The popular publication The Verge reviewed the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 smartwatch. The author of this text, Victoria Song, says that it is now the best smartwatch on Android. We made a translation of the material and chose the most important thing from it .
When testing Samsung smartwatches, I usually always think the same thing. No, they are good. On the contrary, it’s the very best Android users can get right now, and the $279.99 Galaxy Watch 5 is no exception. That may change when the Google Pixel Watch arrives, though. But if Samsung corrected a couple of shortcomings, the novelty would leave the Apple Watch far behind. I would like to say that everything is perfect in this watch, but it is very similar to the previous ones.
The novelty is practically a copy of the Galaxy Watch 4, has the same size options: 40 mm and 44 mm. I’ve been writing smartwatch reviews for years, but I can’t tell the difference between the two models at a glance. Is it just the color of the strap?
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has the same specs as the Watch 4: Exynos W920 processor, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB storage, NFC, GPS, LTE, and 5ATM water resistance. There is a somewhat improved BioActive 3-in-1 sensor: heart rate tracking, ECG, body composition analysis. The only novelty (in terms of hardware) is an infrared temperature sensor. It supposedly improves the accuracy of sleep tracking, but as Samsung noted, it was added for developers who will work on new health features.
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The software runs on Samsung’s Wear OS Powered (essentially Wear OS 3 with a Samsung skin). Launched with the Watch 5 on August 26, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro impresses with a new design and cool features like turn-by-turn navigation. But the Watch 5 updates are very minor.
I don’t think many people will notice these changes. The 40mm and 44mm versions are slightly heavier (relatively speaking, by the weight of a coin) because they have larger batteries. They have a curved back for better skin contact. But this change is not felt. Samsung claims the thickness of the device is 9.8mm, but YouTuber DC Rainmaker found that it’s actually closer to 13mm (if you factor in the sensor). The Watch 5 uses sapphire glass, which makes the device more durable.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has the latest watch face options. I liked the one with the purple dragon: I love this color, and this is my sign for the Chinese zodiac. But not the fact that everyone will be delighted.
But a number of other Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 improvements are definitely more useful. First, you don’t have to put up with Bixby anymore. Adding Google Assistant was promised even earlier, and finally, a few months ago, they brought it to life. As soon as I got the Watch 5, I downloaded Google Assistant and reprogrammed the Home button to launch it instead of Bixby. I also downloaded Google Wallet, Strava, Spotify, Calm, and several other popular apps. It became much more convenient because I was no longer tied to Samsung Health, Samsung Pay, Bixby or Samsung SmartThings. The Watch 4 was aimed at owners of other Samsung devices, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 takes others into account.
But still, the Watch 5 works best if you have a Samsung smartphone, and not another manufacturer. Only in this case is the ECG function available. Otherwise, you’ll have to download multiple third-party apps to access all of Samsung Health’s health and fitness features. Samsung Pay appears as a shortcut when you hit the back button – and there seems to be no way to reprogram it to launch Google Wallet. One UI Watch 4.5 (Samsung’s Watch OS-based watch interface) allows the Watch 5 to have two phone numbers, but only when connected to a dual-SIM Galaxy phone. But I can replace Bixby or download multiple apps instead of Samsung Health because I have the Play Store. Not perfect, but already better compared to the past and the year before.
About One UI Watch 4.5: The updated interface has many new features and puts them all in one easy-to-find menu. From convenient – visibility improvement (for example, high-contrast fonts), color filters, color correction and the ability to switch animation or blur effects. You can adjust the wireless headphones settings to adjust the sound balance between each ear. The duration of pressing is also configurable, as well as the ability to turn off repeated pressing.
With this improvement in visibility, it has become much easier for me to read text on a 40mm watch. I have small wrists and not very good eyesight. I’m tired of choosing between a small watch that’s comfortable to wear and a huge watch with a screen that’s easy to read. I wish more smartwatch makers would follow Samsung’s lead.
The new keyboard makes it easier to type on a small screen. You can dictate, type manually or swipe. In my opinion, dictation and text input are convenient, but swipes are not so good.
These are all cool improvements, but what confuses me is that there is not a very good touch bezel and battery life.
The touch bezel mimics a physical bezel, allowing you to slide your finger along the edge of the display to scroll through menus. On the Watch 4 it was difficult, on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 it was even worse. I clearly remember learning on Watch 4, but this year it was hard for me to do it again. It is difficult to catch the speed with which you need to swipe your finger. In addition, it is too easy to miss and get your finger outside the touch band.
Technically, the Watch 5 doesn’t need a touch bezel at all. Wear OS 3 is a bit like Tizen, but the user interface lacks the playfulness that Tizen had when it came to pie menus. Wear OS 3 is easy to navigate with just directional swipes.
Actually, I just like the spinning bezel more. Although touch screens or swipes to access menus are often intuitive to scroll through notifications or zoom in on a map. But the physical controls are great for athletes because they don’t react to sweat and gloves. The spinning physical bezel was a signature feature, reminiscent of the old Gear line and differentiating the device from all other round smartwatches on the market.
Samsung claims the physical bezel is still there because the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic remains in the lineup as an option alongside the Watch 5 and Pro. But it’s kind of weird: paying more for a physical bezel, older sensors, and worse battery life.
Battery life was a major issue with the Watch 4, and Samsung increased the battery size on the Galaxy Watch 5. All in all, I couldn’t get more than 20 hours of battery life on the Watch 4. Here are the results of my testing:
- Heavy Usage Day: Always on Always-on display (AOD), enabled wake-up after “Hey Google” for Google Assistant, 60 minutes of GPS activity without phone and music streaming. At nine in the morning it was 100%, at five in the evening – 9%. After charging for half an hour, the battery showed 38%. The next day in the morning it was 2%.
- Average day of use: AOD off, “Hey Google” on, 30 minutes of GPS activity without my phone while streaming music from an offline playlist to my headphones. After half an hour, the battery was discharged by 21%, by the end of the day I had 55%.
- Easy day of use: AOD and “Hey Google” disabled, 50 minutes of GPS work without music and my phone. That day, I mostly dozed or sat on the couch. Morning activity ate 12% of the charge, at the end of the day it was 45%.
Battery performance is highly dependent on individual settings and how you use your watch. But after a week, I never managed not to charge it. It didn’t even help that I turned off battery-consuming settings, minimized sync, and turned off notifications. And I didn’t even have an LTE version! I suspect that a larger 44mm watch would work better simply because it has a larger battery, but still it’s not two or three days without recharging with the Watch 3.
It’s good that the Watch 5 has faster charging. From zero to 100% can be reached in about two hours, half an hour of charging will give about 30-40%.
For health and fitness tracking, the Watch 5 is good, but not perfect. Heart rate and distance tracking was the same as the Apple Watch Series in my five runs and six walks in a week. Automatic step detection is also Samsung’s forte. The Samsung Health app isn’t for you if you like to compete with your friends, but I’ve seen worse options. Samsung’s sleep tracking has become one of the most useful features, but to get an idea of your sleep status, you need to use the watch for at least a week. So I can’t rate yet, but I’ve already noticed some differences compared to my Oura ring and Eight Sleep Pod 2 Pro Cover, especially in the REM rating.
But the data on the oxygen content in the blood were not very accurate. Almost every evening, Samsung Health reported that I had a “minimum” blood oxygen saturation between 80 and 88%. In fact, the norm is 95–100%, and an indicator of 80% is an indication for immediate hospitalization. But in my experience, watches do not always correctly reflect this information. Perhaps because I sleep on my side, and I have seen similar results when using a Garmin device. The main thing is not to panic if you see such low numbers.
Despite all these shortcomings, this is the best smartwatch for Android right now. They are for those who want to be able to install third-party apps, advanced health features and regular fitness tracking. The price is $30 more than the previous model, but considering all the features, the Galaxy Watch 5 costs $279.99 for the 40mm watch and $309.99 for the 44mm version. The Apple Watch SE costs the same and has similar features, so it’s not overpriced.
At the same time, the Watch 5 has more advanced features and sensors that outperform the $329.95 Fitbit Sense, the $299 Fossil Gen 6, and the $299.99 Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS in total.
If you want to upgrade your Watch 4, I wouldn’t. But this is worth doing if you have a Samsung smartphone and have a Galaxy Watch Active or Active 2 on your hand. Samsung will soon stop supporting these devices. But Watch 3 and Watch 4 Classic owners can wait to see if Samsung realizes they made a mistake by not releasing the Watch 5 Classic.
If you are not using a Samsung phone yet, please wait with your purchase. The Watch 5 is the best you can buy right now, but that could all change in a few weeks. This fall, Google is releasing the Pixel Watch. Qualcomm has finally made it work with the Snapdragon W5 Plus platform. This means that Wear OS 3 watches may soon get an even more powerful chip than that running on Watch 5. This processor may well begin to be used for the next generation of Fossil smartwatches. And select Wear OS 2 watches will receive an optional Wear OS 3 update before the end of the year.
Rating from The Verge 7 points out of 10
Pros:
- Not strongly tied to the Samsung ecosystem;
- Improved accessibility;
- Thin and light body;
- Improved durability.
Minuses:
- The battery is still not very good;
- Mediocre temperature sensor functionality;
- Few updates;
- A whimsical sensory bezel.
