Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 4 / 5

Very good

pros and cons ProsSamsung's brightest watch ever.An extensive set of health and activity tracking features for $699.The 800 mAh battery can last around 60 hours with Always-On Display enabled. ConsThe best features aren't fundamentally new, but they are useful.The watch is still a heavy device, despite design improvements. View now at Samsung Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Samsung's second-generation Galaxy Watch Ultra launched today at its Galaxy Unpacked event in London. Among the smartwatch lineup, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 offers the most comprehensive health features available, with new outdoor activities to track and health conditions to monitor. It also receives some hardware updates that keep the display vibrant and the battery strong. Also: Galaxy Watch 9 vs. Galaxy Watch 8: I've compared both models, here's my adviceAhead of Unpacked, I got to try out the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 firsthand. I exercised, worked, moved, and slept with the watch for several days to get a sense of how Samsung has improved this device and who this smartwatch is right for. So, what's my verdict?Best smartwatch deals of the week $300 (save $50) $150 (save $100) $49 (save $30) $339 (save $60) $280 (save $70) Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article. Samsung says it's updated the smartwatch to be 12% thinner alongside a thinner band, but the truth is, it's still a bulky, rugged watch. You don't buy a rugged, Ultra-tier smartwatch for its lightness and small size in the same way that you don't order a Big Mac as a vegetarian. Regardless, it's nice to know that Samsung is at least trying to make this bulky, hardcore watch easier to sleep and live in. Samsung moved its processors from the Exynos chips to Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite 8 Gen 5. With this migration comes several battery and productivity improvements on the Ultra 2, including an incredible boost in battery capacity -- 35% to be exact, with an 800 mAh battery. I noticed the smartwatch lasted around two days before it hit 15%. The chip claims to make fast charging faster, though from my experience, it still took around an hour and a half to get the Ultra 2 back from 15% to 100%. Matthew Miller/ZDNETOther improvements make the watch brighter and easier to look at in more environments. This is thanks to the 5,000 nits packed into the display. For reference, a billboard is also around 5,000 nits bright during the daytime. I wore the watch everywhere, in very bright and dark environments during my testing period, and was pleased by how easy it was to read the display. Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 vs. Z Flip 8: Is a foldable or a flip the better option?The hardware is great, but the Ultra 2's software is where Samsung argues that you should sleep, exercise, and work with this smartwatch around your wrist. It arrives with several upgrades that not only bring it closer in scope to its competitors but also add a few unique use cases to the rugged smartwatch. Samsung takes several notes from Apple Watch UltraWe don't see a lot of fundamentally new, inventive features on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, but what does arrive is useful, functional, and advanced, and it will please new rugged Galaxy users. Four features that feel taken out of Apple Watch Ultra 3's playbook are the trail running feature, blood pressure index, Vitals tab, and the implementation of the Mares diving app. Apple was the first company to ship its FDA-cleared possible hypertension detection on its devices, and now a similar feature arrives on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, though its own FDA clearance is TBD. Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Z Fold 7: After a year of usage, I'm ready to upgradeSimilarly, other rugged smartwatches, like Garmin and Apple Watch, already have trail running -- and the Ultra 2 gets it as well. Trail running is the newest exercise in the Samsung Health app that builds upon outdoor running to track distance, elevation, duration, calories, and intervals -- plus you can import running routes and then follow the map along on the watch. Nina Raemont/ZDNETTo top it off, the smartwatch comes with hydration guidance, so the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 estimates how much water you've lost as you exercise, based on body mass index and nutrition information, to help you properly rehydrate after your workout. There's no sweat sensor that actively gauges how much water you've lost, so its accuracy depends on me filling out as recent of nutrition and water intake information as possible. The Mares app, already configured to Apple Watch Ultra, will come to Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 not at launch, but at a later date, so users can get diving guidance straight to their watch for safer and tracked submersions. For the not-so-hardcore users Even if you're not an outdoor explorer or marathon runner, you'll find Samsung's new bevy of health and fitness features useful. There's a cardio load tab that tracked my daily cardio and encouraged me to boost my activity on sedentary days or chill after an intense workout, for example. Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Motorola Razr Fold: Which premium foldable should you get?Not only does Samsung prioritize long-term prevention features like blood pressure trends and heart health scores, but it also delivers some short-term health monitoring features aimed at detecting the odd flu or illness on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. The new heart health score felt similar to Oura's cardiovascular age feature, which tells me whether my heart's health is younger or older than my heart's actual age. Samsung's heart health score accounts for my sleep data, exercise, BMI, and blood pressure to deliver a rating, and Samsung's Vitals monitors my heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO2 levels, and wrist temperature to detect any signs of illness. Let's talk AI Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Galaxy Watch 9 users will no longer have to say a keyword to call their AI assistant. Raise to Talk, a feature available already on Google Pixel Watches, now comes to the Galaxy Watch lineup. It needs to be enabled in settings, and it works to varying degrees. Key tip: The watch recognizes this gesture of raising your arm to your mouth more easily when you are standing and your arm is pointed down at a 180-degree angle -- it is a bit harder to get Raise to Talk to work when I'm sitting (and my watch arm is at a 90-degree angle) or lying down. Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2 Kerry Wan/ZDNETSpeaking of AI assistants, a personal health coach is noticeably absent from the software lineup. There is an opportunity for users to test their own AI health coach in beta on the Samsung Health app, but Samsung is surely taking its time with this rollout. This comes as a surprise, considering how deeply Samsung already collaborates with Google, who already has a successful and useful personal health coach in its smartwatch. I'm eager to see how a Samsung Health Coach would operate, compared to Google's own AI coach. ZDNET's buying adviceI'd position the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 as the Android alternative to the Apple Watch Ultra. It comes the closest in its sheer feature set for tracking rugged exercises like trail runs or dives, as well as its health-tracking functionalities. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a great option for someone shopping for their first rugged Android smartwatch, looking to spend more for a longer battery life, a brighter, visible display, and comprehensive health and activity tracking features.