At Samsung, this year has been marked by upgrades. Earlier, we saw foldable phones, and now it is time to see the upgrades in its latest line of wearables: Samsung Galaxy Watch5 and Galaxy Watch5 Pro. Today we are going to review the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 (44mm) and highlight what all upgrades it has when compared to its predecessor Samsung Galaxy Watch4.
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In the box
The box contains the documentation and the charging cradle along with the watch.
Design
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 is simple, and it has an aesthetical appeal as several people took notice of the watch. The watch is available in three colours and comes in two sizes: 44 mm and 40mm. We got the bigger one for review, which is a bit costlier than its smaller version. The new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 looks very similar to its predecessor with a flat round dial and two buttons placed on the right side. On the back of the dial lies the bio-active sensor to monitor activities. The dial is surrounded by aluminum armor and has a wide strap to distribute the weight intelligently on your wrist. The watch does not feel heavy at all when worn and you can easily wear the watch for the entire day without feeling any weight on your wrist.
Display
Samsung has ditched the rotating bezel in the Watch5 series and the new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 comes with a flat display and no bezels which make it prone to some damages that the bezels could have prevented. The new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 comes with a 3.46cm AMOLED display and has a screen resolution of 450 x 450 pixels. The screen is bright and can be easily seen even under bright daylight. The touch interface is smooth, which is one of the upgrades you will notice when compared to its predecessor. The display of the watch is made of sapphire crystal glass and comes with an IP68 rating making it resistive against water splashes.
The flat display on the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 comes with no bezels making it prone to damage that their presence could have prevented | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
The watch face as you all know in every smartwatch can be customized and the new Watch5 is no exception as you can customize the watch face according to your preference.
OS and processor
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 ships with Android Wear OS 3.5, One UI Watch 4.5 and has Exynos W920 (5nm) chipset and Dual-core 1.18Ghz Cortex- A55 processor. The Wear OS 3.5 comes with all the Google services like Gmail, Maps, Assistant, etc. The interface is very smooth and easy to use. The watch pairs with any Android device very easily. The watch comes with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM size. The Bluetooth got an upgrade as the new Watch5 comes with version 5.2 while the Watch4 had 5.0. The upgraded Bluetooth improves connectivity with your phone.
Smart Features
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 comes with a feature to allow you to make calls and use smart gestures to accept and reject calls. You can also reply to messages from various apps and the links attached to the texts are clickable on the new Watch5. The quality of the call is ok which you can use if you are okay talking to your watch. One can also set an alarm on the watch, check the weather updates, play music by connecting the watch with your Bluetooth headset, etc.
Health Features
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 comes with an advanced BioActive sensor to monitor health. The watch keeps track records of your usual activities like how many steps you walked, the speed of your walking, calories burned, etc. The watch can measure your body composition, body fat, BMI, body water level, BMR, skeletal muscle, sleep activity and provides feedback on your sleeping patterns. The usual heart rate monitoring is present in the watch, also it can measure stress levels but we cannot guarantee how accurate it is.
Samsung Galaxy Watch5 also has various exercise modes like walking, running, cycling, hiking, swimming, and even gym workout modes are included to help you keep track of the exercises. To measure the sleep pattern, you need to wear the watch for at least 7 nights to get the complete information. The watch also measures the blood oxygen level which you enable by scrolling on the display of the watch but yet again we cannot say how accurate the measuring is as we did not have a proper medical device to compare the measurements.
The company has also placed a skin temperature sensor in the new Galaxy Watch5 but till now we have not come across this feature in our watch or the Wear app and according to the company it will be enrolled towards the end of the year.
Battery
The 44mm version of the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 comes with a 410mAh battery which is an upgrade from its predecessor. The watch lasts just a day with a single charge and for the next day you have to charge it to keep it running. We feel the battery life could have been improved by the company to make it a top-notch performer. The charging speed is average and you need a USB-C adapter to charge the watch. The watch takes around 1:20 - 1:30 hours to get fully charged.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, the new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 is one of the best Android watches out there in the market. The health tracking features are on point with a bright display to make it visible under any circumstances. The look is very simple and elegant. The one thing which we did not like is the battery life because at the end of your tiring day it adds one more thing to your to-do list which is to charge the watch for the next day.
