Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Watch Ultra2 looks so much like the previous Ultra that I had to take a second look to see what had changed. Well, here\u2019s a quick spoiler: Not much. At least not aesthetically.<\/p>\n
When the tech giant moved the Galaxy Watch to a \u201csquircle\u201d design in 2024, user opinions were sharply divided between modern aesthetics and practical screen space. So, if you\u2019re from the camp that embraced a design where a large circular display sits inside a squarish titanium case, then you\u2019ll be right at home with the Ultra2.<\/p>\n Samsung has retained the same \u201csquircle\u201d design with the Galaxy Watch Ultra2.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Ultra2 may look like its predecessor, but the case is actually thinner; going from 12.1mm to 10.7mm<\/b>. It\u2019s still a pretty big 47mm watch though. Yet somehow Samsung has found room for an 800mAh battery<\/b> too, which is a big increase over the original Ultra\u2019s 590mAh. Then there\u2019s the slightly larger and brighter display, which is rated at up to 5,000 nits. These are all welcome changes, but none of them makes the Ultra2 feel like a different kind of watch. Put it on and you are still very aware of its size. That didn\u2019t bother me much when I used it as my fitness tracker when out running or cycling. As a sleep tracker though, my experience was a bit more mixed.<\/p>\n The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is also one of the most feature-packed Android-based smartwatch.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Sleep tracking was one of the things I wanted to revisit with the Ultra2 because I have mild sleep apnea. I\u2019d already spent time with Samsung Health when I reviewed the Watch8 Classic last year, and the experience here was much the same: the overnight records gave me something to look back at when I woke up feeling tired, but the Ultra2 didn\u2019t tell me anything that made me rethink what I\u2019d found with the Classic. I wore it to bed for 14 consecutive nights to get a feel for using it regularly. My bigger takeaway was about comfort. I\u2019d found the Watch8 Classic a little cumbersome in bed, and the Ultra2 was more noticeable still. If you\u2019re used to sleeping with a smaller watch, its thinner case may not be enough to make you forget you\u2019re wearing it – especially if you are a light sleeper.<\/p>\n I should be clear about the sleep apnea feature, too. Samsung says it is intended to flag signs in people who have not<\/b> already been diagnosed, so I wouldn\u2019t use it to keep tabs on my mild case. It was the ordinary sleep records, and how practical the watch was to wear night after night, that mattered to me this time.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the battery. Yes, the Ultra2 has a larger capacity but there is a catch here, though: Samsung rates both the old Ultra and Ultra2 for up to 60 hours with the always-on display enabled<\/b>, or 80 hours with it off. Why? The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the display. You see, the Ultra2\u2019s larger battery size is completely cancelled out by a much brighter display and more demanding hardware.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have the original Ultra to compare against, but the Ultra2 did manage to shave off a barely noticeable 1.4mm.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The rear sensor housing is deeper than the original Ultra\u2019s, which causes it to sit differently on certain third-party charging docks; preventing it from being aligned or register a proper charge.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n This new hardware is none other than the Snapdragon Wear Elite<\/b>, which is a major change from Samsung\u2019s Exynos W1000<\/b>. Storage has also doubled from 32GB to 64GB. Moving between Samsung Health, notifications and workout screens felt responsive during my time with the Ultra2, but I wouldn\u2019t call it a night-and-day performance change – admittedly though, I don\u2019t have the original Ultra with me for a side by side comparison.\u00a0<\/p>\n What I can<\/i> say is that the Ultra2\u2019s size worked much better for me when I went running and cycling than it did in bed. On a run, the large, bright display made it easy to check the figures I cared about at a glance, and I appreciated having physical buttons instead of relying entirely on the touchscreen. I looked at the watch less while cycling, but still wanted a record of the ride alongside my runs in Samsung Health. There are more specialised tools here, including Trail Run tracking and support for compatible cycling sensors. I didn\u2019t use those extras, and I suspect that will be true for a fair number of people considering the Ultra2.<\/p>\n The new Vitals<\/b> feature brought me back to why I\u2019d worn the watch to bed in the first place. It sits within Samsung Health and compares five measurements taken overnight \u2014 including heart rate, breathing rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen \u2014 against a personal baseline. It needs at least seven nights of sleep data before it can do that, so my two weeks with the Ultra2 gave it time to build a picture. I find the approach more interesting than being handed another isolated score each morning. The point is to notice when something is unusually different for you<\/i>, although I\u2019d treat any alert as a prompt to pay attention, not an explanation of what caused it. Vitals is also available on the regular Watch9, something worth remembering when it comes to the Ultra2\u2019s value – which I will dive deeper into below.<\/p>\n The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is very much geared towards extreme sports enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 costs S$988<\/b> in Singapore, and I think you need to know what you want from it before spending that much. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it is a well-equipped watch, and the thinner case, larger battery and brighter display make it a more appealing version of 2024\u2019s Ultra. Its running and cycling features give you plenty to explore beyond basic workout logging. But I suspect many people, myself included, will use only part of what Samsung has put into it. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that if you love the watch and can afford it; it just makes the value harder to argue on features alone.<\/p>\n The regular Galaxy Watch9 makes that decision more interesting. A 44mm Watch9 costs S$568 for the standard model or S$668 with LTE<\/b>, so even the LTE version is S$320 less than the Ultra2. It shares a number of the health features, as well as the new processor and dual-frequency GPS. If sleep tracking and everyday exercise are your priorities, that is a considerable saving, and its smaller, lighter design may be easier to live with at night. I\u2019ll have more to say about how the non-Ultra Watch9 fares in my review, which will be published soon.<\/p>\n For now, I think the Ultra2 makes the most sense for someone who has an extreme sporty lifestyle: a tough, smartwatch with a large display, and a bigger battery. I enjoyed using it for my runs and rides, and I found its sleep records worth using. But because of the existence of the standard Watch9, I\u2019m less convinced that those uses alone would persuade me to pay the Ultra premium.<\/p>\n Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Watch Ultra2 looks so much like the previous Ultra that I had to take a second look to see what had changed. Well,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1672,28,1585,26989,157],"class_list":["post-84965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-galaxy","tag-review","tag-samsung","tag-ultra2","tag-watch","wpcat-32-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hands-on experience<\/h2>\n
Final thoughts<\/h2>\n
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