Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 hands-on review: The era of AI health tracking is here

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 might be the boring option of the two Samsung smartwatches that were just announced at Samsung Unpacked, but as the flagship, it's the Samsung watch that most shoppers will end up buying. 

Starting at $299, the Galaxy Watch 7 is mostly an iterative update over the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, with virtually zero changes in appearance. Instead, the inside has been reworked with a new BioActive health sensor, 3nm processor, and greater storage capacity. Galaxy AI also comes to the Galaxy Watch in the form of advanced health insights, making the smartwatch a more intelligent fitness tracker than before.

Samsung Galaxy Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7 HANDS ON! First Impressions, New Features - YouTube

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Again, the Galaxy Watch 7 probably won't make as many headlines as the brand-new Galaxy Watch Ultra. But if you know you'll find yourself in the market for watch to complement your Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy Watch 7 looks like a reliable choice based on my first impressions. To learn more, read my hands-on Galaxy Watch 7 review below. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 specs

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Price and Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is available for pre-order as of July 10 and general availability starts on July 24. The 40mm version starts at $299, and the larger 44mm version is priced at $329. LTE-supported models are an additional $50 for both sizes.

For reference, this is the same pricing structure as the as the Galaxy Watch 6, continuing to undercut the prices of the Pixel Watch and Apple Watch flagships. 

You can pick up the Galaxy Watch 7 in Green, Silver or Cream depending on the size. The Green option is quite dark, though I'm a bit surprised there's no black or graphite-colored option.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Health Tracking

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 promises a holistic health-tracking experience, from automatic workout tracking to sleep monitoring. A majority of the health-based features are powered by Samsung's BioActive sensor, which is basically a combined PPG heart rate/ECG/blood oxygen reader and bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) sensor that can read body composition. I saw the redesigned sensor up-close, and it's pretty incredible how so many tools packed into such a small product. 

Galaxy AI for Galaxy Watch works with the sensor's data for a few new wellness experiences. First, there's now an Energy Score that considers all your health aspects to rate how your body should be feeling. Then there's Wellness Tips, which serve up advice curated specifically to your analyzes behaviors and health trends. Sleep tracking gets revamped as well, with a new enhanced sleep AI algorithm that generates more sleep score indicators including sleep latency, nighttime movement, and time in bed, to name a few. The Galaxy Watch 7 also has FDA-approved Sleep Apnea detection, with Samsung still being the only smartwatch company to roll out such a feature.

But perhaps the most exciting health feature for Galaxy Watch 7 is the Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) Index. AGEs is an indicator of metabolic health and biological aging, informed by lifestyle and dietary habits. The Galaxy Watch 7 is capable of non-invasive AGES detection, which could potentially let users know if they're a higher risk of heart disease or other ailments caused by high levels of harmful sugar and fat compounds.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Software

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is the first smartwatch to launch with Wear OS 5, the latest version of Google's wearable software. It's supposed to bring more running metrics and better battery efficiency, though Samsung curates the software with the One UI Watch 6 skin, so it feels more like a Samsung watch than any other Android smartwatch. So, in addition to Google apps, the Galaxy Watch 7 is loaded with Samsung apps. Users can download additional third-party apps from the Google Play Store, too. 

Processing takes place on a 3nm chip — a first for Samsung. 3mn chips are widely considered to offer the best computing effeciency currently available for wearable devices. Though it's difficult to gauge the actual performance quality, Samsung says the Galaxy Watch 7 has 3x faster CPU performance and 30% improved power efficiency.

Taking a play from Apple's book, the Galaxy Watch 7 gets a Double Pinch Gesture for controlling the watch or connected Galaxy phone with just one hand. I'm not sure yet all the ways you can use Double Pinch for Galaxy Watch compared to Double Tap for Apple Watch, but it's worth noting the Galaxy Ring also supports gestures for certain controls.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Battery Life

Samsung isn't advertising much in terms of battery life for the Galaxy Watch 7, so it's safe to expect the battery life to be the same as the Galaxy Watch 6's. The Galaxy Watch 7 should last around 30 hours with the always-on display enabled. Instead, if battery life is a priority, you might want to the consider the Galaxy Watch Ultra that has up to 100 hours of battery life depending on the settings. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Outlook

The Galaxy Watch 7 is somewhat of an afterthought in Samsung's 2024 smartwatch lineup. It doesn't have quite the same allure as the Galaxy Watch Ultra; however, the starting price is far more approachable and even competitive in the current playing field. The new AGEs Index and other Galaxy AI health features shouldn't be discounted, either.

Although I've had a chance to try on the Galaxy Watch 7 and glimpse at some of the new features, I'll need to conduct a full Galaxy Watch 7 review to see how it compares to the best smartwatches, so stay tuned.