4 reasons I chose a Galaxy Watch 8 over the Pixel Watch 4

A smartwatch, to me, is a vital companion for my phone. It helps me effectively manage my low self-control to use the phone, while allowing me to stay on top of notifications and important calls. If you, like me, willingly stick with Android and want to access apps that sync with your phone directly on your wrist, then Wear OS is your best option. Therefore, the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Pixel Watch 4 are two of the best smartwatches with Wear OS you can buy.

The Galaxy Watch 8 and the Pixel Watch 4 are both from distinct lots that may not typically appeal to the same kind of users. If you already own a Samsung phone, and don’t mind sticking to the comparatively less restrictive ecosystem (than Apple’s), the Galaxy Watch is the way to go. If you cherish the best of Google and want the latest features — which will eventually trickle down to all devices — from Wear OS, the Pixel Watch 4 may be the right pick for you.

Broadly — and vaguely — speaking, the two watches differ in their maximalist versus minimalist approach. I have been using the Galaxy Watch 8 for several weeks, but if I had to choose again, I would pick a Galaxy Watch — more specifically, the Galaxy Watch 8 if I had to right now — over any other Wear OS device, including the Pixel Watch 4. Here are four reasons why I feel so.

One of my primary reasons for choosing a Galaxy Watch 8 over other Wear OS watches is the interface. Samsung heavily customizes the visuals of its One UI software to match its phones. I dig the vibrant treatment and emotive illustrations that depart from the drab, almost Corporate Memphis-like art elements that crowd Wear OS. And even while Google is fixing that by introducing Material 3 Expressive elements to the watch ecosystem, I would still choose Samsung for their greater sensory appeal.

And one of the elements that the latest Galaxy Watch 8 gets with Samsung’s newest One UI 8 skin is support for multiple tiles on a single page. If you’re unfamiliar, tiles are like widgets for Wear OS, and you can access them by scrolling left or right on the watch face. Wear OS has traditionally limited each screen to one tile. Although it provides more space and maintains a minimalist appearance, it also increases the number of swipes required to access various apps.

Samsung recently overcame this limitation with One UI 8 Watch by allowing multiple tiles per screen, in a somewhat related fashion to being the only Android manufacturer to enable widget stacks on smartphones or tablets. So, rather than dedicated screens for my daily step count, exercise, sleep, or stress levels, I can stack all of these on a single screen and scroll vertically to access them. There’s no limit on the number of tiles per screen, nor am I bound to use tiles from a single app.

Essentially, it means I can let chaos reign and pile all tiles, even unrelated ones, into a vertically scrolling list, eliminating the need to scroll horizontally to access them. Quite honestly, that would be my dream setup, but it’s not quite possible yet.

That’s because while Samsung apps can be bundled into a single wad, you still need separate tiles for apps from Google or other developers, such as Audible or Spotify, and it likely has to do with Google’s developer requirements. My colleague Joe Maring rightly pointed out that this is a feature for Google to steal for Wear OS, and I couldn’t agree more. In fact, doing so could usher in an era of more refined tiles that let you accomplish more with fewer swipes or taps.

The Pixel Watch 4 benefits from Google’s acquisition of Fitbit, demonstrating impressive accuracy in heart rate and sleep monitoring. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 8 continues to strike me with its breadth of features that inform me about my health and wellness — even when I’m not actively engaging in fitness activities. In addition to the ECG and blood pressure monitoring that the Galaxy Watch has had for several generations, Samsung continues to add health metrics unique to its watches.

Last year, it added the AGEs Index, which correlates diet to our tendency to contract chronic illnesses. Since AGEs, or advanced glycation end products, also affect the rate of biological aging, the acronym is also a form of wordplay. This year, Samsung has added more metrics that analyze your lifestyle and heart rate.

This year’s additions include a measure for vascular load, which determines the stress on the body’s blood and lymphatic circulation systems, especially during sleep. The feature essentially alerts you to the downsides of poor sleep, excessive alcohol use, an excessive sedentary lifestyle, or all of them. To me, that’s particularly important because working remotely gives me the advantage of not having to stick to a rigid schedule, making it easier to relapse into a lifestyle lacking much discipline. And, being alerted by the vascular load — in addition to the continuous stress monitoring — allows me to intervene and take steps I must to ensure to abate poor health.

The other feature I have been actively relying on lately is the antioxidant index, which measures special compounds called carotenoids through the skin. A low index is essentially a sign for me to increase my intake of fruits and vegetables while cutting back on heavily processed or packaged foods. That’s also super useful, because I, as a vegetarian, am more likely to miss out on vitamins and other antioxidant compounds from meat.

If you’re into running, the personalized coaching, supposedly powered with AI, should also offer insights to increase performance while reducing wear.

The Galaxy Watch’s pinch gestures have made my life incredibly useful. I pinch my way through notifications, alarms, timers, and even calls that I take directly from the watch, without having to engage my other hand. And yes, while Apple admittedly pioneered these gestures, Samsung is the only brand in the Android ecosystem to have not only embraced but also expanded them.

Gestures on the Galaxy Watch 8 make my life much simpler. I double-pinch my thumb against my index to view and scroll notifications, play or pause media, or dismiss alarms and timers. I use the double wrist flick to reject calls or perform a knock gesture to turn on the flashlight when I need to.

But beyond these simple gestures, Samsung also offers Universal Gestures, a set of hand gestures under accessibility settings. Basically, you can use movements, such as opening and closing the fist and single- or double-pinching, to control the entire system without ever having to touch the screen again. These are incredibly nimble and are especially beneficial to users with disabilities. To enable them, go to Settings > Accessibility > Interaction and dexterity on your Galaxy Watch (including older models).

In contrast, the Pixel Watch also gets an impressive upgrade to the standard raise-to-talk gesture, letting you engage with Gemini without pressing any button or uttering any wake word. But it lacks accessibility options beyond TalkBack and doesn’t offer any gesture controls that might be especially helpful to people with physical impairments.

One way Samsung’s phones continue to dominate alternatives from other manufacturers is through their extended software support. Lately, Samsung has been promising at least six years of Android version upgrades, even for models at the end of the barrel (price-wise). But phones are not alone, as Samsung has been consistently updating older Galaxy Watch models to new software. Since a smartwatch isn’t typically upgraded every year — even generation-to-generation upgrades are minor — longer software support gives me the confidence to keep the same watch longer rather than having to upgrade more frequently.

While I have already upgraded to the Galaxy Watch 8, I’m excited to pass on the older models I have hoarded to my not-so-tech-savvy parents rather than have those watches end up in a landfill so soon. Meanwhile, the first-gen Pixel Watch’s promised software support ends this month, leaving us unsure whether it will receive a Wear OS 6 update.

I’ve worn every Galaxy Watch since its rebranding back in 2018 — back when Samsung used its own Tizen interface. While the hardware has always been impressive — and the software neat, the actual turning point for me was when Samsung embraced Wear OS with the Watch 4. And that has been one more reason apart from the other I listed above to choose — and recommend — the Galaxy Watch over other options.

On the other hand, the Pixel Watch 4 is the most significant upgrade we’ve witnessed in the lineup so far. It gets better repairability options and even offers satellite-based communication, which the Galaxy Watch lacks. But I’d happily trade off features I might need once in a while for those that actively improve my daily usage. And for that reason, I would actively choose the Galaxy Watch 8 over the Pixel Watch 4 — or any other Wear OS device — any day.