Appearance: This watch looks great, silver shiny metal casing, nice metal bezel in black, the default bank is a black rubber, looks good as well. The big 46mm face looks awesome to the user and people that see you wearing it, the faces are bright and vibrant and there are many great ones both digital and analog looks and many funny cartoon ones as well. You can also make your own custom faces on the samsung site too. With the ways you can customize case, bands and bezel, its the best looking smart watch on the market to me.

Functionality: This watch uses a custom Samsung app store and uses the Tizen OS instead of the more standard Google app store and Wear OS that most other android watches use. That is not a problem when it comes to watches like this one though as you can make calls, receive calls, take and write texts, receive and write e-mails, you can get driving directions with a map app, there is a web browser that works well, heart rate monitor, sleep monitor, exercise apps, you can watch youtube videos and it looks great, you can get notifications form all social media sites, and much more, this watch can do pretty much anything you want in a smart watch, excellent. The battery life is very good IMO on this 46mm model, I am getting 3-4 days out of it and I use it for heavy tasks like calls and video along with maps too. It is very easy to charge with the included wireless charging stand too. This watch is also waterproof! The only downside is that if you are not using one of the newer Samsung phones you need to do a few workarounds to get texts to work properly. I was not using a Samsung phone and can report I am still extremely impressed by the functionality.

Expandability: There are hundreds of watch cases, bezels and watch bands(leather, rubber and metal/steel) that you can buy for a low fee to customize the entire look of this watch. You will not be disappointed at all in this department, nice looks for male and female users and all kinds of funny prints and also professional looks that can make the watch look almost like a rolex, no joke form a distance.

Overall: This is the best smart watch you can get in 2019 when comparing it to watches I have tried out, seen in stores and I also read many reviews from watch/tech sites and many agree with this opinion. I love this watch! Only a few tiny flaws keep it from being perfect.

Score: 9.5/10 This watch does everything I dreamed of a smart watch being able to do & more.

I bought this watch in-store back in October of 2018, so I've had a few months of experience with it. It's my first smartwatch so I don't have much to compare it against. I like that this watch is customizable and you can download free or pay watch faces that meet your style and information requirements. I like that I can wear this watch and receive messages discreetly from my family while I'm working. I work 12-hour-shifts at a local hospital so I'm gone for the better part of 14 hours a day when I work so if my family has an emergency or something they are still able to contact me directly without having to go through the operator or front desk. Other things I like about the watch include being able to see the watch face in just about any light condition, theater mode when you're at the movies, airplane mode just like any other wireless device, the rotating bezel which allows you to make selections and/or scroll through messages and options, ability to set up reminders, and that it encourages me to keep moving or get those few extra steps in with the step counter. It is somehow able to detect when you're walking at a brisk pace or doing yard work and it's kind of entertaining how it encourages you with messages to let you know and keep it up. It is quiet and the gentle buzz I feel on my wrist when a notification pops up is strong enough that I know there's something I need to check out but not annoying. I also like the "find my phone" feature that it has which I've only had to use once when I had put my phone somewhere and forgot where I left it, you can use the find my phone feature on the watch and regardless of whether your phone is set to silent or not it will ring audibly and allow you to locate the phone if it's within hearing distance.

Things that I don't like about the watch are the Samsung version of Apple's Siri, which is called "Bixby", is just not there yet. Siri is much more advanced and gives better answers and has better voice recognition capability. I also feel like this watch might be cheating me out of some steps during the day, for example, the other day I got up and watched the step counter on my watch, I took ten steps forward and the counter didn't move. I didn't get credit for those ten steps at all. Other times I've done this and kept my eye on the watch and counted my steps and the watch has only been one step away from what I counted (which I don't mind). But ten steps yes I do mind, because ten steps here and there throughout the day add up, so that's another area where I feel that the Apple watches are probably ahead of Samsung as most of my coworkers use Apple and don't have the same problem. I also don't like that it is not good at counting flights of stairs, and it's more likely to give you credit for going up a flight of stairs than down a flight of stairs, which both require effort; and when it does give you credit for walking a flight of stairs it seems like it makes you walk more flights than you actually walked in order to meet any goals that you've set to reach on the watch. So far it's batting zero's when it comes to detecting me descending a flight of stairs. Going up it seems to be much better at. Overall given that it's my first smartwatch I like it. The battery charge seems to last on average about 2 days on the settings that I use, which meet my requirements without having to make sacrifices, but I imagine if you run a lot of different things on the watch or use a watch face that drains a lot of power then you'll get different results.

A circular watch face shouldn't be a remarkable feature, however, when it comes to smartwatches, it really is. The current market leader features a square face, so it's perhaps unsurprising that people regularly compliment the look of the watch, keen to find out what it is and whether or not it was available for their device.

So, with that out of the way, how does the watch work? Well, the operating system is a little hit and miss in terms of the apps it works with. I was able to download an extension to Google Maps that pops up directions on my watch whenever I have the app running. That said, there are other apps that are simply missing watch counterparts, which can be a little frustrating.

In terms of battery, I'm really impressed. During a work trip to Vegas for 5 days, I had to charge my watch once, on the penultimate day. If I'd used battery saving and switched it off every night, I'd be confident it would have lasted without me needing to take the charger with me.

Build quality is fantastic, with the rotating bezel a genius touch that really gives a premium experience to the user. I tried the smaller watch first and that was far too small/petite for me, as a 6ft / ~190lb man, the 46mm is a great fit, but the 42mm seemed aimed at women, which is a smart move to offer the option.

Fitness wise, the watch has a myriad of options and tracking points. GPS built in means the watch is great for runs, bike rides, hikes or even just exploring your local city - and the altitude tracking is, in particular, perfect for climbing or hiking.

I also appreciate the sleep tracking. Referring back to my trip to Vegas, the watch frequently informed me of the abject lack of sleep I was enjoying - which I found valuable if only to remind myself exactly why I felt so short of energy the following day. There are also additional options to improve your state of health, such as a stress test, which encourages and tracks your breathing, and frequent reminders when you have been inactive for too long.

Ultimately, the Galaxy Watch LTE 46mm knocks it out of the park when it comes to my expectations being met, and is a fantastic accompaniment to Samsung's current line of phones. It looks great, the battery is fantastic and adds another dimension to your life, including keeping health top of mind and making communicating with colleagues, friends and family a little more efficient.

Previously having had a Samsung gear S2 I was worried that I wouldn't like the round screen as I had been a fan of using the qwerty keyboard to fire back quick texts. The Galaxy watch handles the lack of square screen will though with voice input for text and number style predictive text. The bezel works well for flicking functions and the wrist motion gesture for sealing the watch works well and keeps the battery life amazing. Was always used to charging a smartwatch every night, such makes a mockery of a sleep monitor but Galaxy Watch lasts for days and the magnetic wireless charger is superb instead of the old clip cradles. The great beat function is ok but when is a little finicky when it comes to wanting cleaned and when I'm sweating that's when I'd usually want to know my heart rate. Probably doesn't compare to a specialized sports tracker but it's decent and does pick up some activities automatically. Some apps that you'd assume would be there like timers and stopwatches need downloaded but are free and good. Watch faces for it look amazing and although playing with a few free ones just now I'm definitely going to buy some because they are beautifully designed. Took a few showers with it on so far and it's been fine and also no damage when worn to work as a plumber, although I do often keep it protected from scratches with the cut off wrist of an old work glove. Main bug bear is the lack of Google assistant and being stuck with Bixby as Bixby sucks. Hoping they can allow Google assistant on to it in the future as or would make a massive difference. Would have been nice to have the model with a stand alone sim, but couldn't wait for the release and it doesn't come up very often, maybe only when going for a run. The wireless duo is great and was something I planned to get for my new note 9, but was great to receive with the pre order of the watch. Really great actually, which leaves me charging two blue 9's and a watch at the same time, even though it's only every fourth or fifth night it would be on charge. Can't complain apart from the voice recognition not being Google, really great smartwatch but the Google thing makes me wish at times I had got an android wear OS but everything else including design is great. Would have thought I'd have been dying to get rid of the standard watch straps but they are pretty decent and comes with a spare.