Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra Review: Durable Squircle Wonderboy

As an Android user, I have always wondered if we’ll ever get an alternative as premium as Apple’s Watch Ultra. Well, Samsung’s newly launched Galaxy Watch Ultra with its familiar moniker and clearly derivative design turned out to be this siren call that I couldn’t turn down. I mean, this is Samsung’s most premium watch to date, priced at Rs 59,999 in India.

So, when Samsung sent us over the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s Titanium Gray variant, I pounced on the opportunity to do some ultra testing of my own. If you’re in the market for a premium smartwatch for your Android phone, is it worth the money? That’s what my detailed review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra sets out to answer. With that said, let’s begin!

Galaxy Watch Ultra Specs at a Glance

Now, before I take you through my review, here’s a quick rundown of the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s specifications for your reference:

Tank of a Watch to Last Forever

Out of the box, the Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with the all-too-familiar circular magnetic charging station, your selected wristband, and some paperwork. Nothing special there. But, when I lifted the watch itself without the straps attached, I could already feel the premium heft.

Upon attaching the simple push-to-attach Marine Band that we received, the watch gained some more heft. I’m a big man with big hands, and still, the watch felt a bit uncomfortable to wear at the start.

Now, the watch in itself isn’t that heavy, for it’s just around 60 grams. But, its thickness and slightly off-weight distribution are probably what makes it feel so hefty. Those with smaller wrists will take some getting used to, for sure.

Not to mention that the Marine band in itself is quite thick. I’d rather choose the Trail or PeakForm Band. However, even after wearing it through a very hot day (yes, even through sleep), the Marine band didn’t get one bit greasy with sweat, which is amazing.

As for the design, you can see Samsung trying its best to retain the classic Galaxy Watch circular dial look. However, that placed on the Squircle cushion did not appeal much to me. It’s a confusing design that limits the display (more on it later) size unnecessarily.

If you keep that odd shape aside though, this is not exactly a bad-looking smartwatch. The orange highlights enveloping the bezel, top button, and what Samsung is calling the new Quick Button, is a nice aesthetic touch. The new button also squeezes in very nicely in between the other two buttons but the access never felt claustrophobic.

But, there’s no doubt that the aerospace-grade titanium-made Galaxy Watch Ultra is a premium boy. In other words, you don’t have to worry about scratching up the body accidentally. I’m clumsy and have been using the smartwatch for a week without any protection.

The orange-highlighted bezel is also slightly lifted around the display, offering it a bit of protection there to the already Sapphire Glass-protected display.

Let’s say that scratches raised a white flag against the solid military-grade-backed make. It’s also IP68 rated with 10 ATM durability, so there’s that dust and water resistance too.

While we are at design, I should not leave out that Galaxy Watch Ultra seems to be a bit inspired by certain fruit company’s premium offering, especially the design part. However, Samsung has filled the spot that wasas lacking an Android option, and that matters the most.

Pretty Display That Almost Ticks All the Bezels

As I said earlier, my biggest predicament lies with the display being limited inside of the circular dial rather than expanding into the squircle. Don’t get me wrong, a 1.46-inch Super AMOLED Always-On display is great, but there’s nothing ultra about it.

Especially, since even the Galaxy Watch 7’s 44mm variant sports the same display size, being even slightly smaller than the Watch 6 Classic’s 1.5-inch panel. So, it only makes sense for the Ultra’s display to be bigger, but it’s not.

However, Samsung claims that this panel features a peak brightness of 3000 nits, and well, it’s plenty bright. Both brightly lit indoors and blindingly sunny outdoors, visibility was top-notch and didn’t make me squint.

The display isn’t too reflective either, which helps. Touch response is pretty good too, and the UI colors, are very vibrant. However, the display is not an upgrade of any sort, which is a bit of a letdown.

New BioActive Sensor, Energy Score, and More

While Galaxy Watches have mostly had pretty good health and fitness tracking, it gets a bit better this time with the Ultra. Samsung’s addition of a new BioActive sensor takes heart rate and sleep tracking a bit more seriously.

The Watch Ultra sports an in-built accelerometer, heart rate monitor, barometer, gyroscope, pedometer, blood oxygen level monitor, as well as a temperature sensor. All of these sensors work in tandem to deliver some solid tracking. Most importantly, I really liked how precise the automatic tracking of the Watch Ultra was.

During those brief halts in the middle of my 30-minute brisk walking sessions, the Watch Ultra accurately detected and paused my brisk walking workout routine. The steps, my heart rate, sweat loss, my walking route tracked via GPS, specific heart rate zones, my speed and pretty much everything gets very actively updated and tracked.

Sleep tracking is also pretty good, and you also get to see your skin temperature in the sleep data, which is great. You can also toggle on snoring data capture which is very helpful for those with sleep apnea or disturbed sleep in general. The quirky sleep coaching feature is retained too, and turns out, the Walrus in me requires some more sleep!

Finally, my favorite thing about the tracking is that you get to see a new Energy Score feature that has arrived with Samsung’s new OneUI 6 Watch OS. On a daily basis, going by your sleep schedule, activity levels, and heart rate monitoring on the Watch Ultra, you can see a new Energy score now. I have been scoring mostly in between an okayish 65-70 points here, which, as the app states, is fair at best.

There’s also AI-backed Wellness Tips, which gives you pointers on how to improve your energy levels or sleep schedule on the basis of data collected by your watch. If you’re someone who has a very messed up biological clock, the AI Energy Score and Wellness Tips feature can come in very handy.

While the tracking is solid and everything, I dislike the fact that I have to install different apps (Samsung Wearables, Samsung Health and the pre-installed Health app for ECG monitoring ) to get the most out of my health data. That’s what I particularly like about the OnePlus Watch 2 and 2R, for all you need is the single OHealth app.

However, Apple Watch Ultra users also have to install around three extra apps as well to get hold of proper health data. Still, I’d really appreciate it if Samsung streamlined the process a bit.

Talking about the companion apps themselves, both the Wearables and Health apps are pretty easy to operate. The other Samsung Health Monitor app lets you carry out ECG measurements. Now, all these apps are very well organized with a clean UI throughout to avoid confusion. For the most part, these apps follow a guided pattern to take you through it all.

Galaxy Watch Ultra UI and Performance

As for the Watch Ultra’s UI, when it comes to smartwatch UIs, the OneUI-based WearOS on Galaxy Watches is unbeatable. While the Watch Ultra doesn’t have a rotating bezel (I wish it did though), the solid haptic integration with the display rotation from the top to access the different UI pages is super satisfying.

However, there are some software optimization issues with the watch. There are some minor stutters and lags in the UI, which shouldn’t be the case. For reference, I used the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch 5 Pro we had at the office, and they were buttery smooth in comparison.

So, I’m guessing Samsung will fix these UI inconsistencies with an update. Plus, we had a review unit, so it could be a problem with our unit itself. Another issue that I noticed was that GPS navigation suddenly stopped working with Google Maps on day 4 or so.

When I was trying to set the navigation from the Beebom office to my place, I’d get hit by an error. Again, the dual-frequency GPS was working very well before, so some software issue here is the main culprit.

Keeping these UI optimization issues aside, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is a delight to use. The microphone and speaker quality are also amazing and I could take calls without any issues whatsoever. Not to mention that because it’s LTE, I could also take it out for those evening strolls and morning brisk walks without having to carry my phone.

Then there’s also the AI-suggested replies feature, which offers quick reply suggestions on the basis of your conversation history. During my testing, I found it to be quite useful for conversations that don’t require as much detailing, especially when you’re brisk walking.

In addition, I like how the quick button instantly lets you manually choose from tons of workout modes in an instant through My Exercises. You can also customize this button to do other things like start a timer, double down the display as a flashlight, or even a super emergency loud siren that can have you thrown out of place.

All the gestures, from single and double pinches to making a fist, are super responsive as well. All-in-all, the UI doesn’t leave much room for complaints here.

Best of the Worst Battery Backups

Galaxy Watches are infamous for barely lasting a day, but the Watch Ultra changes that, a bit. While I’m someone who really likes to go almost a week without having to charge my smartwatch, the fact that most premium watches don’t offer that is a hard pill to swallow. So, in my books, the Watch Ultra’s 590mAh battery’s 1.5 to 2 days of backup with medium usage is the best Samsung has given us so far.

This was after I had the Always-On display turned on, tracked some brisk walking for about an hour with GPS tracking enabled, listened to some music by connecting my earbuds to it, took a call or two, and used sleep mode at night.

As for charging, the Watch Ultra takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes to fully charge from 5% to 100%, which is not too bad, considering that this is a much bigger battery than the previous Galaxy Watches.

Is This the Best Samsung Watch to Date

All things considered, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is easily the most versatile, durable, and premium watch the brand has produced. However, keeping the bigger battery and titanium build aside, there are barely any extraordinary differentiating factors to set it apart from the Galaxy Watch 7.

The Watch 7 comes with a military-grade build as well and features the same display size. I do wish the Watch Ultra had a bigger display. Yes, it has 5 ATM instead of the Watch Ultra’s 10 ATM, but the Galaxy Watch Ultra doesn’t even have a depth sensor to back up that resistance like Apple Watch Ultra’s.

Now, while that’s a missed opportunity, the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s ability to withstand saline water is what makes it extra durable. The better battery backup is also another thing to consider the Galaxy Watch Ultra for.

Most importantly, it has ECG and period tracking, both of which are missing from Wear OS watches like the OnePlus Watch 2 and 2R. Again, the Galaxy Watch 7 has it too. Pricing is also an important thing to consider. In my humble opinion, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is slightly expensive at Rs 59,999. Had it been priced at Rs 10,000 less, it would have hit the spot for me.

So, ultimately, my suggestion would be to go for the Galaxy Watch Ultra if you are a fitness enthusiast who’s also got a flair for adventure sports and hardcore outdoor activities. If you’re not, the Galaxy Watch 7 should easily suffice, costing significantly less, starting at Rs 29,999.