Galaxy Watch 5 review: Should you go Pro?

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, while not as eye-catching as the larger Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, is a fantastic smartwatch that might be an excellent choice for individuals who want to avoid the imposing footprint of Samsung's largest wearable.

Just like the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 foldable wonder-kids, the Watch 5 is mostly a minor update of the Galaxy Watch 4, last year's Samsung smartwatch for regular folks. With this here Watch 5, however, Samsung is enhancing both the hardware and software in order to improve the experience, but definitely not more than necessary. Battery life, possibly the most important aspect of a smartwatch, is rather similar to the previous model, and the same applies to most of the features and functionalities you have at your disposal.

Still, despite the general lack of revolutionary new features and design changes, the Galaxy Watch 5 scores important updates in the design department—the base version now comes with a sapphire crystal screen, just like the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and the Apple Watch Ultra, so a definite win for Samsung in this department. 

Starting at $279 for the 40mm Wi-Fi version and topping up at $349 for the 44mm LTE-enabled one, the Galaxy Watch 5 is easily one of the best and most recommendable smartwatches for Android devices, and especially so for the Samsung ecosystem. You can also consider this one the main answers to the Apple Watch Series 8, although the two aren't really interchangeable due to ecosystem compatibility restraints.

We are nearing the end of the cycle for the Galaxy Watch 5 as the Galaxy Watch 6 is looming on the horizon. There's a plethora of features that might get improved on the next wearable.

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The Galaxy Watch 5 is available for purchase at Amazon. At present, you can get the 44mm LTE-enabled model in Gray for 17% off! Limited quantities are available.

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These are the full Galaxy Watch 5 specs compared with the Galaxy Watch 4:

As we can see, the differences are small, with the two wearables being mostly similar in terms of hardware. They are even powered by the same chipset and have a similar size.
For a more complete breakdown, check out our Galaxy Watch 5 vs Galaxy Watch 4 specs comparison.

No beating around the bush – you will be hard-pressed to find any major visual differences between the old Galaxy Watch 4 and the new Galaxy Watch 5. We get a slim and lightweight wearable that sits great on the wrist and is extremely comfortable to wear. This one could be worn on just about any occasion. With a simple change of the strap, it would fit the track just as well as an informal evening get-together.

Sadly, there's no titanium case on the Galaxy Watch 5, as Samsung has opted for Armor Aluminum instead. In case that one doesn't ring a bell, here's a refresher: it's the same material that makes up the frame of the Galaxy S22-series. It's a sleek and lightweight material that's pleasant to the touch, holds no fingerprints, and feels premium, so all is well in the world.
The Galaxy Watch 5 is available in 40 and 44mm versions, which are mostly similar to last year's models in terms of size. I had the pleasure of reviewing the larger 44mm model, and it was perfect for my thicker wrists.

Unlike the Watch 5 Pro, the Watch 5 has a completely flat top case without a raised bezel for extra protection of the display, but at least the screen comes with a sapphire crystal. Speaking of the display, it’s the same 1.4" Super AMOLED panel as the one you'd find on the Galaxy Watch 5, as well as on the 44mm Galaxy Watch 4. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it's just as bright and vivid as you would expect from a Samsung device with an AMOLED screen.

There's no rotating bezel, but there's a digital one that allows for some useful interface interactions, and that's good news for fans of Samsung's wearables: while it's no rotating physical bezel, this one still allows for some extra interactivity. It still doesn't feel too great to use this one, as it takes away from the ease of use and creates more problems than it solves in the form of undesired taps and ghost touches. Not a fan, personally.

Surely, if we had a hardware rotating bezel, things would have been completely different, but that one wouldn't fit with the lightweight sport-y nature of this wearable. The side buttons are unchanged, but still feel click-y and responsive enough.

 
The 44mm version of the Galaxy Watch 5 is available in Graphite, Sapphire, and Silver colors, while the 40mm comes in Graphite, Pink Gold, and Silver. All of those look quite snazzy in person, and all of the wearables can be had with a regular sports band in tow.

Running One UI Watch 4.5 atop Google Wear OS 3.5, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is certainly among the best Android smartwatches you can get right now. The interface is extremely intuitive and easy to use, with a couple hundred native apps available on the Play Store. Even if a certain app is not available as a companion app, you can still see notifications and reply to them with some basic responses.

There's lots of customizability, with lots of watch faces to choose from. There's a nice balance between informative watch faces and purely flashy ones that don't really give any information.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 incorporates an advanced BioАctive sensor, which combines a variety of specialized health sensors to provide users with the most accurate health data and wellness insights. The watch now provides practical advice on how to achieve your goals, reminds you to rehydrate after tiring cardio activities, and much more, in addition to doing a thorough body composition analysis. Well, I can't say how correct the BMI readings are, but they sure do look believable and are definitely good enough for regular Joes.

Samsung has also thrown in a skin temperature sensor on the Watch 5. For many months, this one wasn't used too much, but an update in May 2023 finally brought female cycle-tracking to the wearable that uses data from the temperature sensor. Great news for all eligible users that might benefit from the advanced on-device cycle tracking!

There's improved sleep tracking as well. Aside from tracking the ins and outs of your sleep stages, like REM (rapid-eye movement), light, and deep sleep, as well as detecting possible sleep apnea, the sleep tracking of the Galaxy Watch 5 also gives you a sleep score after every night, as well as a sleep spirit animal that best describes your sleep patterns.

But that's not all—there's a new sleep coaching feature with a 5-week program that might improve the quality of your late-night activities, or so Samsung claims. It has individualized checkpoints, targets, and milestones, so that you can game-ify your improved sleep!

Now, health features are predominantly in the domain of the ubiquitous Samsung Health app, which is the hub for all wellness and fitness-related features. Some features, however, like the ECG and the blood pressure tracking, only work with Samsung's Heart Monitor app, which is exclusively available on a Samsung phone only.

When it comes to activity tracking, the Galaxy Watch 5 is well-automated. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised as to how quickly the wearable detected that I had started a brisk run. Samsung claims that you can also manually track more than 90 different activities, which is a humbling amount.