I bought a Galaxy Watch last week and I'm extremely impressed with it. I bought the 42mm version because I always thought my LG Watch Sport was too big, although it's a shame the silver case is only available in 46mm.
I was hesitant to go for the Galaxy Watch at first mainly because I'm not with EE so can't get LTE but I only wanted to use the LTE for streaming music when running. Seeing as I can't get GPM on the Galaxy Watch and I don't want to switch to Spotify I thought not having LTE would be a moot point anyway.
The other reason was the app situation but I rarely used apps on my LG Watch Sport. I've got mixed feelings about the app situation on the Galaxy Watch. On one hand I've come across some apps that are better than their WearOS counterparts - namely HereWeGo being better than Google Maps' WearOS app, and a 3rd party Nest App that is better than Nest's own WearOS app. The store is pretty baron and full of low quality apps though and it really shows, most apps have 2 or less star ratings.
Battery life, the screen and general build quality is much better than the LG Watch sport. I also think Samsung Health is better than Google Fit because you can can actually specify targets before a workout such as target pace, distance, time or calories. You couldn't do that with Google Fit or any of the 3rd party running apps, you could only track a run!
Does anybody know if it is possible to use viewranger (or other ordnance survey mapping program) on the Samsung galaxy watch?
ViewRanger you definitely can't, actually if you read their FAQ they're not shy at calling out that Tizen isn't supported so it doesn't seem like they're interested in changing this any time soon. I downloaded an app called GPX Route Tracker today but haven't used it yet. There's a companion app for your phone that allows you to push GPX files to the watch and it displays it on either an offline map (powered by leaflet) or online Google Maps. It does cost about £1.50 though if I remember correctly.
i got a galaxy watch for Christmas from the wife. Very happy with it bar having to use Samsung pay and my bank, RBS, not seeming to support it. Am i missing something obvious or can you only use Samsung pay?
Yeah you can only use Samsung Pay.