Durable with better battery life

Review: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra - In Over Its Head

It is a refreshing addition to Samsung's watch lineup but not entirely positive. Gone is the rotating bezel around the screen, and instead, there's a new design, better durability, and battery life.

Erik Mörner

Published 9 September 2024 - 09:59 Modified 24 January 2025 - 16:22

The name Ultra signals that function takes precedence over price pressure. The screen is admittedly as large as last year's Watch 6 Classic, but in several other areas, there has been an upgrade. The battery is marginally larger, the performance significantly sharpened, and of course, we have a new design, a round screen while the frame is somewhat square in shape. Above all, the watch is supposed to be more durable, so you can dive deeper and be out on longer and tougher adventures. The functions in the watch itself are surprisingly unchanged, and the Galaxy Watch Ultra, which has been compared to the Apple Watch Ultra, perhaps due to the name and similar bands, lacks the unique function for depth measurement when diving but has borrowed others like the action button and emergency siren.

News that is barely noticeable

Galaxy Watch Ultra is the first with Wear OS 5, but the differences from before are extremely few, mostly limited to new possibilities for developers. The foundation is the established one that you have a watch face that you can now customize in a few more ways. You can change both the appearance and what information you want to have available directly here at a glance. If I swipe to the sides, I come to weather, calendar, training, and all these shortcuts can of course be customized.

A swipe from top to bottom shows quick settings and a swipe in the opposite direction takes me to the app list with icons. The whole idea with Wear OS is that in addition to health and fitness tracking, you should also have third-party apps, so here you can find both Google's own apps like Gmail, Google Maps, Wallet, and Assistant as well as Spotify, Whatsapp, Strava, and other apps. The range of apps is not particularly large, but you could say the most important ones are available. However, we should point out that Wear OS still seems to be low on Google's priority lists. New features like the Gemini app available for phones are notably absent on the watch.

In addition to this, Samsung of course includes its own apps, like Samsung Wallet, Calendar, Smartthings, and, almost comically, the Samsung Internet browser. As if anyone would benefit from browsing the regular web on the watch's minimal screen and limited input options.

Fragmented and Unfinished

It has been a few years now since Samsung switched to Google's updated smartwatch system, and it still gives a somewhat fragmented and unfinished impression. The experience of Wear OS varies depending on which manufacturer makes the watch. In Samsung's case, we get settings in the Samsung Wearable app on the phone and health monitoring in Samsung Health. Additionally, there is ECG and Blood Pressure via the Samsung Health Monitor app, which is only available for Samsung phones.

Something that Samsung has at least managed to improve now is the battery life. The Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with e-sim capability, and it's one of the first things I test. It allows me to go for a run and stream Spotify directly to the headphones without bringing my phone. When I tested this with the predecessor, the battery only lasted two hours, but with better battery capacity in the Ultra and perhaps most importantly, a more efficient system chip, it works significantly better now. An hour of running with GPS active and music streaming takes the battery from 100 to 74 percent. Generally, during the test weeks, the battery life varies between one and two days depending on how much I use the watch and whether I have the phone with me or rely on the connection via the watch's esim. When I then need to charge, it goes slowly. I test both charging with Samsung's own Duo charger (which charges the phone and watch simultaneously) and just the watch with the included cable and a fast charger. Both are subpar and charge fully in a leisurely 2.5 hours. Given that the watch has a battery life of less than a day when I use it extensively, it is far too slow. Samsung's own Duo charger is not only slow but also requires me to remove the strap for the watch to even fit in the charger and get close enough for wireless charging.

Among skyscrapers, the GPS has precision issues.

GPS accuracy is supposed to be improved, but I don't notice any major differences. I take the opportunity to compare with an Apple Watch 9 and then I get almost identical results. The accuracy is good, but not top-notch, so I can still see some deviations when I closely examine the map of where I've run. When I really challenge the watch and take a long run among tall skyscrapers in Asia, the result is disappointing. Here it is clear that the GPS has problems and a significantly cheaper watch I have on the other arm performs much better.

Overall, the watch measures my workouts well. However, the larger battery and more durable design make the format bulky, and I feel it when I sleep with the watch. It is simply noticeable on the arm and therefore quite uncomfortable at night. During the day, I don't react to it, but in bed, it can easily catch when I move or press uncomfortably against the arm in certain positions.

Messy with analysis and advice

I recently tested the Oura Ring, a smart ring that impressed especially with the precision of its sleep tracking and the thoughtful advice and analysis it provided. It's not surprising that Samsung's watch doesn't serve the same function, but I still react to the contrast in the reporting of health data. Samsung Health presents a range of different metrics, like energy scores and sleep animals. I am told that I sleep like a deer. My previous Samsung watch said I slept like a lion. I get energy scores and under that heading, warnings in certain areas. “Action needed” for heart rate during sleep and activity during the previous day. What I should do is unclear, however, and this creates more anxiety than helps me. The vague suggestions to “make the bed a place for sleep” don't help either. I try changing my activity goals, but it doesn't help to remove the warning about too little activity the day before, despite the fact that I close my activity rings every day and more. The really helpful advice and insightful analysis are missing.

Large and therefore uncomfortable to sleep with

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is a watch that costs over 8000 kronor, twice as much as the sister model Watch 7. It includes e-sim capability, allowing me to stay in touch with the outside world and respond to chats and more directly on the watch. Such a high price means we should be able to set high demands, and I don't think the Watch Ultra lives up to them. The functionality is generally good, as I have explained, but there are teething problems and weaknesses. One workout, out of the twenty or so I do with the watch, shows the route on the map but still claims that the round I took is zero meters. The screen and performance are generally good, but still, there are times when the watch delays before the screen lights up when I lift my arm, and sometimes I have to press or swipe twice on the screen before the watch fully wakes up and responds. One night I wake up at 2 AM because the watch is vibrating persistently. Did I forget to activate sleep mode? No, it is active. But I see that vibration is still active, so I turn it off. A minute later, the watch vibrates again. The cause is probably a combination of user error and a bug, but regardless of the cause, it is unworthy of a watch of this caliber.