Galaxy Watch 4 Smartwatch LTE (44mm), Green (Open Box)

Reviewing 40mm LTE Silver option, which comes with a white band in small/medium size (Samsung's website lets you pick either the small/medium or medium/large band in whatever color you want, FYI) The most recent update (not sure of exact date) causes the double-press shortcut to randomly be lost. I have it set to Google Wallet (formerly Google Pay) and of course this bug always happens when I'm trying to pay and I have to pull my phone out to pay anyway. 2022/04/24 UPDATE (2 STARS): The latest update broke more things in LTE mode (including "Remote connection" and Google Voice support) and sending/receiving texts in LTE mode still hasn't been fixed since the last update broke it. I've also discovered the heavy battery loss is when the watch is out of cell network range in LTE mode (e.g. inside a building with no cellular signal). When paired with the phone, it works great now, but I don't recommend the LTE model. They're still haven't figured it out yet and I'm doubtful it will be fixed by the time the Watch 5 comes out, if ever. 2022/02/12 UPDATE (2 STARS): Samsung sent an update to the watch which fixed group chat in Samsung Messages but sending or receiving texts in LTE mode does not work now. I don't always receive calls in LTE mode now either. Google Messages still can't send or receive texts in LTE mode either. The update did at least fix the problem of not being able to receive Google Voice calls in LTE mode. Samsung seems to not understand the purpose of having LTE because the only thing that I've found to reliably work in LTE mode is the phone app (outgoing calls only), but if you use the phone app your battery will die rapidly. I also finally got a response from a fellow user in the Samsung forums (not the various Samsung tech support agents I spoke to, who know nothing about the Watch) to fix getting notifications from the phone in LTE mode: go to Settings > Advanced > turn on "Remote connection" (it's at the bottom and appears to be under the "Gestures" heading, but it's actually just in it's own section without any heading, which is how I initially missed it). 2022/01/23 UPDATE (2 STARS): I've had the watch 2 months now and haven't had any updates in December or January to fix any of the bugs. The same problems persist and occasionally the battery life drops significantly with the same usage. Sometimes the battery life has been as short as 8 hours without using LTE. In LTE mode, I've had it lose 60% in 3 hours when I haven't even been using the watch. I'll update this review if Samsung ever decides to finish the software for this device properly. 2021/12/05 ORIGINAL REVIEW (3 STARS): ► TAKEAWAY Samsung has a great concept here, but I can't help but feel I'm still testing a beta product that has been launched prematurely (and this review is being written more than 3 months after its release). Many problems could be resolved with alternate apps and future software updates, but even if all the software issues are fixed, you're still left with a watch that can only sometimes get you through a full day of use. In my opinion, the LTE model is not ready for market yet, and it's quite a bit more expensive when you factor in the monthly charge that at least some carriers charge for it. If you're okay always having your phone nearby, you'll probably enjoy this watch, but that kind of defeats the purpose for me. ► DESIGN The design of the watch itself, as well as the interface, is clean and simple. The watch is thicker than I'd like (about twice as thick as a non-smartwatch), but that's a necessary sacrifice to fit a battery in. The watch is slightly bigger compared to my non-smartwatch and I'm really glad I got the 40mm version, as the 44mm one would have been too large proportionally to my wrist. I'm a 6-foot tall, 175 pound male, so even the 40mm version will probably be comically large on a smaller person. The included band is soft and supple, far more than I expected (not stiff at all). The clasp is well-designed and looks great. The display is not as crisp as I was expecting it would be, but it's not bad enough to really bother me either. The display surface is not very scratch resistant. After one week of use it already has a scratch. I've had my Galaxy S9 for over three years without a scratch. An unexpected feature of the display is a toggle to turn on extra sensitivity so it works with ordinary non-conductive leather gloves. Leaving the setting on all the time doesn't hurt use without gloves either so you can set it and leave it. To turn the feature on, swipe down from top of the display, press the power icon, scroll down to the bottom, and turn "Touch sensitivity" on. Something I didn't consider when buying the watch is that you could have screen burn-in, depending on the watch face(s) you use. Turning "Always On Display" off should help with this. ► BATTERY LIFE The battery life is nowhere near the 40 hours advertised. Many of its other limitations could conceivably be corrected with future software updates, but I just don't think the battery life is going to get better by the leaps and bounds it needs to hit the 40-hour mark. The initial setup, which included 2 software updates and a few app installs, drained the battery from 100% to 19% in 3 hours. In normal usage I get at best 24 hours, but that's only possible when LTE isn't being used. I'm normally seeing battery life in the 14- to 18-hour range using mostly Bluetooth and LTE in auto mode, but even less if any calls are made (it loses nearly 1% per minute of talk time). Having the "Always On Display" turned off and using Bluetooth almost exclusively puts me in the 16- to 23-hour range, typically. In the 14 charge cycles I've tracked so far, there has been a lot of fluctuation. Bear in mind that batteries degrade over time, so this is likely the best it'll ever be. The battery takes 90 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%. ► APPS The next biggest problem this watch has is a shortage of useful, functional apps. The Samsung Messages app can't respond to group chats like the Android version can on my Samsung Galaxy S9, and it's not fun to get messages from 9 other people in a group chat saying "you only sent this to me". You can install Google Messages and it's a much better developed app, but it doesn't work in LTE mode using your main phone number (even when set to SMS mode only). I experienced a bug in setting Google Messages as the default app via the app prompts, but was able to set it in Settings > Apps. There is no Google Voice, Google Translate, nor Google Assistant (and the built-in Bixby app can't do much at this point). Useful smarthome apps like Alarm.com and myQ are also unavailable. You can't install the Ring app, but notifications with snapshots do come through to the watch so long as it is paired to a phone (notifications don't come through at all in LTE mode). The built-in Outlook app is really buggy. You can't delete an email in a notification (even though there's a "Delete" button, it doesn't work). Outlook doesn't work at all in LTE mode either, unfortunately. There's no compose option, but you can reply to emails (without being able to change the subject line). The Google Keep app is handy to have my grocery list on while shopping hands-free, but there's no ability to edit notes, only create and tick off list items and read notes. Gboard is also available and is a must have for this watch because Samsung really bungled the default input (although the Gboard voice input doesn't work in LTE mode). Google Maps is awkward to use while driving, but would probably be good for walking directions. However, the app requires processing from your phone and therefore doesn't work at all in LTE-only mode, so you might as well just use your phone. The nicest app for me – and one of the main reasons I bought the watch → is Google Pay. Contrary to information I found online, you do not need to unlock the watch before making each transaction. You just have to enter your pin one time when putting the watch on and it stays unlocked until the watch is next removed from your wrist. The only downside is that you have to open the app first before each transaction, unlike on an Android phone where you just have to hold the (unlocked) phone near the NFC point to make the transaction. I made Google Pay one of my shortcut keys to open the app, though, so I just double-press the home button and hold my wrist near the NFC point to make a transaction. I've tested the app at several terminals without issue in both paired and LTE modes without issue, but it doesn't work in any mode at one business I shop at; at that place, I have to get out my phone and pay. The inconsistency doesn't inspire confidence about leaving my phone behind. I didn't buy this watch for the health features and don't really intend to use them much. Assuming they're accurate (a big assumption on any smartwatch), the simple apps for measuring steps, pulse, etc. seem fine. The built-in music app works and connected to my Bluetooth headphones without issue, but transferring music to the watch is painfully slow. Nevertheless, it'd be handy to have for workouts or running, if that's your thing. Pressing and holding the home/Bixby button works great for setting reminders, timers, and alarms. ► LTE Both AT&T and Verizon charge $10/month (AT&T, at least, is about $15/month after hidden taxes and fees) to use the watch as a standalone device, despite vague language on both of their sites about connecting it to your phone's plan and sharing its data (seemingly implying it's not its own extra line). It makes the cost of this $250 watch more than $600, and that's if you only keep it for two years (and assuming they don't raise the monthly fee). Getting it connected to AT&T was an ordeal. I chatted with a rep on the AT&T website and they said I needed to go into the store to activate it, but the two guys trying to help me in the AT&T store couldn't figure it out and said I needed to do it online. They mentioned that activating Samsung wearables has been an ongoing problem for AT&T for some time. I did eventually get it to work online, using the groundwork they established in the store. To me, having the option to leave my phone at home and use this as a stand-alone device is the coolest feature, but it just doesn't work practically. For one thing, using the LTE mode drains the battery too quickly (and in an incredible fashion if you want to actually make a call), and then you're stuck somewhere without a working watch or a phone. Also, when I was testing the watch with brief calls, it dropped one of the calls and displayed a message about overheating (and this was in cooler weather). I had weird glitches with the built-in Messages app in LTE mode as well: messages that wouldn't send, messages that appeared to send but didn't, messages sent hours later, and messages not received. As mentioned above, the Google Voice app isn't available for the watch, so I can't send texts or make calls through Google Voice either. I use my Google Voice number for work and I can receive calls to it on the watch, but cannot make outgoing ones. Without having my phone on me, I'd be limited to just my personal number for making calls/texting. When in LTE mode, an annoying always-present icon shows up at the top of the display to let you know you are no longer connected to your phone. ► INPUT Texting is a real pain with the default functions. I thought I'd just be able to use the microphone to speak my texts, but the speech recognition is not that great. What's worse, is after it makes a mistake, there's no keyboard to manually make corrections. You can backspace over words, but going back to the keyboard option clears the message you spoke. The keyboard is awkward to use, combining 3-4 letters per button like an old phone. It does have handy preset responses you can use/create, though, and you can edit and reorder them. I use Google Gboard on my phone, and thankfully there is a Gboard app for the watch as well, which you will almost certainly want to install. It has a QWERTY keyboard, which of course is crazy small on a watch, but it still worked pretty well for me, including swiping words. Best of all, it has its own microphone button as part of the keyboard, so you can use both speech and keyboard input when composing messages. Unfortunately, the microphone doesn't work in LTE mode, only when the watch is connected to your phone. ► WATCH FACES Almost all the watch faces you can get for this watch are a train wreck. The few built-in watch faces are ugly and/or awkward to use, and there aren't a lot of options on the Google Play Store right now either, especially since I want a 24-hour watch. 3rd party watch face stores offer a lot of choices and there might be a good one there if you can find it in the 100,000+ options. From what I've read, though, the 3rd party watch faces can reduce the battery life, and that's already a big problem for the watch. I settled on the "Pixel Minimal Watch Face" from the Google Play Store until I can find or make a better one. ► OTHER THOUGHTS ● The included band was white instead of silver (as of this writing, photos on this product page showed both colors for the LTE model). If you order directly from Samsung's website, you can pick whatever band you want. ● The watch I received appeared to have been previously opened. There was dust and scuffs on the watch, band, and box when I opened it (that cleaned off, thankfully). This is yet another reason I would recommend buying directly from Samsung's website instead of Amazon (Samsung offers an education discount, FYI). ● As of this writing, Samsung representatives I've talked to on their website say they do not sell replacement wireless charging pads for the Watch 4, so you're limited to the one that comes with the watch unless you want to get a 3rd party wireless charger, or maybe one of the charging pads for the previous Watch models will work (there's no indication they'll be compatible or not on their website). ● Samsung chat support is terrible. They know nothing about the product or its services, but will tell you whatever you want to hear regardless of its veracity. For example, I was told an impending update would "fix everything" including the app and battery issues I was experiencing. I'm not holding my breath for that miracle update and you shouldn't either. Perhaps multiple updates over the next 6 months will fix many of the issues.