Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs Watch 4 Classic: Better hardware or rotating bezel?

Instead of the Galaxy Watch 5 Classic, Samsung announced its first-ever “Pro” smartwatch, i.e., the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, at Unpacked. Can this new smartwatch fill the void that the Classic model left behind? There's only one way to find out, so let's see how the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic compare and whether or not the new model can offer anything in return for the missing bezel.

Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs Watch 4 Classic: Design and build quality

The most obvious design difference between the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and the Watch 4 Classic lies in the aforementioned bezel surrounding the circular display. The Classic model has a rotating bezel that can control the UI, whereas the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro abandoned the rotating bezel in favor of a thicker, concave, and fixed ring around the display. The new bezel is merely a design choice rather than a functional component.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro employs better materials. It has a titanium case (similar to the more exclusive and expensive Watch 4 Classic Titanium variant) and uses sapphire glass display protection that claims to be 60% stronger than Gorilla Glass DX. In addition, the new Galaxy Watch 5 Pro drops the standard sport band in favor of a new D-Buckle wrist strap that's easier to adjust.

Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs Watch 4 Classic: Hardware and features

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro brings a couple of noteworthy hardware upgrades over the Watch 4 Classic model, but a new chipset isn't among them. However, that's not a problem, considering that the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro uses the same Exynos W920 5nm chip that Samsung designed specifically for smartwatches. Memory also remains unchanged at 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, which should be plenty.

The one main component that received a significant upgrade is the battery. As many of you know, the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic conceals a 361mAh battery, which is enough for a roughly one day of usage on a single charge. But Samsung's new Galaxy Watch 5 Pro boasts a huge 590mAh battery with faster 10W charging, so it should be able to last for more than three days before needing a refill.

Both the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro run One UI Watch 4.5, but the newer Pro model is the only one that ships with the latest firmware. And since it's a newer release, it will benefit from support for longer.

In terms of Health features, Samsung's new Pro model introduces a temperature sensor and better sleep tracking, as well as three exclusive features for outdoor activities: Route Workout, Turn-by-Turn Directions, and Track Back.

In conclusion, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro offers quite a few attractive features and upgrades compared to the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, so perhaps customers won't miss the rotating bezel as much as they thought they would. The new Pro model is available for pre-order for $449 (Bluetooth) and $499 (LTE) and should go on sale on August 26.

[modelcompare model1=”SM-R920″ model2=”SM-R890″]