A gorgeous screen new temperature sensor, a better fit on the wrist than before and a bigger battery. But even though this is still the best android smartwatch, you can get right now. Im still left wanting more this year. There are two additions: a 40 and 44 millimeter regular galaxy watch 5 and a larger 45 millimeter galaxy watch pro. This review is concentrating just on the galaxy watch 5, but i have also reviewed the galaxy watch 5 pro to see that in depth review. You can click right up here or in the description when samsung came out with its new generation of wear os watches in 2021, they were the first cab off the rank fast forward. A year later, with the pixel watch on the horizon and a whole suite of new wear os watches coming really soon. There is a lot more competition for your money. Speaking of prices, you can find that linked in the description below, but lets get into the review of the galaxy watch. Five. This watch looks pretty much the same on the outside as last years. Galaxy watch four. Apart from losing the fan favorite physical rotating bezel. On the galaxy watchful classic, i am not gon na lie. I do miss having a physical rotating bezel to navigate through menus and even just use as a fidget spinner. Whenever im just sitting around and a little bit bored, there is a touch sensitive bezel. That is active on the galaxy watch.
5., its the same as what we saw on the galaxy watch 4.. It does give you a little bit of haptic feedback, that kind of clicks almost simulates, the feel of a real moving bezel. When you do move your finger around the edge its precise enough, if you go slow enough, but i would much rather samsung have given us a little bit more physical, real estate on that screen, maybe an edge to edge display if possible, rather than having a touch. Bezel at all, i find myself mostly using the touch screen and the buttons. The good news is. If youre coming from last years, galaxy watch 4. You can actually use the same straps. On the galaxy watch 5. I was able to interchange and swap out the straps from my galaxy watchful classic onto the watch 5.. The watch 5 has tougher sapphire crystal glass than last years. Model ive been wearing the watch for about two weeks and in that time you know, i havent exactly been gentle with it, but i havent tried to destroy it either. I dont have any visible scratches or anything like that on the glass or the casing itself, but of course, if that changes, i will update my full text review, which is linked in the description all of this years. Galaxy watch 5 models are ip68 rated. That means that they are dust and water resistant, so theyll definitely be able to track things like your swims, and you know if you need to take it to the shower.
I guess you can just try not to get any soap with it, because thats probably not included under warranty. I really find that the redesigned back panel on the galaxy watch 5 helps it to sit much more snug against my wrist, especially compared to last years versions, and i definitely find it does help a lot with sensor accuracy, particularly around the heart rate sensor, and we Will get into that just in a little bit? Okay lets talk software now this is the second generation galaxy watch, thats running the newer os platform, thats co designed between samsung and google, but really it doesnt feel all that different at all from last years. Models. Its still running the same one ui interface over the top, so it really feels much more like a samsung watch than it does. Overall, as a google watch that said, all of the google apps that youd expect are on board and work really seamlessly. You can, of course, use google maps. You can also navigate using the watch theres things like youtube, music and, most importantly, it now comes at launch, unlike the galaxy watch, for it comes with the google assistant, so you can install that right on your watch. First thing i did replace bixby with the google assistant. I think that was a very good call. Performance overall is really snappy its using the same processor as last year as well, which is kind of disappointing. Given that theres, a new qualcomm processor out there, potentially that this could have used, but maybe it just wasnt ready in time to integrate it in the watch.
But that being said, things like the speaker and microphone on board work really really well, and this was with the bluetooth and gps version with my phone within range. Of course, if you get the lte or cellular version that costs a little bit extra, you can take calls on the go. Unfortunately, i did not get to test that version, but stay tuned. I will update the full text review if i can get my hands on one. A lot of people ask me this question in my preview of the galaxy watches. Can you play music from the onboard speaker without bluetooth headphones attached? Yes, i am so happy to report. You actually can either with the stock music app. When you have music stored on your phone, you can also use a third party app say like spotify. If you have a premium subscription and listen to songs without headphones, uh look most people probably dont use this feature, but i love it. You also get some new watch faces on the galaxy watch 5.. I like them, theyre, really pretty. They also have some extra ones with additional complications, so you can customize it with lots of different widgets everywhere. The good news is again: if you have a galaxy watch for you are going to get these watch faces in a future update, so thats really good news. Some of the input methods include a full size, qwerty keyboard. This actually works really well. I was able to swipe and send messages without too many errors at all.
I would say if you have slightly larger fingers, might be a little trickier on the 40 millimeter watch. Definitely a larger screen size would help with that. I actually found that speech to text was actually really quite accurate in getting my australian accent right and didnt. Give me anywhere near the amount of errors i was getting with previous generations, so i really appreciated that. Overall, though, the user experience is very similar to last years, galaxy watch 4 and i know i keep saying this and im so sorry. I sound like a broker on record, but it really shows you just how much of an iterative update things have been so far, at least in terms of workouts and heart rate sensor, accuracy and all of those other health and fitness features on board. The galaxy watch. 5 does have quite a bit. It does of course, track over 90 different workout types. It can also auto detect a range of different workouts, including things like outdoor walks runs and elliptical workouts. This was really reliable for me in terms of kicking in after 10. Minutes of doing say, an outdoor walk, it would pop up when i forgot to start the activity and say, would you like to track this walk, and it would give me credit for that previous 10 minutes that id already done? I definitely find the heart rate sensor on the galaxy watch. 5 is more accurate than the galaxy watch 4 and to verify this claim, i did test against a chest.
Strap. I did a couple of different workouts, but really for a steady state. Cardio workout say like a walk or a light jog. The watch actually did a really good job of keeping close to the strap theres. Also a bio impedance sensor on board. This is able to track your body composition so talking about things like overall fat levels, as well as muscle composition, now, im, not really a heavy user of this feature at all, so its pretty much the same as what we saw last year on the galaxy watch. 4., however, i can see it being pretty useful for somebody, if youre trying to say lose weight or build muscle. You can also set targets over time which might be really nice if youre working towards a particular goal, theres also an ecg or electrocardiogram app. It is fda cleared and it does help detect signs of atrial fibrillation. It is an on demand sensor, though its not doing any background checks or readings say for irregular heart rhythm, like something like the apple watch or the fitbit does so do keep that in mind. The other thing to note is that this is one of the features that you will need to pair the galaxy watch 5, with a samsung phone to actually be able to use. I did pair this watch with a pixel and, alas, you cannot access the samsung health monitor app and you need that to access the ecg and weve got to talk about that skin temperature sensor because thats the big new feature on the galaxy watch 5.
. I wish i could tell you more about it, but at the time of recording it is not active. Now this is located on the underside of the watch. We can see exactly where it is. Samsung has said that this will be used during sleep tracking, potentially to help detect signs of fever, maybe even to help track menstrual cycles. Again, i will keep you updated in the full text review when this actually gets updated, and maybe, by the time you watch this, it will be updated as well. So i hope its going to come sooner rather than later. Music, all right its the part youve been waiting for. I know its the part that gets me excited about smartwatch reviews. I mean not really but its really important to talk about battery life, because if youve got to keep charging your watch all the time, thats pretty annoying now, what i can say is that the galaxy watch 5 does have a larger capacity battery than last years. Models does it make a huge difference in practice not really and im kind of disappointed to say that i really tried to push this watch to reach the samsung claims of total battery life it could potentially achieve. I really struggled to get there so samsung claims that this particular model – the 14 millimeter galaxy watch 5, can reach up to 40 hours of use. However, i dont know how i would possibly get there without turning off all of the essential features that i would want.
A smartwatch for using airplane mode, most of the time and just using my watch to tell the time again kind of defeats the purpose of a smartwatch. Now my regular usage includes things like getting a few notifications from my phone throughout the day. I also use a few apps sparingly and the google assistant, maybe once or twice and do a 30 minute one hour, gps workout. I also try and track sleep with the always on display turned off im able to get 24 hours between charges on the galaxy watch. Five, so better than the watch four at least the watch for 40 millimeter that i was using its still, not as good as it could be. If i turn the always on display on that number reduces to around 21 hours. So if i do want to track sleep overnight, i do need to put the watch on its charger just to give it a little bit more juice before the morning. Fortunately, you can do some quick charging on the galaxy watch. 5.. You can go from flat to 45 in 30 minutes thats the claim i also tested it out with a timer. I was able to pretty much get that number on the money. However, you do need to also budget in a 25 watt adapter a usbc adapter to reach those numbers and guess what doesnt come in the box. I guess just the same as the apple watch when you know that fast charger doesnt come in the box either its good that its there, but it is an extra investment, especially if you dont already have a 25 watt charger or more for your android phone.
So, in sum, the galaxy watch 5 really does have a lot of great features. It is definitely the best android watch for now, but there is a lot more upcoming competition. That really could give this a run for its money and if you do have last years, galaxy watch 4 theres, not a huge reason to upgrade unless you want something like the larger galaxy watch 5 pro that has some additional sports features, a more durable construction and Of course, a slightly larger battery. Thank you so much for watching again, if you have any additional questions about the galaxy watch. 5. Hopefully, ive answered those for you in my full text, review thats linked in the description and make sure you check out the full review of the galaxy watch.kIDwPUXSeRQ
