The Opinion: It’s been another very busy week in Trusted Reviews, with everything from new high-end foldable phones, including the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4, to LG’s new TV speaker technology making headlines.
But in this sea of news, for the team of experts at Trusted Reviews, there has been one very clear winner and one undeniable loser in the tech world. Here they are.
Winner: Galaxy Watch fans
This week, while most of the attention was focused on Samsung’s new foldable phones, for us at Trusted Towers, it was the company’s new Galaxy Watch 5 Pro wearable that stole the show.
The wearable has been revealed alongside the phones, the new Galaxy Buds Pro 2 and Galaxy Watch 5. B. The wearables are a big deal because they are the second generation of Samsung wearables to run Google WearOS 3 software, rather than Samsung’s Tizen OS .
This was a notable shift in the past year that made the older Galaxy Watch 4 one of the best smartwatches on the market with new and improved WearOS that offers surprisingly competitive features to Apple’s WatchOS – which is still the best on the market due to its broader app offering.
But the reason we think the more expensive Pro model is more interesting and this week’s winner is its overt focus on the fitness market. Rather than repeating Samsung and Google’s previous focus on using the Apple Watch as a smartwatch, the Pro is unabashedly focused on the hardcore runner and the athlete market.
In addition to having all the smartwatch benefits that WearOS and Samsung’s powerful hardware offer, the Pro model features a number of great esports-specific upgrades. This includes a more solid design,
It also allows you to import a GPX file directly into the watch to plan tracks. For runners and cyclists, there’s also a step-by-step navigation system, with vibration aids and an updated audio guide to make sure you don’t get lost. These are features that traditionally only appear on sports watches from big names such as Garmin, Polar and Suunto. This combination means that the Pro is a competitor to the Garmin Forerunner 955 that impressed us more earlier this year than the Apple Watch, which in our minds is a great move.
The fitness market has a lot of great options, but if you read any of the recent Garmin, Polar, or Fitbit reviews, you’ll notice a trend — while they’re great for fitness trackers, they all fail to offer decent smartwatch functionality. If the Pro can fill that gap and offer the best of both worlds, it will hold a unique position in the market. Hopefully it will be delivered when we get it to test.
Loser: Disney Plus subscribers
While Samsung wearable fans had plenty to celebrate, Disney didn’t have a magical in-store surprise for streaming service subscribers.
The company revealed this week that, like Netflix, it will roll out an ad-supported category for Disney Plus next year. kicker? It will cost the same as the current ad-free tier ($7.99 per month). Those who wish to continue watching the service without ads will have to pay approximately 40% more on their current subscription ($10.99 per month).
This is a very significant increase for many that comes at the worst possible time, with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis making it difficult for many of us to make ends meet.
As a result, we had to put Disney Plus subscribers as losers this week.