on weeknights. It also put me on a multi-week plan with different goals to focus on for each week.
I'm still in the middle of the first week of the plan. For this week, the Sleep Coach is giving me a checklist of things to do to wind down before bed, such as breathing exercises and meditation. It's also offering advice on how to make sure I'm sleepy, such as kicking caffeine by a certain hour and limiting naps. When week two starts, I'll need to focus on just using my bed for sleep, not watching TV or anything else, so it's a place for just rest. For week three, the goal will switch back to properly winding down at the end of the day.
To this point, I haven't been able to consistently check off every item on the list, and my sleep scores haven't dramatically improved. That said, the Sleep Coach's approach of taking small steps at a time works better for me than sudden drastic changes, and while some of the advice feels generic, certain parts of the checklist and the overall plan do feel specifically tailored to me. I'm motivated to keep following its advice as much as I can, and the weekly structure implicitly acknowledges that building better habits takes time.
