As expected, Samsung today introduced a handful of new devices, including the Galaxy Watch3, its latest smartwatch, and the Galaxy Buds Live, a pair of true wireless earbuds. The devices had been rumored for some time, and they"ll be launching tomorrow in the United States.
First, the Galaxy Watch3 now features an improved design which is 14% thinner, 8% smaller, and 15% lighter than the original Galaxy Watch - at least when comparing the 45mm model, though it will also come in a 41mm variant. While stainless steel models are still part of the lineup, Samsung is introducing titanium models for the first time, which should be more durable than the former material.
The display is also bigger in this year"s model, being 1.2 inches across in the 41mm casing and 1.4 inches in the 45mm variant. Like before, you can change the watch face on the Galaxy Watch3 with over 80,000 options to choose from, and over 40 complications can display different types of data on the watch face.
Feature-wise, the Galaxy Watch3 will include blood pressure monitoring and electrocardiogram features in markets where the features have been authorized through the Samsung Health app. Additionally, there will be a blood oxygen monitoring feature "soon". A number of fitness features will naturally also be part og the offering, with the over 120 video workouts in Samsung Health, running analysis to check your performance, and it will soon be possible to access VO2 max readings.
Samsung also promises seamless connection between the watch and its Galaxy phones, with the ability to set automatic replies to messages and images, view images and emoticons on the Watch3, and use the watch to control the phone.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch3 will be available starting tomorrow, and it starts at $399.99 for the 41mm model and $429.99 for the 45mm model, both without LTE. The LTE models start at $449.99 and $479.99, depending on the size. The 41mm model comes in either Mystic Bronze or Mystic Silver colors, while the 45mm swaps out Mystic Bronze for Mystic Black. The titanium variant will be available later in the year.
As for the Galaxy Buds Live, they"re new true wireless earbuds with a pretty unique design compared to Samsung"s previous entries. They"ve consistently been referred to as bean-shapes, and to achieve this design, Samsung says it had to lay out the internal components horizontally instead of vertically. They"re designed to adapt to the shape of the ear, even though there"s no rubber tips.
In terms of sound, the Galaxy Buds Live are tuned by AKG, as you"d expect, and they feature a 12mm speaker and bass duct, plus three microphones. There"s a "Voice Pickup Unit", which should make you more audible when making calls with the buds, plus it might be useful for summoning Bixby with your voice. Additionally, the microphones enable active noise cancellation (ANC), though you"ll need the Galaxy Wearable app on Android or the Galaxy Buds app on iOS.
The Buds Live also support Game Mode, which is meant to reduce audio latency when playing games where timing is important. It"s also possible to share music with multiple people using a new Buds Together feature on Galaxy smartphones.
In terms of battery, the Galaxy Buds Live last up to 6 hours on a single charge, with the charging case adding 15 more hours on top of that - if you have either Bixby voice wake-up or ANC on. Enabling both at once changes those numbers to 5.5 hours and 20 hours, respectively, while disabling both nets you 8 hours for the buds and 29 hours from the case. They also promise to charge quickly, with 5 minutes of charging lending you one hour of listening time.
Like the Galaxy Watch3, the Galaxy Buds Live will be available starting tomorrow, and they will cost $169.99. They will come in Mystic Bronze, Mystic White, and Mystic Black.