Samsung Galaxy Watch9 Review: Comprehensive Health Metrics Raise Questions on Usability

In an effort to support a wide range of physical activities, Samsung has equipped the Galaxy Watch9 with various band options, including silicone Sport, two-tone Misty, and nylon Fabric styles. During testing, the Sport Band proved to be a reliable choice for runs and intense workouts, maintaining a secure fit on the wrist while resisting irritation despite heavy sweating.

As with many smartwatch releases this year, Samsung is centering its primary appeal around advanced health tracking. The Watch9 significantly expands its already dense array of fitness and wellness tools by adding features such as Hearing Protection, Vitals monitoring, Sleep Apnea detection, Daily Cardio Load, Fitness Index, and a Heart Health Score. While the breadth of these capabilities is noteworthy, the practical value of every metric remains debatable.

Among the new additions, certain features stand out for their genuine utility. Similar to Apple’s approach, Samsung’s Hearing feature operates on a preventive basis, alerting users when noise levels become hazardous. The Vitals function tracks overnight blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate, and skin temperature. After a seven-night calibration period, the device can identify deviations from a user’s established baseline. Additionally, the FDA-cleared Sleep Apnea function employs proprietary algorithms to detect signs of breathing disturbances. These tools effectively highlight physiological changes that might otherwise go unnoticed, although they place Samsung in a position of playing catch-up regarding baseline monitoring technology.

While the accuracy of these features held up well against competitors like the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Google Pixel Watch 5, other fitness-focused metrics struck the reviewer as superfluous. The Daily Cardio Load aims to help users gauge physical exertion, while the Fitness Index attempts to condense data on body composition, cardiovascular fitness, and endurance into one overall rating. Generating this score requires wearing the watch for at least two days, logging a run or walk, tracking sleep, and measuring body composition.

The reviewer expressed skepticism about reducing complex physiological data into a single score, noting that the Watch9 has not altered this viewpoint. However, these scores could still serve a purpose if used to observe long-term trends rather than being treated as definitive assessments of an individual’s health or fitness status.