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One Is Best?
Samsung is a South Korean company that was founded in 1938. They started to sell their first electronic product which was black and white televisions in 1969. That is a heck of a long time to be in the electronics industry, and one of the reasons Samsung is such a household name.
The S3 Frontier and the Galaxy Watch are both Samsun smartwatches. The Galaxy Watch was released in August 2018 and the S3 Frontier in November of 2016. Initially, people go for the newest model assuming it is better but is it really? And what is the purpose of launching so may smartwatches if they all do the same thing?
The answer is simple. Every fitness smartwatch is designed with a specific user in mind. We are going to help you decide which of these Samsung fitness smartwatches is the best for you by comparing their features, pros, and cons. Some of their main features will be the same, and others won’t be. That is why it is important we delve into what each of the smartwatches offers you, the user.
The Samsung S3 Frontier
Mobile Phone Compatibility
The Samsung S3 Frontier can be connected to your laptop, PC, or tablet. It is also compatible with iPhones and Androids. This is a very important feature to have because that way you aren’t tied down to using a certain brand with your smart fitness watch.
Design and Aesthetics
It looks like your traditional round-faced watch. It has a touch screen watch face and side buttons for easy navigation through your applications. The S3 Frontier has a rotating bezel so that answering calls and viewing notifications is that much quicker. The bands can also be swapped and changed depending on your mood or the look you are going for.
The S3 Frontier isn’t small, its watch face measures at 46 x 49 MMS and weighs a whopping 2.2 ounces. That is a lot of weight for a watch to men and women with smaller wrists who might find it a bit heavy and disproportionate in weight to the rest of their bodies during workouts.
The screen is bright and AMOLED, making it easy to look at regardless if it is day or night. An easy to view screen will especially benefit the wearer during exercising because all of your fitness stats will be clear and viewable on the screen, saving you time searching for them while you are mid-workout.
‘Tizen’ is the name of the operating system used on the S3. Tizen is easy to navigate on the watch face, with only 8 apps visible per page it isn’t too busy and hard to use.
Phone Calls And Notifications
There are two different models, a Bluetooth model and one that has 4G and doesn’t require being synced to a mobile phone. Both models can answer and make calls as well as respond to notifications. There is a speaker on the watch to send voice clips or talk freely through the watch. The 4G model doesn’t even need to be paired with your mobile phone to do all of this.
Battery Life
The Samsung S3 has long battery life. You can go for a number of days before needing to recharge the smartwatch. The smartwatch charges using a charging disk and doesn’t need to be plugged into the charger.
Built-in GPS
Free your hands from your smartphone while you’re outside exercising. The built-in GPS system maps out your route, works out the best routes for you to take. Your average speed and distance covered will all be calculated for your analysis. You can even leave your phone at home while exploring the great outdoors.
Notify Emergency Contacts
Your location will be sent to your emergency contacts when you click the home button 3 times. This is a great feature for when you are in need of help during a hike or if you have been taken ill at home.
Water Resistance
The last thing you need is to stress about remembering to remove your watch every time you wash your hands, or before taking a shower in the evening. This smartwatch is water-resistant up to 1.5 meters and can withstand 30 minutes of continuous water exposure. Caveat: you do want to remember to remove it before diving or swimming.
Make Payments Using Your Smartwatch
Leaving your wallet at home once was a big pain. Not anymore though with the Samsung S3 Frontier. Pay for food, clothing, and other items at any shop that has contactless payment options. The smartwatch is supported by NFC and MST technologies.
Streaming Music
Connect up to your S3 Frontier using your Bluetooth headphones and enjoy listening to your favorite music. The Bluetooth model of the watch will require your mobile phone to be near or for you to get in a Wi-Fi zone for live streaming, however, the 4G version doesn’t need any of that.
There are no onboard music storage facilities with the S3 Frontier, however, but does it really matter? With more music than you could possibly listen to available online, there is no need to have them clogging up the smartwatch’s memory.
Downloadables
Access the Gear App Store directly from your Gear S3 to download apps, watch faces, and anything else you may want to be added to your watch.
You will get a year’s worth of free Under Armor Connected fitness on your smartwatch. Downloading MapMyRun, MyFitnessPal, or Endomondo apps will unlock a year’s premium app membership and more tools to help you reach your fitness goals.
S-Voice
Navigate your way through your apps and notifications by talking into the built-in microphone and instructing S-Voice to find what you are looking for. This is a rather rare feature to find in a smartwatch as most smart fitness watches don’t have a built-in microphone.
Fitness And Activity
Your Gear S3 collects data about your fitness. View your progress history on the S Health app for your accurate and long term fitness history so that you can identify areas for improvement. The smartwatch monitors your heart rate and other health metrics without being prompted to do so.
PROS
- Automatically tracks health and fitness metrics
- Made of durable, long lasting material
- Splash and showerproof
- Battery charge lasts for days
CONS
- It is very bulky
- Not got a large variety of Tizen apps
The Samsung Galaxy Watch
GPS and Navigation
Not only can you map out your hiking, skiing, or cycling routes on the Galaxy Watch, you also get a built-in barometer and altimeter for when you go off-trail. The GPS navigation guides you to certain locations or it can map out the route you take in real-time.
Durability
With a 5ATM level (50 meters) of water resistance, your Galaxy watch isn’t likely to get damaged while in the shower, washing your hands or should you decide to exercise in the rain. It is also made of extremely hard material, in fact, the material is military-grade, so it can handle some bumps and scratches.
Contactless Payments
Leave both your phone and wallet at home because you can pay for items using the NFC (near field communication) technology on the smartwatch. NFC can be used on any payment terminal that accepts contactless card payments.
Battery Life
The battery will last for up to 3 days when it has been fully charged. This depends on how long you have apps running and if you use the GPS for long periods of time. Prolonged use of GPS, apps, and other features will significantly decrease battery life. The Galaxy smartwatch is super easy to charge, just place it on the wireless charging block and wait.
Home IoT Functions
Have you heard of a smartwatch that controls home appliances? The Home IoT function allows you to control your electric vacuum cleaner, television, and air conditioning. It does this by identifying your general sleeping patterns.
Design
Mix up your look by changing the straps on your smartwatch. There are loads of replacement bands on the market for you to choose from. The Galaxy Smartwatch has a number of watch faces to choose from. You can even choose a realistic ticking sound so that no one will ever tell that you are wearing a smartwatch.
Phone Calls And Notifications
You can accept phone calls and view notifications, so you don’t need to keep your phone near you 24/7. You can even answer phone calls with just a swipe and have conversations through the smartwatch.
Music
If you opt for the LTE version of the watch you will be able to stream whatever music you want online. Just connect your Bluetooth headphones to your smartwatch and enjoy it. This is a brilliant feature for anyone that exercises outside of a gym. Your mobile phone or MP3 player on a run is less convenient and may even hinder your performance.
Fitness Tracking
The Galaxy smartwatch is just like having your very own personal trainer attached to your wrist. It is one of the only smartwatches that tracks over 39 different activities and provides you with your long term data. It has a heart rate monitor that operates automatically without you having to remember to turn it on.
Your sleep is also tracked. People who sleep well, for at least 7 hours per night are more likely to achieve a healthy weight and suffer less from depression. That is why tracking how many hours of good quality sleep you have is crucial to improving your overall fitness level.
End Of Day Analysis
You get a daily review of how well you slept as well as all of your fitness metrics at the end of the day. This is brilliant because each day you know what to focus on more to create an optimal long term plan for yourself.
‘My Day’ Watch Face
This feature shows you all your plans for the next 10 hours. If you have appointments or meetings then this watch face will make being on time for all of your daily commitments a whole lot easier.
Apps
The Samsung Galaxy smartwatch can download hundreds of apps such as Uber and Spotify so you can enjoy them directly on your smartwatch.
Mobile Phone Compatibility
The Samsung Galaxy smart fitness watch is supposedly compatible with all Android and IOS phones, as well as being easy to pair with PCs and tablets.
PROS
- Bright display screen that is really easy to see even out in the sunlight
- Accurate and reliable sleep tracker
- No skin irritation when wearing the original strap even when worn day and night
- High quality graphics and watch faces
CONS
- Gear App isn’t compatible with Android phones
- Inaccuracies in the step count, especially when synced to your phone
Final Verdict
I feel like this time, newer is better. The Galaxy Watch is of higher quality. The fitness applications are far more accurate so that you can really rely on all of the data it collects to reliably gauge your fitness level. The fitness apps provide you with the best workouts to achieve your goal.
The apps general smartwatch qualities are more advanced in my opinion and you have many more apps to choose from to download directly to your smartwatch.