Highs and lows of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7

The Galaxy Watch 7 is here. Visually, not that much has changed compared with its predecessor, but there’s quite a lot under the hood. I tested the watch for over a week, with sleep, heart rate and cycle tracking. Here are my highs and lows.

The highs

1. New, faster processor

Inside is the Exynos W1000, which has become faster again compared with the Galaxy Watch 6. You notice it when swiping, opening notifications and launching apps and widgets. The latency with which notifications arrive from the smartphone is also much smaller: they now arrive in real time. The processor is also supposed to be more energy efficient.

2. Longer battery

With the Galaxy Watch 6, it was over at the latest after not even a day and a half. The Galaxy Watch 7 lasts a bit more than two days with sleep and heart rate tracking enabled, notifications on and daily activity tracking. With the always-on display, it’s half a day less. Huawei and Amazfit manage more like 7 to 10 days with their watches, but they run a stripped-down operating system.

On the Galaxy Watch 7 with Google’s Wear OS, you use many Google and Samsung apps like Google Maps, Chrome or Notes and install third-party apps like Spotify. That lets you listen to music on the go without a smartphone. The internal storage has grown from 16 to 32 GB. Unfortunately I don’t use any of that and put more value on long battery life. Until now, that was also because I couldn’t charge the watch at night, since I wanted to track my sleep with it. Now there’s the Galaxy Ring, which I’m testing right now and which can track sleep at night. That way I can charge the Watch 7 overnight without missing anything. The video on the Galaxy Ring is coming soon.

3. Improved biosensors

I noticed this with automatic workout tracking. Before, the watch only recognized after about 10 minutes that I was walking, and only counted kilometers from the start. Now the Galaxy Watch 7 detects the workout after a very short time, whether walking, running, cycling or cross trainer, and for walking and running it takes the kilometers already covered into account. As a tracker for sleep and heart rate, I find it very reliable, though I was already satisfied with the Galaxy Watch 6.

Both track body temperature in the morning. That’s especially interesting for women, because it lets you follow the cycle very precisely. For that, you have to wear the watch or, alternatively, the Galaxy Ring continuously at night. From 2025, besides ECG and blood pressure, there’s supposed to be the option to detect sleep apnea, meaning whether you unconsciously hold your breath at night.

4. The AGEs index

A completely new tracking function. AGEs stands for Advanced Glycation End Products. They form naturally in the body when protein or fat molecules are oxidized by sugar molecules. The more sugar and unhealthy food we eat, the more AGEs there are in the body and on the skin. Sleep, stress and exercise also have an effect.

The Galaxy Watch 7 measures them on the skin in the morning and shows how your metabolism is doing: the lower the index, the better. According to studies, a high index is linked to faster aging and chronic diseases. To lower it, the Samsung Health app suggests a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of antioxidants, few processed foods, enough sleep and exercise.

I think it’s outstanding that Samsung includes nutrition in the overall picture of health. The index doesn’t replace a blood glucose meter, but it shows without much effort whether your metabolism is on a good or bad path. For me, it reflects my situation well: I’m on the road a lot, eat a lot of fast food and have neglected my vitamins. Seeing that in black and white does something to me. I still consider the Samsung Health app the best health companion on the market, and with the index it becomes even more professional.

5. First AI features

The watch already brings a few AI features: suggestions on our health behavior and on optimizing sleep and stress, plus reply suggestions for messages that match our writing style. That’s still modest, but Samsung and Google are noticeably working on it, and I’m happy about the many small steps.

The lows

1. The battery: A day and a half to two days is too little for me. Since the design doesn’t change, which is totally fine with me, I would have wanted three to four days, so you don’t constantly have to think about charging on a business trip or over the weekend.
2. The charging time: It takes 1.5 hours with a fast charger and over 2 hours without. I would have wanted three quarters of an hour to an hour at most. If you wear the watch while sleeping, you have to take it off for 2 hours, and then recordings are missing. For me, two hours quickly turn into three or half a day, because I forget the watch. Ideally it would be full in the time I’m in the bathroom and making coffee in the morning.
3. Features only with a current Galaxy smartphone: These include gesture control by finger tapping, the cycling power meter, fall detection and the emergency call function, maybe more. I understand that Samsung wants to keep customers in its own ecosystem. But the openness to mix devices from different manufacturers was a main reason I switched from Apple to Android two years ago. I find it regrettable that this is now being restricted.
4. No reverse wireless charging: Neither the Galaxy Watch 7 nor the Galaxy Watch Ultra can be charged on the back of the Samsung smartphone. I find that an extreme step backward, especially because you have to charge the watches so often. Charging on charging pads still works. I can’t understand the decision.