A one-week side-by-side test ended with the Galaxy Watch 9 as the reviewer’s pick, driven mainly by hardware: its body felt nearly 4mm thinner and noticeably sleeker than the Pixel Watch 5.
Battery life favored Google. The Pixel Watch 5 never fell below 80% by 11:37 p.m. in nightly checks, while the Galaxy Watch 9 dropped below 50% once despite both running Wear OS 7.
Health tracking looked broadly similar in light use: both auto-detected a walk within 2 minutes, though heart-rate ranges diverged sharply, with the Galaxy Watch posting swings up to nearly 40 BPM wider on some days.
Software has become far less of a weakness for Google, with Wear OS 7 bringing the Pixel Watch 5 close to Samsung’s level, but the review said Samsung still holds more meaningful exclusive features.
The comparison ultimately framed the two Wear OS leaders as close enough for personal preference, with Google stronger on battery and Samsung stronger on design and overall balance.