Samsung Galaxy Watch5 review: What you need to know before buying
With its stylish design and comprehensive health and fitness tracking, the Watch5 improves on an already great model.
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SAMSUNG WATCH5 REVIEW
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch range has long been the Android equivalent of Apple’s Watch line-up. The Galaxy Watch4, in particular, impressed us with its attractive design, intuitive interface and great range of features, though it did beg the question – what more could Samsung possibly add at this point?
As it turns out, the answer is ‘not a lot’. The new Galaxy Watch5 arrives in a very similar design to its predecessor, with most of its upgrades not immediately noticeable. However, that isn’t to say the lack of change is a bad thing.
Instead, the Watch5 takes the best parts of the Watch4 and adds incremental improvements to make it Samsung’s best smartwatch yet.
Samsung Galaxy Watch5, from $499
PROS
• Fast performance with WearOS 3
• Added skin temperature sensor
• Good range of Google and third-party apps
• Durable and lightweight
CONS
• Optimised for Samsung phones
• Skin temperature sensor not active at time of launch
• One-day battery life
• Sleep tracking isn’t always accurate
DESIGN
The Galaxy Watch5 is almost identical to the Galaxy Watch4, save for a few minor changes like a more durable touchscreen and refined curvature on the underside to help it fit more snugly against the skin. It still has an IP68 rating too, which means it can withstand dust, dirt and sand, and can be submerged for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 metres.
In a surprise move, Samsung has opted to keep the digital bezel we saw on the Watch4 for the Watch5, rather than give it the popular physical rotating bezel we saw on the Watch4 Classic – a feature that is also, even more bizarrely, missing from the Watch5 Pro.
While this is sure to upset some users, I personally wasn’t bothered by the choice as I found the software-based touch bezel to be quite fluid and responsive. The one caveat is that the display ends up with more fingerprints and smudges, but I didn’t find this to be a big deal.
Similar to the Watch4, the Watch5 comes in both a Small 40mm option (available in Graphite, Pink Gold and Silver Purple) and a Large 44mm size (available in Graphite, Sapphire and Silver). Each model is also available in both Bluetooth-only and Bluetooth plus LTE cellular iterations.
I trialled the Bluetooth-only 40mm option for this review and was fairly happy with the size. As someone with very petite wrists, I find a lot of smartwatches to be both chunky and incredibly annoying to wear to bed. However, I found the Watch5 surprisingly comfortable and lightweight, which meant I could wear it all day and throughout the night without any dramas.
The Watch5 is pleasant to look at too, with a round face and brushed aluminium frame that makes it look more like a traditional timepiece than a fitness watch. While the standard watch straps are quite athletic in design, you can upgrade your look through Samsung’s Bespoke service.
Rather than the plain designs you’ll get at other stockists, the Bespoke section on the Samsung site offers three additional two-tone sports bands, two D-buckle sports bands, seven hybrid leather bands, two ridge sports bands, three extreme sports bands and two Milanese bands, giving you a lot more variety.
DISPLAY AND NAVIGATION
Another way you can customise your Watch5 is through the display itself. You can choose from a wide selection of watch faces, including some new ones we haven’t seen before, making it easy to personalise your device.
There are some fun options like the purple dragon, but if you’re like me and prefer something more practical, there are plenty of designs to showcase everything you want to know at a glance.
The Watch5 has a 1.19-inch AMOLED display with up to 1,000 nits of brightness, making it vibrant and easy to read in any lighting. As mentioned earlier, the display also now uses a more durable sapphire crystal glass, which Samsung claims is 60 per cent stronger than the glass used on the Watch4.
In my two weeks of wearing it, it certainly seemed to live up to its hardy and scratch-resistant claim as I accidentally knocked it against a few things without any issues. In saying that, I was using a loan product, so I didn’t go out of my way to put it through its paces.
Navigation on the Watch5 is simple enough, with one swipe up revealing all of your apps, the same way it does on an Android phone. Swiping to the left-hand side will meanwhile show you any notifications, while swiping to the right will allow you to cycle through your tiles. Two physical side buttons can meanwhile be used to navigate to the home screen or go back to the previous screen.
It is worth noting that interacting with the companion apps is a significant part of the Watch5 experience. For instance, if you want to see your sleep data outside of your basic sleep and wake times, you’ll need to hop onto the Samsung Health app to do so.
While this can be a bit of a pain, the apps are easy enough to navigate and pull plenty of data for you to view.
PERFORMANCE
The Watch5 line-up is the second generation to run on the WearOS 3 platform. This essentially means you’re getting Google’s smartwatch software, while the watch runs the same One UI software over the top to make it feel more like previous Galaxy Watch models.
It also grants you seamless access to all of the Google apps you would expect – and thankfully this includes the option to install the Google Assistant so you can finally get rid of Bixby (hallelujah).
Somewhat ironically though, the Watch5 doesn’t work with the WearOS app. Instead, you’ll need to download the Galaxy Wearable app to set it up. As mentioned earlier, you’ll also need to download the Samsung Health app to take advantage of the health features, including sleep tracking.
Speaking of set up, one major downside to the Watch5 is that it’s not compatible with iOS. While this isn’t entirely surprising (after all, Apple Watches have never worked with Android), past Samsung Watch models have still worked for those in Apple’s ecosystem, making this decision feel like a big step backwards.
While Apple and Samsung’s longstanding rivalry is no secret, their inability to play nice is getting extremely tiresome for customers who should be able to mix and match devices as they please.
Even more frustratingly, those using a non-Samsung Android phone also miss out on some key features of the Watch5. This includes the ability to download the Health Monitor app which is needed to measure blood pressure and ECG. While most other functions do run smoothly on alternate Android phones (I spent two weeks with the Watch5 paired to my Google Pixel 6 Pro with no real issue), this still feels like something of an oversight.
Performance on the Watch5 is meanwhile quite snappy, even if it does run on the same Exynos W920 processor as last year. There’s also an improved keyboard to make responding to messages a little easier, as well as the usual features like voice dictation and the ability to load up a playlist on Spotify for on-the-go listening.
App options like Samsung SmartThings and Samsung Hand Wash are also available, but they don’t come preinstalled so you will need to download them.
FITNESS FEATURES
Samsung watches have always been some of the best WearOS models when it comes to monitoring activity, making it no surprise that the Galaxy Watch5 excels in this area.
It supports over 90 different exercises, including both standard options like walking, running, cycling and swimming, along with more niche options like burpee test, arm curls, archery, ballet and hula-hooping. Basically, any exercise you can think of, the Watch5 can track.
One of my favourite features of the Watch5 though is its auto-tracking abilities. I take several walks each day and often forget to start tracking them, so I found this to be one of the watch’s more helpful functions.
Once you’ve walked for around 10 minutes, the Watch5 will automatically start tracking your progress and will also automatically stop after about ten minutes of little to no movement. This also works for other exercises, though you can start the tracking manually too if you prefer.
Similar to certain fitness trackers, like Fitbit’s Charge 5, the Watch5 also has periodic movement reminders. This is one of those inclusions that you either love or hate and, I have to admit, I do fall in the latter category here. While I appreciate the effort to keep me on top of my health, the feature isn’t always practical – particularly in a busy office setting.
Still, it does celebrate every time you get your butt out of a chair, so do with that what you will. If the reminders do get overly annoying, you can also switch them off in the settings.
HEALTH FEATURES
Like the Watch4, the Watch5 packs in loads of health features that help justify its price tag. In addition to blood oxygen and heart rate tracking, there’s also features like fall detection and a bioelectrical impedance analysis sensor that monitors everything from body fat percentage to skeletal muscle weight.
There’s also ECG and blood pressure monitoring, though these features are exclusive to Samsung phones.
The most notable health feature of the Watch5 though is the addition of a new skin temperature sensor. According to Samsung, the sensor will use infra-red technology to expand health and wellness data. This means you should be able to get more sleep insights, more data on your menstrual cycles or be alerted whenever you’re running a fever.
Unfortunately, this feature was not up and running at the time of launch and there’s still no ETA available. Still, it’s a promising feature that will be interesting to see in practice.
Similar to Fitbit trackers, the Watch5 offers advanced sleep tracking insights by using your heart rate information to determine how long you spend in REM, deep or light sleep respectively. It also automatically tracks when you fall asleep and when you wake up, which I found to be accurate during my time testing it out. Well, mostly.
While the Watch5 did a great job at figuring out my sleep and wake times, it did incorrectly add to my overall sleep throughout the day on more than one occasion. The first time it happened I was getting a massage and, while I was relaxed, I definitely wasn’t asleep. The second time, I was sitting on my couch for an extended period of time playing video games.
In both instances, my Watch5 added between one and two hours of additional sleep time to my day which, in turn, skewed my overall data. Given that I wasn’t moving around much and my heart rate was slowed, it is understandable that the Watch thought I was asleep. Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not completely accurate.
While sleep tracking itself isn’t new to Samsung watches, the Watch5 has a new sleep coaching tool to help you get more zzzs. After wearing my watch for seven nights in a row, it assigned me my ‘sleep animal’ (a Nervous Penguin, apparently), after which it offered actionable sleep plans to help me improve my sleep.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time with the Watch5 to really lean into this function, but it’s nice to know it’s there. If you want even more insight into your sleep habits, you can also opt to have the Watch5 record your snoring or track your blood oxygen levels overnight.
Stress tracking is also a returning feature on the Watch5, though it also happens to be one of my least favourite functions. The Bioactive Sensor on the watch uses optical heart rate, electrical heart signal and bioelectrical impedance analysis to determine your stress levels, which are shown on a stress gauge ranging from low to high.
While Samsung does make a point of saying that stress measurements don’t necessarily reflect how you’re feeling, it’s difficult to say how accurate the readings actually are. On many occasions, I felt perfectly relaxed while my Watch5 told me I was experiencing high levels of stress – something which, ironically, would stress me out.
A quick look on Reddit also shows that many users found continuous stress tracking to be a problem on the Watch4 too, with many reporting a significant mismatch between how they felt and the data being showed.
While we have no real way of determining how accurate the stress tracking on the Watch5 actually is, it’s a function I remain wary of and would happily keep switched off.
BATTERY LIFE
Of course, the big question on everyone’s lips is how well does the battery life perform? After a disappointing run time of less than 24-hours on the Watch4 (despite Samsung’s 40-hour claim), we were hoping for a significant improvement on the Watch5.
Unfortunately, the Watch5 just doesn’t deliver in this respect. Despite having a 15 per cent bigger battery than the Watch4, I found the Watch5 lasts just over a day by the time you’ve tracked any workouts, responded to notifications and tracked your sleep.
However, I should disclose that my results were measured with the always-on display and continuous heart rate tracking turned on, so the watch will last longer with these features turned off.
On the plus side, an eight minute quick charge will give you enough juice to get you through a night of sleep monitoring, which does take some of the sting out. A full charge meanwhile takes about 1.5 hours, unless you have a 25W USB-C charger for quick charging (not included with the Watch5).
SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
By keeping the clever interface, comfortable design and wide range of health and fitness features seen on the Watch4, and adding stronger glass, a more contoured design and performance updates, Samsung has successfully managed to make the Galaxy Watch5 the best Android option so far.
While it has clearly been optimised for Samsung phones and still seems to suffer from the same one-day battery life of its predecessor, most users should find it convenient and easy to use.
Though we wouldn’t suggest tossing away your Watch4, users coming from a Watch3 or later will notice the significant upgrade, making it worth the spend.
And, of course, if you really can’t get past the omission of the rotating bezel, you can always buy the Watch4 Classic instead.
Overall rating: 4/5
Price: The Small 40mm Watch5 is $499 for the Bluetooth version and $599 for the LTE version. The Large 44mm Watch5 is $549 for the Bluetooth version and $649 for the LTE version.
Where to buy: The Samsung Galaxy Watch5 is available to buy now from the Samsung online store, as well as from major retailers such as Amazon Australia, The Good Guys, rebel Sport, Bing Lee, Catch and Harvey Norman.
WATCH5 VS WATCH5 PRO
Similar to last year, Samsung has released not one, but two new smartwatches for 2022. Along with the Galaxy Watch5, the Galaxy Watch5 Pro is also now available, offering hardcore outdoor enthusiasts a more rugged design and a few additional features.
The Pro is notably bulkier than the standard Watch5 and comes with a D-buckle closure to make it more secure on your wrist. Where the Watch5 comes in two size options, the Watch5 Pro only comes in one 46mm size, which those with smaller wrists may find a smidge too large.
The Watch5 and the Watch5 Pro both run an updated version of WearOS 3 with Samsung’s One UI over the top and both come with an IP68 dust and water resistant rating. Both models are also available as Bluetooth only and LTE models.
They also include many of the same features like heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, fall detection, blood oxygen tracking, ECG and body composition. However, the Watch5 Pro also comes with support for GPX (used to share mapped GPS routes) and turn-by-turn directions, giving it an advantage over the Watch5.
Samsung claims the Watch5 Pro has a battery life of up to 80-hours, giving rival brands like Garmin a serious run for their money. As we haven’t yet tested the Watch5 Pro ourselves though, we can’t be sure how long it actually lasts, but we are fairly confident it’s longer than Watch5.
So which model should you buy?
If GPX support doesn’t matter to you, you can handle a daily charge and want a smaller watch with plenty of great features, you’re better off with the less expensive Galaxy Watch5 (prices from $499). For those who want a larger watch with a longer battery life and a few additional outdoor features, we recommend the Galaxy Watch5 Pro (prices from $799).
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