The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic: Ticks all except one

When was it released?

The galaxy watch was released five years ago as along with other wearables from samsung as is their custom every year. It come in two variants, the 42mm and 46mm. Before it was released, there was alot of rumor with it shipping with wearOS which was a drastic shift from the all time inbred Tizen OS samsung was familiar with. This was an opportunity for Samsung and Google to start from a clean slate especially after the previous attempts with Huawei Watch 2, LG G watch, moto 360 and many others had dramatically failed.

What stood out at the time it was released?

Turns out, the rumors were true with the galaxy watch 4 classic launching with Android Wear OS 4 baked into 316l stainless steel frame and a Gorilla glass DX touchscreen to top it all off. For a smart watch enthusiast like me, the fun part was yet to come. The iconic and functional rotating bezel has for a long time been my favorite feature on all galaxy watch classic models. So much so that I still have on my wrist up to this point regardless of newer and les excitng releases from Samsung.

How has it held up for 5 years now?

I got myself one 2 years later after it’s release, and it’s held up pretty well. At first, I wasn’t so confident about the rotating bezel because there are tendencies of dust particles interfering with the mechanism. Not on this one though.

The watch still gets official updates for WearOS and right now, it’s on AndroidWear 6.0 with security patches still trickling through. Samsung holding up to its promises means new watch faces, better integration with the app and a better overall experience. Sadly, all this comes at the cost of the battery life.

You can’t expect a 5 year galaxy watch to still have battery to last 2 days on a single charge, even 2 year old Smartphones can’t do that anymore. However, a full day on a single charge is pretty sufficient for my use case, as long as am not packing on a trip.

As I unwind the day, I’ve made it a trivial point to slap it on charger Samsung provides with it right away, that’s because this watch isn’t the fastest at charging and I wouldn’t want to have a silver brick with rubber straps tied to my wrist the next morning.

Why does this watch matter?

Many smartwatches have come out over the years, and, the galaxy watch is definitely not winning trophies in 2026. What matters is what it stands for in terms of functionalily that you get for the price. In my opinion, this was a well placed watch that won its place amongst competitors like Apple, Garmin, OnePlus etc.

The Google/ Samsung collab made a lot of sense to consumers especially the non Apple folks.

Whether you’re dressed for a wedding, in the gym or or going on a hike, this time piece just blends in the first chance it gets. Not to brag but I’ve gotten more compliments about it than about my haircut. Okay, enough with the rizz.

All things considered…

As we hype up for the release of the Apple series 14 and my personal favorite, the pebble round 2. It’s right to know and acknowledge that a company listened to its customers and delivered to their promises, at least up until this point. The old ticker will be hugging my wrist until my pebble round 2 is shipped. You should stay tuned for that one.

Until next time, I’m Solomon Jjingo

Happy tinkering…