14 days with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: A big deal

Like Apple, Samsung now offers a comparatively expensive smartwatch with the Galaxy Watch Ultra. But is the extra cost worth it compared to the normal Galaxy Watch 7? I’ve been wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra in my everyday life and while doing sports over the last few days. At the end you are left with a mixed feeling.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ulta in the test: conclusion

GIGA rating: 8.0/10

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra performed well in the test Display excellentthe good performancedem accurate tracking and the Long battery life convinced.

However, I didn’t find the large, thick and heavy watch particularly comfortable. The price of 699 euros also seems very high to me. In my opinion, the differences to the Galaxy Watch 7 with 44 mm are not so big that I would pay that much more for it.

But if you’re looking for a watch that’s just as big and own a Samsung smartphone, you could be happy with the Galaxy Watch Ultra. Purely in terms of quality and hardware, it is the best that Samsung currently has to offer.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra

Samsung sports-focused smartwatch, 47 mm, including LTE connectivity.

The price may be higher now. Price as of September 28, 2024 5:27 p.m

Advantages:

• Battery life
• Advertisement
• Sensors
• Build quality
• Update guarantee

Disadvantages:

• Size and weight
• Software compulsion

Big chunk

If you want to buy the Samsung Galaxy Ultra, then you should have a relatively large wrist circumference. To my relatives The thin wrist not only makes the watch look absolutely exaggeratedbut also causes problems in everyday life and sports.

Die Smartwatch is quite big, thick and heavySo it often happens that the watch on the bike thunders unpleasantly on the back of my hand. I also get stuck in my sweater sometimes. Now the cold season is starting again, so I noticed it straight away.

In general, I have to say that… Watch in reality looks better than in the photos and videos. The round display in the square housing really looks impressive. Personally, I would choose the lighter version so that the watch doesn’t look so thick. Maybe then the silver version wouldn’t look so oversized on my wrist.

I think it’s a shame that the housing isn’t made entirely of metal. The plastic frame somehow doesn’t fit the high price. There are also color differences to other bracelets. I like Apple’s solution with the Watch Ultra better.

Somehow it doesn’t fit

Our Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with the great “Marine Band,” which I personally find simple couldn’t adjust properly for my wrist. It was either too tight or too loose. I also found the good underside to be uncomfortable in the long run because it left marks on my skin.

Samsung directly has two alternatives: the “Trail Band” and “PeakForm Band”. But they all have this good underside. I would have either gotten the fabric bracelet and hoped it wouldn’t get pressed, or gotten one from Amazon from another seller. In the long run, the included bracelet wasn’t for me. Combined with the size of the watch, I was somehow happy after the two weeks when I was able to wear my little Pixel Watch 2 again.

Display is a sensation

The round 1.5-inch display is easy to read because it sits very close to the glass and is extremely bright. Samsung claims up to 3,000 nits for the Galaxy Watch Ultra and I can confirm that is much brighter than other watches.

The advantage of such a bright display is that it can be read more easily during sports, but also in everyday life. In addition, the brightness adapts ideally to the current conditions. I never had the impression that the display was too bright or dark. Even in bright sunshine I could read the clock easily.

I still think that’s a shame In comparison to the case, the display is no larger than the Galaxy Watch 7 with 44 mm. I would have liked Samsung to make better use of the space. The bezel cannot be rotated mechanically. Personally, I really miss that from the old classic watches.

Performance is convincing

While with previous Samsung watches you never really knew whether they would run smoothly, this is absolutely the case with the Galaxy Watch Ultra. The new chip in combination with the 2 GB of RAM ensures very high performance. Swiping between entries works just as well as starting apps and training. The watch hardly heated up. LTE is always integrated, so you can be reached even without a smartphone.

Comprehensive and accurate tracking

Samsung has completely redesigned the sensors on the Galaxy Watch Ultra so that the results should be more accurate. I wore both the Samsung watch and my Pixel Watch 2 in everyday life. The results were very similar, so I assume that the clocks track very precisely.

I think that’s good Many sports modes are supported. You can also quickly record everything. Automatic detection of movements (e.g. cycling) and pauses works reliably – at least quickly. Strangely enough, there is an auto-pause function when tracking on a bike, but not on a mountain bike. I don’t know why there is a difference. In the end I just tracked by cycling.

You can access the various functions using the buttons. The action button is somewhat limited in functionality. You can’t really put everything on there. The multi-sport functions are to be presented to me. It’s nice that Samsung is offering the new function for triathletes, but even triathletes don’t train for triathlon, but for each sport individually. This is only important for competition – and not for amateur athletes like me anyway.

It still remains the case that you do that The full potential of the smartwatch can only be exploited with a Samsung cell phone. For example, measuring blood pressure or creating an ECG. The blood pressure measurement is relatively accurate, with the results always being reasonably similar. A blood pressure monitor cannot replace the Galaxy Watch Ultra – especially if the values ​​always have to be accurate and you have to take your medication based on them.

Battery life is impressive

Even though I wasn’t completely convinced by the Galaxy Watch Ultra as a large, thick and somewhat uncomfortable smartwatch in two weeks, the battery life alone quickly tore it all back. In I used to get by for four days in my normal everyday life. When I exercise, I have three days. Less so with intensive tracking – but in general the running time of all Android watches has been the longest to date.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra charges pretty quickly. Since I don’t have to charge the watch every day, I sometimes forgot to charge it and was able to do so in between.