Samsung·smartwatch
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
Based on 46 credible posts from YouTube, Hacker News & Bluesky. 36 filtered out as bot-like or off-topic.
Medium confidenceA solid sample; expect small shifts as more owners post. How we score
Scored September 28, 2026
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Owner reviews
Overall owner mood
Owners are split: 52% of 46 reviews are positive, 22% negative, and the rest mixed or neutral. The most common complaint is software & ai (3 owners). Owners are divided on battery & charging and price & value. Owners with 6+ months of use are more positive (67%), which suggests it holds up well.
What owners like
Nothing two or more owners agree on yet.
What owners complain about
Software & AI raised by 3 owners (1 disagree)
“It has really nice hardware but the software experience is disappointing.”
Performance raised by 2 owners (1 disagree)
“I often get stutters and occasional lag on the watch 5”
Owners are split on
- Battery & charging 6 like it · 6 don't
- Price & value 2 like it · 3 don't
- Build & durability 2 like it · 3 don't
- Display 3 like it · 2 don't
Worth reading the reviews on these if they matter to you.
What owners talk about
- Battery & charging6 praise · 6 complain
- Price & value2 praise · 3 complain
- Build & durability2 praise · 3 complain
- Display3 praise · 2 complain
- Software & AI1 praise · 3 complain
- Performance1 praise · 2 complain
- Connectivity1 praise · 1 complain
Built from the reviews themselves — every quote links to the owner who wrote it.
Every credible owner review, most detailed first. Bots, off-topic comments, and ones that say nothing about using it are left out.
have been using this watch LTE version since 8/21. [...] For my lifestyle, I do the same as you and charge it as I get ready in the morning and I find it charged fully before I'm ready for coffee. I admit that I am not the most active person and I am getting all my music through my phone. [...]
I wished Samsung backed their products instead of weaseling out of their warranties. No joke an update that caused issues with the watch and Samsung claims they have to charge money for it because of a non related issue, like a scratch on the side or say it's water damaged when it's a 3 month old device and only exposed to fresh water. They tried to charge me the money I saved from a trade in for a repair that was a software issue.
[...] It also has a true sapphire OLED, almost zero bezel, and hardened anodized stainless steel. It still looks new, screen flawless, body and metal mesh band just tiny scratches, after 10 years of wearing it. [...] When you're saying it's smooth you can see it lag on screen :) The Apple Watch seems the most advances but only has a day battery life, it's rectangular (just not as good) and it only works with iPhones, which I can't take the home screens and software on. [...] Maybe in the meantime a Fitbit will fill the gap, just to see notifications, etc, but they're even suffering from paywalls, feature elimination and software delays and huge bugs. [...]
I have 3 the GW 5 44MM I LIKE THIS WATCH ⌚ the wristwatch i don't feel it while sleeping 😴 and when the alarm goes off on my phone i use the watch to turn it off not have to touch my phone anymore but iam trying to figer out how to put YouTube on this good watch and maybe later on iam going to buy the GW 6 Classic to i just wish that Samsung would have put the rotating bezel on all of there's watches ⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️ i find that to be way more easy then using your finger all the time or they might gets even smarter where you can jus tak into it for everything .. just like that classic tv show called GETS SMART agent 99 do you remember 👍🏾👌🏾💯🏆🙏🏾👐🏾
[...] Then soon after I got the S23mobile as a companion for my watch. [...] This broke my brain🤯 I never knew or would've believed it if I didn't experience it myself. Strangely enough, I however do have Mr Hey Google on my mobile.🤨 So yeah, I spent muchos money on my double ""upgrade"" and it didn't even give me a little tweeny bit of the absolute organic Bliss that I have expected. [...] AND SHOULD WE NOT BE TOLD ABOUT THIS BEFORE WE TAKE OUT OUR MONEY ???? And Now, for the 1st time in my 50 years on Earth, I have saved enough money to spoil myself with this double 🎊 package 😮💨😖 PLEASE, can I have a minute of silence. I really do need pitty😢 I made a very expensive mistake.
[...] The animations, software, haptics, display are all way, way better on the Pixel watch. Battery is better on the watch 5 and it has true qi wireless charging but for a day to day use the Pixel watch for me feels more fluid and sophisticated.
I'm using watch 5 Pro with always on display and touch to wake function (lift to wake disabled). Even with daily running, boxing exercises and sleep tracking, watch 5 Pro has enough juice to run 2 full days in a single charge. [...]
[...] Battery management is not as good on the 40mm but a quick charge in the morning while I shower and get ready is plenty. [...]
[...] and already test it in the outdoors (was hiking on the steep mountains to be specific) so even bumped on the sharp rock with my watch face/glass and not even the smallest/micro cracks, or whatsoever... [...] very durable... [...]
I've got exactly the same watch model as in video (Watch 5 40mm - Graphite), as of now, it is going great with 24 hour battery with below settings: 1) AOD off; 2) HR set at 10 min while at still; 3) WiFi and LTE off; 4) Location is on and Auto-Brightness on. 5) Set only to Vibration. Happy to use it as I specifically wanted a budget friendly Samsung watch to stay in the ecosystem as I already have S20 FE 5G and Earbuds pro.
My $15 weight scale from Amazon measures body fat and syncs to my phone Smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5/6, which use wrist based sensors to measure body fat, are convenient but not very reliable. [...] Navy Method, which uses a tape measure for your neck, waist, and hips, is a cheap alternative but has a ±4–6% error margin (e.g., 16.0%–24.0%) due to inconsistencies in measuring and variations in body shape. [...]
It needs a better way to lock the screen so it stops changing, the faces on its own this is my only annoyance with the watch. Also auto detect is really frustrating, do not wear this whole gameing it will auto detect with alot of games.
After only a month, I found that the voice functions required me to shout very loudly. The cause was found to be the microphone hole packed full of dirt. A round toothpick works well for cleaning it, but I don't know the risk of damaging it.
I still wear my galaxy watch 3- love my rose gold frame, works now as it did out the box years ago
I bought a refurbished one at whatnot for 45 bucks a few months ago and I love it battery life is great , overall a amazing watch for the price.
Battery life is crap.slow sluggish running. I bought it when it was new worse mistake I've made now use Huawei runs and performs much better. 10 days Battery
I have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. I use it mainly for payments and sleep tracking, although I also use its (rather limited) sports tracking to track walkings. It's also nice to get notifications and control media playback.
I have it today im enjoying it since i moved to android phones. I love it more than apple. Using oppo and vivo plus now my g watch ⌚ 5 44mm
This gentleman does a great review - I’ve only owned the 5 pro for a week, having owned all prev models and this one is the best hands down
Still seems fairly laggy after one generation. [...] It has really nice hardware but the software experience is disappointing. [...]
I just got this watch, it grows on you imo, not a bad watch tbh
I was scared as I saw the title. I had just payed for one. [...]
I have the 4 classic 46mm and it is fine for me. No need to upgrade any time in the near future.
I have the 3 and the bezel is the best part of the watch for me, it’s the primary way I use the watch and I can’t imagine taking it away. I can’t see me upgrading for at least a few more years
I have xaiomi mi watch, and galaxy watch 5 i got for free with my 23 ultra I didn't like the galaxy watch horrible battery life not very nice ui i went back using the xiaomi mi watch.
I have this watch it does everything you need a watch to do. I have no complaints
40mm is plenty big enough for larger wrists as well. I have a 8½" wrist and most of my traditional watches range from 42mm-38mm. My favorite watch in my collection (rolex explorer ii) is a 40mm.
I stupidly bought one. Its a POS. Batteries do not last half a day. Doesn't function as a watch. Nor Phone even fit bit questionnable.
I've just bought this watch £219 - 50 trade in plus 75 quid adidas voucher. I love it, fits my childlike wrist perfectly, really comfy. Im really happy with it so far.
Samsung and google should start thinking about fixing the aod digital clock overlay "feature" that nobody asked for or wants🤣 Ive noticed that when i have the AOD on and i get a notification, the screen gets all blurry and a digital clock comes over it and it makes the AOD function useless. Wear os 3.5 on the watch 5 pro
[...] Tweaked the settings and easily get two days between charging.
My watch definitely has a scratch on the bezel. I have to use a black permanent marker to conceal it.
I'm using the watch 5 pro and loving it. There is only 1 main struggle for me, when you are tattoot the watch dus not always recognise you are waring it.
I got a nick in my "Sapphire" crystal top in under 2 weeks. I now have a protector on it. Just saying...don't believe that sapphire hype.
I returned my watch 5 44mm for the watch 4 classic. It's so much better with that rotating bezel... Looks like a real watch and not some geeky toy.
I have been using the 44mm version of the Watch 5 and get around 2 to 2 and half days worth of battery. With all the offers in trade ins Samsung is offering and also the free gifts it does help lower the price of the watch quite a bit
I bought the watch 5 and returned it after 2 days. Couldn't even get through a day with it.
I've got the 5 Pro. I've had all the galaxy watches apart from the 4 and the 5 Pro is brilliant
Super annoying to find out that features are locked behind having a Samsung phone. Fortunately I have a Samsung phone, but I really hate the practice... Almost as much as Google locking a bunch of their features behind a subscription paywall. 😩
[...] I was gifted the 5 and have the 5 pro. I’ll have to try it out. I find with the 5 pro it’s always snagging and banging into things which drives me batty. The 5 is slimmer so I’ll give that one a whirl and see which I like better.
Pixel watch was a huge disappiontment for me and after using Xiaomi S1 Active for couple of months (when some things like apps, sos, calling etc.) stopped working, I've bought Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Even if it's processor is worse than Snapdragon in TicWatch 3 (not mentioning new generation of Snapdragons).
[...] In the need for a smartwatch this year, I felt the Pro 5 was really my only option (battery life, google integration and a watch that didn't look like a toy were my biggest requirements). [...] Between that and not having alternative messaging apps at our disposal (Signal, Telegram, Skype, Teams) there are some annoyances (they still grate on my nerves but not bad enough to switch yet). [...]
In my opinion the pixel watch is smoother and more responsive after using both for a while. I often get stutters and occasional lag on the watch 5
I got this and apart from the poor battery life, it does what it says on the tin.
[...] Is it possible to use Gemini? [...]
I have a galaxy watch5 lte (40mm) expected to be delivered today. [...]
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 long-term: how it holds up
Owners like it more the longer they have it (+16 points after 1 year or more).
- First months67% recommend · 3 owners
- 1 year or more83% recommend · 3 owners
When problems show up
- Battery & chargingtypically around 5.2 years · 2 reports
- Software & AItypically around 5.2 years · 2 reports
The claims, and the evidence
What the brand claims
No published claims on file for this product yet.
What owners report
“have been using this watch LTE version since 8/21. [...] For my lifestyle, I do the same as you and charge it as I get ready in the morning and I find it charged fully before I'm ready for coffee. I admit that I am not the most active person and I am getting all my music through my phone. [...]”
after 1 yearView on YouTube“I have 3 the GW 5 44MM I LIKE THIS WATCH ⌚ the wristwatch i don't feel it while sleeping 😴 and when the alarm goes off on my phone i use the watch to turn it off not have to touch my phone anymore but iam trying to figer out how to put YouTube on this good watch and maybe later on iam going to buy the GW 6 Classic to i just wish that Samsung would have put the rotating bezel on all of there's watches ⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️ i find that to be way more easy then using your finger all the time or they might gets even smarter where you can jus tak into it for everything .. just like that classic tv show called GETS SMART agent 99 do you remember 👍🏾👌🏾💯🏆🙏🏾👐🏾”
“I wished Samsung backed their products instead of weaseling out of their warranties. No joke an update that caused issues with the watch and Samsung claims they have to charge money for it because of a non related issue, like a scratch on the side or say it's water damaged when it's a 3 month old device and only exposed to fresh water. They tried to charge me the money I saved from a trade in for a repair that was a software issue.”
after 3 monthsView on YouTube“[...] It also has a true sapphire OLED, almost zero bezel, and hardened anodized stainless steel. It still looks new, screen flawless, body and metal mesh band just tiny scratches, after 10 years of wearing it. [...] When you're saying it's smooth you can see it lag on screen :) The Apple Watch seems the most advances but only has a day battery life, it's rectangular (just not as good) and it only works with iPhones, which I can't take the home screens and software on. [...] Maybe in the meantime a Fitbit will fill the gap, just to see notifications, etc, but they're even suffering from paywalls, feature elimination and software delays and huge bugs. [...]”
after 10 yearsView on YouTube
Common Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 problems
Problems most owners who mention them agree on, plus ones owners are split on.
- Battery & chargingOwners split: 6 complain, 6 happyView on YouTube
“Battery life is crap.slow sluggish running.”
- Software & AI3 owners report this (1 disagree)
- Price & valueOwners split: 3 complain, 2 happyView on YouTube
“I really do need pitty😢 I made a very expensive mistake.”
- Build & durabilityOwners split: 3 complain, 2 happyView on YouTube
“My watch definitely has a scratch on the bezel.”
- Performance2 owners report this (1 disagree)
- DisplayOwners split: 2 complain, 3 happyView on YouTube
“Samsung and google should start thinking about fixing the aod digital clock overlay "feature" that nobody asked for or wants🤣 Ive noticed that when i have the AOD on and i get a notification, the screen gets all blurry and a digital clock comes over it and it makes the AOD function useless.”