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Galaxy Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch Active 2: What real progress looks like

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Last updated: August 12th, 2021 at 14:19 UTC+02:00

Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch Active 2 merely six months after its predecessor had hit the market. The company introduced some changes with the new model. It had a digital rotating bezel, improved specs and new health and fitness features. It was also available in a larger size. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 was the first to get the ECG feature.

However, it pales in comparison to the Galaxy Watch 4. Samsung's newest smartwatch stands in a league of its own compared to the Galaxy Watch Active 2. For starters, the company is offering two separate variants of the Galaxy Watch 4.

Galaxy Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch Active 2

The Galaxy Watch 4 doesn't have a physical rotating bezel much like the Galaxy Watch Active 2. It's available in 44mm and 40mm sizes with a 1.36-inch and 1.19-inch display. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 was offered in 40mm and 44mm sizes with 1.2-inch and 1.4-inch displays respectively. Samsung has fitted higher resolution displays on its new smartwatches that also happen to be slimmer than the Galaxy Watch Active 2.

Samsung has made a major change for its smartwatches with the Galaxy Watch 4 that make them fundamentally different from previous models. The Galaxy Watch 4 runs on Wear OS, the Android-based platform Samsung has co-developed with Google. So while the Galaxy Watch Active 2 runs on Tizen, the latest model is able to run Android apps.

The Galaxy Watch 4 also comes with significant improvements under the hood. Its Exynos W920 processor is 1.25x faster than the Galaxy Watch Active 2 with the graphics performance up by an impressive 8.8x. There's also four times the internal storage at 16GB and higher 1.5GB RAM.

With the new 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor, the Galaxy Watch 4 is able to provide far more health and fitness-related features. There's body composition analysis, continuous blood oxygen saturation monitoring, improved fitness tracking, advanced sleep tracking with snoring detection, and more.

You can find the full Galaxy Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch Active 2 specs comparison below. It's impressive to see just how far Samsung's smartwatches have come in a few years. Don't forget to check back in for our detailed Galaxy Watch 4 review which will be up in due course.

Interested in Samsung's new Galaxy devices? Don't forget to support SamMobile by visiting this link and purchasing it directly from Samsung!

Samsung
Galaxy Watch Active 2 (40mm)

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General Information

  • Model Name

    Galaxy Watch 4 (40mm)

    Galaxy Watch Active 2 (40mm)

  • Model type

    Wearable

    Wearable

  • Colors

    Silver ()Black ()Pink Gold ()

    Sliver (Silver)Black (Black)Gold (Gold)Silver (Cloud Silver)Black (Aqua Black)Pink (Pink Gold)

  • Announced

    2021, August

    2019, August

  • Released

    2021, August

    2019, September

Physical specifications

  • Dimensions

    Watch: 40.4 x 39.3 x 9.8 mm

    Watch: 40 x 40 x 10.9 mm

  • Weights

    25.9g

    26g37g

  • IP rating

    5ATM + IP68 / MIL-STD-810G

    5ATM + IP68 / MIL-STD-810G

Operating system

  • Operating system

    Wear OS

    Tizen Based Wearable OS 5.5

  • One UI version

    Watch 3.0

Networks

  • Networks

    4G

    4G

  • eSIM support

    Yes

    Yes

Display

  • Kind

    Main Display

  • Technology

    Circular Super AMOLED

    Circular Super AMOLED

  • Size

    1.2 inch / 30.4 mm

    1.2 inch / 30.48 mm

  • Resolution

    / 396x396 pixels

    / 360x360 pixels

  • Pixel density

    330 PPI

    364 PPI


Watch Galaxy Watch 4Galaxy Watch Active 2Unpacked 2021
Galaxy AI summarized

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