If you’re someone who likes to monitor their health through a smartwatch, today’s Samsung Unpacked Galaxy event was great for you. I’ve always been somewhat skeptical of the idea that you absolutely need a smartwatch, Oura ring or another wearable device to monitor and maintain your health. But at today’s Samsung Unpacked Galaxy event, it’s clear that Samsung’s technology powering these devices is improving, to the point where I’m convinced it was the best part of the event.
Samsung unveiled the next generation of its Galaxy Watch 8 series at today’s Unpacked event, alongside new Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Flip 7 FE (fan edition) and Galaxy Z Fold 7 phones. But a good chunk of event time was dedicated to the next generation of Samsung’s wearables, including the Galaxy Watch 8, its big brother Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and premium Galaxy Watch Ultra. The watches have some important updates, including what Samsung is calling its “thinnest design yet,” a 50% brighter display and longer battery life. They’re also the first Samsung smartwatches to come preloaded with Google Gemini. But it’s the health and wellness features that really caught my eye.
This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung’s most popular products.
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Some of the new health features include bedtime guidance, which uses your past three days’ sleep patterns to nudge you to turn in at the time of night that will give you optimal sleep and recovery time. Runners will have access to a new running coach that can build personalized training plans, no matter if you’re a beginner or training for a marathon. Running was a big part of Samsung’s event presentation, complete with an appearance and endorsement from Ugandan long-distance runner Jacob Kiplimo, who holds the world record for the half marathon.
Some health features were also announced that seem cool, but left me with questions about how they actually work. A new vascular load feature is meant to measure the “stress levels on your vascular system” while you sleep. If it flags high levels during typical rest periods, this is meant to help indicate problems, but it’s unclear how the sensor can measure vascular or cellular stress.
Then there’s the antioxidant index that rounds out the new health features. Samsung says this feature can measure the antioxidant level through your skin when you press your thumb to the sensor on the back of the watch. It’s more than a notification to eat more fruits and veggies; Samsung says it can measure levels of carotenoids, antioxidants found in green veggies, and chart improvements. How exactly it measures those things, I don’t know.
Samsung has been incorporating health tracking features into its smartwatches for a while, along with competitors like Apple and Google. But no big tech company seems to be doing wearable health like Samsung. The Galaxy Watch 7 was the first smartwatch to gain FDA approval for its sleep apnea detection feature. Samsung also introduced a Galaxy smart ring last year, a product noticeably absent from Google’s and Apple’s lineups despite increasing consumer interest.
“Galaxy Watch 8 is part of our broader mission to make digital health tools accessible to all, and deliver preventative and connected care services,” said John Englehardt, product marketing rep at Samsung, during the event. Samsung also announced its acquisition of digital health company Xealth, which indicates the company plans to continue its health tech focus.
Samsung’s general approach to health- and- wellness-focused wearables is smart. Smartwatches might not be essential gadgets like a phone or laptop, but good health is worthwhile. Health is wealth, as the saying goes. So I’m certainly disappointed Samsung didn’t give the health features more face time during today’s Unpacked event. If we’re going to trust a tech company with sensitive information about our health and well-being, we deserve to have a better understanding of how those features work.
For now, I’ll wait and see how wearable experts like CNET’s Vanessa Hand Orellana react and explore the new health features. As she said in her initial hands-on: “We’ll find out if these features live up to the hype when put to the test in our full review, coming soon.” But a note to Samsung from me for the future: Don’t gloss over the details when it comes to our health.
