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As the first Pro wearable in Samsung’s smartwatch lineup, the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro certainly lives up to its name in promised specs and features. Compared to the Watch5, which was released together with it, the Watch5 Pro has a bigger display, longer battery life, and additional mapping features.
After spending some time with the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro, we’re ready to deliver our verdict on this rugged smartwatch.
Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro Specifications
- Processor: Exynos W920
- Display: 1.4” Super AMOLED with Sapphire Crystal
- Memory: 16GB storage, 1.5GB RAM
- Operating System: Android Wear OS 3.5, One UI Watch 4.5
- Battery: 590 mAh
- Features: Samsung BioActive Sensor (Optical Heart Rate + Electrical Heart Signal + Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor
- Durability: 5ATM + IP68 Waterproof
- Dimensions: 45.4 x 45.4 x 15mm
- Weight: 46.5 g (without strap)
Design & Display
The Galaxy Watch5 Pro comes in two colours – Black Titanium or Grey Titanium. Both are sensible, monochrome colours that go well with pretty much everything else, so aesthetically, the Watch5 Pro is great.
You’d think one millimetre is close to nothing, but when it comes to smartwatches, it makes a whole world of difference. At 45mm, the Watch5 Pro’s case is a behemoth, and the thickness is twice that of my Amazfit GTR3 (which is also 45mm, by the way). This means one thing: it looks a little ridiculous on my tiny wrist.
The fit is where I take the biggest issue with the Watch5 Pro. As a person with small wrists, the 45mm Watch5 Pro is giant. Being “designed for adventurers”, as quoted from Samsung’s website, the Pro is designed to look sporty and outdoorsy. If anything, it does look rugged – to the point where wearing it for extended periods gets a little uncomfortable.
Plus, the weight makes it very conspicuous, no matter what you’re doing – including wearing it to sleep, which is essential for sleep tracking. I’m constantly aware that I’m wearing the watch, which, on the bright side, assures me that it hasn’t slipped off my wrist at some point, considering there’s still a good two-finger width gap even after the D-buckle strap has been pulled to its smallest possible setting.
Regardless, size made the display on the Watch5 Pro much better, as expected. Readability is much more comfortable on the 1.4” Super AMOLED display, and it’s bright enough to be clearly visible even under direct sunlight.
While Samsung has chosen to do away with a physical rotating bezel this year, they’ve replaced the fan favourite with a touch bezel. You can slide through the menus by rotating your finger around the edge of the Watch5 Pro, with the raised bezel as guidance. It’s a nifty little feature that works perfectly well if you’re not actively in motion.
Software
On the software side, the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro offers little to no difference from the Watch5. It runs on the One UI Watch 4.5 based on Wear OS, which is a familiar system if you already have experience with Android smartwatches. The layout is intuitive enough, providing you know Samsung’s system well enough to recognise the apps by icons.
Most of the upgrades on the One UI Watch 4.5 are focused on accessibility, It allows you to change the fonts and contrasts on the watch face. Bixby and Google Assistant are also accessible through the Watch5 Pro, as it’s equipped with two microphones and a speaker.
Speaking of the speaker, the Watch5 Pro can download and play music through Spotify, even without your phone. The audio is loud and clear, so you can play music while you work out – and if you aren’t the kind to play music out loud in public, the Watch5 Pro can also be connected to the Galaxy Buds2 Pro for private listening.
As with all Samsung’s hearables and wearables, connection with a Galaxy phone within the same ecosystem is as easy as checking for the paring notification on your phone. For non-Galaxy phones, however, you’ll need to download the Galaxy Wearable App, and then pair the Watch from there. To get the promised fitness features and coaching programs, you’ll need to download Samsung Health.
Features
The Galaxy Watch5 Pro offers the same health tracking features as the Watch5, from auto-tracking workouts to measuring health indicators including heart rate, burned calories, SpO2 levels, and more.
It’s also equipped with Samsung’s own BioActive sensor, which offers an overview of your health statistics through the body composition measurement feature, which analyses your body mass index, muscle mass, body fat percentage, and water composition so that you can plan more effective workouts.
Sleep tracking is also pretty unchanged from the Watch5, offering in-depth information about your sleep quality and providing sleep coaching and sleeping plans. The thing is, the Watch5 Pro was so uncomfortable that it actually more or less affected my sleep, as I could feel it weighing down my arm with every toss and turn. Silver linings; the Watch5 Pro was pretty great at tracking my fitful sleep as well, noting down periods when I was awake in the night.
Apart from all these, the Galaxy Watch5 Pro has another two features that triumph over the standard version: the Route and Track Back features.
The Route feature basically allows you to run GPX files on your smartwatch. What that means is that you can upload pre-downloaded maps from your smartphone to your smartwatch. Sounds great, but GPX files are hard to come by and mostly require third-party service subscriptions, like Strava. Some free converters may work, but not always. Anyhow, it’s still a very useful feature that works if you know how to get it to work, especially for hikers.
The Track Back feature is also a nifty feature that guides you back to your starting point, should you lose your way. Both of these features are clearly geared towards outdoorsy adventurers who prefer to travel the path less taken.
Battery
The Galaxy Watch5 Pro has a longer battery life than the Watch5, which means that instead of daily charging, you get to charge it every other day!
This is based on my daily use, which is fairly casual and non-sportive – five hours of music, four of which were streamed through the Galaxy Buds2 Pro, roughly an hour of walking while I went out for lunch, an evening jog with GPS route tracking, and finally, about seven hours of sleep tracking with snore detection on.
It’s a pretty decent improvement, especially with Wear OS watches, but really not that much impressive considering there are other smartwatches out there that can last up to a week before needing another juice up. Then again, those smartwatches do not support GPS and route guidance.
Charging speed is also pretty impressive. It only takes less than two hours to get the watch from 5% to 100%. Since it has a larger battery, it does take the Galaxy Watch5 Pro slightly longer to get to full charge compared to the Watch5.
Conclusion
Our rating: 7/10
Pros:
- GPS route tracking
- Durable display and case
- Better battery life and fast charging
Cons:
- Very heavy and bulky
- GPS mapping feature is finicky and hard to use
Who is it for?
The Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro certainly lives up to its price and weight in terms of features and battery life. Software-wise, it’s certainly one of the best smartwatches you can get in the current market. Add to that the improved battery life, and you get a justification for getting the Pro over the standard.
That said, it’s hard to overlook the Galaxy Watch5 Pro’s size and weight. While size may be more of a subjective matter, it still doesn’t help that the weight makes it uncomfortable to wear for longer periods of time, especially during sleep tracking. It’s great in many ways, but just not for me, personally.
