Samsung Galaxy Watch 2: what we want to see

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Update: A new Samsung smartwatch has been rumored, but we don't think it's the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2. Instead it looks to be a Samsung Gear Sport sequel, and you can read all about what we know so far here.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch is notable for a lot of reasons, not least of which being that it’s a highly capable smartwatch that doesn’t run Wear OS or watchOS, relying instead on the Tizen operating system.

With a stylish design, long battery life and loads of tracking skills it does enough to compete with any wearable running those better-known operating systems, but it isn’t perfect by any means, so we’ve come up with a list of improvements that we want to see on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2.

You’ll find them further down this article, but before that you’ll find our predictions for the Watch 2, including the possible release timing, price and features. As news and rumors start emerging we’ll add them to this article too.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next smartwatch from Samsung
• When is it out? Maybe late 2019
• What will it cost? Probably at least $329 / £279 / AU$499

Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 release date and price

The Samsung Galaxy Watch landed on August 9, 2018, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, so there’s a fair chance that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 will land in or around August 2019, possibly at the same event as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.

However, there’s no guarantee of that and there are no release date rumors yet. But a launch roughly a year after this model would make sense, especially as the Galaxy Watch is in some ways a successor to the Samsung Gear Sport, which landed in August 2017, and the Samsung Gear S3, which landed in November 2016. 

In other words, there has been roughly a year between all these models.

There aren’t any price rumors yet either, but the Samsung Galaxy Watch launched for $329 / £279 / AU$499 for the 42mm version or $349 / £299 / AU$549 for the 46mm model, with prices going up if you want a version with LTE. So we’d expect the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 will cost at least that much and it may cost more.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 is sure to be a fairly expensive wearable

Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 news and rumors

There aren’t yet any whispers about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2, but it’s very likely that Samsung is working on it, and we can take some educated guesses as to certain features that it may have.

For example, it’s sure to retain most or all of the features found on the Samsung Galaxy Watch. That includes GPS, a heart rate monitor and NFC, along with tracking for various sports, sleep and stress.

It’s also likely to have a circular face and a rotating bezel, especially as the likes of the Gear S3 also have those things.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch can track a lot of activities

What’s less certain but still very likely is that the Galaxy Watch 2 will run Tizen. Samsung has been using Tizen on wearables for a while and although a move to Wear OS was rumored for the Galaxy Watch, no such change happened in the end.

It’s possible that Samsung will switch to Wear OS for the Galaxy Watch 2, especially as Google’s smartwatch operating system has a healthier app ecosystem. But there are plenty of reasons to like Tizen and Samsung hasn’t shown any real sign of giving up on it.

What we want to see

The Samsung Galaxy Watch is a great smartwatch but one with plenty of room for improvement. The following seven features are things we’d really like to see on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2.

1. More third-party apps

The Samsung Galaxy Watch runs Tizen, rather than one of the big-name wearable operating systems, and one downside of that is that there are fewer apps available than you’ll find on Wear OS or watchOS.

So by the time Samsung launches the Galaxy Watch 2 we’d like to have seen it work with developers to get key apps like WhatsApp, Google Maps and Facebook Messenger on the platform.

2. Better stress tracking

The Galaxy Watch tracks most things well, but not stress

The Samsung Galaxy Watch tracks a lot of things and mostly does a good job, but stress tracking is definitely a weak link.

While it’s available, it required us to manually measure our stress levels rather than tracking them automatically in our tests (despite claiming that it can do it automatically), and its accuracy could be questionable, since the data seems mostly based just on heart rate. So we’d like to see this feature overhauled for the next model.

3. Group challenges

Competing with friends can be a big motivator to get more active and handily the Samsung Galaxy Watch lets you do this. Your friends don’t even need a Galaxy Watch of their own – a Gear watch or the Samsung Health app will do just fine.

However, you can only challenge friends individually, rather than having a group competition. It seems like this would be an obvious and easy feature to add, so hopefully Samsung will.

4. Compatibility with more wireless chargers

The Samsung Galaxy Watch uses a proprietary charger

The Samsung Galaxy Watch charges wirelessly, but not just any wireless charger will do, you need a proprietary one that comes with it. This is inconvenient and if you’re ever without your charger means you’re likely to soon have a dead watch (though the Galaxy Watch at least has good battery life).

So for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 we want it to work with standard, everyday wireless chargers. That way if you’re at the office or a friend’s house without yours there’s at least a chance someone will have one you can borrow.

5. Big improvements to Bixby

Another downside of using Tizen rather than Wear OS is that the Samsung Galaxy Watch is reliant on Bixby rather than Google Assistant.

This is a problem, because Bixby is nowhere near as good as Google Assistant (or Siri or Alexa for that matter), with one particularly major issue being that it simply struggles to understand us.

While you don’t have to use Bixby to interact with the Galaxy Watch, it has the potential to be a major feature, but until it gets a lot better it won’t be.

6. Better iOS compatibility

Interaction is limited when using the Galaxy Watch with iOS

The Samsung Galaxy Watch works with both Android and iOS, but it’s definitely better with Android, because while you can read notifications on the watch when paired with an iPhone, you can’t reply to them or initiate communications, making it a lot more limited.

This may not be something Samsung can solve, as it would likely require a change on Apple’s end, but it’s something we’d like to see nonetheless, as it could make the Galaxy Watch 2 a real alternative to the Apple Watch 5, or whatever we’re up to by then.

7. Wider LTE availability

There are versions of the Samsung Galaxy Watch that support LTE, but only on select networks, which won’t suit everyone. For the Samsung Galaxy Watch 2 we’d like to see an LTE model available on more or less all networks, so it’s an option for everyone.

• Don't want to wait for the Watch 2? These are the best smartwatches out now

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