Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro
The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro provides you high-end supplies, a workhorse of a battery, and the promise of years of software program help. It’s heavier and thicker than you may like, but it surely’s an Android watch with the speedy efficiency you want on your favourite Google apps and the close to assure that it will by no means die on you at an inconvenient time.
For3-day battery lifeMore sturdy suppliesGoogle apps suiteOffline GPX mapsBIA sensorAgainstNo Fitness+ equivalentHalf the storageInlively temperature sensorSome Samsung phone-only options
If you’ve got purchased an Apple Watch earlier than, you recognize precisely what to anticipate with the Series 8. Aside from a couple of new options like a temperature sensor and crash detection, Apple’s new watch is a carbon copy of the Series 7. But other than the poor battery life, that is not a foul factor! We nonetheless respect its skinny body and classy design in comparison with the cumbersome Pro.
ForEngaging thin-bezel displayFluid performancePlenty of measurement, materials, & band optionsCrash/fall detection and emergency SOSLight, skinny designAgainstiOS-onlyLess than one-day battery lifeLess sturdy supplies
When the Apple Watch Ultra launched, everybody naturally in contrast it to the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro as a result of they have been the 2 “flagship” smartwatches of every respective lineup. But in fact, it is a bit unfair to check the ultra-expensive Ultra to the Pro, which was by no means truly designed as a rugged health smartwatch in the identical method. As a premium Android watch designed for on a regular basis folks relatively than athletes, the Watch 5 Pro’s closest equal is definitely the Apple Watch Series 8 because it prices simply $20 greater than the 45mm mannequin. So whereas we have already damaged down the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Apple Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Apple Watch Series 8, each of these comparisons have been arguably mismatches, because the Galaxy Watch 5 is likely to be higher likened to the Apple Watch SE given their comparable costs. If we evaluate the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Apple Watch Series 8 as an alternative, it is arguably a way more aggressive breakdown. Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Apple Watch Series 8: Design and showWhy you may belief Android Central
Our professional reviewers spend hours testing and evaluating services so you may select the perfect for you. Find out extra about how we take a look at.(Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)For the needs of this dialogue, I’ll concentrate on the bigger Apple Watch Series 8 (opens in new tab) 45mm, since anybody contemplating the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro possible needs a spacious show. But you may select the 41mm mannequin for those who favor one thing lighter, whereas with the Pro it’s a must to settle for its heavy weight in alternate for its large battery.The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a 1.4-inch Sapphire Glass show at 321 pixels per inch (PPI), simply 5 PPI lower than each Series 8 shows, and on the similar 1,000 nits of brightness. Apple solely makes use of Sapphire Glass on its stainless-steel watches, which value $700 and up; so that you’re caught with Ion-X glass, which is extra equal to Gorilla Glass in scratch/crack safety. Also on that notice, the Apple Watch Series 8 makes use of aluminum whereas the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has titanium, a extra high-quality and sturdy materials. In addition, Samsung gave the Pro MIL-STD-810H-rated safety, with a raised bezel that ensures the watch show is much less prone to get broken for those who fall to the bottom. Apple made its Series 8 dust- and water resistant, but it is definitely not as well-protected because the Pro or the Apple Watch Ultra (opens in new tab). While the Series 8 shows have tiny bezels and a tall rectangular form, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a big bezel that serves as a capacitive contact bezel, that means it helps you to spin your fingertip across the edge to navigate by menus. It’s speedier than turning the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown, but additionally extra finicky and fewer exact than a bodily dial, that means it takes a little bit of apply to make use of.(Image credit score: Stephen Warwick / iMore)Having reviewed the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro myself, I discovered that it “juts out from your wrist” and feels considerably prohibitively heavy to put on, particularly with the default D-Buckle Sport band that provides a ton of weight to it. It’s not essentially the most comfy to put on for sleep monitoring at evening, and may catch on doorways for those who’re not cautious. My suggestion can be that you simply select your Galaxy Watch 5 Pro bands rigorously for those who plan to purchase it, and lean in the direction of one thing easy and lightweight. The good thing about the Apple Watch Series 8 is that it is so slender: about 4mm skinnier and 8g lighter than the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (not counting the band). That makes it each extra fashionable and extra comfy, particularly with a light-weight Solo or Sport Loop to additional the hole. As for the Apple Watch Series 8, our colleague Stephen Warwick at iMore praised the “tried and trusted design” that hasn’t modified because the Apple Watch Series 7. The digital crown affords “tactile scrolling that makes quick navigation a breeze,” and the newly thin-bezeled show “really transforms the user experience, with buttons much easier to press and information much easier to read.”Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Apple Watch Series 8: Hardware and battery lifeSwipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0 Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 ProApple Watch Series 8Display1.4″ Super AMOLED (450×450, 321ppi)1.6- (352×430, 326ppi) or 1.8-inch (396×484, 326ppi) Retina LTPO OLEDBrightnessUp to 1,000 nitsUp to 1,000 nitsMaterialTitaniumAluminum or stainless-steelBandsRidge-Sport, D-Buckle Sport, Global Goals, Sport, Extreme Sport, Hybrid LeatherSolo Loop, Sport Band, Sport Loop, Nylon, Leather, Stainless SteelNavigationTouchscreen, two buttons, digital bezelTouchscreen, one crown, one buttonProcessorSamsung Exynos W920 w/ 1.5GBS8 SiP with 64-bit dual-core processorStorage16GB32GBBattery590mAh; Up to 80 hours282mAh or 308mAh; Up to 18 hoursWireless chargingYes (Qi)Yes (proprietary cable)SensorsSamsung BioActive Sensor (Optical Heart Rate + Electrical Heart Signal + Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light SensorAccelerometer, ambient gentle, barometer/altimeter, compass, ECG, gyroscope, coronary heart fee monitor, pulse oximeter, thermometerConnectivityBluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4+5GHz, NFC, GPS/Glonass/Beidou/Galileo, LTE (elective)LTE (elective), GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BeiDou, QZSS, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, NFC, Ultra widebandCompatibilityAndroid (Google Assistant or Bixby)iOS (Siri)Protection5ATM, IP68, MIL-STD-810H, Sapphire GlassIP6X, WR50, crack-resistant crystalSize45.4 x 45.4 x 15mm41 x 35 x 10.7mm; 45 x 38 x 10.7mmWeight (with out band)46.5g31.9g or 38.8g (aluminum)Why purchase the heavy Galaxy Watch 5 Pro when the Galaxy Watch 5 affords all the similar options? Aside from the extra rugged design, it is as a result of the Pro can final three days per cost even with common use, steady coronary heart fee and blood strain monitoring, and sleep monitoring. In our exams, it fell nearer to 1.5-2 days with extra lively use like music streaming, GPS monitoring, or always-on show, however that is nonetheless miles above what different Wear OS watches can do. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Series 8, like so many fashions earlier than it, has an 18-hour estimate, which iMore described as “not bad, but annoying. Because it can’t hit 24 hours, it means anyone who wants to use sleep tracking has the “issue of judging when to cost it,” since it’ll need to be charged more than once per day to make it through the night. And for everyday use, it could still easily die on you after a long and active day, while the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will keep chugging along with juice to spare.(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)When it comes to health sensors, Samsung should have the undisputed lead but has allowed Apple to catch up. Both watches have heart rate, blood oxygen, and ECG sensors, while Samsung also offers a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (or BIA) sensor that detects your skeletal muscle, basal metabolic rate, and body water/ fat percentage. And in some countries, you can take a blood pressure reading, though not in the United States without sideloading. In both cases, you need to actively measure these, rather than have them detected passively.The newest Galaxy Watch 5 Pro sensor is the body temperature sensor, but Samsung has yet to activate it months after launch. That’s where Apple has taken its own advantage: the Series 8 has two sensors, one for skin temperature and one for your surroundings to compare. It mostly activates at night for sleep tracking; as iMore describes it, the sensors measure “shifts in temperature attributable to sickness and jet lag, however [they] additionally give customers retrospective ovulation estimates to assist with household planning and interval predictions.”(Image credit: Stephen Warwick / iMore)We don’t have benchmarks to compare how the two watches perform, but we can say confidently that both offer a lag-free experience. On the Pro, I found the watch has an “instant response to any faucet or swipe,” while the Series 8 has a similarly fast and fluid experience. The main benefit Apple offers is its watch’s 32GB of storage, double that of the Galaxy Watch 5 series. In our mind, a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro should’ve had more storage than the standard model. 16GB just isn’t enough for a full array of apps, stored music, and watch face complications in our view, so you have to be a bit more selective with your Samsung watch.Both watches have speedy Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, though Apple uses the newer Bluetooth 5.3 standard instead of 5.2. Both offer optional LTE for an extra $50. While both have NFC tap-to-pay, only Apple included an ultra-wideband chip, which is mainly for the Find My application but could help the Apple Watch serve as a digital key for your car in the future. Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Apple Watch Series 8: Software(Image credit: Stephen Warwick / iMore)Samsung used to make its watches iOS compatible, but since it switched to Wear OS 3, the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 are Android only. In fact, some of the watch’s health sensor information is only available on a Samsung phone specifically — a shame for Android phone owners who prefer another brand. But switching to Wear OS allowed Samsung to get access to the full suite of Google apps like Assistant, Wallet, Home, and Maps. That’s a major perk, one that even diehard Apple fans will likely be jealous of. The Apple Watch will have all of its usual Apple app integrations you can rely on, at least. WearOS and watchOS have many of the same third-party apps, so you can benefit from those regardless of which you choose.Both Wear OS 3.5 and watchOS 9 (opens in new tab) added a QWERTY keyboard so you can delicately type up messages, instead of having to draw letters or tap stock response options when you receive a text. Stephen Warwick called the Apple keyboard “almost-usable,” while I said that the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro keyboard has “simply sufficient room that my cautious hen-and-pecking or swiping from one key to the following works about 70% of the time.” They’re imprecise but functional in a pinch, in other words. (Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)If watchOS 9 has one major advantage, it’s in its fitness software. Apple has made that a major focus, adding custom workouts with which you can challenge yourself to maintain a specific pace, heart rate, effort level, or cadence. Even without Apple Fitness+ (opens in new tab), Apple gives you some useful fitness tools, even if they don’t live up to a Garmin or Fitbit. Apple also added some new safety features to the Series 8, such as an SOS function and crash detection.Samsung, meanwhile, hasn’t added many new tools to Samsung Health in recent years, and it doesn’t have the benefit of the Pixel Watch’s Fitbit integration. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro’s one upside is its exclusive option to install offline GPX maps so you can guide yourself on hiking trails or cycling routes even if you lose your cellular signal. It’s a useful, but niche, tool.Whichever ecosystem you prefer, Apple and Samsung both offer fast, substantial, and consistent software updates for their respective watches. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has four confirmed software updates planned, while the Apple Watch series typically gets four watchOS updates and about 4-5 years of security updates.Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Apple Watch Series 8: Which is better?As always for these kinds of comparisons, it’s easy to decide “which to purchase” as a result of you may solely purchase one or the opposite for the telephone that you simply personal. The solely motive to not purchase the Apple Watch Series 8 is in order for you one thing extra reasonably priced (the Apple Watch SE) or extra rugged and long-lasting (the Apple Watch Ultra). And the one motive to not purchase the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is for those who favor the extra compact Galaxy Watch 5 even for those who lose dozens of hours of battery life. But for those who merely wish to know which is the higher machine, it will depend on your values for a watch. Both will final you years for the software program, however the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has extra sturdy supplies and a battery that’ll final even when the capability dips through the years, whereas the Series 8 is extra prone to construct up knicks and require extra charging over time. On the opposite hand, the Apple Watch Series 8 is undeniably the sleeker watch, whereas the Pro is extra hardcore-looking. And it is exhausting to miss the additional storage, which is able to make the Series 8 handier for numerous duties.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro
Choose the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro for its multi-day battery, offline maps, Google Assistant help, giant and shiny show, and entry to tons of nice Play Store apps. Don’t select the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro in order for you one thing light-weight or want strong health software program.
Choose the Apple Watch Series 8 in order for you a classy on a regular basis look ahead to each informal use and health, one that will not overwhelm your wrist whereas nonetheless supplying you with a big show. Don’t select it in order for you a watch that’ll simply final you for a full day and evening, or in order for you one thing extra rugged.