The Apple Watch Ultra has shown how misguided Samsung was to promote the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro as an outdoor smartwatch.
See the Apple Watch Ultra, Samsung? That’s how you make an adventure smartwatch. Multiple specific features, a robust design, and Apple’s typically effective marketing mean the Watch Ultra will likely be outdoorsy people’s first stop — not the tepid Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which is a premium Galaxy Watch 5 masquerading as a rugged wearable for the explorer.
The way Samsung pitched the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro was baffling. Although the titanium case and sapphire crystal make it more durable than the standard Galaxy Watch 5, it doesn’t have the required feature set to be a true Garmin, Polar, Suunto, or Coros competitor. Anyone using a smartwatch in the wilderness, under the water, or up a mountain will have a checklist of crucial features that make it worth wearing.
Unfortunately, a slightly bigger battery, compatibility with GPX files, and a way to route back home aren’t going to be enough. Even so, that’s really all that separates the Pro from the normal Galaxy Watch 5.
What’s interesting is, when you look at the promotional page for the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro now, there’s almost no mention of it being an adventure watch. It mentions the GPX feature and Track Back, and the materials used in its construction… but that’s all. Yet when you go back to the original press release, the Watch 5 Pro is described as being “created for those that love the great outdoors” and ready for anything from “hiking to cycling and beyond.” Many of the images show the watch in the dust, on rocks, or hanging from some wood.
While none of what Samsung says is incorrect, it has clearly pulled back from calling it an adventure smartwatch, and it now looks like what I suspect it was originally conceived as: an upmarket version of the Galaxy Watch 5 with an emphasis on fitness and activity. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I really like the Watch 5 Pro.
