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Software experience
As with all of Samsung’s recent smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch Active2 4G runs on Tizen OS 4.0, which is explicitly meant for such devices. While it scores big on stability, it still lacks third-party dev support. This leaves it with a very barebones app and watch face selection, which may not be sufficient for power users. Even finding a reliable navigation app took a few tries. Luckily, most of the essentials are covered by first-party apps.
Another place where it loses against Wear OS is the initial setup process. Not only does it take a while to get ready for use, but it also requires installing three apps and service packages. Not a pretty first impression.
Once set up, things are a lot better. You start with the home screen, where a swipe downwards will show you your quick toggles. The screen on the left is for the notifications, and those on the right are for other apps and functions. These can also be visited by rotating the bezel counter-clockwise and clockwise, respectively. The iconography is pretty sensible too, and you should be able to decipher most of them with ease.
Fitness
Coming to where the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 4G gets its name from, it comes loaded with a pretty nifty collection of fitness tracking abilities that covers 39 activities such as walking, running, cycling, rowing, Elliptical Trainer, dynamic workouts and swimming. Some exercises were tracked a little more accurately than the others. The step and distance tracking, which are the most commonly used features, were thankfully pretty accurate.
There are options to track weight training exercises too, but those need to be manually toggled each time. Considering that an average workout will have at least half a dozen distinct activities spread over a couple of sets, and we are looking at an irritatingly high number of uses between activities.
There’s also a continuous heart rate monitor, which also seemed to be accurate. It reads your pulse at regular intervals and keeps a log. Its functionality also extends to the stress tracker, but we think its somewhat gimmicky, as stress is a function of a lot more things than just the heart rate.
Telephony
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 4G is also one of the few Android smartwatches that support eSIM. This lets it retain all of its features even when it is disconnected from its companion smartphone, including notifications, calls, GPS and even looking up information via Bixby.
As for calls, the Watch Active2 was a handsome performer with no users reporting perceivably poorer voice quality. The speaker was usually loud enough, especially in controlled environments with clear vocals, albeit a little flat. Not only it's cool to finish calls over your watch, but it has functional advantages too when you can’t pull out your phone.
Battery life
Another aspect where the Watch Active2 wins over any other full-fledged smartwatch, including the Apple Watch, is its battery backup. We were usually able to get it last over two days on a single charge, which all features enabled. It’s an underrated relief when you don’t have to charge your accessories every night with your smartphone.
As for charging, we are looking at about 2 hours to reach a full tank with the included magnetic wireless charging dock. It supports Qi wireless charging, so compatible phones, and power banks can also be used for top-ups.
Verdict
In just about a year, Samsung was able to become the de facto high-end smartwatch maker for Android smartphones. For those looking for one with eSIM capabilities, it's either the non-Active Samsung Galaxy Watch or the Active2. The former has killer battery life but its design may not be everyone's cup of tea, while the latter has a more widely appreciable look.
If you are still adamant on going with Wear OS smartwatches, the best options come from Fossil group's Gen 5 lineup, giving you many more options in terms of designs.
