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Samsung’s Tizen smartwatches are stiff competition for Wear OS on the Android side of wearables, and now it seems like the latest model is almost ready to hit. A couple of weeks ago we saw an alleged Galaxy Watch 3 strutting around the FCC, and more recently rumors talked about a possible public presentation sometime in July, but we still didn’t have much to go on. Now our expectations are starting to take shape as possible specs have been released for the upcoming Galaxy Watch 3, and they look like solid updates from the previous generation.
According to this source, the Galaxy Watch 3 series will be offered in two size options: a 41mm band with a 1.2-inch screen and a 45mm band with a 1.4-inch screen. Those displays are slightly larger than the original Galaxy Watch, but the overall dimensions of the watch are supposed to be smaller, so it’s safe to say the bezels won’t be as thick this year. Corning Gorilla Glass DX would be used for glass.
Both variants include 8 GB of internal storage and 1 GB of RAM, as well as support for LTE and GPS. Samsung’s rotating bezel was left out of the Galaxy Watch Active2 last year, but luckily it appears to be back in the Watch 3. The watches would come in stainless steel and titanium variants, have typical IP68 water resistance, and work with Tizen. OS 5.5 out of the box.
Tizen OS has come a long way since its launch.
Regarding health characteristics, the Galaxy Watch 3 will supposedly be equipped with a heart rate monitor with 8 pulse-reading photodiodes and support for blood pressure monitoring, in addition to an electrocardiogram sensor. It’s worth noting that the Galaxy Watch Active2 had an ECG sensor worldwide, but was only enabled in Korea, so hopefully it can be authorized for use in other countries when the watch is released.
Interestingly, the batteries in this new series are expected to be slightly smaller than those of the original Galaxy Watch, with the 41mm setting for a 247mAh cell and the 45mm variant with a 340mAh battery. While it may be a bit contradictory to reduce battery capacity on new models, these are supposedly the same batteries found on last year’s Active2 watches, from which Corbin got more than two days of battery life in your review.
The 45mm rear cover was revealed earlier this year in an FCC filing.
The Galaxy Watch 3 may make its debut next month before the release of the Fold 2, although Samsung has yet to share an official date. By these specs, it should be a worthy successor that many users are likely to choose over a smartwatch with Wear OS. If you’re not sure which smart watch is right for you, check out our comparison while you wait for the Galaxy Watch 3 to be officially announced.
Photos
Okay, so we’ve heard a lot of specs and features attached to the Galaxy Watch 3, so what will it look like? While there have been some descriptions, and we had those technical drawings from the FCC documents, an actual photograph of the smartwatch was still elusive.
Galaxy Watch 3 models SM-840 (left), SM-850 (Right)
These new photos appeared on the South Korean National Radio Research Agency. We see two different bezel styles, with prominent knurling on the 840, but nothing that absolutely confirms the rotation is back.
Samsung still disagrees with all of this, but if we really look forward to an announcement next month, it wouldn’t be surprising to start seeing some official progress soon.
More leaked images appear
We don’t have a very clear view of Samsung’s upcoming smartwatch yet, but we do have more low-quality images to watch courtesy of TechTalkTV on Twitter. This time we can see the circular interface of the application launcher that may well be controlled by a rotating bezel once again. An official presentation shouldn’t be far off at this point.
Better images, more app screenshots
An anonymous source has provided us with better-quality versions of the images included in the previous leak, plus some screenshots of a Galaxy Watch 3 paired with the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app:
Screenshots of a paired Galaxy Watch 3 in the Galaxy Wearable app.
Surprisingly, the app’s screenshots don’t actually provide much more information. We can get a rough estimate of battery life based on battery level and prediction of remaining time, a little math indicates around 30 hours of total life, but how this could have been used is unknown.
Still, with photos and screenshots popping up like this, Samsung’s official announcement can’t be too far.
