Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra lose a handy charging feature
It won’t be possible to charge the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra by placing it on the back of a smartphone, it has emerged.
The longstanding reverse charging feature, referred to as Wireless PowerShare, is a handy way to share a little bit of juice from the smartphone in order to replenish the wearable device.
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However, the feature is going away in this generation due to some other improvements to the health tracking sensors. On a support page, Samsung has explained this has caused changes to the shape of the rear glass, which means reverse charging is no longer compatible.
The support page spotted by a Twitter user (via 9to5Google) reads: “However, the new sensor design required changing the shape of the back glass. The alteration increased the distance between the internal wireless charging coil of your Watch and the wireless charger, so the Wireless power sharing feature available on the previous model is no longer supported.”
The changes should be worthwhile for Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra users. The redesigned BioActive sensor within will ensure greater accuracy and offers new tracking parameters over its predecessors.
The company explains: “The optimal allocation of Green, Red and Infrared LEDs sets new standards in wearable technology by improving accuracy and enabling exceptional performance across a broad array of health metrics. This allows the new BioActive Sensor to more accurately measure health metrics such as heart rate, sleep quality, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and stress levels. Even the measurement of heart rate during intensive workouts is 30% more accurate compared to its predecessor.”
The same changes mean that Samsung’s older watch chargers will work much more slowly too. That shouldn’t be a big deal as you’ll get a charger with the new watch.