I spent 48 hours with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and one thing is spoiling it

Samsung launched its latest Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic earlier this month alongside the foldable Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 phones. All the devices go on sale on July 25, but I’ve been lucky enough to have the new Galaxy Watch 8 Classic strapped to my wrist for the past 48 hours to preview what’s new.

The Classic model returns after a year’s break to succeed the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic from 2023. This line of smartwatches features a rotating bezel, evolving a feature of traditional dive watches - here, the circular bezel turns either way to scroll through menus and screens, which you can also do with your finger via the touchscreen.

The Galaxy Watch line up is a popular choice for Android phone owners, now going up against the Google Pixel Watch 3, the OnePlus Watch 3 and, more recently, various Garmin watches as Samsung pushes a focus on health and fitness for its wearables.

I’ve already tracked a 5km run, taken an ECG, logged two sleeps and seen various other metrics and notifications come through on the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, but one thing is holding me back from being smitten with it.

Call me fussy, call me shallow, but it’s important when it comes to watches: I simply don’t like how this thing looks.

I’m almost certain that’s because Samsung has sent me the white version for review rather than the black. The white model has the same silver casing and bezel as the black, but with white numerical ring and white accents on the side, complete with a fake white leather strap that’s the wrong side of gaudy for my tastes.

Call me fussy, call me shallow, but it’s important when it comes to watches: I simply don’t like how this thing looks.

It could also be down to the “cushion design” Samsung uses, which oddly pairs a circular screen with a squircle casing.

I’m not against white tech at all, even other white watches, and you may think the white model is more handsome than the austere black. But it has made me realise I need to temper my disappointment with how the Watch 8 Classic looks on my wrist and do my job as a reviewer to not let that detract from my assessment of its features.

But that’s difficult when I find the looks immediately off-putting. I really believe I’d be enjoying this watch more after two days if it was a different colour, and if it was fully round.

Looks aside, this is also a pricey package, costing £449 for the Bluetooth model or £499 for the Bluetooth/4G one I’m testing. That's only £100 less than the Galaxy Watch Ultra. So, what do you get for the money when it comes to the Classic?

The Classic has a 1.3-inch OLED screen nestled within a quite large 46mm casing, making this a watch for larger wrists. I like the size, and the display needs to be about this big to make it legible, but the casing is also quite thick. I don’t think I could get away with this as a dress watch, but I do think the black model could fly under the radar at a dinner or wedding, particularly with an analogue watch face applied.

A small thing, but I love the motion of the second hand on the analogue faces here, which somehow perfectly digitally mimics the mechanical, steady movements of a real watch.

Samsung has gone all-in on AI with its latest phones and watches, insisting the Watch 8 Classic can be a “personal wellness assistant”. Just like all fitness wearables, wear it all day and it’ll collect data - it’s how it’s relayed to you that proves whether it’s useful or not.

Two days in and it’s a mixed bag. The watch pinged a lot to notify me of a series of firsts, from my first recorded sleep to my first run, and the first of many times it told me to get up and walk around because I’d been sitting at my computer for too long.

I’ll need at least a week to see how useful the data insights are, and also where to find them. There’s even a new sensor exclusive to the Watch 8 that claims to be able to measure your antioxidant levels. Mine was 55, which apparently is less than “adequate”. More veg for me, then.

Samsung has gone all-in on AI with its latest phones and watches, insisting the Watch 8 Classic can be a “personal wellness assistant”.

To use the Watch 8 Classic, you need to download and log in to several apps, which I find annoying and confusing. You set up the device using Samsung Wearable but track health in Samsung Health, while Samsung phone owners can install Samsung Activity Monitor to use the ECG and other tools around heart health.

Though other Android phones work with this watch, they can’t install Activity Monitor, something to bear in mind if you don’t have a Galaxy phone. iPhone owners are out of luck, as this watch won’t work on iOS.

A final design choice I have found a little perplexing is in the One UI 8 Watch software that’s based on Google’s WearOS 6. While older Galaxy Watches I’ve tested have had circular elements in the UI to fill the screen and to make sense with a rotating bezel to move through them, the Watch 8 Classic’s UI is instead built around pill shapes. Moving the bezel moves through the, but it looks more cluttered as information for Health, Fitness, and any other Tile that you add to the rotation displays information in little pills.

Change is always jarring, but this design is less clean than having circular elements on this round screen and seems better suited to a rectangular display.

I’ll need to get used to how the Watch 8 Classic feels and see how it performs over time, but after two days I don’t think I’m going to be recommending the white model any time soon.

You can pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic direct from Samsung.