For those wanting a smartwatch that can actually live up to the hype of the Radiance A3 Frontier, we suggest you check out the impressive Samsung Galaxy Watch Active instead. This is a real product that does everything the Radiance A3 Frontier couldn’t. It has thousands of real reviews, is made by a trusted brand, and has the features you need to do everything from monitor your fitness regime to pay wirelessly at your favorite stores.
So we’re switching things up. Instead of this being a Radiance A3 Frontier Smartwatch Review, we’ll instead cover a real product with features and qualities that make it worth your serious consideration.
Table of Contents
Who’s It For?
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is for the person that wants an alternative to the big, bulky units that make up most of the smartwatch designs available. Instead of looking like a tiny tablet strapped to your arm, it calls back to analog watch design with a round bezel and a slim footprint. If you’re looking for your first smartwatch, or want to upgrade to something better than run-of-the-mill, Samsung’s smartwatch has your number.
The ideal customer for this smartwatch is:
- Someone who prefers their wearable tech is light and unobtrusive
- Someone who wants to monitor their health on the go
- Someone who wants to pay without lugging wallets, purses, and cards everywhere
It might seem like if you’ve seen one smartwatch you’ve seen them all. But factors like design, quality, and customer support count for a whole lot more than most people give them credit for. If you buy this smartwatch, you can expect to enjoy years of smooth service and valuable updates with minimal hassle.
This smartwatch probably isn’t suited for:
- Someone that needs a larger screen
- Someone who doesn’t mind wearing bulky electronics
- Some who wants the latest and most expensive new gadgets
This smartwatch packs as much punch into a small, lightweight package as it can, with everything from fitness tracking to keeping you on top of your emails with notifications. But where other smartwatches try to maximize features, then work everything into a functional design, the Samsung goes in the opposite direction—choosing the style first and working in as many capabilities as possible into the space available. If you absolutely want the most powerful hardware available, this watch just doesn’t have the room for it.
What We Like About the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active
Let’s talk about the display. The Galaxy Watch Active comes with a 1.1inch, 360 x 360 AMOLED screen protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Tough and scratch-resistant, the colors it renders are vibrant and crisp, and the auto-brightness features work great indoors and out.
This screen is great when you’re working out or exercising. It’s so light that it stays right where you put it, rather than sliding up and down your arm every time you move. The screen is on the smaller side, but it’s plenty large enough to see phone and text notifications and other useful alerts.
One note, there might be a glare on the screen in bright sunlight, so you might have to do more than glance to see the screen. That said, bringing this slim little smartwatch up to your eye level is hardly a major effort.
In addition, there’s a host of other features anyone looking for a quality yet affordable smartwatch will really appreciate, like:
- Works with iPhone 5’s and above, and Samsung Galaxy phones running Android 5 and up
- Loads of settings for managing your activities, exercise, and communications
- Lightweight to avoid sliding down/getting in the way while you work and exercise
- Attractive looks far surpass ugly, bulky smartwatches
The battery is another high point. With 230mAh of power, it packs enough juice to keep running smoothly all day long and can be wirelessly recharged so you don’t have to tangle with messy cords. All the features of more expensive smartwatches in a slim, attractive package? Sounds pretty good to us, and much better than some of the alternatives we could (and have) mentioned.
What We Don’t Like About the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active
Let’s explore a few things we found about this smartwatch that you’ll want to know before purchasing. First, the battery takes a relatively long time to charge. That’s not a problem if you have overnight, but if you need to recharge this watch during the day, it will take hours. If you plan on using this smartwatch to keep you connected all day long, ensure you charge it fully that morning before leaving the house.
Battery life is going to be an issue with any small smartwatch. The longer you want it to last, the more weight you have to add in batteries or the more power-hungry features (like WiFi) you need to disable. Samsung states you can get 45 hours of battery life from this smartwatch, but that probably would require turning off everything you can to conserve power. Otherwise, you could be looking at less than a day’s worth of use per charge when using lots of energy-intensive apps.
Last, the software used for blood pressure tracking can be a sticking point for some. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active uses a 3rd-party app called My BP Lab, which was developed with the help of the University of California, San Francisco. This software is still relatively new, so bugs are still being worked out. This has led to some users suffering glitches and inaccurate blood pressure results. If blood pressure tracking is a major feature you have to have in your smartwatch, keep this in mind.
PROS
- Lightweight – doesn’t stand out or clash with your outfit
- Nice range of smartwatch features for music streaming and more
- Crisp AMOLED display with auto-brightness adjustment
- Tizen wearable device OS works well and is intuitive to use
CONS
- The screen could be too small for those with poor eyesight
- The blood pressure tracking app still has some bugs to be worked out
- The battery could last longer
What’s Included?
When you pop open the package this smartwatch comes in, expect to find:
- The base smartwatch
- USB wireless charger
The items you will NOT find inside are extra accessories like a compatible Apple or Samsung Galaxy smartphone or wireless earbuds. Both of these accessories can be handy or essential depending on what you plan to do, so don’t forget to bring them along or purchase them beforehand.
Overview Of Features
The base features of this smartwatch are as follows:
- Automatic tracking of up to 7 exercises
- Thin, light, durable, swim-ready design
- Long-lasting battery for all-day use
- Sync with your phone to stream playlists, view notifications, etc
- Wireless charging and payments
This phone automatically detects and tracks up to 7 exercises, which is great if you tend to lose track or have lots of things going on at once. You can also manually track up to 39 additional exercises right from your arm, so you’re all set regardless of your workout routine.
The built-in activity tracking is useful for helping you access your sleep patterns and energy levels. Knowing when you typically begin to wind down, and when you’re at your most energetic, makes it easy to schedule your life around your personal cycles.
The ability to sync with your phone gives you the ability to stream music playlists, catch email and SMS notifications, and track blood pressure levels on-the-go–perfect for when you don’t have time to waste fiddling around with a phone or laptop.
The Galaxy Watch Active’s thin and lightweight design looks great without grabbing unwanted attention and is strong enough to stand up to vigorous workouts and occasional dips in the water, making it more than just a styling accessory.
The included battery provides plenty of power to get you through your entire day, provided you don’t leave power-hungry features as WiFi and GPS enabled constantly. And the ability to charge it wirelessly is perfect when you need to top things up when you’re on the go.
Review Summary
Overall, this is a great choice for anyone looking for a slim and unobtrusive smartwatch with the power and features to stand up to the competition. And it’s far superior to the Radiance A3 Frontier Smartwatch, which is little more than an overpriced paperweight.
While it might not be the perfect option for power users, its blend of sleek design, wide compatibility, and wealth of handy functions makes the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active a fantastic choice for anyone that wants to keep track of emails and texts, stream music, and monitor their fitness on the go.
We hope you’ve learned enough from this Radiance A3 Frontier Smartwatch review to learn that you should never buy one. Instead, stick with a reputable and trusted brand like Samsung, and enjoy years of reliable service and support to come.