Whenever I test a Wear OS watch, I would say the TicWatch Pro series is the best because of the selling price and the performance it offers. But since they left the Malaysian market, various big brands started offering their respective Wear OS watches such as Oppo Watch X, Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro or even the Samsung Galaxy Watch family.
Most recently, I tested the Apple Watch Ultra challenger, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, which I dare say is the best Wear OS watch ever produced. Read on to find out why!
SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN
Galaxy Watch Ultra
1.5″ Super AMOLED screen, 480 x 480, 3000 nits
Night mode clock face
Always On Display
Digital rotating bezel
Samsung Exynos W1000 processor (3nm)
Memory/Storage 2GB RAM + 32GB Storage
Wear OS Operating System Powered by Samsung
10ATM protection
IP68
MIL-STD-810H
Accelerometer Sensor, Barometer, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis,
Electric Heart, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic,
Infrared Temperature, Light, Optical Heart Rate
Others eSIM 4G
GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo
Bluetooth 5.3
590mAh battery
Durability reaches 100 hours
Watch Materials – Titanium, Sapphire Glass
Watch Strap – Hydrogenated Nitrile Rubber
Price RM3399
This watch design is one of my favorites. It is durable, looks elegant but still neat and looks simple. It also borrows many of the design elements of the Apple Watch Ultra, but still retains the round face. The body is titanium, the screen is sapphire glass and the original watch strap is hydrogenated nitrile rubber.
One thing I'm angry about is that Samsung removed the rotating bezel feature, because this component cannot be durable and has to rely on a digital rotating bezel. The main button is also non-rotating, but there are two additional buttons for various shortcut access to many things. Each button can also be modified by launching different applications such as Google Assistant, Google Wallet or WhatsApp. The orange button however when pressed and held is limited to a very loud emergency siren.
A 47mm watch is in my opinion the best size for large hands for individuals like me. In addition to buttons that are nice to press, this watch is also designed with a very nice and accurate haptic system. Every inch of this watch is well designed and dare I say it is a perfect iteration of a Wear OS watch.
USAGE EXPERIENCE
The 1.5-inch Galaxy Watch Ultra watch screen is also large enough, that typing messages in WhatsApp or searching for apps in the Play Store can use the full keyboard. The brightness is quite terrible as it can reach up to 3000 nits and there is absolutely no problem to use it when playing sports under the scorching sunlight.
While in the dark, the watch face has a special night mode like the Apple Watch that darkens the background and focuses on bright colors like glowing red. The refresh rate of 60Hz is also enough for the smart watch screen which also does not give any time lag problem.
Yes, the Galaxy Watch Ultra also has gesture control like the Apple Watch Ultra 2 – where the user can move the wrist with three different actions to remove notifications, answer calls and others. It is also very easy to use and has a good level of sensitivity as there are no accidental gesture controls.
Any Wear OS watch also has the same focus, which is to reduce the time the screen is on when using the phone and rely everything on the watch such as notifications, emails and most importantly to monitor mental and physical health. Galaxy Watch Ultra is a very fast Wear OS watch because of the efficient and powerful Exynos W100 chip with 3nm technology. Apps are all quick to launch, any sports mode and health data tracking mode are also fast and there are no system lag issues.
For activity monitoring, I'm very grateful to be able to use the Galaxy Watch Ultra because it realizes a good tracking system. For example, when I walk – the watch will continue to record my journey automatically. Then useful animations and widgets with easy-to-understand data displays, made me want to learn more about my health data. This hour also made me confident to get back active with badminton.
The advantage of the Galaxy Watch Ultra that is not available in other watches is that it has a special algorithm to read blood pressure without additional devices such as OMRON. It uses its own calculations to predict blood pressure based on heart rate.
ECG support is also available with the user having to place a finger on two buttons and recording body composition data can also be done. Each data can also be exported for doctor reference so that users like me receive more in-depth advice.
APPLICATION
I actually don't like it when a smartwatch needs more than one app. For example, the Galaxy Watch Ultra must be used with the Galaxy Wearables, Samsung Health and Samsung Monitor applications. Then if you want to sync the data to Google Fit, the Health Connect application is required. I really hope that in the future Health Connect becomes a system app and everything from Samsung is combined in one app.
Anyway, I like that Samsung is trying to make their apps simple and easy to use. As with the Galaxy Watch6 Classic, all the data in Samsung Health is easy to read and there are many interesting features to use including a digital trainer to be healthier. I like that I don't have to dig deeper into the recorded data because there is an AI feature summarizing my data. At the same time, the Samsung application is also complete with a lot of additional information that makes it easy for me to learn health terms.
BATTERY
It's a little disappointing that the Wear OS watch with the longest battery life is still held by the TicWatch Pro 3 and Pro 5 due to using a dual-screen system. Even this Galaxy Watch Ultra does not have the same battery life as the Apple Watch Ultra which has no problem lasting up to 3 days.
Samsung states that the use of all features and functions can last up to more than 2 days or 60 hours, but for me it only reached 1 day and a half. Only with a simple watch face, you can reach 2 days. On the Apple Watch Ultra, three days of use is with their Ultra watch face.
Then I don't like that the charging time is quite slow. Strangely enough, the Apple Watch can be charged faster than an Android watch. I'm also disappointed that the watch no longer supports wireless charging on the back of Samsung devices via reverse charging. The reason given by Samsung is that the design of the bottom panel is thicker so that features that have been supported for so long are no longer offered.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
1x Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra.
1x Orange hydrogenated nitrile rubber watch strap.
1x Magnetic charger.
1x Set of manuals and safety books.
CONCLUSION
Battery issues aside, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is the perfect Wear OS watch. It offers fast performance, attractive and durable design, loads of useful features and functions. Since using this watch as a replacement for the Galaxy Watch6 Classic, it's been hard for me to switch to another watch.
For now, RM3399 is quite an expensive price for a pair of smart watches. In my opinion, if you value design and if you are active with strenuous activities, then this watch is suitable. Otherwise the Galaxy Watch7 or Galaxy Watch FE is actually enough to experience the new era of Wear OS watches.
PROS AND ADVANTAGES
Wear OS powered by Samsung is the best iteration of the smartwatch.
The screen is crazy bright and fast.
Very smooth performance like a flagship phone.
Premium build, durable and very sexy in hand.
The sensors and recorded data are quite useful for health monitoring.
CONS AND DISADVANTAGES
Battery does not last long.
Charging is quite slow and limited.
The default watch strap size is not large enough.
Relatively high selling price.