Despite some worries about its squared-circle design, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 has turned out to be a solid smartwatch, and a great continuation of Samsung’s excellence in the wearables space. But every product has a rocky period when consumers start to get their hands on it, and the Galaxy Watch 8 has entered that space.
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The Galaxy Watch 8 is a smartwatch straight out of the ’70s, and I’m okay with it
Fewer strikes with the ugly stick
While it’s still clearly a great smartwatch, some longtime Samsung aficionados have noticed a problem when using their new wearable with one particular accessory. As many Reddit users are finding out, the Galaxy Watch 8 may not play particularly well with the Samsung Wireless Duo charging pad (via PhoneArena).
The Galaxy Watch 8 isn’t built for wireless charging pads
A strapping young watch that’s not flexible enough
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 comes with its own wireless charging puck, but a number of people own accessories like the Samsung 15W Wireless Charger Duo, a larger-than-usual wireless charging pad that allows for charging a number of devices at once. Presumably a lot of people had used that pad with their previous Galaxy Watches, but are now discovering that their new watch doesn’t want to play ball.
Because the Galaxy Watch 8 has a molded strap with a rigid curve near the attachment point, it’s close to impossible to get the watch to lay down flat. This isn’t a problem with the charging puck it comes with, as that neatly avoids the straps altogether — but when using a pad like the Wireless Duo? It hovers awkwardly over the charging point, and that means it won’t connect properly to charge. However, some users have also posited that trying to charge it this way could lead to overheating issues and bad charging — though it’s important to note that no-one has explicitly reported this being an issue yet.
It’s an easy issue to fix
Just look at the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic
This isn’t a problem Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic owners have been experiencing, since that watch has a different watch design. As befits its more “classic” watch design, the Watch 8 Classic’s straps allow the watch to sit completely flat. As a result, it can use the Wireless Duo without issue. Interestingly, the Galaxy Watch Ultra shares this problem, as it has a similar strap design with a molded curve near the attachment points.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic showing the new One UI 8 Watch widget layout
As such, it’s easy to fix this particular issue if it’s a problem. Since the Sport strap is the only official strap with such an aggressive curve downwards, swap it out for another strap. Unfortunately, since Samsung has introduced a new strap attachment system in this watch, you won’t be able to use straps for previous Galaxy Watches or non-smartwatch bands either, meaning your options are a little limited at this stage. Still, if it means you can use your favorite charging pad, it might be worth doing.
- Case size
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40mm/44mm
- Display
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1.3-inch/1.5-inch Super AMOLED
- Display resolution
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438 x 438
- CPU
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Exynos W1000
