I stopped wearing my Galaxy Watch 5 at night a few months ago because the BioActive sensor would turn on in the early morning, even in Sleep Mode, and wake me up hours before the alarm would go off. I'm not sure if it's a defect or what, and maybe newer Galaxy Watch models don't have this issue, but I haven't tried.
Unfortunately, since then, I have also stopped wearing my Galaxy Watch 5 during the day, at least for the most part. It happened for a reason I never anticipated, even though it might seem obvious now in retrospect. Live and learn.
Watches, short sleeves, and laptops don't go well with each other
I used to be a desktop PC user, and for years, it never crossed my mind how wearing a watch and short sleeves while typing on a laptop could cause problems.
People reading on their laptops might already know where I'm going with this, so allow me to address fellow PC users. You see, unlike typing on a desktop keyboard, your wrists rest on the laptop itself when you're typing on it, and a watch's wristband and buckle can do some serious surface-level damage to the laptop's case. That and the buckle gets in the way.
It might seem obvious, and long-time laptop and watch users might be face-palming right about now, but as a long-time PC and desktop keyboard user, I never had to deal with this ergonomics puzzle. It just never crossed my mind.
Besides, garments play a role. I got my laptop in autumn last year, and I never faced this problem until summer came a few months back, when I switched from long to short sleeves.
Once summer came, that layer of protection provided by my sleeve was no longer there, and I could really feel my Galaxy Watch getting in the way. Even worse, I could hear the buckle scraping against the laptop's aluminum case every time I moved my left arm. I couldn't take it anymore, so I had to stop wearing the Galaxy Watch every time I used my laptop.
Sadly, this new Watchless routine has set in, and nowadays, I don't wear my Galaxy Watch 5 during the day or in bed. I only want it on my wrist when I exercise. It's too bad I often forget to recharge it now that I don't use it as much as I used to.
It's both funny and interesting to me how I went from wearing the Galaxy Watch 5 almost every hour of the day and night to barely at all for reasons I never would have guessed. But these two factors changed my behavior toward wrist wearables in unexpected ways.
To wrap this up, I suppose I could highlight the obvious and say that the Galaxy Ring might be a better choice than a Galaxy Watch if you want to track your health continuously while typing on your laptop during the day, you're wearing short sleeves, and don't want to scratch your expensive laptop. You'd think that's a very niche scenario, but I'm guessing it's the opposite. It might be the norm for most laptop users, especially during the warm season.
I'm hoping the looming autumn will help me put the Galaxy Watch back on my wrist, especially since I would love to upgrade to a newer model. But in the end, maybe combining my Galaxy Watch 5 with the Galaxy Ring is the best choice.
