Having access to things like Google Maps, which will alert me of navigation directions on my wrist, is highly useful. Otherwise, the watch zips around the UI and can do things like launch apps much faster than many other WearOS watches I’ve tested in recent years. I receive a lot of text messages, and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro allows me to read and respond to them without touching my phone I receive probably over 100 text messages a day, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro at least allows me to take care of a third of them without needing to touch the phone. I’d say voice dictation works best, but the other two options get the job done too. You can respond to messages via voice dictation, on-screen keyboard, or scribbling.
Most WearOS watches technically can respond, but most of them run on such outdated hardware with terrible voice dictation that the effort is not worth it.Įven Samsung only really figured this out starting with last year’s Galaxy Watch 4, the first Android smartwatch in which I can read and respond to a WhatsApp message directly on my wrist without ever touching the phone.
Fitbit only allows me to pick from a series of canned responses like “On my way!”. This may sound simple enough for readers who’ve been using Apple Watches, but the ability to respond to messages directly on the wrist is a rarity in the Android space! Most smartwatches from Chinese brands like Xiaomi or Huawei cannot do this (I can only read the message, I can’t interact with it). And the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro can do this, because I can receive and respond to most messages, whether it be Slack, WhatsApp, WeChat, or Telegram. Instead of fitness tracking, I’ve always felt like the biggest reason a smartwatch can justify its existence (to me, at least) is if it can let the wearer check their phones less often. Battery life and using the watch as a daily tool There is a new tracking feature that’s sort of “Pro” - the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro supports GPX (GPS exchange Format File), which is a file that keeps geographic information during hikes and cycling, but I didn’t get to test this. Truth be told, I think even $50 Xiaomi fitness bands these days do more than a good enough job of tracking our workouts, I don’t need to pay well into three digits for a smartwatch to tell me how many steps I’ve walked or how long I slept. I did do one HIIT session wearing both the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and the Apple Watch 7 and Samsung’s wearable kept track of my heart rate and cardio zone accurately as promised, and produced similar numbers as Apple’s device. The number of workouts available to select is overwhelming, and just like with every other smartwatch, it is packed with pointless exercises to pad the overall count - do we really need a workout dedicated to arm curls? The latter kicks in automatically whenever I walk faster than normal for an extended period of time. I’m long past the days of being very active or participating in sports - age and busy work life have taken their toll - but the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro can track steps, and automatically measure more strenuous walks quite well.
Otherwise, the companion app is fine, it shows me detailed information on my sleep and exercise data.
The Exynos chip was an upgrade for the Watch 4 last year, so it’s okay that it remains the same this year. Powering the device is the dual-core Exynos W920 chip with 1.5GB RAM and 16GB of storage, these numbers remain unchanged from the Galaxy Watch 4.
There’s also an infrared skin temperature sensor, which is new for this year’s watch, but it’s not available to use at launch.
The latter was introduced in last year’s Galaxy Watch 4, and it essentially detects the wearer’s body fat percentage by sending electrical signals through your body. The watch is equipped with every sensor you can think of for a smartwatch, including the basics like accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, but also both optical and electric heart sensors and BIA (Body Composition Analysis). I got rid of both right away and replaced them with Google Assistant and Spotify.
By default, a long press of the top button triggers Bixby, and the bottom button brings up Samsung Pay. The watch has two hardware buttons, and the long-press or double-press triggers can be customized.