Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra Review: Feature-Rich But Bodacious
The Galaxy Watch Ultra Is Samsung's Answer To The Apple Watch Ultra And Yes, It's Large
| Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: MSRP $649.99, On Sale For $524.69 Now @ Amazon The Galaxy Watch Ultra goes spec for spec with the Apple Watch Ultra, but the high price tag and chunky design might make it a tough sell for some.
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Samsung has been making modern smartwatches longer than any company, including Apple. However, the company hasn't yet built a platform that it could stick with long term. It has bounced between operating systems, tinkered with navigation elements, and cycled through a variety of voice assistants. Through it all, Samsung's Galaxy Watch line has lost a step or two, and trails the Apple Watch in some respects.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is Samsung's first ultra-branded wearable, and it's plain to see that Samsung took cues from the Apple Watch Ultra. While the display is round, the case is squared off, sporting a large, button-studded prominence on one side, and the band connector snaps cleanly into the case. Samsung's new watch is certainly more ultra than the others, but is Samsung's version of "ultra" worth its current price point of around $525 on sale? Let's take a look...
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Industrial Design And Hardware
With its price tag, you better believe the Galaxy Watch Ultra delivers with materials and craftsmanship. Its case is titanium with an impact-cushioning plastic trim. The display is under a piece of scratch-resistant sapphire glass, too. The hardware can be submerged in water up to 10 meters deep, about twice as deep as basic smartwatches. You can definitely rattle this thing around without fear of how delicate it might be, though keep in mind that sapphire screen may resist scratching better than glass, but it can still crack.| Processor | Exynos W1000 |
| Display | 1.5-inch 480 x 480 AMOLED @ 3000 nits |
| Memory | 2GB |
| Storage | 32GB |
| Battery | 590mAh |
| OS | Wear OS 5 with One UI |
| Dimensions | 47.4 x 47.4 x 12.1 mm |
| Weight | 60.5 g |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi (802.11n), Bluetooth 5.3, NFC |
| Colors | Titanium Sliver, Titanium Gray, Titanium White |
| Pricing | Galaxy Watch Ultra: On Sale For $524.69 Now At Amazon |
Samsung's super-premium wearable has more of a rugged sport watch vibe to it, but it references Apple's design language enough that everyone instantly made the connection. In fact, Samsung leadership was reportedly unhappy about that, too. The 1.5-inch round OLED display looks odd sitting in the middle of its squircle case, but the display itself is very nice. At 480x480, it's sharp and easily readable at normal viewing distances. It also has fantastic outdoor brightness, reaching a peak of 3000 nits in direct sunlight. That matches the Apple Watch Ultra and far surpasses other Wear OS watches on the market.
Samsung has equipped this watch with a new "Dynamic Lug System" for attaching bands. The bands slide straight into the case and lock into place securely. There's a small release button on the bottom that unhooks the band. It all feels very precise and durable, but this means you can't use standard watch bands with this device. Samsung only offers three band styles for the Watch Ultra, and they're $80 each. That's pretty spendy when the watch itself already costs over $500.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is a very large watch, even compared to other chonkers like the OnePlus Watch 2. It has a 47mm case and weighs 60 grams, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The Apple Watch Ultra is technically a bit wider than the Galaxy at 49mm, but most will find Apple's watch more comfortable. The Galaxy Watch Ultra looks and feels larger because it's square, and the bands connects too high on the (very thick) case. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Ultra's taller shape and band placement make it feel smaller than it is. The watch looks expensive, but it's not as elegant as the Apple Watch Ultra.
This watch is so bulky and heavy, that it was annoying to wear overnight for sleep tracking. More often than not, it ended up on the nightstand at some point. It seems to track sleep as well as any modern smartwatch (plus it has sleep apnea detection), but it's one of the least comfortable watches we've tested.
The right edge of the Watch Ultra has the usual home and back buttons, along with a more prominent "Quick Button" that can be used to start and stop workouts. The speaker is on the opposite side, and wow, it's loud for a smartwatch. On the bottom, the titanium case gives way to the BioActive Sensor, which can track your heart rate, blood oxygen, and skin temperature. The watch can also take ECG readings and estimate your Body Mass Index. The Watch Ultra is equipped for LTE connectivity with no Bluetooth-only variant. It would have been nice for Samsung to offer a cheaper Bluetooth version given the high price.
Raw speed is not as important on a smartwatch as efficiency, but the Watch Ultra splits the difference with its 3nm Exynos W1000 processor. This chip has one big A78 CPU core, along with five A55 efficiency cores. We've found the Watch Ultra to be as responsive as any other modern Wear OS device. It might have more performance headroom than other wearables, but there aren't many apps to show that off. We were rather impressed at how this watch wakes up so quickly and detects touch inputs accurately with good responsiveness.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Software, Performance And Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra runs Google's Wear OS under the Samsung One UI interface. Google acquiesced a few years back, granting OEMs like Samsung the option to modify the wearable interface, which it previously did not allow. As a result, you'll feel right at home with the Watch Ultra if you've been using Samsung's phones. While the watch is quicker to set up on Samsung phones, it can pair with any Android phone after installing the necessary Samsung apps.
We had no trouble pairing the watch, and the connection is solid. Notifications arrive promptly, modifying settings from the phone is seamless, and fitness data syncs quickly. Getting around Wear OS is easy enough, but some of Samsung's past watches were better. The top button takes you home from whatever screen you're on, and the bottom one goes back one screen. The center Quick Button is configurable but defaults to launching workouts, and it's pretty handy for that. Unfortunately, there's no rotating crown or bezel like many other watches have—it's mostly buttons and swiping for the Watch Ultra. This watch supports a double pinch gesture to trigger certain features like taking a photo or dismissing a notification, a very Apple-y addition to Samsung's wearables.
One UI makes several significant changes from the stock Wear OS interface, including a more powerful notification system. Samsung puts notifications to the left of the watch face, and instead of being broken out into separate items, you retain the notification bundles from your phone. This makes it easier to triage long lists of emails or messages. Weirdly, the Galaxy Watch Ultra still defaults to using Bixby as the voice assistant. You can (and should) switch to Assistant in the settings. We appreciate that some of Samsung's new watch faces automatically switch to a low-brightness red mode to preserve your night vision in dark conditions, but Samsung did lift this feature wholesale from the Apple Watch Ultra.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra has an impressive set of health tracking features, but it doesn't quite live up to the Apple Watch Ultra. For example, while it has 10m water protection, there's no dive meter, one of Apple's premium watch trademarks. If you just want to track typical workouts, the Watch Ultra will do that well. It can automatically detect and log workouts, and the list of supported activities is longer than other Wear OS devices, including walking, running, swimming, elliptical and rowing. The watch also now includes the ability to create "multisport" workout plans.
In our testing, we found the Galaxy Watch Ultra's health metrics were a close match for other smartwatches. However, Samsung sometimes provides data that doesn't make a lot of sense, like the new AGE score. That's supposed to be a measure of metabolic health, but it has a pseudosciencey vibe. All that data syncs to the Samsung Health app, which is a bit clunky but you get used to it. The Galaxy Wearable app that manages the watch connection and settings is more sleek and modern, making it easy to change watch faces or modify notification delivery.
Some of the Watch Ultra's myriad features will only work if you have a Samsung phone, and some of them are important. You'll need to pair with a Galaxy device to run ECGs, and detect heath issues like sleep apnea and irregular heart rhythms. Some Galaxy AI features like the energy score are also limited to Samsung phones.
One of the best reasons to consider such a big smartwatch is that it's got more room for battery. With a 590mAh cell, the Galaxy Watch Ultra will run for the better part of a week without issue. Even if you push the Watch Ultra with GPS and music streaming, it should last you through more than two full days. When the time comes to recharge, it gets up to 10W wirelessly over Qi. However, the watch's small coil size makes most Qi chargers incompatible. The watch comes with a charging puck but no wall plug.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra Review Conclusion: The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
The size and weight of the Galaxy Watch Ultra makes it awkward to wear during workouts, but this is a sporty wearable first and foremost. The Watch Ultra makes strides in health and fitness tracking, and the new multisport workouts are great for people who take exercise seriously enough to train for triathlons. The third button also makes it quick to start a new workout.
Samsung promises four years of software updates for the Galaxy Watch Ultra. That's longer than other OEM, but it still feels a bit short for something that costs more than some of the company's mid-range smartphones. The version of Wear OS on this device will be familiar to anyone who's used Samsung's phones, but it's quite different from Google's take on Android wearables. We like Samsung's more capable notification setup, but the watch could really use a rotating crown or bezel to scroll through long lists.
On the other hand, there's really no way to dress the Watch Ultra up for a more formal event. Samsung's dearth of bands for the new connector limits your styling options greatly. The Galaxy Watch 7, however, is hundreds of dollars cheaper with a sleeker design, and it has almost all the same features as the Watch Ultra. That device should be your first stop if you're looking for a new Samsung smartwatch.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is Samsung’s answer to the Apple Watch Ultra, and as such it's a point product that might not appeal to all Android users. It's very large, and its $650 MSRP is hard to justify, though it is on sale now for nearly 20% off at Amazon. At the end of the day, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is a solid product, but it seems like something Samsung reactively designed to compete with Apple in a specific target market, and not necessarily a product it organically set out to make.
