Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review

Competition

The Galaxy Watch Ultra has hardly any direct competitors, if we look at Samsung's offering as an ultra-premium sports watch. Garmin's top-end sports watches are selling well, but they lack a proper OS, and that's where Samsung's Galaxy Watch Ultra shines.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra's launch price is $650 / £600 / €700, depending on your region, though we can already see some lower prices from third-party stores. Still, the Watch Ultra is an expensive gadget that only true sports enthusiasts will be willing to pay.

Perhaps the most obvious rival to Samsung's rugged Ultra is Apple's Watch Ultra 2. However, we doubt that many will be deciding between the two Ultras. The two devices aren't exactly cross-platform compatible, so iPhone users will naturally gravitate toward the Apple Watch Ultra 2, unless someone's deciding to make an entire ecosystem switch and go for a Galaxy phone with a Galaxy Watch combo.

In that case, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has you covered. It has roughly the same feature set as Apple's Watch Ultra 2 with perhaps even longer battery life. On the other hand, the Apple watch has a bigger display, a few extra sensors (outside temperature, depth gauge) and supports UWB connectivity. Otherwise, both smartwatches comply with the same military standards and ingress certifications. Despite the hefty Galaxy Watch Ultra price, Apple's Ultra is even pricier, asking for more than €800.

The Android smartwatch market has one more rugged premium smartwatch for you - the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Endure. This one costs as much as the Galaxy Watch7 (around mid-€300), but gets close to the Ultra in terms of features. It has most of the sensors (the important ones, at least), a huge battery, the same military-grade standards and runs on Wear OS. However, it's last year's model and is not as durable as the Galaxy Watch Ultra. The TicWatch also relies on an older Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip, and the build features stainless steel and aluminum instead of titanium and ceramic. It's up to you to decide whether the twice-as-expensive Galaxy Watch Ultra gives you twice the value in functionality and features.

Two possible alternatives to the Ultra are the Xiaomi Watch S4 Sport and Huawei's Watch Ultimate. Only the latter has a full-fledged OS running on the watch, but it is far from Wear OS-level of integration with Android and app support. Xiaomi's contender runs on a proprietary HyperOS software, which is even more limiting than HarmonyOS.

Despite the Galaxy Watch Ultra's apparent advantage thanks to Wear OS, the Xiaomi Watch S4 Sport and Huawei's Watch Ultimate offer about a week of battery life, depending on your usage habits. That's a lot longer than Samsung's Ultra. Moreover, the Watch Ultimate has the same sports capabilities and robust design as the Galaxy Watch Ultra for around €100 less.

Verdict

As you might have picked up by now, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is in a class of its own, at least for now. Most competitors are either from last year, or they don't offer the same feature set. But in case you are deciding to make the jump from an older Galaxy Watch, you will definitely see some improvements.

The Watch Ultra has excellent battery life (in Wear OS terms, of course); it has exceptional build quality and robustness, an unmatched feature set and sensors, and the new Exynos W1000 chip makes the whole experience a lot smoother than before. The wide range of sports and health tracking has been expanded even further, and Samsung's Health app offers a comprehensive set of data of your health markers.

There are a few things that keep us from giving this watch an excellent score. The most obvious one is the absence of the rotating bezel, as the touch bezel just doesn't cut it. We believe the rotating bezel would have been an excellent addition to the rugged yet premium-looking design. We also expected a bigger display (it's an Ultra, after all), and the price is a bit too steep - it can make even the Galaxy Watch7's price look cheap. And lastly, we wish Samsung used a common wireless charging standard since its smartwatches don't play well with third-party wireless pads and non-Samsung phones with reverse wireless charging.

Pros

• Rugged, premium design with titanium, sapphire glass and ceramic.
• Battery life is a big improvement.
• A wide selection of sensors with advanced health-tracking features, including skin temperature and blood glucose.
• New SoC makes operations smoother, faster and is more energy-efficient.
• One UI Watch is more polished than ever, with great notification handling and excellent integration with Google's apps.

Cons

• Quite expensive at launch.
• Uses proprietary strap attachment making standard straps incompatible.
• ECG, IHR and Blood Pressure measurements work only with Samsung phones.
• Body composition measurements have questionable accuracy (true for most home-grade devices, anyway).
• Automatic workout tracking is unreliable.
• The rotating bezel is once again gone.