2 days Ago By Firstpost
Pros: - Solid stainless steel case - Rotating bezel - Bright, radiant display - Eco-friendly synthetic leather strap - Pretty accurate sensors - Skin temperature sensor - Solid performance Cons: - Average battery life - A little heavy on the wrists - Some of the sensors don’t work in India Price: Rs 59,999 Rating: 4.5/5 Samsung’s latest release, the Galaxy Watch Ultra, is set to compete directly with Apple’s Watch Ultra, and the similarities between the two are evident in both name and design. However, despite these parallels, Samsung’s model aims to carve out its own niche with a host of new features and a robust design.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra represents Samsung’s most advanced smartwatch to date. It boasts a larger, tougher build compared to its predecessors, and is designed to be more durable and long-lasting. The watch features a significantly thicker and more resilient strap, which enhances its suitability for rugged use.
The outer casing is constructed from scratch-resistant titanium, adding to its durability. The watch face is housed in a distinctive squircle-shaped “cushion,” which Samsung highlights as a key design element. One of the standout features of the Galaxy Watch Ultra is the addition of a ‘Quick button.
’ This new orange button, positioned alongside the traditional controls, offers users swift access to frequently used functions, underscoring Samsung’s focus on practical usability. While both the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch Ultra target similar high-performance markets, they cater to distinct ecosystems — Samsung’s watch for Android users and Apple’s for iOS users. Samsung’s model is not just a competitor but also a statement of its commitment to providing a top-tier smartwatch experience with enhanced durability and advanced features.
So how does it fare as an EDC watch? Well, we spend over a month testing it out thoroughly, and here’s what we found. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra LTE Review: The Design The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra LTE certainly stands out with its design. Its large, chunky 47mm case, which combines a circular face with a squared-off edge, gives it a distinctive look.
The watch feels robust from the moment you hold it, complemented by wide silicone straps that enhance its rugged, sporty appeal. Available in Silver, Grey, and White, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is quite the presence. Personally, I’m not keen on the square-in-a-circle shape that Samsung has chosen.
A chunky, fully circular design, like some Garmin models, would have been preferable. However, considering its resemblance to Apple’s Watch Ultra, it’s clear why Samsung opted against a purely circular display. The watch’s screen is surrounded by makings on a ring or a bezel of sorts, which does not rotate, and on the right side of the case, there are three buttons: a customisable quick-access button, a home button, and a back button.
The left side houses the speaker, while the back is home to the sensors. There are release buttons on the back for easy strap removal, though the fastening mechanism is proprietary. This means standard straps with quick-release pins won’t fit, which is a bit disappointing.
The straps themselves are wide, sturdy, and comfortable, with a double-clasp buckle that keeps the watch secure during any activity. The grey strap that came with my grey-coloured review unit gives the watch a more understated look compared to the bright orange band seen in Samsung’s promotional materials. This grey strap also sets it apart from the Apple Watch Ultra.
Speaking of the Apple Watch Ultra, comparisons are inevitable largely because of how Samsung is positioning the Galaxy Watch Ultra, and how it is designed. People are under the impression that Samsung has been busy taking notes from Apple, at least for the design, and for good reason. Both watches featuring similar traits such as accurate GPS, emergency sirens, night modes with red illumination, and battery life that falls just short of lasting a full weekend in the wild.
Despite this, the Galaxy Watch Ultra boasts a range of impressive features, particularly for Wear OS users. The watch’s upgraded sleep and recovery metrics, enhanced by Galaxy AI, make it highly effective, assuming you’re comfortable wearing it overnight. Though it’s priced on the higher side and lacks a significant screen upgrade, without a shadow of a doubt, it is Samsung’s best smartwatch to date.
The casing is fully dive-proof, with IP68 and 10ATM ratings, making it resistant to extreme temperatures and conditions. The familiar two-button setup is complemented by a new Quick button that can be customised to start workouts, switch between segments, or jump to the next profile using the Multisports tile. During testing, the interface was smooth and intuitive, making it easy for regular Samsung users to adapt despite the design changes.
Although the Galaxy Watch Ultra lacks a physical rotating bezel — which would have been a much useful feature if you’re in the outdoors and are wearing gloves to protect your hands, — you do get a virtual rotating bezel. During our tests thought, we felt that the bezel can be a bit challenging to use, especially when you’re getting used to it. Fortunately, you get used to it really quickly.
Plus, the user interface remains easy to navigate with regular taps and swipes, and the large hardware buttons provide additional ease of use. Ultimately, the watch’s appearance is a matter of personal taste. The all-grey model looks sleek, while the matching grey strap on the testing unit makes it stand out — whether that’s a positive or negative depends on individual preference.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is substantial and the vibrant strap garners attention, leading to mixed reactions from those I encountered over the past week. One thing that’s undeniable is the watch’s durability. The titanium case and sapphire crystal ensures that it can take a beating, and then some.
It can handle extreme temperatures and impacts that would likely damage most other smartwatches, and it supports a wide range of third-party apps. It has resistance up to 10ATM or about 100 meters, a depth that you wouldn’t dare take most smartwatches to. It can also survive temperatures from -20 to 50 degrees Celsius stay completely functional at altitudes up to 9,000 meters.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra LTE Review: The Display The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra continues with the round-screen design of the previous generation of Galaxy Watches, despite using a squarish chassis. The Galaxy Watch Ultra features the same 44mm screen size with a 480 x 480 full-colour AMOLED display that we see in the Galaxy Watch 7. Samsung has maintained the same size as its previous largest model.
This approach may leave some unused space on the watch, but it might also help in managing production costs. The display is protected by Sapphire Crystal and offers always-on capabilities, along with a new infrared-style Night mode. The 1.
5-inch AMOLED display is impressively bright, reaching up to 3,000 nits, and it meets Samsung’s high standards for display quality. The screen is highly responsive, enhancing the overall user experience. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra LTE Review: The Performance And Software The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is powered by a 3nm, 1.
6GHz Exynos W1000 penta-core SoC, coupled with 2GB of RAM, ensuring smooth and speedy performance. During my time with the watch, it handled tasks without any noticeable lag or slowdowns. From a health and fitness perspective, the watch provides accurate data for essential metrics like steps, heart rate, and SpO2 levels.
For instance, when I manually counted 1,000 steps, the watch recorded 960 — a reasonable margin of error. The Galaxy Watch Ultra offers advanced health metrics such as BMI, blood pressure, and ECG readings, all of which appear to be fairly accurate. A notable new feature is the irregular heart rhythm notification.
If the watch detects an irregular heartbeat for an hour, it alerts you to take an ECG for further assessment. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra offers an array of advanced sleep monitoring features, though they come with a few complications. The watch’s sizable and somewhat bulky design can make it uncomfortable to wear overnight.
For optimal use of its features, including the new AGEs Index (Advanced Glycation End-products) which tracks metabolic health, the watch needs to be worn snugly throughout the night. If you skip wearing it to bed, you miss out on detailed sleep metrics and potentially valuable health insights. In the U.
S., the watch can even detect sleep apnea, but this feature isn’t yet available in India due to regulatory constraints. Aside from health tracking, the Galaxy Watch Ultra provides a range of safety features, such as fall detection and a loud emergency siren.
This siren is particularly useful for alerting others if you find yourself in a difficult situation, especially during outdoor activities. One of the standout features is the programmable Quick button, which allows users to start a workout with just one press. The watch also excels in tracking various activities, including hiking, running, swimming, and cycling, thanks to its new precision dual-frequency GPS.
This GPS capability enhances accuracy and includes older features like the TrackBack function. TrackBack helps you retrace your steps on a GPS-driven route, guiding you back to your starting point if you veer off course. The dive mode, similar to the Apple Watch Ultra, includes a water lock and a function to eject water from the system, which worked effectively during a surfing session, despite some noticeable beeps.
I spent a week thoroughly testing the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, draining its battery and exploring its full range of features. I made calls, replied to WhatsApp messages, used third-party apps like AllTrails, and tried the Body Composition tool. Overall, the watch’s suite of smartwatch and fitness features performed seamlessly.
My initial test was a morning of surfing, where the water lock function worked well under my wetsuit for over an hour. Although Samsung offers profiles for windsurfing and kitesurfing, there’s no specific profile for surfing. To work around this, I created a custom workout in the Samsung Health app to track heart rate and calorie expenditure, which provided an approximation of my efforts for recovery monitoring.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra demonstrated its durability during water activities, handling waves, salt, and a few tumbles off the board with ease. Running performance was also impressive. During a 5K run around London’s Hyde Park, the watch accurately estimated metrics like heart rate, cadence, elevation gain, and pace.
Samsung’s GPS accuracy, consistent with comparisons to the Apple Watch Ultra 2, was reliable. The watch’s advanced running metrics are noteworthy. It displayed a real-time graph of running symmetry, helping me monitor whether I was favouring one leg over the other.
While running on an incline, I noticed a change in the symmetry graph as I moved to the edge of the path to accentuate the slope, highlighting the watch’s detailed tracking capabilities. Other features carried over from previous models include health monitoring with an upgraded Samsung BioActive sensor array. This includes heart rate, blood oxygen levels, heart rate variability, skin temperature, ECG scans, and body composition analysis using BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis).
The measurements I received were quite close to my previous smart-scale readings, demonstrating the watch’s accuracy. Powered by One UI Watch 6, Samsung’s Wear OS 5 skin, and the Samsung Health app, the watch integrates all collected data to offer personalised health and fitness insights. Third-party apps on Wear OS can also take advantage of Samsung’s dual-precision GPS, adding extra functionality not available as standard.
Additionally, the Galaxy Watch Ultra features an Apple-style double-pinch gesture control, which can be used with a Samsung phone to take photos or dismiss alarms. While this is a cool feature, it’s quite niche, and more gesture controls are reportedly in development. However, there are a few drawbacks.
Samsung’s basic workout profiles do not offer real-time map views for positioning or directions—you need to use another app and track workouts in the background for these features. I found it inconvenient to constantly swipe the touchscreen to change screens during workouts, especially when my hands were dirty and sweaty. Although the Quick button allows you to pause workouts, I wished for a rotational functionality like Apple’s Digital Crown.
This was my main issue with the watch, but overall, it performed excellently in terms of metrics and functionality. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra LTE Review: The Battery The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra presents a mixed picture. Equipped with a substantial 590mAh battery, one might expect impressive endurance from this smartwatch.
However, in practical use, the watch typically lasts around two days before needing a recharge, which suggests there’s potential for improvement in this area. Samsung positions the Galaxy Watch Ultra as a high-performance device ideal for sports and adventure enthusiasts. For shorter excursions, such as a two-day trek, the watch will likely serve you well.
However, for extended adventures, packing a charger and a power bank would be advisable to ensure you don’t run out of battery. Samsung advertises that the Galaxy Watch Ultra can achieve up to 100 hours of battery life. This extended duration is achievable if you switch to low-power mode and disable features such as the always-on display.
In my experience, with the always-on display active and after several GPS workouts, the battery life barely extended into the third day, clocking in at approximately 62 hours. This discrepancy highlights a gap between the advertised and real-world battery performance, particularly for users relying heavily on GPS and screen features. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra Review: The Verdict Priced at Rs 59,999, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is certainly more of an investment and les of a toy that you would want to buy for every day, regular use.
Its large size and rugged design may not appeal to everyone. The absence of a physical rotating bezel and replacing it with a capacitive touch option, is another point of contention. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra excels on paper with its impressive specifications and new features, it falls short of achieving a distinct Samsung identity.
Instead, it seems to mimic aspects of Apple’s Watch Ultra, without fully embracing its own unique characteristics. Despite these criticisms, the Galaxy Watch Ultra offers several standout features. Its advanced health and fitness tracking capabilities, including irregular heart rhythm notifications and a loud emergency siren, are valuable additions.
The watch’s rugged construction also instils confidence for active sports enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers. In essence, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is a compelling choice for Android users who are fitness or sports enthusiasts, or anyone looking for a bold and substantial smartwatch. It stands out as a notable option in the market, though it could have better distinguished itself from its competitors by maintaining more of its original Samsung identity.
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