Samsung Galaxy Watch 7

A lot has happened in technology, from 5nm to 3nm and from two to five cores. This watch runs many graphical interactive elements simultaneously and tracks them constantly, all since the Exynos W940 chip is much more powerful, but also 50% more efficient, at least in theory.

The design language is the same as before: very industrial and cohesive, with no hard or visible edges. I quite like the new straps; they fit snugly and precisely and don't pinch at all. Samsung calls it a floating glass design - I call it that the glass is raised out of the watch case. It's certainly nice either way.

What Samsung for some reason doesn't make a big deal about is that the internal storage has doubled to 32 GB. In addition, more RAM has also been added, so we're now up to 4 GB.

On the biometric side, there is now an "Enhanced BioActive" sensor. This means that heart rate, blood pressure and heart rhythm can be measured extremely accurately, which in turn means constant monitoring of your health, especially irregular heartbeats. I fully understand the GDPR issues, but in an optimal world, the watch would be able to contact emergency services with coordinates and request an ambulance in case of unnatural and problematic fluctuations or measurements. But you'd have to find a smarter way than using a real blood pressure monitor as a reference, and right now, it's a bit of a let-down for me.

Speaking of coordinates, the GPS is now dual-band, L1+L5, and the exercise part can track previous times, a bit like in video games where you can race against a ghost that represents your previous times - but only when you're cycling or running, which makes sense as it probably uses the GPS to log it all.

The operating system is Samsung's new Wear OS 5, and of course there's integrated AI functionality with better customised training, sleep analysis, energy accounting, and detailed aerobic/anaerobic training overview. It can even alert you if you suffer from sleep apnea.

There is still ATM5 in relation to water. If you're into trekking or diving, there is now also a Galaxy Ultra watch with better certification and protection. However, there is still a water lock and Samsung should actually be praised for the fact that their training interface is quite nice. The graphics and user interface in general are a big step forward, especially considering the price.

The price is £289 and for that you also get full NFC support, and it's nice that Samsung hasn't increased the price from the Galaxy Watch 6, which I had feared.

The Galaxy AI is a bit of fun; it can both create standard responses that you can use to reply to messages and, in combination with a Samsung phone, create, well, meeting links and more. There are many little things, such as control via certain finger movements, cycle tracking and a medication reminder function. In addition, Samsung has retained their simple but effective click system for new straps.

My main critical point are the watch faces, especially since I've tested the watch primarily while it is still unreleased. There are a lot of fancy faces, but since I'm quite picky, I didn't find the right one. Anyway, the point is: unless you have a Watch 6, this will be a massive upgrade for most people. Whether it's functionality, training or health monitoring you need, there's full NFC support, plenty of space, and it's astonishingly cheap, all in such a beautifully made product.