We’ve had so many leaks and spills about the new Samsung devices that the official announcement seems to be a bit anticlimactic. But here we are now after the Unpacked Event with the officially official news about their newest wearable, the Galaxy Watch 3. It’s a confirmation of most of the things we found out about the smartwatch even before the launch. But the newest thing we now know is that they were able to finally get FDA approval for the ECG and blood pressure tracking features.
The Galaxy Watch 3 comes in two sizes, 41mm and 45mm but compared to the old Galaxy Watch, it’s 14-percent thinner, 8-percent smaller, and 15-percent lighter. Even though the bezel is slimmer, the display is actually bigger. The 41mm has a 1.2-inch display while the 45mm is at 1.4-inches. It has a circular display, and true enough, the physical rotating bezel is back after they replaced it with a digital one with the past smartwatches.
Health tracking is of course a major part of any decent smartwatch and the Galaxy Watch 3 comes with a bunch of features. It supports 40 different types of exercises and 7 of those can be automatically detected. You also get a running coach to give you real-time feedback, VO2 Max readings, and blood oxygen levels measurement but these three will not be available at launch but in an update by Q3.
The good news for those in the US is that Samsung has finally gotten FDA approval for two features: ECG and blood pressure tracking. The built-in electrodes will tell you if your heart rate is normal or if you’re showing signs of Atrial Fibrillation. You also get better sleep tracking as it doesn’t rely so much on REM tracking so it gives a more accurate reading. The Galaxy Watch 3 is powered by Exynos 9110 dual-core 1.15GHz processor and has 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage.
Alongside the Galaxy Watch 3, Samsung also launched the Galaxy Buds Live, which we’ve also heard about a lot through leaks. It has an ergonomic, tip-less design, has a 12mm speaker and bass duct, three microphones and a Voice Pickup Unit. But most importantly, it has the much-desired Active Noise Cancellation feature. Both the Galaxy Watch 3 and the Galaxy Buds Live are available in select countries.
