Design and Build

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is available in a 40mm size and has an aluminum chassis with a depth of 10.5mm. It is only 25g in weight and is available in colors Black, Silver, Rose Gold, and Green. It is compatible with 130–200mm wrists, has a digital touch bezel, two side buttons, and 20mm bands. The front of the watch is covered in Gorilla Glass 3, which makes it waterproof and dustproof up to IP68 (1.5m for 30min) and it also complies with MIL-STD-810G. The design of the watch is contemporary and minimalistic according to the users but still, it is not as tough as Active 2.

• Aluminum chassis, 10.5mm depth
• Digital touch bezel, two side buttons
• Gorilla Glass 3 front
• IP68 water/dust resistance, MIL-STD-810G
• Interchangeable 20mm bands

Galaxy Watch Active Display

The display of the Watch Active is a Super AMOLED with 360 x 360 pixels (40mm, 1.1 inches, ~364 PPI) and has up to 1000 nits brightness with always-on function. The AMOLED is the least, both in terms of size and protection, of the three. Though users find the prospects of vibrant workouts there, they complain about the limited size for readability.

• Super AMOLED, always-on
• 40mm: 360 x 360, ~364 PPI
• Up to 1000 nits
• Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• Smaller than Active 2

Performance and Software

The watch has the Exynos 9110 (dual-core, 1.15GHz, 10nm) processor with 768MB RAM and its storage amounts to 4GB. The Watch Active operates on Tizen OS 4.0 (upgradable to 5.5), and it can run the Samsung Health, Bixby, and basic fitness tracking. The device does not support ECG and Wear OS apps. It is revealed to be less attractive than the speed of Active 2. Users use the device mainly for sporting purposes but, at the same time, they miss smart features.

• Exynos 9110, dual-core, 10nm
• 768MB RAM, 4GB storage
• Tizen OS 4.0 (up to 5.5)
• Samsung Health, Bixby
• No ECG or Wear OS

The Exynos 9110 is adequate for fitness tracking, but Tizen OS restricts app support compared to Galaxy Watch 4.

Sensors and Health

A sensor to measure heartbeat, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a barometer, and an ambient light sensor were embedded also in the Watch Active. The device is ready to be set for heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and stress monitoring, except the device is not really something for ECG detection of the heart, blood oxygen, and temperature. The device is light in weight that serves as a fitness tracker, but this means also that the features are fewer when compared to Active 2.

• Heart rate, stress monitoring
• Sleep tracking
• Accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer
• Ambient light sensor
• No ECG or blood oxygen

Battery and Charging

Active Watch provides a battery life of about ~45 hours with a battery of 230mAh. The charger of the watch works wirelessly via a magnetic charger and charges it from 0 to 100% in a maximum of 2 hours. The practical result is 24–36 hours. The capacity is longer, though slightly, than that of Active 2, but it lasts less than Galaxy Watch 4. According to users, the situation they encountered daily is that although the device is used heavily, daily charging was needed.

• 230mAh battery
• ~45h (normal), ~24h (always-on)
• Charging: 0–100% in ~2h
• Magnetic charger
• No fast charging

Connectivity

The Watch Active supports Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n, 2.4GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS (GLONASS, Galileo, BDS), and NFC. It lacks LTE. It includes a microphone and speaker for Bixby and calls. Connectivity is less advanced than Active 2’s Bluetooth 5.0. Users report stable GPS but note no cellular option.

• Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Bluetooth 4.2
• GPS, NFC
• Samsung Pay
• Microphone, speaker playback
• No LTE

Pricing and Availability

The Watch Active was marketed at $199.99 (40mm, Bluetooth, aluminum) and the device was offered for sale from Samsung, carriers, and retailers from March 8, 2019. The product went out of production in 2019, yet it can be found restored from ~$80–$150. The buyers judge it to be a reasonably priced activity band that is not so highly rated in terms of characteristics like Active 2.