I would respectfully disagree. Samsung already gates features for it’s phones and now it is gating features to GW 8 despite there being no new sensor upgrade from previous generation. The Antioxidant Index and Vascular load, is just gated to GW 8 for the heck of it and one is not even sure how accurate it is.
There was the Stress thing which I don’t even use on my GW 6 because it’s err, completely useless. It aims to measure physical stress using HRV but is completely out of touch to how I feel. The only thing it does decently is music streaming and sleep tracking.
And then there is the Achilles’ Heel, Battery life. Samsung 's Tizen watches used to last for two/three days and Wear OS is a significant downgrade even the Ultra variants. They have not taken any cues either from Mobvoi or Oneplus (either dual display or dual chip). Charging sucks as well. On GW 4, it was so slow that I wished to throw it. 10W WPC is better but it again overheats and throttles in hot climate.
Lmao what moron actually thinks it is worth $500? Obv some dumbass shill.
I have and enjoy Samsung smartwatches. But for the love of Christ, get them on sale. You can always get them for a heavy discount. Anyone paying full MSRP for a Samsung smartwatch is a huge schmuck. I got mine for around $270 and with my career, it is a very comfortable price for fun new tech devices to play with. Wait for a sale and trade in a cheapo used device you purchase from eBay or Amazon. (Got the watch for $200 and spent $70 on Amazon for a trade in device)
To the OP, I agree the stress measurement “feature” on these watches is useless hot garbage though. It basically just says that I’m “stressed” when I am physically moving or speaking. Not sure why it exists. Extreme fanboys will say that it is an accurate and useful metric.