Initially unveiled to the world back in August this year, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is now available in Malaysia. There are quite a number of variants offered on our shores, which include both sizes (40mm and 44mm) and even the Under Armour edition.
Compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 brings back one vital feature: bezel control. However, it’s not a physically rotating bezel anymore. Instead, the whole bezel is now touch-sensitive, allowing you to use it as an input device by running your finger around it.
Tizen OS on Samsung’s smartwatches were designed with the bezel control in mind, so it should be more intuitive to navigate the user interface of the Galaxy Watch Active 2 with the touch bezel. Then again, it’ll be interesting to see just how natural it would feel, given that the bezel itself doesn’t rotate anymore.
Other than that, the Galaxy Watch Active 2’s heart rate sensor and accelerometer are improved accordingly too, giving it better workout tracking accuracy. On top of that, it also has support for ECG, which allows it to track your heart rate and rhythm more accurately than a regular heart rate sensor.
However, the ECG feature is not enabled yet on the smartwatch; it will only be added sometime in the near future.
Rounding out the specifications of the Galaxy Watch Active 2 include a 1.2-inch or 1.4-inch 360 x 360 Super AMOLED display for the 40mm and 44mm models respectively, GPS support, a 5 ATM rating (it can be submerged up to 50m underwater for 10 minutes), and NFC.
You can choose from three different versions of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 in Malaysia: Stainless Steel, Aluminium, and the Under Armour edition. The full price breakdown of all variants (and sizes) of the smartwatch is as follow:
- Stainless Steel – RM1,299 (40mm), RM1,399 (44mm)
- Under Armour – RM1,099 (40mm), RM1,199 (44mm)
- Aluminium – RM1,099 (44mm)
Retailing from RM1,099, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 is without a doubt more costly than its predecessor, which retails for only RM799 at launch. Regardless of which size you want, you’ll still have to fork out RM1,099, given that the most affordable Aluminium model only comes in 44mm.
But if you want something more affordable – and you don’t really care for the new model’s added features – the first Galaxy Watch Active is still worth a consideration.