Having used and reviewed a lot of smart watches in through the years, I would expect that an “ultra” version like the Galaxy Watch Ultra would bring all the goodness of a powerful smartwatch and a modern timepiece into single wearable device that you’d want to wear all day, any day.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra tries to deliver all that and then some, but it keeps repeating to ponder — is it worth really worth it? We find out in this review.
Table of Contents
Design and Construction
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is a nice-looking, sporty type of watch that comes in a variety of colors — Titanium Sliver, Titanium Gray, Titanium White. The body is made up of grade 4 Titanium alloy with Sapphire Crystal for the glass panel.
It’s also very chunky at around 12mm thick with a rounded squarish shape that surrounds the circular glass display for added protection. The chamfered edges are glossy while the rest of the surface are in matte finish. At 60 grams, it’s not really that heavy on the wrist despite the fact that that double the weight of the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 7.
The 47-inch watch face is already on the bigger end of the spectrum but as someone who used to own 52mm over-sized Fossil watches, this is just right up my alley.
Having said that, it’s not the best for users who have small wrists since it might look comically large on you. But, if those are the kind of watches you like, then go for it. Who am I to stop you right? The rubber strap does feel nice on your wrist, and not to mention it is comfortable. With the orange strap and the large watch, the combo we had reminds me of a Richard Mille.
The last time I wore the Galaxy Watch 5, the rubber straps caused some irritation and abrasions on my wrist but the one on the Watch Ultra surprisingly did not cause the same issues.
The watch is also IP68 rated which means you can take it for a simple swim or go all the way for a triathlon (although Samsung cautions against salt or chlorinated water).
Display and Hardware
The glass screen on the Watch Ultra is made with sapphire crystal and ceramic/sapphire crystal back. Sapphire is the gold-standard in terms of resistant glasses for use in luxury timepieces so you can be sure of durability and longevity.
The display is a 1.5-inch Super AMOLED screen with 480×480 pixel resolution giving you as 327ppi pixel density. For added protection, the glasses is slightly recessed and surrounded by a titanium ring, just in case you drop, bang or smash the watch face against any hard surface.
Outdoor visibility is not a problem — we are able to clearly see the display even with the sun at high noon, thanks to the display’s 3,000 nits peak brightness.
The Watch Ultra is powered by a 3nm chipset — an Exynos W1000 which has a penta-core processor and a Mali-G68 GPU. This is paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. However, you are left with just around 22GB of usage storage to install additional apps on the device.
Running apps and other tasks on the watch feels like a breeze — it’s fast and snappy and can handle multiple apps without slowing down.
OS, UI and Apps
The device runs on the latest Samsung Wear OS and very easy to use, navigating the interface by simply swiping left to right and cycle thru the various functions via the Touch bezels. When you swipe up, you will be greeted with the dozens of pre-installed apps and access to Settings to customize the device.
My recently installed Google Keep app on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 also immediately appeared and ready to use after a few clicks on the watch.
The Watch Ultra has three physical buttons — the middle one with orange color is a special Quick Button which allows you to customize and launch a specific feature. By default, clicking it would open up the Workout Activities.
If you use a Samsung phone, that you’ all set with connecting to the Watch Ultra. Otherwise, you’ll need to install and download the Wearable app and Samsung Health app in order to connect and sync the watch to your phone.
You will get to see a wealth of data with the Health app and you can dig deeper into the analytics — from as simple as step counter, calories burned, heart rate, sleep quality. For more health readings like Blood Pressure and ECG, you need to download another app called Samsung Health Monitor. The process is a little more complicaqted and you need to calibrate the watch before you can use it but I think it is worth the hassle.
Connectivity and Battery Life
For connectivity, the Galaxy Watch Ultra supports WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, dual GPS and LTE. The LTE feature allows you to set up a mobile plan on your watch (eSIM). However, when we tried this with our Globe Postpaid plans and DITO postpaid plan, it did not work (Globe/DITO currently does not offer mobile plan for watches) at the moment.
With the Watch Ultra always paired with your phone, you get all sorts of notifications, even able to answer calls via the watch or run some of the apps directly on the watch itself. You also have the ability to control your Galaxy Buds if you have one.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with its proprietary magnetic charging cradle that connects via USB Type-C. From experience, it takes a little under 2 hours to fully charge the watch from a completely drained state.
We were hoping that the Watch Ultra will support reverse wireless charging from any Samsung phone but that’s not the case. Many other smart watches, including the previous Galaxy Watch models, are able to do this. Apparently, Samsung removed the Wireless Power Sharing feature from the Galaxy Watch 7 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra.
This means you will have to carry the magnetic wireless charger with you all the time, in case the Watch Ultra runs out of juice.
Samsung claims various usage time depending on the features being turned ON/OFF — up to 80 hours with AOD off, up to 60 hours with AOD on, up to 48 hours in outdoor workout with GPS (in Exercise Power Saving) and up to 100 hours in Typical Usage (Power Saving mode).
In our experience, with normal usage and connected to our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, the watch is able to last at least 2.5 to 3 days which translate to about 72 hours.
Over-all, my main disappointment with health monitoring is that I am not able to regularly and consistently monitor my steps, calories and sleep activities primarily because there were occasions that tracking has been disabled as the watch already ran out of battery later in the evening or in the middle of the day and I am already outside without a charger on hand.
Since the first 2 weeks, I have learned to consciously bring the wireless charger with me and regularly check the battery life of the watch multiple times a day, just to be sure.
Conclusion
It’s obvious that the Galaxy Watch Ultra was designed for those who demand more from a typical smart watch — more than a step counter, heart rate monitor or sleep activity analyzer.
The Watch Ultra is for those who want a more detailed and more accurate measurement of very specific activity or sport. It combines all the best materials for ruggedness and durability, crafted beautifully to a detail and packed with all the latest hardware and sensors so you get the most out of it. Still, it is versatile enough to that you can use it on any casual day or prep it up for long day’s workout session, whatever your sport may be.
The only drawback here is that — the more powerful the watch, the more power hungry it becomes. So, if you’re a very active user — like someone who jogs 5km every morning — then you will not have a problem with the nightly routine to re-charge the Galaxy Watch at night. That way, you can use it at full charge the next day or continue using it in the evening for sleep monitoring while having enough battery to last the next day’s busy activity.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is now out in stores nationwide and has a suggested retail price of Php 40,990. That’s a pretty investment but if you’re not up to it and do not need some of the more in-depth features, you can still go for the more affordable Galaxy Watch7.
What we liked:
* Beautiful sporty design
* Nice, solid build
* More accurate sensors
* More durable material
What we did not like:
* Short battery life
* Does not support Wireless Power Sharing
* Can be too big for some
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra specs:
1.5-inch Super AMOLED display @ 480×480 pixels
3nm penta-core chipset @ 1.6GHz, 1.5GHz
2GB RAM
32GB internal storage
eSIM 4G/LTE
802.11a/b/g/n 2.4GHz+5GHz
Bluetooth 5.3
NFC
GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo
10 ATM
IP68
MIL-STD-810H
Accelerometer, Barometer, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Sensor, Electrical Heart Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Infrared Temperature Sensor, Light Sensor, Optical Heart Rate Sensor
590mAh battery
Samsung Wear OS
60.5 grams (weight)
47.4mm x 47.1mm x 12.1mm (dimensions)
Globe postpaid has a cellular service for watches, they called it OneNumber https://www.globe.com.ph/postpaid/onenumber#gref while Smart and Dito doesn’t offer it.