TL;DR: Hardware specs from respected firms are normally taken as gospel however as one YouTuber just lately found, some have a penchant for stretching the reality (and a few greater than others).
Samsung final week introduced a brand new line of smartwatches together with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Product specs record the watch’s thickness at 10.5mm however some folks on-line observed that the specs didn’t appear to move the attention take a look at in comparison with different slimmer wearables.
Ray from the YouTube channel DC Rainmaker determined to take a more in-depth look. He began with the Galaxy Watch 5 which has a acknowledged thickness of 9.8mm. In actuality, it’s nearer to 13mm – or about 30 % thicker than Samsung claims. The aforementioned Watch 5 Pro measured out to a tick over 15mm, or round 43 % thicker than Samsung acknowledged.
The Apple Watch Series 7 has a depth of 10.7mm based on Apple’s web site however Ray’s device measured it at round 13.14mm. Garmin’s Forerunner 255 is listed at 12.9mm on Garmin’s website however in truth is a contact over 14mm thick. The Polar Pacer Pro is reportedly 11.5mm thick however the digital caliper says it is nearer to 12.16mm. Suunto’s 9 Peak watch is listed on-line at 10.6mm thick however measures 12.85mm.
Are you noticing a pattern right here?
Only two watches Ray measures – the Fitbit Sense and the Wahoo Rival – had been inside their acknowledged spec. To guarantee his measurements had been correct, Ray recalibrated the device after every measurement and verified them in opposition to a measuring mat.
What’s occurring, you ask? Well it seems that many smartwatch makers play quick and free with their wording. On Samsung’s website within the advantageous print, you will discover it says watches are measured with out well being sensors. Armed with that information, Ray discovered that gadgets from Apple and Garmin do line up with spec when you do not take into consideration the sensor bump.
While the bump does not embody all the backside of the watch, it’s bodily there and does issue into the general thickness of the system. To state the spec from any part other than the thickest level with out explicitly saying so (and never simply hiding it within the footnotes) feels misleading.
With the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, nonetheless, Samsung is stretching the reality even farther. As Ray highlights, the acknowledged thickness measurement is only for the sidewall of the watch and utterly excludes the sensor bump and all the rear shell.
How does that translate into the actual world? Turns out, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is almost similar in thickness and diameter to a Double Stuf Oreo. Ironically sufficient, the usual 40mm Galaxy Watch 5 is roughly the identical thickness as a daily Oreo.
As Ray concludes, plainly most main smartwatch makers have an unwritten gentleman’s settlement through which they are going to merely ignore the sensor bump when itemizing the thickness of their digital timepieces.
