Apple Watch Series 5 GPS Review

The 3-Minute Apple Watch Series 5 Review

The Watch That's Only Second to Perfect!

The Specifics

Another September keynote debutante, the Apple Watch has a build of stainless steel frame and all-ceramic crystal back. The 3D Touch display is sapphire crystal glass, with 1000 nits maximum brightness. Perhaps the most exciting part of the display is the Always-on feature.

It runs watchOS 6.0 on an Apple S5 chipset and PowerVR GPU. There is no external memory slot, but the internal storage is a handsome 32GB.

The Apple Watch Series 5 also has no headphone jack, but it has a loudspeaker.

Key sensors on this watch include an accelerometer, gyro, 2^nd-generation heart rate, barometer, compass, natural language commands, and dictation (talking mode).

It is powered by an embedded Li-ion battery, which can charge wirelessly, and last up to 18 hours with mixed usage. The watch is quite light at 1.69 ounces from its 1.73 x 1.50 x 0.42 inches).

The Apple Watch Series 5 comes in two variants – a smaller 40-millimeter GPS model and a 44-millimeter cellular-enabled watch (requiring a data plan from your wireless carrier).

Features & Design: 5/5 | Performance: 5/5 | Value: 5/5 | Battery Life: 3/5

The Best

The Apple Watch Series 5’s Always-on display still lets you see information from your most-used apps even when dim. This includes battery percentage and weather. The display’s ambient light sensor can detect how bright your environment is and dim or brighten accordingly.

The Bugs

These are still early days for the Apple Watch Series 5. Very little is known about its performance in real-world use. As it enters battle with users who would put it through everything a lab couldn’t simulate, we can then understand how well it holds up in real life.

Is it for you?

You should really look at the Series 5 if you’re a sports or health freak. Let’s be fair though, the presence of all the health, fitness, and sleep trackers on the watch are enough to entice anyone to look at it. Besides, the price is fair enough.

But, the Apple Watch Series 5 is really useful for Messages notifications. Doctors, nurses, drivers, and hospitality workers recommend the Apple Watch as a great way to receive notifications. The Series 5 really makes this effective.

What we like

The Apple Watch Series 5 has made the Apple Watch actually useful for telling time. The Watch’s face stayed dark until the wrist was raised, but the Series 5’s watch face is always on, so you can see what if you’re running late on any appointment by glancing at your wrist.

When using an app, the always-on display dims and blurs the background to show the time when it’s not active. Only the Workout app still displays all metrics even when you are not actually looking at the watch.

The other interesting thing we love about this watch is the heart health diagnostic tools that made us love the Series 4. But, there’s more… a built-in compass and watchOS 6 features that enhance all (or most) facets of the Apple Watch experience.

What we don’t like

The Apple Watch Series 5 does not really present any groundbreaking features. It is more an incremental upgrade. The design could use some pizzazz to make it a little more exciting.

Should you buy it?

This is hands down the best smartwatch money can buy. The Series 5 ensures the Apple Watch is at this point, history’s best watch. The features blow away even the most.