Samsung has established itself as a key player in the smartwatch market, consistently evolving its offerings to stay ahead. With years of innovation, minor refinements, and groundbreaking advancements, the brand has maintained its influence in the wearables industry. Now, the debut of the Galaxy Watch Ultra marks Samsung’s bold move to elevate its presence and compete head-on with Apple’s renowned Ultra smartwatch lineup.
We’ve spent some time with the Galaxy Watch Ultra, diving deep into its features and performance to see if it lives up to its price tag. If you’re curious about what this smartwatch offers and whether it’s worth your investment, keep reading for a detailed breakdown.
Does the Design Match Modern Trends?
When it comes to wearable tech, style often takes centre stage. While impressive in its features, this watch isn’t designed for universal appeal. Its form factor might feel polarizing, potentially turning away some users at first glance. However, if you’re after an Android smartwatch that packs a punch—offering solid battery life, comprehensive health tracking, and a host of other functionalities—this might be the perfect match for your needs.
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When you open the box, pair the device, and put it on your wrist for the first time, the first thought that might come to your mind is, “Wow, this is huge for a wristwatch!” Words and photos may not fully capture the experience, so I’d strongly encourage you to try it on in a store to see if it’s something you’d feel comfortable wearing daily for the next few years.
The watch features a square design with a circular screen inside, giving it a unique and stylish look. The materials and build quality are top-notch—featuring a grade 4 titanium body and sapphire crystal that protects the screen. These premium materials will certainly guard against basic scratches and the daily wear and tear of life.
The watch and band together weigh approximately 90 grams. It must be noted that this watch is not for everyone. While working on a laptop or writing this review, the watch remained on the desk instead of being worn. It was worn to bed only once to track sleep, but the weight made it uncomfortable, preventing its use for this purpose again, even for the sake of this review.
The bezels are fixed, not rotating, which is an interesting design choice. This may be linked to the watch’s 10 ATM water resistance, allowing it to withstand pressure for up to 10 minutes, along with its IP68 rating. Forget about just swimming—this watch can even be taken diving.
Is the Hardware Up to the Task?
The Galaxy Watch Ultra offers a mixed experience in terms of hardware. The 1.5-inch OLED display on the front is crisp and sharp, identical to the one found on the Galaxy Watch 6 from last year.
This display delivers good brightness and is protected by Sapphire glass to resist scratches and daily wear. It includes a variety of sensors, such as a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Sensor, an Infrared Temperature Sensor, and an Optical Heart Rate Sensor, among others.
To support these sensors and enhance performance, the watch is powered by the new Exynos W1000 SoC, a chipset built using an advanced 3nm manufacturing process.
The newer manufacturing node contributes to the watch’s impressive battery life (details to follow) and smooth performance. This is further aided by 2GB of RAM, ensuring responsiveness. As the Watch Ultra model, it also comes with 32GB of built-in storage, allowing for more images and music to be stored directly on the device.
Additionally, the watch supports LTE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, while an upgraded L1+LG dual-frequency GPS enhances tracking accuracy compared to the previous L1 GPS.
Software, Fitness, and Performance Tracking
The Watch Ultra is capable of detecting most workouts and sports, providing an estimate of calories burned. The HR zone displayed on the screen offers a better method for tracking fat loss.
The HR sensor delivers accurate readings, helping assess how far to push during activities like treadmill running or cycling. With GPS and LTE support, the watch can handle music playback and tracking independently, allowing the phone to stay at home.
Auto workout detection worked consistently during activities like treadmill sessions, elliptical training, and brisk walks. The trigger time and mode vary depending on the activity, though there may be instances when it fails to detect.
The hand gesture feature, including pinch and shake to reject, is useful. Pinch gestures allow management of incoming calls, workouts, a stopwatch, and music, similar to the Apple Watch Series 9 features.
Sleep tracking is available, but wearing the watch to bed proved uncomfortable, so it was only used for one night for the sake of the review. As a result, the sleep pattern recorded was irregular, which can be attributed to the watch itself.
The watch offers ECG and Blood Pressure monitoring, but these features are only accessible when paired with a Samsung phone. Body Composition Analysis (BCA) works with any Android phone, though while the readings are generally consistent, they are not entirely accurate. Compared to InBody, it showed a slightly lower fat percentage and higher muscle mass.
Samsung Pay is also supported, with multiple card options, and the Tap-to-Pay feature adds extra convenience. Paying for public transport with a tap eliminates the need to search for a phone at a crowded terminal.
The watch’s large screen proved useful on the golf course. Although it took some time to adjust to swinging with a bulky watch on the wrist, it made entering scores, reading the fairway, and estimating distances easier with the help of a companion app. Overall, the golfing experience was quite satisfying.
Evaluating Battery Life Performance
During an 18-hole golf game with GPS and workout tracking enabled, a watch with strong battery life is essential, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra lasted through the entire game and beyond, which is impressive.
For regular day-to-day use, the watch provides two days of battery life with Always On Display (AOD) and active workout tracking. Turning off AOD and activating Power Saving mode while not tracking workouts could have extended the battery life to 2.5-3 days.
The charging speed is notably slow, which isn’t surprising given it’s a Samsung device. It takes nearly 2 hours to charge the watch from 0 to 100%. If the watch isn’t worn to bed, overnight charging is the best option for keeping it powered up.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra Worth the Purchase?
If you’re searching for the top smartwatch for your Android device that can rival the Apple Watch Ultra, this is the one to consider. However, as mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra isn’t for everyone. Some may not be fond of the design, and for others, the price could be a significant factor to reconsider.
If those two factors aren’t a concern and you’re looking for a versatile smartwatch that can track most daily health metrics, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is certainly a strong choice.
