I worked out with the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 & Galaxy Buds2 for 2 weeks: Here’s how it kept me on track

I'm quite the exercise nut and am pretty obsessed with keeping up with my fitness goals.

So when I was tasked with reviewing the new Samsung Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Buds2, I decided to pay even closer attention to my fitness habits and stick to a workout plan for two weeks straight.

Here’s how it went.

First impressions

The Galaxy Watch4 has a simple, round watch face armoured with an aluminium frame. My review set also came with a sweat-resistant sports band.

Once I charged it, I put it on and started playing around with the watch, toggling between the “analog” and digital watch face styles and found a variety of backgrounds, fonts, and colours.

As I did that, I realised how big the watch's face is (it’s 40mm in diameter). The watch also felt considerably light on my wrist and weighs only 25.9g.

The Galaxy Buds2’s case is sleek, small and compact, and would fit easily into any bag compartment or pocket.

The case keeps the earbuds safe and makes it easy to recharge on the go.

I got the white ones with a matching white case, but it also comes in black, grey, olive and lavender.

Then came the part I dreaded the most: linking up my devices.

To my surprise, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

I turned on my phone’s Bluetooth to scan for nearby devices and there they were.

After syncing the watch with my phone, I was ready to go.

When I’m exercising

I decided to review my new companion on a Monday evening. It was my work-from-home day so I had a bit more time to throw in a workout session after work to de-stress.

The watch definitely brings about a lot of convenience. I could access my “Fitspo” playlist on Spotify (yes, I have a playlist just for my runs) to play Lizzo’s “About Damn Time”.

The best part: I could play my music directly from my watch and didn't need to carry my phone along with me for my run.

I tapped “Go” on the watch: 3, 2, 1, and I started my run.

When I run I like to monitor two things:

1. Distance
2. Speed

I’m a pretty avid runner, so I like to pick up the pace if I’m slowing down and of course, I want to know how far I ran and how much more to go.

As I raised my arm and turned my watch towards me, I realised how easily I could see all that information I wanted on the huge watch face.

That day, I was determined to complete a 5km run, it was a pretty rocky start, starting my run at about 7 minutes per km.

But with a quick twist of the wrist, I checked my speed and said to myself: “Okay, let’s take it up a notch.”

But, a few minutes into my run, I realised that I didn’t need to do that.

The watch alerted me every time I completed another kilometre. This was the best feature of the watch, in my opinion.

It read out the key metrics of my workout session that were displayed on the watch face including my speed, time taken, distance completed and heart rate. Because of this, I didn’t have to look at my watch, allowing me to focus on my run instead.

After about 30 mins, I completed my run and decided to walk the rest of the way home.

I was a considerable distance away and after I walked for 10 minutes, my watch vibrated and said: “You’ve been walking for 10 minutes, do you want to record your walk?”

Of course I do, the records are proof that I worked out, am I right?

As I returned home and prepared to take a shower, I almost forgot that my earbuds were still in my ear.

The earbuds rested perfectly in my ears throughout my run, so I must have forgotten they were on after I stopped my music.

Throughout the week, I also tracked my High-Intensity Interval training (HIIT) and two bouldering sessions I had with my colleagues.

At the end of my fitness sessions, I could review all my workouts on my phone again via the Samsung Health app that is available on Google Play.

I used my watch for close to two days without needing to recharge it.

When I’m working

I wanted to track my movement throughout the day, so I came into the office wearing the watch and went through my regular day.

As I was typing away at work, I felt a vibration and this popped up on my watch.

It was immediately brought to my attention that I had been sitting down for quite some time and should get up for a short walk and stretch.

Curious about the other functions available, I decided to measure my Body Fat, right on the watch.

The watch can also conduct an electrocardiogram (ECG) to assess heart conditions, and measure blood pressure and oxygen levels in real-time.

It can even track sleeping patterns and will assign one of eight sleep symbol animals that represent your sleep type.

It then provides a four-to-five week coaching program with helpful sleep tips, missions and checklists.

Lasting impressions

Beyond the features, the products fit rather comfortably.

The watch’s smooth rubber strap is great for sweaty workouts. However, it had a tendency to move around a bit while I was working out.

But that was expected. In fact, I prefer this to coarser bands that could be rougher on my wrist.

The earbuds were so light, they were almost unnoticeable when I had them on. I was surprised by how they fitted so snugly inside my ears.

The earbuds also come with a noise-cancelling feature. I like to be a bit more aware of my surroundings when travelling, especially when crossing roads with heavy traffic.

So I was very pleased to find that this feature can be easily adjusted on the phone.

With a three-level ambient sound option, I could adjust the settings and choose how much noise I wanted to block out.

But just like the watch, the earbuds may move about or slip out if the wearer sweats profusely.

Midway through more intense workouts like my HIIT, I found myself pushing the earbuds back into place when I jumped up and down while doing a couple of burpees.

Overall, the watch and earbuds motivated me to get through two weeks of exercise and were fun and useful tools for my workout sessions.

The Galaxy Watch4 Bluetooth (from S$398) and Galaxy Buds2 (S$248) are available online or in stores.

This is a sponsored article by Samsung.

Top image taken by Alfie Kwa.