The thing everyone has been waiting for – a Rolex Smartwatch. Well, it’s not a real Rolex, but it’s very smart and maybe even better than an ordinary overpriced analog watch. Let me explain to you why I bought a smartwatch and what kind of things can be done with it.
This is my first smartwatch and since I already have a Samsung phone I opted for the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, it turned out in the end that these watches are very easy to turn into a Rolex, Patek or any other watch you like. Of course with a few clicks you can change the look if you get bored of the same background and hands. But despite that, there are many interesting and useful features for a relatively reasonable price. In my case, that price was 180€. Sometimes it is useful to look at the portals for used items. Someone extended the contract and got a device like this, but doesn’t need it at all.
Drawbacks
The only problem for me – Battery life. Unfortunately, I have to start with this, for all of you who are thinking of buying a watch like this, you must know that the battery life is catastrophic. When you buy something like this, you will surely use it a lot and look at all the options, in which case it is unlikely that the battery will last all day long. Later, when you don’t use it that much, get ready to charge the watch every other day. If you’re lucky, it will last 3 days.
Maybe I’m exaggerating and I’m really not used to charging a watch this often although it should be normal, but I’ve had this little miracle before. A stupid watch or fitness band, also from Samsung, where you literally forget when you last charged it. I think the battery lasted 3 weeks with constant heart rate measurement, if you turn off all the options it’s a month without recharging. But that’s where the benefits of this “stupid” watch ended. You have a number of watchfaces to choose from (you can’t customize or put some of your pictures), measure your heart rate and stress, as well as get some notifications from your phone that you don’t benefit from until you look at your phone.
The quality and performance of this little Fit2 were the reason for me to buy a real smartwatch with all the possibilities that a stupid watch will never have, so let’s start.
Custom watch faces
With a little creativity and Photoshop skills, you have unlimited possibilities for the watch face design. The app I used was Watch Face Studio. Although you already have a lot of designs to choose from in the watch and even customize them, I decided to make my own watch faces. For some of you who are not very good at drawing, there is always the option of downloading/buying new designs from the Play Store.
Here you can download the design I made.
After finishing the new design, you need to do the following:
- The laptop and watch must be connected to the same Wi-Fi
- On the watch enable developer options by taping (several times in a row) on the
Software versionfield inSettings → About watch → Software → Software version - Then navigate to
Settings → Developer optionsand turn onADB debuggingDebug over Wi-Fi
- You have to wait a bit to get the IP address of the watch (e.g. 192.168.0.10)
- When you get that numbers you go to the Watch Studio and hit
Run on Deviceor via the menuMain Menu → Project → Run on Device - Click on the plus
(+) Enter IP addres - Enter the IP address of the watch and click OK
- On the watch also confirm with OK
- Done, after a few seconds the new design is on the watch!
If you want, I can share these index backgrounds and watch hands that I modeled after some known watches, just mention in the comments.
Sideloaded Apps (Install APKs)
In addition to the Play Store, it is possible to install applications that are not intended for the watch, such as YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Subway Surfers and so on. See these links for more information:
- Official List of Sideloaded Apps for GW4 (forum.xda-developers.com)
- Sideload and Install APK on GW4 (wearablestouse.com)
Contactless payment
Google Pay and Samsung Pay, something I never activated on the phone, it just wasn’t practical for me. While I took out my phone and activated the payment, it would be easier to just pay with a card. Unlike a phone, the watch is much simpler, you don’t need to take anything out of your pockets. While the cashier at Lidl throws things at you, you just bring the watch to the terminal, while with the other hand you can still put things in the bag.
It’s possible that it doesn’t work on certain POS terminals, on all newer terminals it worked without any problems. Maybe the problem is that Samsung Pay simulates a Visa card, maybe I should have installed Google Pay. In any case it’s very practical and I like that they make transactions from the account relatively quickly and not once a month.
Sensors
Not only will the watch tell you that you are fat, but it will also tell you the exact percentage of body fat, skeletal muscle, body water and more. Not to mention other sensors:
- Optical Heart Rate Sensor (PPG Sensor)
- Electrical Heart Sensor for ECG
- Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Sensor
- Blood Oxygen Sensor
- Snoring Patterns Detection?
Okay, there are a lot of sensors here and the ability to monitor all sorts of parameters, who likes it – there it is.
To conclude this experience, thanks to the great and very kind community on reddit, we have singled out all the pros and cons of this smartwatch. For all of you who are considering buying it, these are the conclusions.
- Good looking
- Round display ideal for analog watch faces
- Standard 20mm strap (Lots of options)
- Rotating bezel
- Magnetic charger
- Battery life
The GW4 Classic 46mm has a much better battery compared to GW4 Active 40mm - Internal memory for music and pictures
- Wear OS
- Notifications display even images
- Samsung Internet Browser
- Sleep tracking
- Gboard (QWERTY keyboard), Google Assistant and all the other apps
After these advantages, all the negative things should also be mentioned.
- Not working with tattooed skin
- The stock strap band is bad
- No iPhone support
- The UI has laggy animations/stutters sometimes
- Not compatible with wireless phone chargers
It’s interesting that Galaxy Buds work No Google Assistant via Play Store- Bixby
Although I have just entered the world of smart watches, I hope some new ideas have been awakened or at least a purchase decision. Thanks to everyone on the redit who helped.
