The New Best Wear OS Watch – Review Geek

They say first impressions are everything, but I’m here to say the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro proved that wrong. The first time I saw images of the Galaxy Watch 5, all I could think was, “that looks thick and uncomfortable.” But after spending weeks with it, this is my new favorite Wear OS watch.

I’m not kidding about bad first impressions, either. Not only does the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro look bulky, but it uses a somewhat unique clasp compared to most smartwatches on the market. Instead of a buckle, or strap, or even velcro, as with Apple’s latest watch, Samsung went with a variation on the Deployment Clasp (D-Clasp). I honestly haven’t seen a D-Clasp since I last wore a regular ol’ watch a couple of decades ago.

But to make things more confusing, you “open” the D-Clasp (Samsung calls it a D Buckle Sports band) by pulling somewhat hard on a magnetic point to fold it out. Most D-Clasps have a button or some other obvious way of opening, but not so with the Watch Pro 5. So I spent more than a few minutes trying to slide the band into place without properly opening the clasp because the proper method wasn’t obvious. I gave up and watched a YouTube video to teach me how to actually put the watch on. Not a great start, but from there, things went much better.

Goodbye Bezel, For Better or Worse

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is a pretty big departure from the previous top-tier Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. On the one hand, it has a bigger screen and feels more premium. On the other, it’s thicker and bulkier, and you won’t find a fancy rotating bezel here. In previous models, that bezel was a differentiating factor that let you easily navigate the UI in a nice tactile way.

I didn’t think I’d miss the bezel, and in the past, I was prone to use the touchscreen almost as often as I did the bezel. But truth be told, I do miss the bezel. There are times when the bezel just is the better way to navigate. Sometimes hardware is just better than software.

With the Galaxy Watch 4, I called the bezel unnecessary, and while that’s still technically true and I stand my comments that it isn’t worth $100 on its own, it’s a shame to see you don’t get it when you step up to the Pro model. If you’re gonna spend more, it’s not unreasonable to expect to get more.

I get why Samsung skipped the bezel; the watch is already pretty chonky without it. But I have to wonder if that was the right decision. Believe it or not, despite how big it is, I found the watch and the D-Clasp style band comfortable. It never felt as big as it actually is. Which is a better statement than the truth about Samsung’s specs.

What Samsung lists for thickness isn’t actually true. The company tries to get around this by adding a footnote that the thickness measurement doesn’t include the sensor. But that’s a bit like saying the weight shown on my scale shouldn’t include my fat. You can’t just remove the bit you don’t like from the numbers and walk away happy. The sensors are a part of the watch, just as much as my fat is a part of me. Alas.

You do get a much larger battery over the standard Galaxy Watch 5 (we’ll talk more about that later), and more durable materials. Samsung says the Galaxy Watch 5 is 1.6 times tougher than the Watch 4 series, and the Galaxy Watch 5 is supposedly 2 times tougher thanks to an “enhanced” Saphhire display.

Hello Amazing Battery Life

Hang on, though; if there’s something I can praise, it’s battery life. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro ships with a hefty 590mAh battery. That’s a good bit bigger than the standard Galaxy Watch 5’s 410 mAh battery, which explains why it’s so thick at first glance. But you know what? I’ll take the bigger bulk.

I used my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro as I think most people probably will—mostly as a smartwatch and not often as a fitness tracker. Sure I kept meaning to get some exercise in but didn’t find as much time as I’d like. So instead, it served as my notification center, quick responses, payment facilitator, and generally other “smartphone companion” device. I also used it for sleep tracking and wore the watch to bed every night.

And that last sentence should give you an indicator of what the battery life is like. I can’t use my Apple Watch as a sleep tracker; it’d be dead before I wake up. It gets charged every night instead. But the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro lasted three days on a single charge, even as I wore it every moment except in the shower. And no, I didn’t top it up during the shower.

That’s a game-changer for me. You see, I’m one of those people who always plan to wear a smartwatch but never actually does. I can’t form the habit of putting it on first thing in the morning, so suddenly, a week has gone by without a moment of smartwatch on my wrist. But with three battery life, I don’t have that problem.

Instead, I wear it to bed, let it track my sleep, and head about my day already wearing the watch. It’s frankly impressive that it lasts so long. For full transparency, my watch accomplished that feat with default settings, which means it didn’t have the always-on display feature turned on. The display lit up when I lifted my wrist instead. And naturally, if I had used it more for exercise, it might not have lasted the full three days. For what it’s worth after an hour-long tracked bike ride, I lost a whole 5% of battery life, so I don’t think it’ll hurt things that much. Frankly, under those same conditions, I can’t get an Apple Watch to a full day, so I’ll take this in a heartbeat.

Smooth as Butter (Still Miss That Bezel)

Everything I said last year about the Galaxy Watch 4’s software applies to the latest and greatest. In fact, trying to find anything new is a bit like playing one of those spot-the-difference games. Sure there’s a touch-up here and a new bit of paint there, but you would need to have the two watches side by side to notice.

And that’s honestly a good thing overall. The experience last year was already very good, and there’s truth to the saying, “don’t fix what ain’t broke.” Samsung’s processors continue to be the best Not-Apple option in smartwatches, simultaneously sipping on the batter yet providing speed when you need it. The main thing I miss is the bezel, which continues to shock me.

But it does what you need as quickly as you need it. One of the best compliments I can give is that the watch gets out of your way and makes life easier. I wish notifications worked a bit better—I can’t get consistent previews from my Nest doorbell—but at least some of that is on Google.

The Best Wear OS Watch Again (For Now?)

But you may also want to consider the Watch 4 if the price is right. The software is almost identical, and it’s a pretty good smartwatch too. Of course, the elephant in the room is the upcoming Pixel Watch. But if the rumors pan out, it’s going to be pretty expensive and hard to justify. If you don’t want to wait, you can’t really go wrong with buying a Galaxy Watch 5 right now. It’s a great smartwatch. At least for now, it’s the best Wear OS watch you can buy.