Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2

I am currently using mi band 5. I do not require much from the watch. I would like to have a tracking of the number of steps and how many kilometers I walked. I am also interested in options such as heart rate, tracking my sleep or the ability to reply to an SMS without a phone. I heard that system updates will end this year, I won't be installing any apps on this watch too much. Is it worth buying this model of this watch, or can you choose something else?

So, it's been a week since I picked up my new-to-me Galaxy Watch Active 2 and I thought I'd leave a bit of a review for anyone pondering their next move after Pebble. Here's my thoughts in no particular order:

**Note: I did not pay full price for this new, I bought it used for $160 CDN. At that price I think it's solid value, but full price is steep.

• Battery life: I'm happier than I expected to be. With the screen always on, you can get about a day and a half, so basically have to charge every night, but with always-on disabled, I'm getting 3 full days of moderate to heavy use on a charge, with about 15% left at bedtime on day 3. The watch activates easily when you lift your wrist, so I haven't found myself missing the always-on display. Is this Pebble-like battery life? Hell no, but I can live with it.

• It looks great, beautiful bright display and nice-looking case. My only minor critique would be that the 20mm band feels a little slim, I would've preferred 22mm.

• The stock band actually feels pretty good even though I don't normally like plastic bands, but I already have a stainless steel band I'm going to put on tomorrow.

• Handles all my notifications nicely, with options to reply by canned message, emoji or dictation. Hell there's even a way to type directly on the watch like texting on an old flip phone, so reply options abound. (On Android, iOS is a lesser experience from my understanding.)

• I can initiate a call or text from the watch, with the same input options as above. Same iOS caveat as above.

• Lets me control my music. Also lets me download music directly to the watch, but I don't need that feature. One downside is it's on the touchscreen, so you have to look at the watch unlike a Pebble.

• You can take a call from the watch. Not something I expect to need, but cool if you're not close to your phone and don't want to miss that call.

• Full suite of health options, including heart rate tracking. That wasn't a concern for me, I'm happy with just a step counter, but it seems really well done and Samsung Health seems cool.

• Really cool touch bezel to navigate the screen/scroll through messages/navigate to apps. Slick, works great and has a really satisfying haptic feedback 'click' as you move through the dial. Brilliant stuff, way more intuitive than swiping the screen, and also for some degree of no-look operation.

• Beyond the bezel navigation is touchscreen, but there's a back button and a home button. The home button can be set to launch a favourite app/function with a double-press.

So far there's no big negative, and nothing that's annoying me. I miss my Pebble, but I think I'm going to be happy with this choice.