Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch Best Smartwatch in 2024

Looking around at buying a new smartwatch, and wondering which one to choose Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch? In your initial searching, you’ve no doubt seen the large variety of options that are available to you. That can make choosing the best smartwatch difficult; however, while there are indeed a lot of choices out there, there are only a couple of devices that rise above the rest. Just two of those is the Fitbit Versa vs Galaxy Watch, offering you better functionality and features than most out there today.

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41CIyIkHRLL. SL500SAMSUNGSamsung Galaxy WatchCheck Price on Amazon
FitbitFitbit Versa Smart WatchCheck Price on Amazon

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Not sure which one to choose out of the two? Follow along with us below, and we’ll help you make an informed decision about which one is better, and how each one can meet your needs. Let’s get started.

Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch

1) Samsung Galaxy Watch

The Samsung Galaxy Watch comes up first and is actually the successor to the Gear S3. The Apple Watch Series 4 is well known as one of the best smartwatches that you can buy today, being polished in almost every category. On the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy Watch is the closest that you can get to that polished experience, which is why so many people with Samsung devices and Android devices are flocking to the Galaxy Watch.

Design

The Samsung Galaxy Watch is easily one of the best designed smartwatches out there. Some say it’s even better than the Apple Watch, largely because it takes on that circular traditional watch shape, instead of the “square” shape that the Apple Watch has. In that sense, it does give off that traditional watch sense, though it may not look like a Rolex.

It has a rotating bezel, which adds some cool functions to the watch. It was designed in a way that you can actually rotate the bezel to explore the screen. Galaxy Watch owners can actually view information by rotating the bezel clockwise or counterclockwise. Bezel interactions can adjust values, answer or end calls, and check alerts.

That’s how it functions by default, but you can actually go into individual applications and customize how the bezel functions with those specific applications.

While we think the round-looking smartwatch looks quite nice, it does look a little clunky. The Galaxy Watch is actually extremely thick, and doesn’t have that flatter profile that many of your traditional watches do. That’s where the Apple Watch excels actually — it might not have that circular face, but it does have that flat and thin profile that doesn’t make it look out of place.

One of the cool things about the Samsung Galaxy Watch is that you can customize it for almost any situation. Since it has a button for swapping out bands, you can make the Galaxy Watch fit in tons of different events, whether it be at work, at the gym, at a wedding, or another casual or formal event. There are all sorts of different bands out there that you can use for those situations — there are chain link options, leather bands, silicone sport bands, and more.

Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy Watch comes in a couple of different colors, giving you options for both men and women. That said, you can choose to pick this one up in Silver, Rose Gold, or Midnight Black. Silver is probably the most gender-neutral choice, with Midnight Black being more masculine, and the Rose Gold obviously being more feminine.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch does come in a couple of different watch faces. There are 42mm or 46mm sizes; however, the 46mm size is only available in Silver.

Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy Watch overall has some excellent hardware. It has a 1.3-inch Super AMOLED display, with a resolution of 360 x 360. It has an Always-On display, which makes it more like a traditional watch. The 46mm version has a battery of a whopping 472mAh, whereas the 42mm option is about half that.

It comes with 4GB of storage inside, which allows you to obviously install applications, store songs, and more. The non-LTE model comes with 768MB of RAM, and the LTE model comes with 1.5GB of RAM. It connects up to your Android device over Bluetooth, and the same for your iOS device.

This one is perfect for heavy activity, as it comes with a MIL-STD-810G rating, and then IP68 waterproofing. The waterproofing allows you to use these watches in swim situations, and up to 50 meters deep.

The Galaxy Watch has a heart-rate measurement sensor inside as well, which allows you to better monitor your heart rate during the day, and especially at workouts.

There’s a built-in GPS in the Galaxy Watch, too.

Software

Software is a mixed bag when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy Watch. That’s because it’s not actually running on Android Wear, and is using Samsung’s own Tizen OS software instead. That said, the Galaxy Watch doesn’t have nearly as many apps since it isn’t running Google’s software, and therefore you don’t have access to the Google Play Store.

One of the highlights of the software in this device is that it’s full of different fitness features. In addition to being a life and work companion, the Galaxy Watch wants to help you get and stay fit, too. That said, it has the array of fitness features that you would expect a device like this to have.

There’s calorie and step tracking, reminders to move and stand all day, and, as previously mentioned, heart-rate monitoring. Using the rotating bezel, you can open the Samsung Health app on the Galaxy Watch, which you can then use to track up to 40 different types of workouts. You don’t always have to manually start a workout, as the watch can automatically detect six of the most common exercises, such as running or walking. For example, if it detects you running or walking for awhile through wrist movement, it’ll automatically notify you and track your workout.

As we mentioned, the Galaxy Watch runs on Tizen instead of Google’s Wear OS. It’s actually running on Tizen OS 4.0, which is an upgrade over last year’s Galaxy Watch. With the OS, you can download apps and new watch faces from the Galaxy Apps Store.

One of the cool things about this is just how optimized the software is. Even with the Always-On Display, if you have just average use, you can get 4-6 days out of a full charge. You can squeeze more out of it, if you don’t mind using the built-in Battery Saver. The Battery Saver, however, turns the screen grayscale and shuts off most of the smartwatches functions, so it’s not super useful, aside from the time, at least.

We should note that the Galaxy Watch’s software, at least with the LTE edition, allows you to make and take calls, and receive and send text messages right on the watch. While the Galaxy Watch does this quite well on Android, when you connect it up to iOS, those functions aren’t supported, LTE edition or not.

Unfortunately, with the Galaxy Watch not running on Android’s Wear OS, you don’t have access to Android Pay; however, the Galaxy Watch supports Samsung’s own contactless payment system — Samsung Pay. Add your card to your Samsung wallet, and you’ll be able to simply hover your watch over a payment terminal to pay for your purchase.

Get your Samsung Galaxy Watch here.

Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch

2) Fitbit Versa

The Fitbit Versa is up next, and is actually more of a fitness tracker than a full-blown smartwatch. Fitbit is well known for its activity trackers, but with full blown smartwatches offering the same functions as an activity tracker these days, Fitbit had to find a way to compete. That’s where the Fitbit Versa comes in — to try and compete with the devices that are outdoing them.

Design

The Fitbit Versa actually has a similar design to the Apple Watch. It doesn’t have that circular face that you see on the Galaxy Watch. It’s actually unique, because the Fitbit Versa is essentially a rounded square, what Fitbit is billing as a “squircle.” The body is made out of aluminum, and come sin Black by default; however, the Versa has a wide variety of colors  to choose from.

For the body itself, there are only a couple — like Silver Aluminum, Rose Gold, Black, and even Mulberry Aluminum. However, they have 11 different colored bands that you can choose to get with your Versa.

The one downside to the Versa is that it’s only available in aluminum. It doesn’t shine nearly as much as a Stainless Steel watch would, which doesn’t really make it ideal for formal occasions. However, the Versa will fit just fine in any casual event.

The neat thing about the Versa is that it has interchangeable bands. So, you can swap them out for something more appropriate for a workout, or for a night out on the town. You can add a case to it if you’d like, too.

While the Fitbit Versa does have the “squircle” design, the Versa has a flat profile, which helps it look nicer. The Fitbit Versa also has a GPS, which makes it

Hardware

Fitbit hasn’t listed all of the intricate details of the hardware packed inside the Versa, and that’s largely due to the Fitbit Versa featuring “proprietary” hardware. That said, fans and tinkerers have dug into the Fitbit Versa to reveal a single Cortex M4 at 120MHz. As you can see, it’s not a super fast processor, but enough to handle what’s inside the Fitbit Versa already. That said, we can’t imagine Fitbit adding new apps to the Versa, as it would definitely require more power. It would prove limiting to some of the more demanding and power intensive apps out there.

Battery life is probably the best aspect of the Fitbit Versa — and is actually quite similar to the Galaxy Watch. A single charge gives you around four days of battery life before needing to put it back on the charger.

As you might imagine, the Versa comes with a heart monitor, which helps your track and monitor your heart rate.

Software

And now, for the software. The Fitbit Versa, much like the Samsung Galaxy Watch, is not running Google’s Wear OS, so what you can do with the watch is fairly limited. However, since it operates on Bluetooth, it does connect to both Android and iOS.

Being an activity tracker first and foremost, the Versa has tons of fitness-related options. There are actually over fifteen exercise modes like Run or Swim to record specific workouts. With waterproofing up to 50 meters, you can use this in the pool or in open water without harming the device.

One of the areas that keeps the Fitbit Versa unique is sleep tracking. That’s something that most smartwatches haven’t been able to obtain yet today, largely because of poor battery life. That said, the Fitbit Versa helps you track your sleep stages, light sleep, deep sleep, REM time, and more. In addition, you can easily track your activity all day, as well as your heart rate.

The Fitbit Versa helps you stay motivated with music on your workouts, too. You can actually store over 300 songs — perfect for those playlists that you want to keep on the device. In addition to playing music, because of the speaker on the Versa, you’ll be able to utilize on-screen workouts that play on your wrist, which coach you through your workouts.

Getting to the part where the Versa acts like a smartwatch, you can actually get notifications on it, including calendar, text, and call notifications. If you’re running an Android smartphone, Quick Replies can be sent right on the Fitbit Versa. The Versa doesn’t have support for any call or text functions on iOS.

Like the Galaxy Watch, Fitbit Versa has many workouts that it can track automatically, and without you having to manually select a workout you’re doing. The Fitbit Versa actually automatically tracks select sports and workouts with a feature that they call SmartTrack — that means you’ll never miss tracking a workout.

The Fitbit Versa is working to keep itself unique in the fitness space. As such, the Versa actually has female health tracking, which uses the Fitbit app to log periods, symptoms and more. Generally, you won’t find any of that functionality available natively on most smartwatches today.

Since the Fitbit Versa isn’t running Android Wear (or Wear OS), you don’t have access to Android Pay. Fitbit looks to solve that with its own secure contactless payment system — Fitbit Pay. Just like Android Pay or Samsung Pay, the Versa allows you to pay for your purchases at select stores simply by hovering it over the chip reader.

Get your Fitbit Versa here.

Verdict on Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch

As you can see, there are a lot of differences between Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch, and even a lot of similarities. So which one is better? We think the Samsung Galaxy Watch is better here, simply because it has some better support for calling and text features. The Versa’s communication features seem to be a hit or miss.

On top of that, the Galaxy Watch has its own Galaxy Apps store, which allows you to expand the functionality of the watch by downloading new apps. The Fitbit Versa has apps you can download, but it’s nowhere near as well supported as the Galaxy Watch.

Which one do you plan on picking up, Fitbit Versa Vs Galaxy Watch? Let us know in the comments section below — we’d love to hear from you.

ProductBrandNamePrice
41CIyIkHRLL. SL500SAMSUNGSamsung Galaxy WatchCheck Price on Amazon
FitbitFitbit Versa Smart WatchCheck Price on Amazon

* If you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For more details, please visit our Privacy policy page.


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