For the length of our tenure at WIRED, editor Julian Chokkattu and I have differed on one significant point: He prefers the circular face of the Pixel Watch, while I counter by saying that you can see more text on a square Apple Watch. It is clear to me that Samsung has somehow learned of this debate from afar (ChatGPT, is that you?), which has resulted in this … well, the “squircle” design. It is neither a square nor a circle, but both? Samsung refers to this as its “cushion” design.
The cushion design appears to have migrated over from last year’s Galaxy Watch Ultra, which was a pretty blatant copy of the Apple Watch Ultra. In a crowded smartwatch and fitness tracker market, Samsung is struggling to carve out a unique niche. Besides the squircle, that niche right now includes several health features of dubious utility. We’ll go over those in a bit.
Making Compromises
Photograph: Adrienne So
There are currently three Watch8 models: the standard 40-mm Watch8 (which I tested), a larger 44-mm Watch8, and the more sporty 46-mm Watch8 Classic with the popular rotating mechanical bezel (which Julian tested). Samsung also debuted a reskinned Watch Ultra, which is the same as the 2024 model but in a new blue color and with more internal storage. Samsung says the Watch8 series is thinner and lighter than previous models. At 8.6 mm tall, it is indeed slimmer than the competition, like the Pixel Watch 3, which is 12.3 mm tall.
These watches are the first to launch with Google’s Wear OS 6 platform, which offers fun, colorful faces that are easy to use and understand. The interface also feels more condensed, presenting more information at a glance—I like the new tile design with combined widgets. The case is aluminum, with a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal display over a big, bright 1.5-inch AMOLED that I found easy to read in direct sunlight.
I do find this watch to be quite pretty, especially when contrasted with the bulkier squircle and more confusing interface of the Watch Ultra. However, Samsung’s specs suggest that the watch will run for up to 40 hours, and I found it to be half that. Yesterday, I put on a watch with a 20 percent battery and found that it had died by the time I reached my destination an hour later. My kingdom for a smartwatch that lasts longer than a day!