Unfortunately, some of the Watch's most notable features don't seem to work on the units we've strapped on. Covering a big event like this is often an exercise in stress management, so it would've been nice to use the Galaxy Watch's included Stress applet to help us manage the flood of emotions that come when testing new hardware. And since Samsung hasn't seen fit to fill Barclays Center with treadmills, we obviously couldn't take the Watch's exercise-recognition features for a test. That said, Samsung's wearables have historically been more like smartwatches than activity trackers, so we're curious to see if the company has made any meaningful progress on this front.

Oh, and the Galaxy Watch has one more crucial thing in common with the rest of Samsung's wearables. Contrary to rumors, it runs Tizen, not Wear OS. You won't hear me complaining though: The things Samsung has been able to pull off, like its still-fantastic rotating bezel interface, just don't seem possible to build atop another company's software. That devotion to Tizen also means that the number of undeniably valuable third-party apps for the Galaxy Watch is smaller than it would be for a Wear OS device, but that's how it goes sometimes.

After watching the company try to craft the perfect wearable for a few years, it seems clear the Galaxy Watch isn't a game changer. It represents another year of steady progress, but we can't tell if it's a true must-own gadget after just a bit of hands-on time. Stay tuned for a full review soon.