Wrist-Y Business

Smartwatches have taken on a life of their own, diverging from the path of smartphones. It’s every player for themselves, with proprietary hardware and software. In fact, there isn’t a single Wear OS smartwatch in our list this year.

- Zachary Chan

Apple Watch Series 5

Apple Watch Series 5 is largely similar to last year’s model, but small updates affect the product in very profound ways. case design and dimensions haven’t changed, and neither has the size of the display. However, the display now stays on permanently; achieved using an LTpO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) OLED with special controllers and light sensors so that refresh rates can be adjusted from as high as 60Hz to as low as 1Hz.

This is a big deal because it now means you can glance at your watch without having to do that exaggerated raising of your wrist action.

When the display does go to sleep, it doesn’t just show a generic watch face like some other smartwatches. It actually shows a dimmed version of the watch face you selected and customised. Some complications (like Date and Activity) will also show, but some others that require constant updating (like the new Noise and compass app) will go to sleep.

There’s also an option to mask sensitive information like your calendar appointments, mail and messages from being displayed. You can also turn the display off entirely in rest mode like older Apple Watches if you want.

Does the always-on display hurt battery life? In my experience, yes. I have about 35% to 40% of battery left after about 11 hours of use, slightly less than the 55% that the older Series 4 used to have in the same amount of time. regardless, the Series 5 will still need a daily charge, the only watch here with such a requirement.

Readers thinking of getting the more expensive and more capable cellular version will also be happy to know that there will be wider support for international emergency calling. This means the cellular Series 5 watch can call emergency services in over 150 countries even if you don’t have a cellular plan, a potential lifesaver for emergencies when travelling.