Smart wearables were given almost as much time at Samsung’s July Unpacked event as the company’s Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 foldables. Granted, the Galaxy Ring got a lot of the attention, but it’s still clear that Samsung is making a strong push to push fitness and health trackers.
But despite the addition of two new products to the Galaxy Watch lineup, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little disappointed. We covered the Galaxy Ring, which costs somewhat more than the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7. The Galaxy Watch Ultra is very similar to the Apple Watch Ultra, and we agree that it lacks Samsung’s differentiating features – such as the rotating bezel.
Even more weird is that the new Quick Button, which is essentially a crown, It spins But it’s disconnected from the UI and basically does nothing.
But let’s give the Galaxy Watch Ultra a chance to redeem itself. On the surface, it’s an impressive smartwatch. Its case is made of titanium and has sapphire glass over its screen. The new watch case looks interesting. Samsung calls it a “cushion” design and it’s a square on the outside with an integrated circle inside — the phrase “squircle” is used to describe it.
It’s undoubtedly an interesting design and goes a long way in making the Galaxy Watch Ultra stand out among its Galaxy Watch peers and Android watches in general. Apple Watch fans will call it a clone of the Apple Watch Ultra, but that unit has a rectangular display compared to the Galaxy’s circular display.
A word about buttons. The Galaxy Watch Ultra has the usual home and back buttons on the top and bottom right. But there’s also a new quick button in the middle. You can program a single press to open an app or workout, and set what a double press will do. A 5-second press triggers the emergency siren.
We’ll reiterate that it’s a bummer to have this quick button move and not move the UI around. Instead, you can drag your finger along the edge of the circular screen to move the UI around, just like on the bezel-less Galaxy Watch 7.
It’s also a bit of a shame that the Galaxy Watch Ultra doesn’t have a bigger display. It’s the same 1.5-inch 480x480px unit as the Galaxy Watch 7. Phone logic dictates that having Ultra in the name means a bigger screen. In this case, it mostly means having a sturdier case and a bigger battery.
Lastly, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is tied with the two-year-old Galaxy Watch5 Pro for the biggest battery in the company’s watch, with a 590mAh battery. Samsung says you can expect up to 60 hours of battery life in normal use, 48 hours in exercise power saving, and up to 100 hours in regular power saving mode.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra looks to have replaced the Galaxy Watch Classic in this year’s lineup, and we’ve got a successor to the regular Galaxy Watch 6 – the Galaxy Watch 7.
On the surface, the 7 looks similar to the 6 — you have an Armor aluminum case and a flat-top sapphire crystal display cover. There’s an upgraded bioactive sensor underneath the Galaxy Watch 7, as well as a more advanced 3nm Exynos W1000 chipset inside.
Samsung claims that the new chip has three times better performance and we are looking forward to testing it out. Samsung has also said that 30% better efficiency is expected, which means the Galaxy Watch7 will be able to get some extra battery life from the same battery pack.
Another improvement over last year’s Galaxy Watch6 is the addition of dual-band GPS, which is also found in other Wear OS watches like the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro. This makes GPS faster and more accurate at locking on.
Both the Galaxy Watch7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra have a new “double pinch” feature that works when you press your thumb and index finger together on your watch arm. It didn’t work during our hands-on use, but it should by the time we get the new watches in for review. It works similar to Apple’s double tap on its latest smartwatches.
Thanks to the power of AI and a new second-generation bioactive sensor, the new Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra can spot potential signs of sleep apnea — something you’d normally need expensive equipment to monitor.
The new watches also bring some new watch faces and bands. You can choose between a fabric band, metal band, and the usual silicone band in various colours and colour combinations. Samsung is also including a fabric band for free along with your default silicone band during the pre-order period.
Various straps for
