Hands on: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is a Galaxy Watch Ultra that’s dressed to impress

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: One-minute review

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is different from its predecessors. The Classic series crops up every two years like clockwork, and all feature that rotating bezel, which serves as a way to interact with the watch.

However, while the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and Watch 4 Classic bear a resemblance to their namesake mainline entries in the Galaxy Watch series, the Watch 8 Classic draws more from the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra.

This new influence means the body is a whole different shape to the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, which has slimmed down by 11% to become the thinnest Galaxy Watch yet. The Classic is still chunky, and features the Ultra’s programmable Quick Button in addition to the rotating bezel. The Quick Button can be programmed and used in many different ways, from starting your most-used workout to opening music controls. The rotating bezel also allows you to scroll through apps, lists, and messages without using the touchscreen.

These two features, combined with voice commands aided by the Google Gemini AI assistant, mean you have lots of different ways to interact with the watch, which is great. The bezel feels smooth in use, and it feels very natural to use the wheel to scroll through long passages of text and lists of apps alike.

Other new features include sleep apnea detection, a new Running Coach with 160 running plans to recommend and track, useful redesigned software (including new at-a-glance app collection displays and a minimalist widget called a Now Bar, which lives on your watch face when a task is running in the background) and of course, that previously mentioned AI assistant. It’s also got Samsung’s existing suite of features, such as a BioActive heart rate sensor, sleep coach recommendations, accurate body composition, and lots more.

I’ve only tested the watch for a very short time alongside the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, but it certainly seems to be the full package, inside an attractive but thick and chunky casing.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: Price and availability

• Bluetooth-only model starts at $499 / £449 / AU$899
• LTE model is $549 / £499 / AU$999
• Pre-orders available July 9

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is available for pre-order now priced at $499.99 / £449 / AU$899 for the Bluetooth-only model. Considering the mainline Watch 8 is available for $150 / £100 cheaper, you’re paying for the upgraded stainless steel body, the rotating bezel, and the added Quick Button. LTE connectivity is available for an additional $50 / £50 / AU$100.

This certainly isn’t a small price increase between editions, and it's a big jump from the previous-generation Classic as well: the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic started at $399 / £369 / AU$699, although that was a smaller-sized 43mm model, whereas, like the Ultra, the Classic 8 is a one-size-fits-all 46mm.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: Design

• The rotating bezel is back
• Added Quick Button
• Redesigned UI/software

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic only comes in a single size, 46mm, where 40mm and 44mm options are offered with the mainline Samsung Galaxy Watch 8. This is a watch for bigger wrists only, as it’s also thick and chunky due to the added height and heft from the bezel.

It looks and feels like a Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, especially with the addition of the Quick Button – so if you liked that design, you’ll also like this one. The Watch 8 Classic's display is tied with the 8 for the brightest yet, at 3,000 nits. You also get double the internal storage of the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 – 64GB, instead of the standard 8’s 32GB.

As mentioned above, the Quick Button can be programmed for different purposes, and the bezel is used like the digital crowns on the best Apple Watches in that you use it to cycle through options, but the real magic is in the redesigned UI, which I love.

At-a-glance views now offer more information on your limited display, while a new watch face widget called the Now Bar, an idea borrowed from the best Samsung phones, allows tasks running in the background – like Timers and Workouts – to have a small presence on your regular watch face. It works very well in practice, and I loved using it.

My main design con, other than the limited size options and thickness of the watch, is the Dynamic Lug system, which is borrowed from the Galaxy Watch Ultra. I mentioned in my Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 review that I found it fiddly, especially as a man with short nails.

However, it does allegedly mean there’s less case movement during exercise, and the watches (in white and black) look snappy with the leather-effect strap provided. If you’re keen to use it for exercise, especially swimming, it may also behoove you to pick up a silicone one, further inflating the price of the watch as you’ll need to buy this separately.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: Features

Aside from the design differences, many of the new features on offer are the same as the ones described in my Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 review, but I’ll repeat them here. Sleep apnea detection is added to Samsung’s extensive suite of sleep-tracking features, which also includes sleep coaching, snore detection, and Energy Score.

A new Running Coach helps calibrate your running and can recommend one of 160 different training plans, intelligently switching between plans on the fly based on your performance. The new Antioxidant Index detects the level of the beneficial antioxidant carotenoids in your body, found in leafy greens and orange vegetables: if this score is low, you likely need to eat more vegetables.

Gemini on the Samsung Galaxy Watch, the first of its kind, is a headline feature here, and based on my brief hands-on time with the watch, it seems to work well in practice. My unit was only connected to a test phone wielded by one of Samsung’s representatives, but I look forward to testing its capabilities when it’s connected to my own unit.

All of this is added to Samsung’s existing suite of health tracking, fitness, and lifestyle features, which are further enhanced by third-party apps from Wear OS. These include advanced fitness features like dual-frequency GPS to better calculate runs, hikes, and rides, TrackBack to stop you getting lost, and body composition analysis to determine your ratio of fat to muscle to bone. This is surprisingly accurate: we tested Samsung’s feature against a smart scale with favorable results.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic: Early Verdict

I’m not as in love with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic’s design as I am with the minimalist Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, even though the design is this watch’s unique selling point. It’s too big and bulky for me, but I can see the appeal, and the rotating bezel’s added functionality is always a welcome addition.

However, there’s no denying Samsung has knocked its generational redesign out of the park, and I’m intrigued to see what comes of more thorough testing soon.