Hardware
Inside the case, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier is equipped with a dual-core 1GHz Exynos 7270 chipset, along with a Mali T720 GPU, 768 MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage memory. The Apple Watch 3 is similarly equipped, so it also features 768 MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage memory, while the chipset is a dual-core Apple S3 and the GPU is the PowerVR graphics processor. As can be seen, neither of these smartwatches supports additional microSD cards for extra storage memory and, for the connectivity, both Apple and Samsung went with the Bluetooth 4.2 LE technology and the 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (only the 2.4GHz radio band is available).
The Apple Watch 3 (GPS+LTE variant) and the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier come with a LTE antenna to allow the user to make and receive calls directly from the smartwatch even if the phone is left at home (add a pair of Bluetooth headphones to the equation and you can easily answer any calls while jogging).
Verdict: Both the Apple Watch 3 and the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier have similar internal hardware and come equipped with the same technologies for a better connectivity with the cell phone towers and with other devices (via Bluetooth or WiFi), so this round is a tie.
Software
The third generation of Apple Watch now comes with the watchOS 4 operating system (upgradeable to the latest 4.2 version) that has gone through multiple changes from the functionality point of view, but it has retained a similar look to the original instalment. There are some changes in the dock, as it now shows icons vertically instead of horizontally, there are more watch faces, you can now stream music from the radio or from the Apple Music app, there’s now a flashlight option, the Apple Pay seems to have also been made a bit faster and there are also some other minor adjustments.
Siri is still one of the cornerstones of the Apple Watch and this time it comes with a dedicated watch face and it shows some useful info. Because the smartwatch is equipped with a microphone and speaker, Siri will be able to directly respond to your commands, something very useful if you are in your home but can become very awkward when you’re outdoors. Besides Siri, there’s still the very useful Taptic Engine that will vibrate in a different pattern depending on the type of notification (it’s subtle, but you will quickly learn the difference between the patterns and whether it’s worth checking the screen for an important message).
The activity tracker remains an integrated part of the Apple Watch experience, allowing the user to view its heart beats (as said before, it will also keep daily heart rate data and it will alert the user in case of irregularities), Workout app still is great at monitoring your running sessions (it is a worthy competitor to the dedicated fitness trackers), it’s also a great swimming tracker (I know this is an expensive device, but you can safely use it under water) and it has also gathered a number of new gym-related exercises such as the HIIT workouts (High-Intensity Interval Training).
While the watchOS is now more polished than the previous generations, there are some shortcomings still present: even if the internal hardware is more powerful, I still did notice that if I open multiple apps, the entire system sometimes gets slower; there is no dedicated Spotify app, so you’ll have to rely on the Apple Music application; changing any core functionalities on the Apple Watch will still require you to go to the iPhone and make the adjustments to that specific app.
Even so, the watchOS is still the most supported smartwatch interface, more than the Android Wear or Tizen from Samsung. And that gets us to the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier which surprised a lot of people when it decided against using the Android Wear and it used the proprietary Tizen OS instead (v2.3.2). This may be a strange opinion, but Samsung may have actually done the right thing because it seems that Qualcomm decided to abandon the smartwatch market and there aren’t that many alternatives that can satisfy the needs for all the modern technologies. – It seems that eventually Qualcomm came out of its slumber and decided that the smartwatch market is still worth pursuing, so it has recently announced the new Snapdragon Wear 3100, which comes as an overall improvement over the aging Wear 2100. That being said, Samsung now has to gather the support of the third party developers and make its platform attractive enough for all the new potential buyers (something that the Apple Watch doesn’t have to worry about).
That being said, the Tizen OS offers a more limited amount of apps, but those that matter are there: there’s the S Voice, which is an alternative to Siri and it can make calls, tell the weather, search Wikipedia, send emails and other minor functions; there’s the Tasker integration with the SmartThings hub which gives the user access to all Tasker automations from their wrist; there’s the Spotify app (a small bonus point over the Apple Watch); the SOS feature is still a reliable tool (just tap the Home key three times and an emergency message will be sent to your contacts – you can also perform an SOS call which mutes your smartwatch and allows the receiver to hear everything that happens from your side); there’s also the Samsung Pay which allows you to make at least 5 payments using the smartwatch without a Samsung smartphone nearby after the initial set up.
Just like the Apple Watch 3, the Gear S3 Frontier is also a reliable fitness tracker and it uses the S Health app in order to keep you active (you get animated notifications when you stayed still for too long), it can track some gym exercises with accuracy, while others not so much (such as crunches and lunges), it is decently reliable while running as well, but, unlike the Apple Watch, it’s not swim-proof. The Samsung Gear S3 Frontier can be used with both Android smartphones and iPhones, but you will notice some limitations with the latter (the iOS is actually the culprit).
Verdict: Both the Apple Watch 3 and the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier have the necessary features and all the apps that the user may expect from a high-end smartwatch and the both interfaces can be easily explored, don’t feel crowded and are intuitive enough so there isn’t a steep learning curve before fully enjoying every feature. But, considering the fact that the Apple Watch’ webOS has a lot more support from the developers than Samsung’s Tizen will make the former the winner of this round.
Battery Life
The Samsung Gear S3 Frontier features a non-removable Li-Ion 380 mAh battery (a significant increase over the Gear S2) which is able to deliver on average two days if you occasionally use the GPS and make or take calls, but if you keep these to the minimum you could see up to three days before the smart watch will need recharging (stream music and the battery will deplete a lot faster). Charging the smartwatch from 0 to 100 % will take about two hours.
The Apple Watch 3 comes equipped with a non-removable Li-Ion 279 mAh battery (so it’s slightly more than what the AW 2 offered) which will deliver, on average close to a full day with occasional GPS use and some calls (if you stream music, it will go to 0 a lot faster), but, with minimum use, you could look up to 2 days of battery life. If you want to charge the Apple Watch 3 from 0 to 100 %, you will have to wait about two hours (just like the gear S3 Frontier).
Verdict: The Samsung Gear S3 Frontier has a larger battery and it has a better battery life, so it wins this round.
Conclusion
The smartwatches had a rough time entering the consumer market, especially because these devices still rely almost fully on a smartphone, so instead of being a stand-alone unit, they act more as an accessory. The Apple Watch 3 and the Samsung Gear S3 have made some important steps towards gaining some form of independence by implementing the LTE connection (sure, it’s not yet perfect, but they’re getting there) and it has improved the Apple Pay / Samsung Pay systems to work for a few transactions even if you left the phone at home.
Choosing the best one of the two isn’t really easy since both manufacturers have done a terrific job with each device, so now that you saw how the smartwatches perform and look, it will be a matter of preference than everything else. The budget is also an important element to take into account, since the Apple Watch is more expensive than the S3 Frontier, but I do think that the most important factor is the platform since I’m sure Apple users will prefer using an Apple Watch with their iPhones, while Samsung smartphone users will more likely go with the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier since this way, they will be able to take advantage of all the features without any type of limitations and will enjoy the software familiarity.