Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 in Digit Test Labs: The Ultra I wanted all along?

My analogue watch collection is really prospering, and since returning the last-gen Galaxy Watch Ultra, I have stopped using smartwatches regularly. I was interested last year when Samsung released its Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, one I didn’t get the chance to review, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t quite as good as the Ultra. Don’t get me wrong, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is an absolute beast of a smartwatch with solid features to back it up, but the Ultra is simply on another level. Since then, I have sporadically used the Pixel Watch 4, but after the Galaxy Unpacked London event, I knew that when I got the next chance to review a new set of Samsung devices, my phone of choice was going to be the Galaxy Z Fold 8, while the smartwatch of choice would be the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. And here we are…

It’s been a day since I started using the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Unboxing it was a familiar affair, but the changes — those are the things I instantly noticed in my short time with the watch. And there are a bunch of them. Here are my first impressions.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: It looks familiar, but it feels different

Let’s get the obvious thing out of the way first. If you put the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 next to each other, you probably won’t immediately think Samsung has made a dramatically different smartwatch. And that is probably the whole point. Samsung has retained the overall Ultra design language, including that chunky, rugged case and the distinctive cushion-shaped body. But the Ultra 2 is slimmer. Samsung has managed to bring the thickness down by around 12 per cent, to 10.7mm, without making the watch feel like it has lost any of its character.

I personally noticed this immediately. You see, the first Galaxy Watch Ultra was not uncomfortable, but it could feel like a lot of watch sitting on your wrist, especially when I wore it overnight. I have fairly quickly got used to wearing the Ultra 2 throughout the day, and even during sleep, it feels less top-heavy than I remember the original being.

I’ll also want to give a special shoutout to the silicone band. I don’t usually say this, but this is the most comfortable silicone band I have ever used. Not an Apple Watch, not a Pixel Watch, not the OG Watch Ultra’s orange band (but that could also have been because of the Watch Ultra’s weight), but this is how you do a silicone band.

And then there is the battery. This came as the biggest surprise for me. I remember, two nights before the launch, when we had a pre-briefing, we were told about this detail: Samsung has somehow made the Ultra 2 thinner while increasing the battery capacity by around 35 per cent. Well, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 packs an 800mAh battery, compared with 590mAh on the original. Now, I have only had the watch for a day, so I am obviously not going to make any claims about long-term battery life yet. That will need proper testing. But having a larger battery in a slimmer body is exactly the sort of upgrade I want from a smartwatch.

I don’t want to think about charging my watch every night. I certainly don’t want to remove it when I am going to sleep because it needs to be plugged in. At least on paper, and going by the claims, I am expecting even better battery life than the OG Watch Ultra.

Samsung also says charging is faster, with around 40 per cent charge possible in roughly 30 minutes. But again, I need more time with it before I can tell you how that translates into real-world usage. For now, let’s appreciate the fact that Samsung hasn’t simply made the Watch Ultra 2 thinner for the sake of making it thinner. It has used that engineering to make room for a much larger battery.

The display is where you notice the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 most

Well, apart from the slimmer design, a nice silicone strap, and a big battery, the other change that immediately stands out is the display. The original Galaxy Watch Ultra already had a ridiculously bright screen. At up to 3,000 nits, screen legibility was never really a problem. The Ultra 2 takes that number to 5,000 nits. Yes, 5,000 nits! Do we even need this?!

Samsung is calling it the first smartwatch to reach that peak brightness, and while numbers like this can often feel like marketing exercises, this is one upgrade I am going to happily accept.

Think about the situations when you are out on a sunny day and you have to glance at your notifications on your watch. You wouldn’t want to stop, cover the screen, and squint to see the details, right? Well, with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Samsung has simply given itself a lot more headroom. As I mentioned, the OG Watch Ultra’s screen was already so bright, and now with the Watch Ultra 2, it’s even brighter.

By the way, the display itself is also slightly larger in usable area. Samsung has shaved down the bezels, giving you a 1.52-inch screen, compared with 1.5 inches on the original. Of course, it is not a night-and-day difference, but combined with the increased brightness, it makes the screen feel a little more modern.

There is also a small design change around the bezel that I quite like. The physical bezel is still not rotating, so don’t expect the tactile experience you get from the Watch 8 Classic. However, Samsung has added printed numbers around the outer ring, giving the Watch Ultra 2 a slightly more traditional watch-like appearance.

The biggest change is actually happening underneath

By now, if you’re still not sold on the cosmetic changes and the brighter display, well, Samsung has also made one of its biggest changes internally. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra used Samsung’s own Exynos W1000 platform, the Watch Ultra 2 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite platform.

The first thing I noticed is how fluid everything feels on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Setting up the watch, including app downloads, took a mere 5-10 minutes. Beyond that, in general use, menus open quickly, and animations are pretty smooth. Also, one of the things which I should’ve rightly mentioned a little above is that this is a 120Hz Super AMOLED screen we are looking at. The smoother refresh rate is enabled courtesy of the new Snapdragon chip.

Now, I have only had the watch for a day, so I am not going to sit here and tell you that every single interaction is dramatically faster than the original. But the general feeling is that Samsung has removed some of the friction that you don’t necessarily notice until it is gone.

And then there is AI. The new processor includes a dedicated neural processing block for running lightweight AI models on the device. One of the more interesting additions is the ability to use a ‘Raise to Talk’ gesture to interact with Google Gemini. This is one of those features that I need more time with before deciding how useful it actually is. In fact, in theory, it makes perfect sense. If your hands are busy, you don’t necessarily want to tap around a tiny screen or shout a wake word across a room. You raise your wrist, talk to the watch, and get on with whatever you were doing.

But smartwatches have always had this problem. There are plenty of things they can do, but the question is whether they make those things convenient enough for you to actually use them.

That is what I want to find out with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

More durable than ever and closing thoughts

Samsung has also made the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 more capable in harsher environments. The watch now carries EN13319 certification, which means it can be used as a dive computer down to 40 metres, with things such as time and water temperature being tracked while underwater. The IP rating has also moved to IP69K, giving the Ultra 2 greater resistance against high-pressure and high-temperature water jets.

Now, most people (including me) who buy an Ultra 2 are not going to be taking it 40 metres underwater every weekend. But that is not really the point. The Ultra series is supposed to be Samsung’s most rugged smartwatch, and these changes make the Watch Ultra 2 feel more serious about that promise. If you are someone who goes hiking, swimming, cycling, or simply spends a lot of time outdoors, you probably want a watch that does not make you nervous every time it gets wet or takes a knock.

And that, more than anything, is my first impression of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

Of course, I am still not ready to say whether the Watch Ultra 2 is good enough to replace my analogue watches. Frankly, that would be a very difficult task. But after just one day, I can already say this: I am much more interested in wearing a smartwatch again than I was a week ago.

Stay tuned for the full review of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 dropping on Digit.