Samsung's latest Galaxy Watch 3 is easily one of the best smartwatches in recent memory. The hardware is gorgeous, with a perfectly circular display and a rotating bezel that gives out a satisfying click with every turn, and the software experience is terrific, despite not running Google's Wear OS.
Actually, it's great because it doesn't run Wear OS; instead, the Galaxy Watch 3 operates on Samsung's Tizen platform, which I find feels far better laid out on a circular display, and offers a far more robust set of health- and fitness-tracking features.
Black Friday's still a few weeks away, but we're already starting to see the deals come in — both the 45mm and 41mm sizes of the Galaxy Watch 3 have already been discounted, on sale for $60 off and $30 off, respectively.
The larger Galaxy Watch 3 comes with a texturized rotating bezel, along with a physically larger display and a bigger 340mAh battery that lets it go all day on a single charge. The 45mm version is available in Mystic Black or Mystic Silver.
For smaller wrists (like mine!), the 41mm is a better fit with the same core experience. You'll still get great battery life, fast performance, and nice leather stylings, all in a surprisingly compact watch in either Mystic Silver or Mystic Bronze.
Samsung has made health and fitness tracking a major focus of its smartwatches in recent years, and the Galaxy Watch 3 is no exception. You get a suite of hardware sensors, including a heart rate sensor, a pulse oximeter, and an ECG — all of which can provide different insights into your physical wellbeing. The Samsung Health app has a variety of preset exercises for dead-simple logging, and can even automatically launch when it detects you've started a run or walk.
Even if you don't care about fitness, though, the Galaxy Watch 3 is a great hub for notifications, or even streaming music to Bluetooth headphones from its small bit of internal storage. There are even LTE variants if you prefer to leave your phone at home during trips to the gym, or if you just can't have your phone on you at work. They're more expensive, of course, but those are on sale for Black Friday, too!
