As we've said time and again, when we first heard about Samsung switching to Wear OS for the Galaxy Watch 4, we were excited. Excited that Samsung's smartwatches would finally have access to the superior app library that Wear OS enjoys compared to Tizen and all of Google's official apps, too. Of course, it helps that Samsung's amazing custom user interface has been brought over, as well.
The most important Google app is still missing in action, but overall, we here at SamMobile – myself included – have been pretty happy with the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (and Samsung's decision to leave Tizen behind). But there's one thing about these watches that's been incredibly disappointing. You guessed it: it's battery life.
Samsung's Tizen-based smartwatches were among the best on the market every year without fail, and their long-lasting battery life was one of the best things about them. Where Android watches would only promise 24 hours of battery life, Samsung promised up to 3 days of endurance! And with light to moderate use, going two days without having to charge those watches was quite easy, even on the smaller models with their lower-capacity batteries.
With the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, however, battery life has seen a drastic downgrade, even when the watches are sitting idle with very little screen time! With mild use, the best my Galaxy Watch 4 44mm can do is a day and a half off the charger. But any proper use — checking a few notifications, tracking a workout or two, stuff like that — brings battery life squarely down to a day, making charging every night or morning a necessity.
Again, it's a drastic downgrade, one you can feel every day you use your Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic, especially if you're coming from an older Galaxy smartwatch. And for me, it's the battery life when your watch is sitting idle that's more frustrating. I realize Wear OS simply isn't designed to last long (neither is its competitor, Apple's watchOS), but you'd expect a watch that is just sitting there doing nothing to last a couple of days before it requires a charge.
That's not the case with my Galaxy Watch 4, and every time I take it off my wrist and place it on the charger I'm reminded of how we lost one of the best features of Samsung's smartwatches in order to get the benefits of Wear OS. But oh well, it's something we're going to have to live with. With the Galaxy Watch 4 doing so well for Samsung, the company likely isn't in a hurry to fix any shortcomings, though we can always hope the Galaxy Watch 5 will get us back to the glory days of when our Samsung smartwatches didn't run out of steam so quickly.
How has battery life been for you on your Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Watch 4 Classic? Let us know down in the comments or come discuss it on our social media channels that are linked below!
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