What is happening
Samsung’s newest watches, the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro, arrive on August 26. They have better battery life and skin temperature sensors and promise more durability.
Why it matters
Last year’s Samsung Watch debuted Google’s new Wear OS, and smartwatches are looking for better battery life. But Google’s Pixel Watch is also coming this fall.
What next
Samsung pre-orders for the watch start now, but stay tuned for our full review. Meanwhile, many more competing watches are expected later this year.
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5, unveiled Wednesday at the company’s latest Unpacked event, is Samsung’s latest attempt at making the ultimate Android watch since last year’s Galaxy Watch 4. This time, it comes with a larger Pro model to go with it. with it, with both models set for an August 26 release alongside the new Galaxy Fold 4 and Flip 4 foldable phones.
Last year’s watch served as the debut of Google’s new Wear OS 3 — which Samsung co-developed — and while it wasn’t perfect, it featured an ambitious array of new health sensors that aimed to bring wrist-based bioimpedance and fat measurements to Samsung Health .
2022 is a whole new story. Google has the Pixel Watch arriving this fall, promising a mix of Fitbit and Google Auto smarts and design. Meanwhile, Samsung’s new watches promise longer battery life than last year, a skin temperature sensor, and a supposedly more durable sapphire crystal for the watch face instead of Gorilla Glass. The Pro model’s ultra-strong battery promises days of wear between charges, a trend Apple says it will follow with its next watch this fall.
Now playing: Watch this: Samsung unveils the Galaxy Watch 5
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Is the Watch 5 worth getting? Or the Pro model? Or should you wait to see what the Pixel Watch is all about? Samsung is first out of the gates of this year’s fall wave of watches, so let’s break down what’s in store. We can’t compare others yet because they aren’t here yet. But Samsung’s latest watch model looks like a more modest upgrade than last year, with only a few notable changes in the equation.
Price: Wide assortment, with some discounts
Samsung’s Bluetooth-only Watch 5 will start at $280 (£269, AU$495), with the LTE version starting at $330. But the titanium-cased Pro model with a bigger battery starts at $450 (£394, AU$725), or $500 for the LTE version. Samsung is offering some trade-in discounts on pre-orders: $75 off the Watch 5 or $125 off the Pro if an “eligible” watch is traded in, along with a $50 accessory credit. Other retailers may also have sales and trade-in discounts.
The Pro model with a titanium case has a very large battery and a higher price.
Lisa Eadicico/CNET
Battery life: an extra boost
The previous Watch 4 had a 361mAh battery for the 44mm size or 247mAh for the 40mm version. The Watch 5 has a 410mAh battery in the 44mm size, or 284mAh in the smaller model. This should theoretically give a bit more battery life, although who knows exactly how much; the last Watch 4 tended to last about two days on my wrist.
The bigger jump comes in the new Watch 5 Pro model, which has a massive 590 mAh battery. That could mean three days of battery life, depending on usage. Samsung is pitching the oversized Pro (with its higher price and titanium body) to GPS-using runners or outdoorsmen who may want extra durability and battery life.
Skin temperature: Another watch joins the trend
Samsung’s Watch 5 has the heart rate sensors, electrical bioimpedance sensor and ECG sensor from the previous Watch 4, but the infrared-based skin temperature sensor is new – at least for Samsung watches. Temperature sensing is a recent trend in wearables: Fitbit watches have had it for a few years, Amazon’s Halo bands have it, the Oura ring has it, and Apple’s next watch reportedly has it.
Skin temperature will be added to Samsung’s other health metrics to build different ways to perceive health changes, but it’s not clear how it might evolve. Based on previous experience with other skin temperature sensors, this is how they work: results are relative, not specific, focused more on changes over time than any specific thermometer-like reading. I’ve found that it can help predict potential illness, but how Samsung uses it remains to be seen.
The look of the Galaxy Watch 5 generally remains the same.
Lisa Eadicico/CNET
Design: Familiar (and slightly larger for Pro)
The Watch 5 appears to have similar dimensions to the recent Watch 4 models, but a few grams heavier for both sizes. Color options include graphite, sapphire, rose gold and silver.
Meanwhile, the larger-battery Watch 5 Pro is significantly larger, with an extra millimeter in thickness and an extra millimeter-plus in length and width compared to the 44mm Watch 5. At 46.5 grams, it’s significantly heavier, creeping up to almost twice the weight of last year’s 40mm Watch 4 (25.9 grams). The titanium case design is available in black or gray, with a D-buckle on the sports band.
Samsung is adding a bunch of new watch faces this year, adding to a collection that was already quite excellent last year. These watch faces and their colors will offer most of the custom looks for most people anyway.
One thing that seems to be gone, however, is that physical rotating bezel that was on the classic design of the Watch 4. Samsung’s touch panel is now the standard way to interact, but the company will keep the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic in the lineup if you want a watch with a physical dial.
More durable?
Samsung switched to sapphire crystal for the Watch 5, which is promised to be 60% harder. Will this mean better scratch resistance or improved fracture toughness?
The Watch 5 Pro, of course, promises an even better sapphire crystal, plus a titanium case around the watch (versus aluminum on the regular Watch 5).
Other specifications
Both watches have optional LTE models with built-in cellular (no 5G this year, though no other watch has 5G either), plus 5 ATM water resistance for swimming. The same array of health sensors is present in both models, including ECG, heart rate, temperature and bioimpedance sensors. The watches also include 16GB of storage for music or apps, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2.
Notably, neither watch uses Qualcomm’s recently announced Snapdragon W5 chip, which promises better battery life and is coming to other Wear OS watches later this year. Instead, Samsung uses its own dual-core Exynos W920 1.18GHz processor, which looks the same as last year’s Watch 4. Watch processors aren’t the things most people look forward to, and it’s not yet known how much better Qualcomm’s new chipset can be. to be.
Only for Android, but specifically designed for Samsung phones
Like last year’s Galaxy Watch 4 (and other new Wear OS 3 watches we know of), the Watch 5 won’t run iOS. This is only for Android phones (according to Samsung, Android 8 or later, with more than 1.5 GB of RAM). But specifically, its ECG, stress, and bioimpedance sensors only work with Samsung phones. Last year, these health features also required Samsung phones to work.
If that holds true, that’s a big limitation on how attractive the Watch 5 will be to most Android phone owners: it’s worth waiting for Google’s Pixel Watch, due later this year, to see how it compares. characteristics. The biggest difference with Samsung’s latest watch this year is that it will no longer be the only watch with Wear OS 3.
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