My new favorite rugged smartwatch is not made by Apple or OnePlus

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is available for $649 in three color and band options.
• The design has style, there are plenty of safety features, and the battery life has been impressive.
• Only one size is available that may not be a good fit for folks with smaller wrists.

A few years ago, I purchased the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro for its longer-than-average battery life and rugged design features. While I passed on the Watch 6 series due to the lack of similar capabilities, this year, Samsung finally made a watch fit for my needs, my active lifestyle, and my next upgrade.

Having tested the Galaxy Watch Ultra for the past two weeks, it has quickly risen up as my favorite Android smartwatch. Here’s why.

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To start, I paired my orange Galaxy Watch Ultra with my Galaxy S24 Ultra, a duo that Samsung probably wants everyone to be sporting. Since it had been a while since I used a Galaxy Watch, I didn’t particularly miss having to install and sync several apps, such as Samsung Health, Health Monitor, and Galaxy Wearables, for things to function adequately. 

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To be clear, Apple requires a similar multi-app sync for its phone-watch combo to work best, so both ecosystems can be a bit burdensome compared to traditional sports watches that only require one dedicated app to function.

Still, the Galaxy Wearables app was especially useful to have. On it, you can adjust watch face complications, app screen organization, tile ordering, and even Quick Panel settings. It is great to be able to effortlessly customize the watch face from a larger phone display and have things synced almost immediately.

As far as design goes, the squarish outer case with the round display has been polarizing to look at and use, but in the best way. I find the form factor more appealing than the Apple Watch Ultra or standard Galaxy Watch 7, even with this model no longer having the physical rotating bezel. 

Also: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Apple Watch Ultra: Which one should you buy?

I’ll admit: I rarely used the rotating bezel on older Galaxy Watches, so I don’t necessarily miss the feature. And I’m satisfied with the virtual rotating bezel that works by swiping your finger around the edge of the watch face. The big, beautiful Watch Ultra looks more like a traditional analog watch, and it fits me perfectly.

For testing, the GPS positioning on the Galaxy Watch Ultra has been very impressive, matching the accuracy of my other GPS sports watches. I also ran a series of custom workouts with the wearable and found the heart rate tracking and running dynamics to be accurately measured. That’s to be expected, by the way, with Samsung embedding more sensors than ever on the Ultra model. 

I’m also a fan of how easily customizable the workout screens were and how you can race yourself via timed laps. If you’re feeling bold, you can even enjoy music playing from the watch’s speaker.

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Unfortunately, external sensors such as heart rate straps, bike speed/cadence sensors, and other third-party devices cannot be connected to the Galaxy Watch Ultra, which is a significant limitation for serious athletes looking for the most accurate data sources. This is a misstep by Samsung that can easily fixed with time.

Several utilities and features I’ve been using on the Apple Watch Ultra — such as the built-in calculator for quick math and siren functionality for safety during late-night runs — are now present on the Galaxy Watch, and that’s made my life more efficient. 

With the new Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring, Samsung is pitching an Energy Score feature that rates your sleep time, daily activities, sleeper heart rate, HRV, and more. This summarization of my health has been more helpful and useful to me than competing consolidated figures such as Garmin’s Body Battery.

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I love that you can view the specific measurement for each metric and see where to improve to raise your Energy Score. Two ways to confirm that metrics like Energy Score match reality are to check your performance and compare it to what other wearables detect. From what I’ve seen, Samsung’s Energy Score has given me reliable measures of my readiness.

While I wouldn’t categorize the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s battery life with that of Garmin, Suunto, and Coros sports watches, I have been able to get just about the same two-day endurance as the Apple Watch Ultra. That’s a win in my book, even if it can only be achieved with the always-on display turned off.

ZDNET’s buying advice

After years of using Samsung watches, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is the closest the company has come to producing a wearable fit for my needs and lifestyle. 

There are a couple of shortcomings that Samsung needs to address before the Galaxy Watch Ultra can truly replace a GPS sports watch, including external sensor support and longer battery life.

However, as a smartwatch with more capabilities than normal, Samsung’s Ultra wearable is a fantastic option for power users and enthusiasts like myself, with just enough new features like gesture controls, plenty of watch faces and useful complications, and the ability to dive deeper into all of the details synced to Samsung Health.