GoKawiil
Tech News
Amazon is currently selling Samsung's new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for $699.99, and buyers who purchase it now receive a complimentary $100 Amazon gift card. The promotion effectively lowers the cost of acquiring the rugged smartwatch through the retailer.
Samsung has started rolling out the One UI 9 Watch beta, based on Wear OS 7, to the 2023 Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic models in South Korea. The update follows earlier beta releases for the Galaxy Watch 8, Watch 7, and Watch Ultra, though a full changelog has not yet been published.
Samsung has started rolling out the One UI 9 Watch beta to the Galaxy Watch 7 and the original Galaxy Watch Ultra, beginning in South Korea. The roughly 1.9GB update brings an upgraded Samsung Health app with better sleep insights, refreshed UI elements, and the Vascular Load metric, though US units will likely get Blood Pressure Trend instead.
Samsung has released the second One UI 9 Watch beta for the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic to testers in South Korea, carrying firmware ZZI1 and the September 2026 security patch. The update stabilizes the Samsung Health app, resolves watch face switching problems, and corrects an Always On Display bug that showed incorrect time.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 has become the first Galaxy smartwatch to support seamless updates, according to users who spotted the change during its first firmware update carrying the August 5, 2026 security patch. Instead of forcing the watch offline during installation, the roughly 193MB update downloaded and installed in the background while the device remained usable. Samsung did not announce the feature in its specs or changelog; it was discovered by users during installation.
Multiple Galaxy Watch Ultra owners on Reddit and Facebook say the faceplate and bezel have spontaneously separated from the watch frame without visible damage. Some users report Samsung quoted repair costs near $300 through uBreakiFix, even though the devices were reportedly still under warranty. Similar bezel-lifting complaints surfaced roughly a year ago involving the first-generation model.
Florida International University researchers tested the Apple Watch Series 8, Fitbit Sense 2, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Garmin Forerunner 955 against a Cosmed K5 metabolic device and ECG chest strap during controlled workouts with 58 participants. All four smartwatches overstated calorie burn, with margins of error ranging from 15% to 25%, meaning a reported 200-calorie burn could really be closer to 160-174 calories. Apple Watch was the most accurate, while Samsung and Garmin overestimated more, and Fitbit had enough tracking glitches that some of its data had to be excluded.
Smartwatches from Apple, Google and Samsung all include a basic flashlight feature that simply maxes out the display's brightness and turns it white. Despite mockery of the feature compared to a phone's dedicated camera flash, it proves genuinely useful for quick tasks like finding a dropped pill, precisely because the watch is already on your wrist rather than buried in a pocket or bag.
Samsung has begun rolling out the One UI 9 Watch beta to US-based owners of the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic, following an earlier launch in South Korea. The update, accessible through the Samsung Members app, brings a redesigned Galaxy Wearable app, revamped Samsung Health metrics, and new workout and camera remote features.
Some Samsung Galaxy Watch users, including owners of the Watch Ultra, Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 6 Classic, report their smartwatches fail to boot after a routine time zone update asks them to restart. Placing the watch on its charging puck has proven to revive it, according to reports from affected users and SamMobile's own testing.
Samsung has begun rolling out its Wear OS 7-based One UI 9 Watch beta to Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic devices, starting in South Korea. The update, roughly 2GB in size, includes a redesigned interface, expanded watch face customization, new safety features, and improved Samsung Health metrics like aerobic load and sleep vitals tracking. Samsung has also streamlined its beta sign-up process, letting users accept terms once for all future beta programs.
Several widely-used smartwatches, including Google's Pixel Watch 2, Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro, and multiple Apple Watch models, will lose software support in 2026. The devices will continue basic functions like fitness tracking and notifications but won't receive further feature updates or, in some cases, security patches. Apple is reportedly retiring five watch models in a single watchOS release, one of its largest support cuts to date.