Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra initial review: Strong but polarizing first effort

I've spent nearly two weeks with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, which launches tomorrow (July 24), testing how it compares to past Galaxy Watches. Thus far, it's a significantly better experience than the last-gen Galaxy Watches, but that also applies to the (much cheaper) Galaxy Watch 7. That makes buying the Galaxy Watch Ultra at its full $650 price tag a big ask.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra follows in the Apple Watch Ultra's footsteps, with upgrades like the third Quick Button, siren, and 3,000-nit display matching Apple's premium offerings. It's not a carbon copy, thankfully: Samsung kept its circular design identity intact and offers much better battery life. Plus, Samsung has used the "Ultra" label for nearly two decades — remember its "Ultra Edition" phones in the 2000s? — and has more right to the name.

Here's the issue: Samsung isn't competing with Apple, which gets away with high price tags, but rather itself and the expectations it's set with past generations. People accepted the $450 Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and the $400 Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. The surcharges for better battery life, style, and controls felt reasonable. With the Galaxy Watch Ultra, some of the improvements are very niche, while the 3+-day battery life used to cost $200 less to get. Nor do you get the premium perks we've come to expect with Ultra phones, like extra RAM or display size.

That's enough preamble and market analysis. Only you can decide if you can afford an expensive smartwatch, so I'll focus specifically on what makes the Galaxy Watch Ultra a great watch — and how it fares against the best Android smartwatches today.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Price and availability

Samsung will release the Galaxy Watch Ultra on July 24, 2024, for $649 / £599 / €699 / CA$879 / A$1,299 / ₹59,999, with preorders ending on July 23. The $299 Galaxy Watch 7 is significantly more affordable.

Available in White, Silver, and Black, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has three band options: Marine, Trail, and Peakform. Preordering lets you add a second band for free. The nylon Trail band is the lightest for the best comfort but will absorb sweat. The elastomer Marine band will repel water for swimming and water sports but feels heaviest. And the rubber Peakform band is a sporty middle-ground option.

Samsung is offering a significant trade-in discount (varying by country) for the Galaxy Watch Ultra. In the U.S., for instance, you can get up to $350 off by trading in a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic or Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, plus the free second band. Any smartwatch in good condition will save $100, while specific Apple or Garmin watches save you more. This boosted trade-in value may end after the 23rd, however.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Design and bands

Samsung designed a watch that looks better in person than in photos. All you can see from afar is a chunky square; in person, the shiny, metallic contours and buttons, rounded edges, and raised bezel look attractive and distinct from any other smartwatch I've worn.

Without a band, the Galaxy Watch Ultra weighs 60.5g / 2.13oz, comparable to the Watch 6 Classic 47mm (59g) but heavier than the Watch 5 Pro (46.5g). Unlike the Classic, most of that extra weight is for squircle aesthetics, not the function of a rotating bezel. Switching to this will be a real transition if you're used to the 1.5-inch Watch 6 (33.3g), though not compared to other "flagship" watches.

Still, this thing is chunky. Samsung claims it's 12.1mm thick, not including the massive health sensor lump; it's actually closer to 16mm. If you use this for sleep tracking — instead of buying a Galaxy Ring — you'll sleep on one specific side every night so it doesn't push into your wrist.

My colleague Nick argued that the watch "didn't feel like it was an overly bulky or massive watch" during his Galaxy Watch Ultra hands-on, and I agree that it looks normal, though I'm more conscious of its weight than I am wearing a traditional smartwatch while typing away at my desk. Out and about, I don't notice it.

I enlisted my smaller-wristed, Apple Watch 9-wearing fiancee for her opinion, having her wear the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra 2 on either wrist. She said she'd happily wear either but that she preferred the Galaxy Watch Ultra's design and the fit of the Marine band over Apple's Trail band, which she said made it look and feel "top-heavy."

Though I find the Marine band too thick and would've preferred the thinner nylon option, it proportionally matches the Galaxy Watch Ultra's bulk, so the weight distributes more naturally, and it appears less oversized. I don't mind an imbalanced, blocky look for a softer, more breathable band, so I'd choose Trail or Peakform.

What makes the Galaxy Watch Ultra "niche" is its rugged design, which is tailored for extreme conditions. All Samsung watches have the MIL-STD-810H label slapped on, meaning they should survive if dropped on the floor. However, Samsung specifically tested the durable Ultra for "high/ low temperatures, altitude, humidity, immersion, salt, fog, dust, vibration, and drops."

The Galaxy Watch Ultra can survive elevations up to 29,527 feet, or slightly higher than Mount Everest. Of course, it's only rated for temperatures of -4°F to 131°F (-20ºC to 55ºC) before functions fail, and most mountain peaks get much colder than that. Ultra users will probably wear it in more casual workout conditions.

Samsung promises that the Galaxy Watch Ultra has 10ATM water resistance (double most watches' max depth) and was tested in salty or chlorinated water, so you can safely swim anywhere so long as you gently rinse it off afterward. 

The Quick Button, nested between the usual two Home and Back buttons, opens up your Samsung Health exercises by default, though you can reconfigure it to trigger your flashlight, stopwatch, or water lock mode. Hold it down, and you'll trigger an 85db siren to help people find you in emergencies.

During a workout, you tap it to pause the activity instantly instead of having to swipe left and tap a button with sweaty fingers. It's extremely convenient, the main thing I'd miss as a runner if I downgraded to the Galaxy Watch 7.

My main complaint is that Samsung made the Quick Button crown-shaped but didn't add any crown functionality. Without the Watch 6 Classic's physical bezel, you're fully reliant on swipes or rotating your finger along the display edge to scroll, and I much prefer a physical dial since that leaves my view of the display uninterrupted. Without a crown or bezel, the Ultra experience is missing something.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Hardware and display

Samsung gave the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7 44mm the same 1.5-inch, 480x480 display, except that the Ultra climbs up to 3,000 nits. That extra brightness looks fantastic in direct California sunlight, richly colorful and unimpeded by reflections. 

It has Sapphire glass to protect against scratches and an elevated bezel that makes the display less likely to scrape against something than the fully-flat Watch 7. 

You might wish Samsung had made the Ultra display even larger to justify the higher price, but it's already heavy enough. Maybe Samsung will transition the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 to a squircle, as has been rumored, to differentiate the Ultra from mainline Galaxy Watches. For now, Samsung made the right call by keeping things familiar for long-time Android watch fans.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7 have nearly identical hardware. The four main Watch 6-to-7 upgrades — the Exynos W1000 CPU, doubled storage, dual-band GPS, and 3x the LEDs for better heart rate data — are found on both watches. I'm glad Samsung didn't keep these new perks exclusive to try and upsell us, but that does mean the Ultra doesn't have that many exclusives besides extra battery life and built-in LTE cellular through your carrier.

That doesn't make these upgrades any less valuable. I'll talk in a later section about the excellent GPS and HR performance, and the doubled storage is vital for anyone who wants to stream music, podcasts, or audiobooks while using the Watch Ultra as a standalone smartwatch.

As for the Exynos W1000 upgrade, I'm having trouble quantifying its value. It's undoubtedly faster than my Watch 6 and (especially) Watch 5 Pro, loading apps and processing Google Assistant queries in a flash. But is it "2.7x quicker" than the last-gen watch, as Samsung's marketing claims? I can't see that stark difference in real-life use. I appreciate the boost, but I wonder if the Watch Ultra will still feel as fast in a few years with later Wear OS versions.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Battery and charging

Samsung promises that the Galaxy Watch Ultra lasts 60 hours in standard conditions with always-on display active, 16 hours of workout time with dual-band GPS, or 100 hours in power-saving mode. 

I haven't tried the latter yet, as I've tried to put the Ultra through its paces whenever possible. As for standard longevity, it hasn't quite lived up to specs: the Ultra tends to only last about 40–45 hours with AOD, in my experience, with it stretching about 10–20 hours further without AOD. I'll have more definitive stats in my final review.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra did impress me by using just 15% battery across two hours of workout time, which would put it on pace for 13 hours of tracking. That's below estimate but still more than enough for most athletes, with enough capacity left for the rest of the day and night.

My Galaxy Watch 5 Pro consistently lasted longer out of the box with the same 590mAh capacity. I suspect two likely culprits: the Ultra's display and CPU. 3X the nits of brightness will burn more battery to keep things readable outdoors. And even though Samsung says its 3nm Exynos is more efficient than the Exynos W930 or W920, it's still clocked higher and doesn't have a co-processor to use Google's Wear OS hybrid interface.

Despite hoping the Galaxy Watch Ultra would last slightly longer, it still gives you an important step up over the Galaxy Watch 7 (and most other Android watches). And it has decently fast 10W charging, good enough to fill up from dead to 100% in two hours or less. But I do wonder if Samsung could've squeezed a few more mAh into this ultra-thick watch.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Fitness and health

Samsung tripled the number of LEDs in the Galaxy Watch Ultra compared to the Watch 6, which it promised would improve accuracy during intense workout activities from 88% to 94%. It also added dual-band GPS, which lets the watch pull your location data from multiple satellite positions to work around any obstructions like buildings or foliage.

Does it make a difference? Health and fitness data was my biggest knock against the Watch 6 when I reviewed it last year. This year, I performed a rapid-fire fitness test and found that the Galaxy Watch Ultra closely matched up against a Garmin watch for GPS accuracy and a dedicated heart rate strap for HR data. It only struggled in one instance: when running an anaerobic track workout at a near-max heart rate.

Since then, I performed a longer test, running with the Garmin Forerunner 965 and Galaxy Watch Ultra on each wrist, both in dual-band mode. In the end, they both had a matching 160 bpm HR average and were only 0.01 miles apart in tracked distance after 9.5 miles. They also deviated by only 1 step per minute for tracked cadence, and their total tracked steps were only 309 apart after over 17,000 steps total.

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Looking more closely at how they compare, the Galaxy Watch Ultra did start to struggle a bit in the later miles, randomly dipping in moments when I was stepping up my pace, then overcompensating and rising to higher heart rates. It averaged out, but "serious" athletes may want to rely on a dedicated strap for the best results.

In terms of GPS accuracy, Garmin did win the battle; the Galaxy Watch Ultra had mile-long stretches where it showed me off my running path, while Garmin stayed perfect. Practically, though, it didn't matter: the Ultra and Forerunner stayed parallel, without the weaving or signal loss the GPS-only Watch 6 had.

Overall, the Galaxy Watch Ultra's fitness hardware is much stronger than in previous generations. The next step is to improve Samsung Health's rather basic fitness software, but I don't mind relying on third-party apps via the Play Store for now.

Most of your Samsung health data comes in a few forms: passive HR and stress data during the day, active ECG readings, and sleep tracking at night with data like blood oxygen (SpO2), skin temperature, respiration, and sleep stages.

Now, I hate sleeping with a watch, which is a downside to this job, but I put up with it for reviews. I slept wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra and my Ultrahuman Ring Air as a comparison point since the latter is designed to track the same data seamlessly. Thankfully, both devices gave pretty darn similar results across all of the above categories. It's another step up from last year, where the Galaxy Watch 6 gave me some wonky sleep numbers. 

That said, I'll have more definitive data for the full review.

As a final minor point, I continue to be unimpressed by Samsung's BIA sensor. Last year, the Galaxy Watch 6 measured my body fat percentage, which was about 4% higher than my Withings scale (28 vs. 24%). This year, it has me at 24.7% instead of my current reading of 19.8%, with about 10 extra pounds of fat. I suspect the Ultra's little microcurrents can't reach down to my legs, so the algorithm just extrapolates based on my height and weight.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Competition

The Galaxy Watch 7 44mm has most of the same perks as the Galaxy Watch Ultra, aside from its extra durability, battery life, and brightness. You can also buy it with LTE support if that matters. You miss out on the extra battery life, which is a fairly major drawback, and its design is much more basic. In exchange, it weighs (and costs) about half as much and measures 2.5mm thinner.

Looking outside of Samsung watches, the OnePlus Watch 2 and TicWatch Pro 5 are two Android watches with consistent three or four-day battery life, and both cost significantly less than the Galaxy Watch Ultra. They both have their drawbacks, however. The TicWatch has yet to receive Wear OS 4, meaning it still has no Google Assistant; OnePlus' watch has documented issues with heart rate accuracy. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Should you buy one?

You should buy the Galaxy Watch Ultra if...

• Better battery life is your first priority
• You're using an older smartwatch and want a new one that'll last years
• You prefer the Galaxy Watch Ultra style over the Watch 7 (or Watch 6 Classic)

You shouldn't buy the Galaxy Watch Ultra if...

• You're attached to the "Classic" look and bezel controls
• You prefer a lighter smartwatch experience
• You can't afford the Ultra for what it offers

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is a great smartwatch that's enjoyable to use, adding the hardware changes necessary to make it feel powerful and reliable. Even if serious athletes would probably prefer something like a Garmin Fenix or another fitness watch brand, the Ultra falls in between casual and serious users in an intriguing way.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch Ultra isn't all that different from the Watch 7. Its design is a bit polarizing without a physical bezel or crown, and its battery life isn't quite as long as I'd hoped, steadily draining throughout the day even without "heavy" use.

If you can get your hands on one for a reasonable trade-in deal, I'd certainly recommend upgrading to the Galaxy Watch Ultra if it looks and sounds appealing. Otherwise, at full price, it might be a tall ask. And given Samsung's path from Pro to Classic to Ultra in the last three years, you might decide to hold out for whatever new smartwatch experiment comes next, Ultra or otherwise!