Samsung introduced a new brand of device to its wearable family this year, with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro taking the place of what we assume would have been the Galaxy Watch 5 Classic. Personally, the Classic name never really made it clear that it was better than the non-classic version, so this Pro branding was a really smart move. However, does the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro live up to that Pro name? I’ve been wearing it for a few weeks now and have some thoughts to share.
This is our Galaxy Watch 5 Pro review.
What is good
Display
Samsung’s Watch 5 Pro has a 1.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 450 x 450 (~321 ppi). It is protected by a layer of sapphire glass and supports Always On display. Let me start by saying that it is important for smartwatches to have a good display under all kinds of lighting conditions.
From my experience, this Watch 5 Pro has one of the best screens I’ve used on a Wear OS device. It can get exceptionally bright when you look in direct sunlight, but it can also get a lot dark when you need it. What I’ve appreciated is the device’s environmental sensors, which automatically adjust the screen brightness and do a really good job of it. I haven’t had to manually manipulate the screen brightness at all in the time I’ve been wearing this device as it always seems to be set to the right level for my environment. I love it when a smart device is so smart.
The colors on the device are great too, mostly highlighted by the watch face I’m using. I don’t look at pictures or multimedia consumption much on a watch, so I don’t think about contrast levels or white balance as much as I do on a smartphone screen, but I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the Watch 5 Pro. It’s a great display.
Performance
Full transparency, I didn’t enjoy using smartwatches until recently, simply because they always seemed to perform very poorly. Even navigating menus on older watches was frustrating due to a lack of smoothness. Today’s smartwatches are very different, thanks to what seems like years of tweaking by Google and partners, plus the introduction of more RAM and better chipsets for these devices. It’s 2022 and these devices are finally performing as I think they should.
This Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is a perfect example of what I want from a watch. I want my interactions to be fast and smooth, with the Watch 5 Pro’s dual-core Exynos W920 and 1.5GB of RAM delivering just that. Whether I’m quickly flipping through my information tiles or jumping into an app, this watch always feels snappy, and while I sometimes say you can’t appreciate great performance, apparently you can for $449+. Yes, sure, there are cheaper devices that can perform similarly, but from my experience this is one of the better performing Wear OS watches I’ve ever worn.
Hardware
My favorite aspect of this device is the hardware. Well, the battery is high there too, but the hardware just feels so good and so solid. It is relatively heavy and comes in at 46.5 grams, but that has to be thanks to the large battery (590 mAh) and the titanium housing. It’s a beautiful watch with a traditional style, and the magnetic strap feels great on the wrist. I can also attest to the durability of the watch. I’ve given it a few good swipes and bumps, but the watch shows no signs of damage. The two hardware buttons work great and feel nice when pressed, and I haven’t had any major issues with any sensors or built-in GPS. I’ve worn the watch for a lot of workouts and the heart rate measurement seems to have actually been put in place, but I refuse to wear this monster while sleeping. I don’t know how people do that with big watches. I tested the GPS trackback function on a hike and it seemed to work fine on lap two, after a crash on my first try.
Overall, I’m really happy with the hardware and just to highlight one more thing I know we won’t get with the Pixel Watch, this Galaxy Watch 5 Pro allows me to use whatever band I want for personal styling. The Pixel Watch won’t, as it will have its own band options. That’s one of those Apple things and I thought most Android companies might have figured that out, but I suppose not.
Battery
I did say that the hardware is my favorite thing about the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, but right behind the hardware is the battery life. Good lord, this thing lasts for days. I constantly get 3 days of juice from the Watch 5 Pro, but it depends on how much fitness tracking I do and whether I need GPS or not. Wearing the watch and using it for checking notifications and controlling music playback on your phone will give you days of life, no problem. If I use it for tracking workouts for more than 2 hours a day, I can get about a day and a half to two days. If you use it for running and there is a lot of GPS usage, you will notice that it uses a lot of battery. It’s silly to say your battery life will vary based on how you use it, but hey, that’s the case for all things in this industry. Having experienced a few Wear OS watches in my time, there’s no doubt that the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has the best battery life of any watch I’ve ever used and it’s not even close.
Software
Samsung returned to Wear OS last year with the Galaxy Watch 4 range, with a special mix of One UI on top. It’s the same this year, with Wear OS as the foundation for everything, but then Samsung’s skin runs on top of it. I really like what Wear OS has become, more than just a comprehensive notification panel for your smartphone.
The layout is simple enough: you have your main screen where you can customize an infinite number of ways and add/remove complications for tracking certain things, then you have tiles on the right for things like the weather, tracking the health, apps (YouTube Music, Spotify, etc.), EKG, stress levels and much more. Pulling down from the top gives you access to system switches, just like on an Android phone, and a swipe up brings up the app drawer. Since this corresponds to an Android phone, it is easy enough for anyone to pick up and use if they have even the most basic understanding of the Android user experience.
And with Wear OS comes Google Play and access to tons of apps. While I personally don’t download a ton of different apps because my usage is rather simple, I appreciate the variety of apps that we all have access to. Be it golf apps, map tracking apps, finance apps, and everything in between, I think Samsung’s new version of Wear OS has been a great boon to users. There’s more coherence in the ecosystem, which is important if you’re trying to avert Apple’s complete dominance in the US market. While access to apps is always great, I’d say the apps themselves could use a little more polish. Browsing Google Play on the watch, it seems that the average Wear OS app rating is somewhere around 3 stars, meaning many leave something to be desired. I experienced this myself with the YouTube Music app. Personally, I think it’s mostly hot crap, often becoming unresponsive when I try to interact with it. When you’re out running, the last thing you need is your watch and music to stop working, so I’ve gotten frustrated with it a few times. I don’t blame the watch though, I blame the janky app.
Conclusion
The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is super expensive at $450 for the Wi-Fi model ($499 for the cellular version), but it’s honestly one of, if not the best, options out there for Wear OS buyers. The hardware feels exceptional, the software keeps getting more polished than other experiences, and the battery life is unmatched by other Android smartwatches. I usually wear a Wear OS watch for a few weeks, check it out, then put it back in the box. That’s not the case for the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. I’ll be using this thing for quite some time until it’s time to test the Pixel Watch. I pretty much already know what to expect from that device, so my gut feeling tells me I’ll be wearing the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro again in no time. If you pick up this watch from Samsung, I bet you will feel the same.
Buy Galaxy Watch 5 Pro
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