After weeks of leaks and rumours, Samsung finally announced the $279.99 Galaxy Watch 5 and $449.99 Galaxy Watch 5 Pro at its Unpacked event today. And while there weren’t too many surprises, it looks like the company has taken criticism of the Galaxy Watch 4’s poor battery life to heart. Both the Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro are featuring larger batteries, faster charging and increased durability to boot.
With the Galaxy Watch 5 series, Samsung is once again shaking up its range of smartwatches. While the Galaxy Watch 4 series rebranded the main Galaxy Watch and Watch Active lines from the Tizen era, this year’s event introduces an all-new model: the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. While the vanilla Galaxy Watch 5 is the entry-level flagship, the Pro is meant to be a more premium version aimed at outdoor enthusiasts. Neither does Samsung’s signature physical rotating bezel, although they both have the more subtle tactile bezel. For fans of physical bezels, the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic will remain an intermediate option between the Watch 5 and the Pro.
The Galaxy Watch 5 comes in 40mm and 44mm sizes, while the Pro comes in a single 45mm size. All watches are powered by the same 1.18GHz Exynos W920 processor, along with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The Galaxy Watch 5 line also features an upgraded version of the 3-in-1 BioActive sensor first introduced on the Watch 4, which enables ECG, heart rate and body composition analysis. Samsung says the improved sensor adds more advanced sleep tracking features to the Watch 5, including personalized sleep coaching. You also get built-in GPS, contactless payments, optional LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, and Wi-Fi. Both watches also feature 5ATM and IP68 dust and water resistance.
New this time around is a body temperature sensor. Doug Wegener, head of apparel and accessories for Samsung Electronics America, said The edge that the temperature sensor will add another data point for sleep tracking, but that’s about it for now. According to Wegener, the addition of the sensor was intended to give developers more options for designing new health and wellness features.
The big hardware gains this time around are tied to battery life. The Watch 5 has a 13% larger battery – a 284mAh battery in the 40mm Watch 5 and a 410mAh battery in the 44mm. That should translate to around 40 hours on a single charge. The Pro has an even larger 590mAh battery that’s rated for 80 hours or 20 hours of continuous GPS use on a single charge.
Along with adding bigger batteries, Samsung has also improved the charging speed. It claims you can go from zero to 45% battery in just 30 minutes. For those interested in sleep tracking, the company says you can get eight hours of battery life in just eight minutes.
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We’ll have to see by testing the actual mileage of these larger batteries, especially with power-hungry features like always-on display and Google Assistant enabled. After all, Samsung promised 40 hours of battery life last year, but the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are way below that estimate. Still, if all Samsung is doing is nailing battery life, it will go a long way to solving the issues we had with the Galaxy Watch 4.
Otherwise, the Galaxy Watch 5 is an incremental update. The main design changes are a more durable sapphire crystal screen and a more curved back, so the 3-in-1 sensor allows better skin contact with the wrist. The most significant updates will come from the software. The Watch Series 5 will ship with One UI Watch 4.5, which adds a slew of new accessibility features, a better input interface, and dual-SIM support. Apps like SoundCloud and Deezer are also coming to Wear OS 3, as is the ability to use voice navigation on Google Maps right from the wrist. And after months of waiting, Samsung Galaxy Watch owners can finally use Google Assistant on their watches. (Don’t panic, Bixby lovers. Samsung promises the five of you that Bixby is still available on Watch 5 and Pro.)
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The flashiest updates are reserved for the Pro given that it’s the newest model and it’s aimed at a completely different audience (aka, the Garmin and Polar crowd). It’s more durable, with a titanium case and a tougher 29GPa sapphire crystal screen than the Watch 5’s 24GPa screen. It also has a sleek new magnetic clasp.
But outdoor enthusiasts will probably be most thrilled with the Pro’s mapping features. You can now download GPX routes for hiking and cycling, with turn-by-turn navigation. It also has a rewind feature so you can go back to where you came from. While this is a staple on multisport GPS watches, it’s not usually something you find on an advanced flagship smartwatch. Even so, Samsung’s ability to attract Garmin enthusiasts will really depend on the Pro’s ability to run on a multi-day battery.
The Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro are available for pre-order starting today and will ship from August 26. The Watch 5 starts at $279.99 while the Pro starts at $449.99. LTE versions are $50 more. Both watches will also have a Bluetooth-only Golf edition that starts at $329.99.
