Smartwatches have evolved significantly in the last couple of years, and the competition is more heated than ever. To make things even more interesting for us consumers, Samsung has launched its new Galaxy Watch5 lineup. Alongside better battery life, the new lineup comes with other interesting features too, which make it a great choice for people who are into sports or simply like to keep an eye on their health. After ten days of use, here’s what I like most about the Samsung Galaxy Watch5:
1. Elegant design and durable materials
The first thing you notice is the youthful design of the Samsung Galaxy Watch5. The straps have very pleasant colors and are made of a plastic material with high elasticity, which doesn’t irritate the skin. You can also purchase straps separately in all kinds of colors that better match your outfits.
Samsung Galaxy Watch5 is water resistant, and its screen is protected by sapphire crystal, which is very pleasant to touch and highly resistant to scratches. In addition, the watch's frame is made of Armor Aluminum - a special kind of aluminum that is resistant to shocks and falls, offering the durability required by any person who loves sports.
To make it easier to wear by as many people as possible, Galaxy Watch 5 is available in two dimensions: 40 and 44 mm.
2. Watch faces that express your personality
The sheer number of watch faces available are very diverse in style and highly personalizable. You can express your mood or personality by choosing between analog and digital watch faces, vintage or modern, or purely functional watch faces that place the data that interests you front and center.
Samsung has a large collection of watch faces, including animated ones. You can also add the so-called “Complications” - data that interests you, like the number of steps you’ve made, your heart rate, or stress level.
And, if Samsung's collection of watch faces is not enough, you also have a Store where you find other free or paid watch faces, including ones made by third parties.
3. Advanced sleep analysis and coaching
For Galaxy Watch 5, Samsung has improved its sleep analysis functionality. At the end of each night, you get a chart with your sleep values, sleep stages, and how much time you’ve spent in each. You also learn how much you snore (this feature must be turned on manually, it’s not On by default), your blood oxygen level during sleep, and your overall sleep quality score.
After a week of use, you also get an overall evaluation of your sleep and personalized tips based on your patterns to enjoy better sleep quality which helps the body regenerate.
4. Continous heart monitoring
In each Galaxy Watch5, there’s a 3-in-1 Samsung BioActive sensor that efficiently monitors three health sensors: the one doing the bioelectrical impedance analysis, the heart’s electrical signal sensor (ECG), and the optical heart rate sensor.
You can learn at any time what’s your heart rate and blood oxygen level. Next, you can measure your sinus rhythm with the help of an ECG, which takes only 30 seconds to make. Lastly, you can also measure your blood pressure, but the first time you do it, you need to calibrate the watch with the help of a cuff-based blood pressure monitor.
5. Precise and intelligent workout tracking
One of the things I like about the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 is that it notices when you have spent 10 minutes doing some form of physical activity, and it automatically tracks it for you. So, for example, it’s really useful when I walk around the city I live in. It shows me how many miles I’ve walked, how long, how many calories I burned, and so on.
Also, when you track activities like cycling around the city, the GPS on the Galaxy Watch 5 notices when you wait at a stop light for the green light to appear. Then, it automatically pauses the tracking and resumes it when you start moving again. This helps record your workout metrics in a way that’s not impacted by the time spent waiting at stop lights.
6. It’s the first smartwatch on the market with Wear OS 3
Wear OS 3 is the first operating system for wearable devices built by Google in tandem with Samsung. This version has an improved user interface, which makes navigating your smartwatch faster and easier and provides better battery efficiency for mobile data connectivity, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Another upside is that it reduces the start times for apps up to 30%, making Wear OS 3 one of the snappiest platforms for wearable devices. To make things even better, Wear OS 3 has many apps for smartwatches created by companies outside Google And Samsung, which increases the value of its ecosystem and the usefulness of devices like the Samsung Galaxy Watch5.
What do you like about the Samsung Galaxy Watch5?
These are the things I like most about Samsung Galaxy Watch5. The design of these watches is very pleasant, and most of their features are useful when you want to create and maintain and healthy and active lifestyle. In the coming days, I’ll be back with more details in a lengthy review so that you get a better perspective on this smartwatch. Until then, I would like to know what you like about the Galaxy Watch 5 and whether you have any questions for me to answer in the upcoming review that will be published on Digital Citizen.