Samsung has, for a number of years, enjoyed the position of basically having the most compelling watch for Android users.

Moving from Tizen to WearOS in Watch 4 only compounded this position, to the exclusion of iPhone users - but as we said of the 2021 model - it's probably the best smartwatch experience you'll get if you're in the Android ecosystem.

Following up with a refresh, the Galaxy Watch 5 builds on the Watch 4, while sitting alongside a more advanced model, the Watch 5 Pro.

Watch 5 vs Watch 5 Pro: What's the difference?

• Price: Watch 5 from £269; Watch 5 Pro from £429
• Size: Watch 5 40 or 44mm; Watch 5 Pro 45mm
• Materials: Watch 5 aluminium/sapphire; Watch 5 Pro titanium/sapphire
• Battery: Watch 5 284/410mAh; Watch 5 Pro 590mAh

The Watch 5 and the Watch 5 Pro have a similar design, but the Watch 5 Pro only comes in one size, 45mm, although it feels pretty much the same on the wrist as the Watch 5.

The Watch 5 Pro uses more premium materials, choosing titanium for the body and an enhanced sapphire crystal display cover, which is more scratch resistant than the Watch 5.

It's also thicker to accommodate a bigger battery, while the bezel design provides a lip to protect the display further, so it's chunkier overall.

The functionality is broadly similar, but the Watch 5 Pro offers some advanced GPS tracking features that the Watch 5 doesn't. That's because it's being pitched for longer outdoor adventures, with up to 20 hours of GPS tracking - but it's more expensive as a result.

• Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 vs Watch 5 Pro: What are the differences?

Design

• 40mm: 40.4 x 39.3 x 9.8mm, 29g
• 44mm: 44.4 x 43.3 x 9.8mm, 32.9g
• Aluminium frame, sapphire crystal glass
• Quick fit straps
• IP68, 5ATM waterproofing

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 looks pretty much the same as the Galaxy Watch 4. That's to say it's quite a plain design, featuring a round aluminium frame that extends out into the lugs, but features a completely flat screen and two low profile buttons on the right.

It's pretty slim for a smartwatch at 9.8mm, avoiding the bulk of many such devices and, as mentioned, it's quite a minimal design. You could say it's safe or - if you're being a little harsher - boring. Equally there's nothing hugely offensive about it, so don't be so mean.

Samsung has sought to reassure buyers with a double certification for water resistance, offering both IP68 rating against water and dust ingress, as well as 5ATM (50 metre) depth rating.

The Watch 5 comes in two body sizes - 40 and 44mm - while there are a choice of colours for the body and strap so you can choose something to suit your style. And that's important, because it means if you have small wrists, you have the option to go for something a bit more compact, where those with large wrists still have a watch option that doesn't look comically small.

It's a comfortable watch to wear, and easy enough to wear all day and night. However, the lack of breathability in the silicone strap does mean you'll want to take it off and let your skin breathe relatively often. Thankfully, with the watch needing to charge every couple of days, that tends to happen naturally anyway.

There is one minor complaint about the design and it's that the 44mm doesn't sit so well on our wrist because of the lug and strap design. We've found this with some smartwatch manufacturers in the past where the strap attachment point just isn't flexible enough to accommodate as wide a range of wrist sizes as you might get from the likes of a traditional watch brand, or someone like Garmin.

It forms a considerable gap between the top of the wrist and the strap, and that's on quite a large wrist. For those with slimmer arms, we suspect it will be worse.

Display and software

• 1.4-inch (44mm) - 1.2-inch (40mm) AMOLED display
• 450 x 450 or 396 x 396 resolution
• Always-on option - 321ppi

There's an AMOLED display which accepts touch navigation, as well as two buttons - so the control is basically the same as the Watch 4. There are two display sizes - 1.36-inch on the 44mm watch and 1.19-inch on the 40mm - although both have the same 330ppi pixel density, so equally sharp when it comes to the visuals.

The great thing about Samsung's AMOLED display is that - as always - it's bright, colour-rich and high contrast, and that makes it really easy to read in any conditions. Crucially, for those who might use it to track activities like running or cycling outdoors, the data on the screen is clear and well organised, so you can easily see how long your activity is, how far you've gone, what your heart-rate is and how fast you're going.

One thing we almost missed - because it worked so reliably - was auto brightness. It's one of those features where you generally only notice it when it doesn't work well, and needs constant manual adjustment. We never found that to be the case with the Samsung watch. And when it does change brightness, it does so relatively smoothly. It doesn't just abruptly change from dim to bright (or the other way around).

From a software and features experience, the Watch 5 has pretty much all the same things as the Watch 5 Pro, except a couple of activity tracking options suited to longer outdoor hiking. Things like loading preset hiking routes, or tracking back to your start point when you get lost.

Otherwise, it's all as it is on the Watch 5 Pro. Swiping up from the watch face gets you to your apps grid and - being a Samsung-flavoured Wear OS watch - that means plenty of preloaded Samsung apps and features.

This includes things like Samsung Pay for contactless payments, Bixby for voice control, a calculator and calendar. It's also loaded with Google's default standards too, like Google Maps for on-wrist turn-by-turn navigation, Google Assistant and - of course - the Play Store, allowing you to search for and download any number of third party apps.

As an experience, it's one of the most fully-featured wearables for Android users on the market. It allows you to not only read notifications from your wrist, but also reply to them in any number of ways (quick reply presets, voice dictation or an on-screen keyboard). You can pay for items using the contactless support, listen to downloaded music from YouTube Music or Spotify, and even control smart home devices using SmartThings or Google Assistant.

Features and functions

• BioActive sensor
• Fitness tracking
• Sleep tracking
• Body composition
• WearOS

When it comes to functionality, there's a lot plugged into the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. Many of the functions revolve around the BioActive sensor on the rear of the watch, which supplies a wealth of data, including heart rate, ECG, and blood oxygen.

Combined with motion tracking and other sensors, the result is a watch that will gather a full range of data to feed into fitness and activity tracking. This will include guiding you through things like interval training, keep an eye on your recovery and also advise on hydration.

One of the tools available is body composition. This uses the buttons on the side to run a composition analysis - you just put two fingers on those buttons to create a circuit around your body, and it will come back with body fat percentages and muscle mass and other data.

Again, this is for guidance only, but it can also play a part in revealing body changes over time thanks to sticking to an exercise routine. We tested the body composition and got results that appeared in line with what we'd expect.

There's sleep tracking, with sleep scores awarded, and a new addition that see Samsung assigning you a sleep animal that matches your sleep type - not to mention missions to try and help you sleep better.

This can also link into other connected devices through SmartThings, so when you fall asleep, for example other smart home routines can be triggered, like dimming the lights.

This all sits on WearOS, so you have all those Google functions too, as well as services from Samsung to make it a comprehensive offering. Our only pet peeve with the activity tracking specifically is that as soon as you go to manually start any activity it gives you a three-second countdown, without waiting to confirm if your GPS location has been found. So you have to either wait until you're absolutely ready to start the workout, or get used to pausing it immediately, getting settled, and then starting it up again.

The important thing to note really is that in all of our testing, the data that came back was generally very consistent. We didn't have any real errors to speak of in terms of GPS and distance tracking on our runs. It all came back matching our Garmin Epix 2 (worn on the other wrist) to a close enough degree.

When you do run, the watch also uses its motion sensors to detect what your running form is like. It measures your asymmetry, detecting how your left and right feet hit the ground and that they're doing it evenly and consistently with each other. It also measures how long your feet are in contact with the ground, as well as off of it, plus it can even detect vertical movement to see if you're bouncing up and down too much, or measure how stiff your movement is.

It is worth noting here that - of course - having this measured from a watch on your wrist won't give you the same accuracy as dedicated trackers and sensors on your running shoes. But it's interesting nonetheless.

As a bit of a bonus feature, Samsung's auto-detection of workouts for standard activities like walking and running is very good. Once it detects you've been walking for 10 minutes, it'll start recording the activity, and means you don't need to manually start it every morning when you do the school run and drop off, walk the dog, or any other standard every day movement. You also won't need to stop it manually either. It does that itself when you stop.

What's more, Samsung's latest heart sensor tech seems very responsive and even copes well during high intensity interval training (HIIT). We've had issues in the past with smartwatches taking 5-10 minutes to catch up and realise that our heart rate did, in fact, quickly ramp up from warm up to almost peak in a couple of minutes. The Galaxy Watch 5 - like the Watch 5 Pro - didn't struggle with that problem.

All of this data is then fed into the Samsung Health app on your Android phone, and presented in very clear, detailed views that help you understand your performance. And - if you want to - you can sync your workouts with Strava.

Plus, Samsung has partnered with a number of third party fitness program providers to offer training sessions of various intensities. Whether you want to do stretching, yoga and mindfulness sessions or intense weight-training or HIIT, it's all there. Some of it is free, other sessions are a premium subscription through services like Fiit.

Battery performance

• 40mm: 284mAh
• 44mm: 410mAh
• 8 hours in 8 mins charging

There's a 284mAh battery in the 40mm Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, with a larger 410mAh cell in the 44mm. The 44mm model we were testing lasted over 48 hours before needing to be charged again. This was with the always-on display disabled however, waking it up by raising our wrist instead of keeping it on the whole time. With the always-on display enabled, the battery was much closer to that 40 hour limit.

Charging is wireless, via the magnetic pad that attaches to the back of the watch and connects to USB-C. This battery is bigger than in the Watch 4, which is welcomed, while the charging is faster too - with Samsung saying you'll get 8 hours of use from 8 minutes of charging.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 makes a couple of tweaks to the design of the Watch 4 to give better protection, while offering a bigger battery and a couple of new features. It delivers a comprehensive offering and remains one of the top choices of wearables for pairing with an Android phone.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Galaxy Watch 5 this year is not the watch itself, but the competition it now has in this space. For years it's been the defacto smartwatch of choice for Android users, but now - with the Google Pixel Watch on the scene (with Fitbit onboard no less) - the Watch 5 isn't alone here anymore. It's not the only fully-featured, complete experience. Plus, we now have a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro too, and that is - by far - the better watch, even if it costs more.

Still, with its better-than-average battery life, excellent feature list and fitness offering, it's got a lot going for it, even if it is a little boring to look at.