Galaxy Watch 9
pros and cons
- Longer-lasting battery and upgraded processor.
- It’s a functional, general-purpose smartwatch with intelligent touches.
- It’s great for exercise and training, with accurate heart rate metrics in my testing.
- It takes a long time to charge.
- The accompanying band is not super comfortable.
aug / 2026
on Google.
Consumers are catching on to the fact that not every generational upgrade to their favorite tech can be life-changing. Instead, companies are forced to improve their products little by little.
I’ve thought about this a lot as I tested the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9
I love working out with the Galaxy Watch 9. It’s mighty good at what you’re buying it for: counting steps, tracking your exercise, and delivering post-workout encouragement. The bright, 3,000-nit super AMOLED screen is easy to see between weight-training reps, and the bevy of new health-tracking features means there’s always lots to look at.
The Galaxy Watch 9 ships with Google’s Wear OS 7 and Samsung’s One UI 9 Watch, including features like Heart Health Score, Fitness Index, and Daily Cardio Load. They offer a nice blend of short-term and long-term insights, allowing me to check daily cardio load to see if I’m getting my steps in, and then checking Heart Health Score just how those daily changes evolve into a longitudinal metric.
Also: I went running with the Galaxy Watch 9 in London, and it taught me something new
It’s accurate, too. I put the Galaxy Watch 9’s heart-rate monitor to the test during a recent Stairmaster workout and compared that data to the gold standard heart rate monitoring chest strap, the Polar H10. What I found surprised me: the Galaxy Watch 9’s average heart rate for the workout was within 3 beats per minute of the Polar H10’s, and the max heart rate was within 1 bpm of the Polar H10. That’s stellar agreement. The Polar H10 measured around 8.3 calories burned per minute, while the Galaxy Watch 9 measured 7.9.
The Galaxy Watch 9’s hydration guidance is also helpful on runs, buzzing you with a reminder to hydrate based on your energy exertion. While it may seem intuitive, I can imagine this feature being useful for cardio warriors spending hours in the sun training for a marathon or casual users who tend to forget to hydrate.
Health data overload?
Samsung doesn’t skimp on quantifiable health scores. Take Vitals, one of many new health metrics scored on the Samsung Health app, for example. It monitors a selection of biomarkers the watch already records, including resting heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, and blood oxygen, to detect deviations (or illness) from a person’s baseline.
Also: I wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for a week – it’s a true Apple Watch Ultra 3 rival
In fact, the app delivers tons of scores: one for sleep, sleep apnea, energy, heart health, cardio load, antioxidant levels, and metabolic health. I am still left wondering, after several days testing these features, how this groundswell of graded health data will result in my own behavior changes.
Right now, it just feels like more data to parse through with no core focus. This is where an AI health coach or agent would be most useful. I can see how Samsung is laying the groundwork for an intelligent tool with these metrics (and testing a health coach of its own in beta), but the contextual layer is currently missing. In its absence, users are left with a bevy of numbers and ratings.
ZDNET’s buying advice
I’d recommend the Galaxy Watch 9