The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra initially appeared to be a blatant copy of the Apple Watch Ultra, with its similar design and features. However, after using the watch extensively, it’s clear that the Galaxy Watch Ultra is far more than just a clone. It stands out as one of the most original and unique Android smartwatches available, offering a distinctive design and impressive features, albeit with some shortcomings.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra’s design is a bold statement. Its circular display and bezel atop a square body create a jarring aesthetic that may not appeal to everyone. However, the watch’s unique look grows on you, making it stand out from the crowd. With a large 47mm titanium case, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is sizable but surprisingly lightweight and comfortable, even for those with smaller wrists. The titanium construction contributes to its lightweight feel, making it more comfortable than the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
The new watch band system is a welcome improvement, offering a proprietary design that’s similar to the Apple Watch’s system. It allows for easy band swapping, making it simple to personalize the watch’s appearance. The button layout is well-designed, with the usual Home and Back buttons accompanied by a new Quick button. This Quick button can be customized to perform various actions, including launching exercises, starting a stopwatch, activating the flashlight, or enabling water lock mode.
However, the absence of a physically rotating bezel or crown is a significant oversight. While the digital bezel, which allows you to navigate using your finger along the screen’s edge, is functional, it doesn’t provide the same tactile feedback and precision as a physical crown. Despite this omission, the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s design is generally well-executed, offering a unique, eye-catching, comfortable, and functional experience.
As the name suggests, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is built for users with active lifestyles. It boasts impressive durability ratings, including a temperature resistance range of -4 to 131 degrees Fahrenheit, an altitude resistance of up to 29,527 feet, 10 ATM and IP68 water resistance, and MIL-STD 810H military standard durability. These features make it suitable for harsh environments and rugged activities.
However, despite the marketing emphasis on its “ultra” capabilities, Samsung acknowledges that the Galaxy Watch Ultra is not suitable for high-pressure water activities and diving. This limitation, especially when compared to the Apple Watch Ultra’s diving functionality, feels misleading, given the “Ultra” branding.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra’s display is a bright and vibrant 1.5-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 480 x 480. While a slightly larger screen would have been ideal given the watch’s size, the current display is sharp, colorful, and highly readable, even under direct sunlight thanks to its 3,000 nits of maximum brightness.
Performance is exceptional, powered by Samsung’s first 3nm smartwatch chip, the Exynos W1000. The watch’s interface is fluid and responsive, apps launch quickly, and notifications arrive promptly without any noticeable lag. This efficiency, coupled with the largest battery ever in a Galaxy Watch (590mAh), translates to excellent battery life. Even with the always-on display enabled, constant notifications, and extensive activity and sleep tracking, the Galaxy Watch Ultra consistently manages to deliver close to two days of usage per charge.
The charging speed, however, is a significant drawback. Despite Samsung’s recommendation of using a 10-watt charger, the included charging puck takes over 90 minutes to fully charge the watch. This isn’t a major issue for overnight charging, but it can be inconvenient if you need a quick top-up.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra introduces several new health and fitness features, including Energy Score, sleep apnea monitoring, and an AGEs index. Energy Score, similar to the Readiness Score on the Oura Ring, provides a daily score based on various factors like sleep patterns and activity levels, offering a helpful metric for understanding your overall energy levels.
Sleep apnea monitoring is a welcome addition, alerting you to potential issues based on two nights of sleep tracking. The feature appears to function effectively, but the AGEs index is less impressive. While the index aims to provide insights into the level of advanced glycation end products in your body, its accuracy and usefulness are questionable, with users reporting inconsistent results.
Beyond the new features, the Galaxy Watch Ultra boasts a comprehensive health and fitness suite that includes robust activity tracking, a vast exercise library with multisport mode, accurate heart rate monitoring, and detailed sleep tracking. It provides a wide range of data and insights, allowing you to monitor your health and fitness progress effectively.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is one of the first smartwatches to ship with Wear OS 5 and Samsung’s One UI 6 Watch interface. The interface feels polished and snappy, with reliable notifications and smoother overall performance. The new “Double Pinch” gesture, inspired by the Double Tap feature on the Apple Watch, allows for basic controls like answering calls and controlling music playback. While functional, it lacks the responsiveness and widespread implementation of Apple’s feature.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is available for purchase from various retailers, including Samsung’s website, Amazon, and Best Buy. It comes in one size (47mm) and includes optional LTE connectivity. The price is $650, and it’s available in three colors: Titanium Gray, Titanium White, and Titanium Silver.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is a compelling smartwatch with a unique design, excellent performance, and an extensive health and fitness tracking suite. However, its lack of an interactive bezel, limited water resistance, slow charging, and questionable AGEs index detract from its overall value, especially considering its hefty price tag. Despite these drawbacks, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is a solid choice for Android users seeking a premium smartwatch experience with a distinctive personality. With a few tweaks to its features and pricing, it has the potential to be a truly unstoppable device.
