Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 Under Armour Edition unveiled

Update: August 7, 2019 at 5:35 p.m. ET: During the Galaxy Note 10 unveiling, Samsung also introduced another variant of the Galaxy Watch Active 2. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 Under Armour Edition costs $309 and has Bluetooth (no LTE), as well as some pre-loaded software that integrates with Under Armour’s fitness ecosystem.

With that additional $30 upcharge, Samsung is throwing in a six-month membership to Under Armour’s MVP version of MapMyRun, which normally costs $6 a month. It also comes with the MapMyRun app built in, along with support for UA’s Hovr shoes.

Original article: August 5, 2019 at 10 a.m. ET: It wasn’t long ago that Samsung released the Galaxy Watch Active — the sporty version of last year’s Galaxy Watch. Today, the company is announcing a minor refresh to its smartwatch lineup with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, this time with LTE support and a few under-the-hood changes that might actually tear you away from that Fitbit or Apple Watch.

One of the biggest omissions from the Galaxy Watch Active was the lack of a rotating bezel. That convenient way of navigating around the UI was actually a nice selling point for the Galaxy Watch and Gear smartwatches before it. Thankfully, Samsung listened to feedback and included an improved version of that rotating bezel on the Watch Active 2. The new smartwatch features a digital touch-enabled bezel, allowing you to scroll between different pages of the UI by swiping around the watch’s bezel. This makes a huge difference when you’re trying to scroll through things on a tiny display. 

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active review | Samsung Galaxy Fit review

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 comes in two models: Bluetooth-only and Bluetooth+LTE. There’s no word yet as to which carriers will sell the Galaxy Watch Active 2 LTE, but whatever carrier you’re on, you’ll be able to make and receive phone calls and send texts right from your wrist without the need to be connected to your smartphone.

While you’re out and about, free from being tethered to your smartphone, you can take advantage of some of the Galaxy Watch Active 2’s new software features. Now, the smartwatch supports real-time voice and text translation in over 16 languages, and gives you the ability to respond to tweets on Twitter, or watch video clips on the watch. These are niche features for sure, but they could be handy in a pinch.

Samsung is also launching a new way to customize your watch face. Using the My Style color extraction app (available in the Galaxy Wearable app), users will be able to take a photo of their outfit, choose their favorite colors from their outfit, and create a watch face based around that color scheme.

Galaxy Watch Active 2 users will also be able to listen to music on their watches with Spotify. This is certainly good news for Samsung’s wearable ecosystem, as Spotify is one of the most popular music services in the world.

This is an active watch after all, so you can expect the same core feature set as you’d get on the first Galaxy Watch Active. That means it can track over 39 workouts, and offers stress tracking with guided meditation, sleep analysis, and an improved Running Coach feature for monitoring real-time pace metrics.

When we reviewed the Galaxy Watch Active, we had a few gripes. Fitness tracking and blood pressure monitoring was pretty inaccurate, and the watch didn’t support MST payments with Samsung Pay. We’ve reached out to Samsung to learn more about these features on the Watch Active 2 and will update this article as we learn more.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 specs:

Interested? You can pre-order your own Galaxy Watch Active 2 starting Friday, September 6 on Samsung.com and through other retailers. The 40mm Bluetooth model costs $279.99, while the bigger 44mm model costs $299.99. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 LTE will cost $429.

All Galaxy Watch Active 2 models officially go on sale Friday, September 27 on Samsung.com and other retailers. If you pre-order between September 6-26 through Samsung.com, you’ll be eligible for a free Wireless Charger Portable Battery.