Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro review: A contender for the Wear OS crown

Samsung Galaxy Watch5 series is the first wearable in the Samsung Galaxy line-up to introduce a ‘Pro’ model. The ‘Pro’ monicker needs to be justified with not only a premium price tag but also Pro-level features and build quality. The Watch5 Pro comes with a studier built, some exclusive features, and a larger battery. It aims to be the best wearable the Android ecosystem has to offer and it definitely benefits from the dearth of options that support Wear OS. However, does it deserve the premium and ‘Pro’ tag?

Galaxy Watch5  Pro Design

The Galaxy Watch5 series is mostly the same as last year’s Watch 5. However, Samsung has taken a completely new approach with the Pro series. Right out of the box you’ll witness the added heft in the Watch. Besides that, it feels more solidly built than the Watch4 and Watch5 non-pro models.

Samsung used a Titanium case on the Pro model, one of the biggest differentiators from the standard Watch 5. This choice of material will provide an added sturdiness to the watch. For context, even the Apple Watch Ultra uses the same casing material. Samsung has also changed the front glass and has now opted for Saphire glass in order to provide better protection from scratches, instead of more shatter protection.

Let’s address the elephant in the room, the thickness, and the overall bulk of the Watch5 Pro. The standard Watch5 44mm weighs 33.5 grams whereas the Watch5 Pro weighs 46.5 grams. This is a jump of around 40 percent in overall weight. The thickness does add to the battery life but the bulk could persuade buyers with smaller wrists to opt for the standard Watch5 instead.

The curvature of the back panel has also been increased in order to get more accurate health-related readings from various sensors. In my experience, the added didn’t make a lot of difference during the day while moving around. However, wearing the Watch while sleeping seemed uncomfortable due to the raised watch surface. Samsung’s Sleep Coaching feature will only work if you wear the smartwatch consecutively for a few days. The sleep coach will offer inputs on the basis of your sleep pattern.

Galaxy Watch5 Pro Battery

We discussed most of the cons related to the overall bulk of the smartwatch. But there is a big ‘Pro’ when it comes to battery life. Samsung has used a 590 mAh battery unit. To offer some context, the much slimmer and lighter Galaxy Watch5 comes with 410 mAh battery unit. The Watch5 Pro was easily offering a backup of three days consistently during our testing period. This is a huge improvement to last year’s Galaxy Watch4 battery life, which was one of the biggest sore points for the device. Constant heart-rate tracking and night-time SPO2 tracking were turned on at all times. Samsung has managed to use the biggest battery yet in any of its Galaxy smartwatches.

For those comparing the battery to that of other non-wear OS smartwatches, this is the best battery life being offered by any other Wear OS smartwatch in the Android ecosystem.

Galaxy Watch5 Pro Display

The Watch5 Pro display is the best you can get on any smartwatch right now. The 1.4-inch Super AMOLED display is as clear and bright as it gets. You won’t have any issues in bright sunlight. The display has 450×450 resolution giving it a 300+ ppi pixel density which makes for crisp font. The touch sensitivity and overall responsiveness is also more than decent.

Galaxy Watch5 Pro Features

Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro comes packed to the gills with new features. The Watch5 Pro comes with Android Wear OS 3.5 which is layered with the new OneUI Watch 4.5. This update has introduced a host of features on the Wear OS Galaxy Watches.

The popular body composition feature is carried on from the Galaxy Watch4 series. However, the bigger curvature on the back panel is claimed to offer a more accurate overall reading. The Watch will be able to provide information ranging from your body fat percentage (BIA) to skeletal muscle weight and even Body Water and Basal Metabollic Rate (BMR). You can measure your blood oxygen and stress levels on the watch. Samsung claimed that the watch also houses a temperature sensor but it is inactive as of now. The ECG function is also not available in India as of now.

A feature exclusive to the Watch5 Pro is the all-new Route Workout function. This feature lets you import GPX format workout routes from your smartphone to your watch, syncing your route list. This essentially lets you save specific routes on your smartwatch without the need to rely on internet and your smartphone.

Sensors

In terms of sensors, the Galaxy Watch5 Pro gets the following:

-Accelerometer
-Barometer
-Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Sensor
-Electrical Heart Sensor
-Gyro Sensor
-Geomagnetic Sensor
-Light Sensor
-Optical Heart Rate Sensor

During our testing phase, we used most of the listed features on the smartwatch and the readings were mostly accurate. The pedometer does tend to add some steps to the actual value but not enough to matter. The constant heartbeat monitoring also worked well during workouts.

Coming to workouts, you have enough options to last you a lifetime. The watch has some preset options but you can delve into specifics and select your particular workout. In this case, too, the calorie burn count seemed slightly exaggerated.

You also have access to a host of apps on the Play Store to further improve the functions of the watch.

Galaxy Watch5 Pro Calling

Calling on the Galaxy Watch5 Pro seemed better than last year’s Watch4. The volume was higher and clearer. The function makes more sense with the better speakers on board. In my short conversations, using the watch, I never needed to repeat myself, owing to the good quality mics used in the Watch5 Pro.

Bixby

In the entire history of Bixby, it has mostly been seen as an unavoidable addition to all Samsung devices. Even in this case, it is true. However, it finally has some meaningful functions that actually make it pretty usable on the Galaxy Watch5 Pro. You can access Bixby by long pressing the top button. It responds to all the basic voice commands and to make it even better, you can get ‘capsules’ to get more out of the voice assistant.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro is easily one of the best smartwatches money can buy right now. But, that’s also because it enjoys almost no competition from any other Wear OS smartwatch. The Galaxy Watch5 Pro addresses one of the biggest concerns in the previous generation of Samsung smartwatch, battery. But it also trades battery for more hefty proportions. The Watch5 Pro is almost a no-brainer for those drenched in the Samsung ecosystem. The Watch works best with Samsung devices and some functions like accessing the Capsules for Bixby are limited to Samsung devices. Even for other Android users, the Watch is one of the very Wear OS options. Google will be changing that soon with the Google Pixel Watch. But Samsung has refined its product enough to compete with a first-generation smartwatch and Galaxy Watch5 Pro might continue to dominate the premium smartwatch space in the Android ecosystem.

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