SAMSUNG

Test: the best of the Galaxy 5 smartwatch, the worst

It brought long-awaited improvements to the latest high-end Galaxy smartwatch, but they also took something away, the absence of which is certainly painful.

Once, in fact, not just once, but several times, very smart watches were buried, but somehow there was still demand for them, and after the initial enthusiasm waned and those who accepted the category half-heartedly, Apple, Samsung, Garmin, Google and Huawei have finally started producing really wearable smartwatches. And we're not talking about fitness bracelets here.

Apple is relatively closed off (too) because it only works with iPhones, and mainly targets the premium segment, Garmin prioritizes sports, and Huawei tries to prove its solution is the best with its own OS. Then there's Samsung, which has finally abandoned its own Tizen OS and last year switched to Google's Wear OS system, in which it applied the One UI interface. The transition wasn't completely smooth, but the annoyances were so minor they could be fixed with updates and there's really no reason to complain.

With the support of Google, several installable apps arrived, with many functions, all Samsung needed was to make good watches

In 2022, the company made several drastic changes to the world of Galaxy smartwatches, and we took a look at the top predator, the Galaxy Watch5 Pro, to see where the cream of the smartwatch crop now stands in the Android world.

So is this a step forward or backward?...The predecessor of the Watch5 Pro may be the Watch4 Classic, but it differs from it in a number of ways. The most striking novelty of the 45 mm diameter watch is that it has abandoned the rotating bezel, that is, the frame. If this test was too subjective, I might stop there, because this was the particular extra on the Galaxy watches that I loved so much and wore with gusto. Well, none of the Watch5 series members have that, the Watch5 Pro on the other hand offers a virtual rotating bezel. To do this you need to move your finger along the raised frame and then the software behaves as if you are rotating the panel, except there are more problems with that. Because of the bezel, your fingertip will be guaranteed to be more inside, so touching the screen you will smear, moreover, if your finger stays a little inside, the watch will perceive it differently – a wrong movement, a millimeter error and the menu will be completely lost in a pot.

The sensors haven't changed either: the watch can measure pulse, blood pressure, blood oxygen level, electrocardiogram, body composition (which is actually bioelectrical resistance analysis) and can even determine skin temperature. Heart rate is pretty accurate, as are steps, running and distance measurement – ​​this was proven again in our test. The Galaxy Watch5 Pro deftly recognized movement, whether walking or running.

Rising from the pain, let's continue to see what has changed. Compared to previous generations, the Pro model finally gained a significantly larger battery, a 590mAh copy, which was sorely needed due to the very poor operating time of its predecessors. There's also the titanium device case and sapphire glass display cover. These two provide an extra premium feel, they really make the watch very sturdy, as you can expect from a top-of-the-line gadget. Interestingly, the Exynos W920 SoC remains, along with 16GB of storage and 1.5GB of RAM. There's also Wi-Fi, optional LTE modem, 10-watt Qi charging, NFC, speaker and microphone, 1.4″ Super AMOLED 450×450 screen – which we already had in the previous generation.

The handle is a new development that takes some getting used to. The buckle is magnetic and you just need to adjust the size once – after that, taking it apart and putting it on is just a 1-2 second movement. The touch of the silicone strap is nice, but it's good to know that it's not 22, but only 20mm, and there's no other strap (like leather) in the box, just a Qi charger with Type-C connection (no charging head).

The software hasn't changed much, but that's not a problem either. Wear OS 3.5 and One UI Watch 4.5 work seamlessly together, navigation is fast, settings are detailed, everything is easy to find in the menu, and most parts are customizable. The Android integration is excellent and Samsung's apps take care of all the important health metrics, backups and more.

Among the functions we can welcome Return Navigator, which automatically guides you back to the starting point on the map. For health functions, body analysis can be exciting for many: according to the description, it determines the percentage of body fat and skeletal muscle weight, but in reality it cannot be called accurate in any way, because for For example, the result depends to a large extent on how much water you drank.

Galaxy watches are also capable of detecting snoring during sleep tracking even with the help of the phone resting on the charger. If your phone + watch detects snoring, it will record the sound, which you can hear again the next morning – great family fun, I can only recommend it!

Summary...Galaxy Watch5 Pro has taken a very important step towards longer operating time: the watch is not uncomfortable, thick or heavy, but can be worn comfortably for 2 days without charging. The 3rd day doesn't even come along if you don't use it much to talk and don't run for hours every day with GPS active. All this means that the screen is not constantly on but, for example, heart rate monitoring is constant.

The sapphire glass and titanium bezel are also important and useful advancements, the watch has become very durable. The software is also a hit: Google Wear OS provides a great foundation, beyond which Samsung has excellently implemented its own user interface and functions. And when it comes to services, you won't get many new ones, but of course everything has become a little more accurate and smarter - but it's important to note that some functions (e.g. blood pressure measurement and ECG) can only be used if you have a Galaxy phone.

Water resistance remains, installable apps provide a lot of extras, and the number of watch faces is almost infinite. We can also highlight the handle as an interesting novelty; although we were suspicious of the buckle at first, it proved to be easy to handle and stable during everyday use. We can only hope that this magnet will still hold in 2-3 years.

The Samsung Watch5 Pro has managed to improve in one important area (uptime), which you can honestly be happy with, and it's also a fact that, in terms of software, there really isn't another smartwatch connected to an Android phone with similar capabilities. . At the same time, the operating time could still be better, the display and the SoC have not changed, the price is still very high, but what hurts the most is that we have to say goodbye to the rotating bezel mechanically – that is, one of the functions most beloved of Samsung Galaxy watches. On the face of it, it's perhaps not surprising that I draw attention to the Watch4 Classic, where it can still be found, and while the uptime is worse, it doesn't lag behind last year's superior model in terms of software - albeit significantly, About.

mundophone