Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Brings Back Rotating Bezel

With the Galaxy Watch 6, Samsung went back to the drawing board and added an old favorite feature: a real rotating bezel. This year, the Galaxy Watch 6 presents two models—the stainless steel Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and the aluminum Galaxy Watch 6—but only one of them features a bezel. Preorder is on but the watches are scheduled to ship on August 11 and were unveiled together with the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and Tab S9 tablet during the Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday in Seoul. 

Both wearables use the same sensors as the Galaxy Watch 5, but they possess larger batteries and screens. Although the new watches primarily feature little changes, the return of the bezel from the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic from 2021 might be enough to persuade owners of prior smartwatches to upgrade.

With more competition than ever, the Galaxy Watch 6 series debuts at a crucial time for Android smartwatches. While the battery life on the Google Pixel Watch wasn’t ideal, its sleek appearance and Fitbit’s skill at fitness monitoring helped it become the industry standard when it was introduced in 2022. The Ticwatch Pro 5, which has twice the battery life and costs $150 less than the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, is another option. The Galaxy Watch 6 is an Android-only device, just like every Galaxy Watch since the series 4. 

Samsung added a rotating bezel to the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic after hearing complaints from users who missed it on the Galaxy Watch 5. A physical navigation ring surrounds the screen called the bezel. To navigate through menus and modify settings, utilize the touchscreen. Others may appreciate using it as a fidget spinner just because one gets to hear and feel a pleasant click. 

Since the Galaxy smartwatch line kicked off, the rotating bezel has been a signature design element, distinguishing the Samsung smartwatch from competing smartwatches. The Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro from last year did away with the bezel entirely in favor of a touch bezel that responded to your finger sliding around the watch’s edge. Its comeback on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, doesn’t quite provide any new features. Regardless, it’s expected that users would be more than delighted to have it back. Compared to the bezel of the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, it is a little bit narrower.

The Galaxy Watch 6 screens are somewhat larger and more detailed than those of the Galaxy Watch 5. The displays on the 44mm Watch 6 and 47mm Classic are 1.5 inches, while those on the smaller 40mm Watch 6 and 43mm Classic are 1.3 inches.

The screens are twice as brilliant as those from 2022, with a maximum brightness of 2,000 nits. With the addition of an always-on brightness adjustment, Samsung should just make it easier for users to see the screen better under direct sunlight. Additionally, they both receive Samsung’s own Exynos W930 processor, a massive improvement over the Exynos W920 engine that was utilized in the Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 4, respectively.

The base price of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 is $20 more than that of the Galaxy Watch 5 at $300 for the smaller 40mm size and $330 for the larger 44mm version. Starting at $400 for the small and $430 for the large, the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is available. Each watch also comes in an LTE version. The Samsung trade-in program offers trade-in savings of up to $250, and preorders placed through Samsung Direct will come with a fabric band for either watch. 

Regardless of the size you select, Samsung promises that all Galaxy Watch 6 models have the same battery life of 40 hours with the always-on display turned off and 30 hours with it on. The batteries for the Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic are identical; the large size is 425 mAh and the smaller one is 300 mAh. This has a slightly higher capacity than the Galaxy 5 series’ stated capacity. Theoretically, the larger capacity should result in a slightly longer battery life, but testing will reveal the truth.

The sensors on both of the new watches are set up similarly to those on the Watch 5 series. This contains sensors for the body’s composition, skin temperature, and heart rate. Along with Samsung’s One UI 5 Watch, which offers more in-depth sleep insights, customized heart rate zones during workouts, and an SOS update to alert your position to emergency services, they run WearOS 4, the operating system co-designed with Samsung and Google. It’s important to note that the One UI 5 Watch upgrade, which is now available in beta for the Galaxy Watch 5 and 4, will be released for those models later this year.

The Galaxy Watch 6 will notify you to open the camera app so you can control photo and video recording to snap selfies or group photos when paired with a Z Fold 5 or Z Flip 5 in Flex mode. You can control the zoom and camera angle from your wrist.