Now in its 7th iteration, the Samsung Galaxy Watch was first launched in 2018.
First, there was the Galaxy Watch. Then came the Galaxy Watch Active, which was followed by the Galaxy Watch3 and then, a shock to some, came the Galaxy Watch4, which in turn was superseded by the unexpectedly named Galaxy Watch5. In an unprecedented move, Samsung then announced the Galaxy Watch6. The world waited with baited breath to see what might come next and then – boom! – in July of this year: the Galaxy Watch7!
But wait, what was that unveiled with it? A striking first-of-a-kind from Samsung, no less, for Galaxy Watch-wearers looking for a smart time-teller that does more, goes further, can be pushed harder, a smartwatch that takes all the latest Galaxy Watch goodness and adds additional endurance for athletes who know no bounds, behold the Ultra…
Specs
- OS: WearOS 5
- UI: One UI 6 Watch
- Compatibility: Android 11 or higher
- Display: Sapphire Crystal, 1.5-inch, 480×480 Super AMOLED
- Processor: Exynos W1000 (1.6GHz, 1.5GHz)
- Memory: 2GB
- Storage: +32GB
- Sensors: Samsung BioActive Sensor (Optical Bio-signal sensor, Electrical Heart Signal, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor
- Connectivity: LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4 & 5GHz, NFC, GPS
- Durability: 10ATM+IP68, MIL-STD-810H, Ocean Swimming, Operation Temperature, Altitude Guaranteed
- Battery: 590mAh
- Dimensions: 47mm: 47.1 x 47.4 x 12.1mm
- Weight: 60.5g
- Colours: Titanium Silver, Titanium Gray, Titanium White
Design
First thoughts out of the box? It’s big… and orange. I mean, it’s really big, with a case measuring 47.4 x 47.1mm, a thickness of 12.1cm and a weight of 60.5g. And it’s really orange with a chunky, orange, easy-drain Marin Band, orange hour indices on the face and orange highlights on two of the three case buttons. But this is no Donald Trump of the timekeeping world. It’s big and orange in a good way, the size of the titanium grade 4 case making space for an always easy-to-read Super AMOLED 1.5-inch display, without looking cluttered, and giving room for equally easy to access buttons – essential when out in extremes and needing to operate with wet/muddy hands or while wearing gloves. It’s also as tough as Chuck Norris’s old hobnailed boots, with ocean-going durability down to 10ATM and MIL-STD-810H certification, meaning it shrugs off extreme temperatures, moisture, dust and shock as though it was nothing.
I should make it clear at this point that the Ultra also comes in other colour schemes, rather than just the Titanium Grey and orange of the review model, such as Titanium Silver and Titanium White, with band options in grey, white and green too, but the ‘big’ bit still applies for all variants and its that element that will sell the Ultra or not.
Performance
Moving past the general aesthetics for now, the Ultra is nothing if not an absolute beast when it comes to performance power. Featuring Sammy’s flaming fast new, five-core Exynos W1000 chip, response time is like lightning, launching and running apps instantly and letting you flip between them free from any annoying lag, something which has long been the bane of the smartwatch.
Consisting of a large performance core and four smaller efficiency cores, the W1000 3nm chip sees the perfect marriage of diminutive size and dynamic performance, leaving more space inside the case for other important aspects, such as the battery, without which the Exynos W1000 obviously wouldn’t be able to do anything at all. And in this case, Samsung has utilised that additional available space very well by gifting the Ultra a nicely mighty 590mAh battery that’s reckoned to be good for 100 hours in power-saving mode and around 60 hours without any energy efficiency modes. Naturally, individual usage will drain the watch in different ways, but I found I was getting a good three days between charges.
Apps
So, it’s big, bold and more than a bit brilliant on paper, but what can it actually do above and beyond the considerably cheaper new Galaxy Watch7? Well, before we get to ‘beyond’, firstly, the Ultra can do all the things a normal, premium smartwatch can do, including making and taking calls, sending and receiving texts, getting notifications, setting alarms, accessing and controlling streaming music, tracking your location and viewing maps using GPS connectivity, checking the weather and all that stuff.
Also as with the Watch7, the Ultra runs on Wear OS 5 with Samsung’s One UI 6 atop to let you enjoy the improved app experience and lower battery power consumption that brings, so while the onboard apps will be familiar to previous Galaxy Watch users, the whole shebang runs smooth, with apps opening without delay.
There’s also the much-lauded new Galaxy AI bringing the A(I) game on both watches, allowing for improved sleep and health tracking options and access to AI comms features that can summarise messages on chat app and respond quickly with Smart Replies that emulate your texting style so you can respond without really trying.
Then we come to the training side of things. Packed to the rafters with exercise and multisports apps, the Ultra will act as a personal trainer on your arm, pushing you to best yourself with finely tuned tracking and all without the shouting of ‘motivational’ clichés. Plus, with water resistance to twice the depth of the Watch7, at 10ATM (100-metres), the Ultra can hit the aqua hard when it comes to open water swimming.
Fitted with sensors galore, too, namely accelerometer, barometer, bioelectrical impedance analysis sensor, electrical heart sensor, gyro, geomagnetic sensor, infrared temperature sensor, light sensor, and optical heart rate sensor, the Ultra can measure your moves and body metrics with unerring attention to detail, recording it all to the Samsung Health app on your Android 11 (or higher) compatible smartphone for later analysis from the comfort of somewhere that doesn’t reek of adrenalin.
Also, should you run/cycle/dive into difficulty while out getting your fit on, the Ultra features an 86dB emergency alarm that will alert anyone within a 180m radius to your situation, and which should not, I repeat NOT, be set off for testing in enclosed environments unless you hate your own ears and all those around you.
Connectivity and storage
Connecting over the latest Bluetooth 5.3, the bond to your smart-blower is always strong, and Wi-Fi in both 2.4 and 5GHz flavours also kicks in where available, while the watch itself comes with 2GB of memory and 32GB of storage built in for adding your own apps from Google Play and, of course, storing some top tunes for offline listening, if that’s your thing.
Verdict
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra
The ultimate Samsung training and tracking smartwatch is now with us. Certainly striking, it cuts a swathe through the crowds of its contemporaries, whether you opt for the orange strap or not. Technologically, it’s at the top of its game, Samsung imbuing it with a serious CPU, AI enhancement, smooth-running apps aplenty, a lengthy battery life, and a build that makes it damn-near indestructible.
And it’s that last bit that gives the Ultra the edge over the Watch7 – while the tech used in both is almost identical, the Ultra offers ultra endurance for those athletes out there who want to take things off-piste and push themselves to the absolute limits, without worrying whether their watch can take the punishment.
The Ultra is twice the price of the Watch7, and that might be what sways the more casual gym bunny away from it and into the arms of the 7, but for the off-roaders, the adventurers, the adrenaline junkies dangling off cliffs at the very extremes of exercise, the Galaxy Watch Ultra will prove irresistible.
Buy now £599.00, Amazon
