Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra First Look and Unboxing – Ready for Adventure

At the recent Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024, the brand unveiled their latest foldables which consist of the Galaxy Z Flip6 as well as their titular flagship the Galaxy Z Fold6. Alongside these two foldables, they also revealed their latest generation of Galaxy smartwatches which consist of the Galaxy Watch7 series and their top of the line Galaxy Watch Ultra that is not only bigger, but tougher and longer-lasting than its siblings with a price tag to match. 

In Malaysia, Samsung is bundling the Galaxy Watch Ultra with a special free Adventure Pack while stocks last that is worth RM806 which crams in a ton of extra kit to complement the watch. We got our hands on this special combo pack fresh off the production line for review. Ahead of our in-depth review, here’s our Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra first look and unboxing where we share what’s in the box along with what comes with their Adventure Pack.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra First Look and Unboxing – Adventure Pack and what’s in the box?

In Malaysia, purchasing the Galaxy Watch Ultra gets you a free Adventure Pack worth RM806 while stocks last.This Adventure Pack comes in a bold black and orange flip-open cardboard box which holds a Samsung-made 10,000 mAh power bank, a 15W charger for the watch, a Samsung SmartTag 2 and an eye-catching alternative orange strap that you can swap out to in lieu of the default colours bundled with the Galaxy Watch Ultra. Our Galaxy Watch Ultra first look unit in Titanium White comes in a sealed package placed within the Adventure Pack itself.

All told, this complete package gives you an alternate watch strap to change your style, a power bank to charge your primary phone, a charger to charge your Galaxy Watch Ultra, an extra Smart Tag2 to keep an eye and track an important bit of kit like your handbag or car and a bag to hold it all in. That’s pretty darned good value any way you slice it.

 

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra First Look and Unboxing – Build and Design

Easily Samsung’s most powerful, toughest and, to be fair, chonkiest watch ever, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has been designed for extreme endurance with looks to match. Rather than the minimalist looking rounded designs of its lesser Galaxy Watch 7 siblings, our Galaxy Watch Ultra first look sample has a ruggedised, up-armoured casing that ensconces the 47mm 1.5-inch Super AMOLED rounded display in a squarish looking, reinforced titanium case that’s also embellished with ceramic for that extra posh touch.

That case isn’t just for show – the watch is rated for 10 ATM (100 metres) for deep water immersion for up to 10 minutes, has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, packs a MIL-STD-810H rating for drop resistance and usage in extremes of temperature and has overall enhanced resistance to nicks and scratches too. The touch display itself is also protected by Sapphire glass too, making the Galaxy Watch Ultra Samsung’s most durable watch in service.

Flanking the usual two buttons in Galaxy Watch series designs is the addition of an orange-lined button that Samsung has dubbed a ‘Quick button’ that can be customised as a shortcut for selected functions.

While it looks like a rotatable crown, the Quick Button is – alas- just a clickable button though it would have been nice if they included the option to rotate it to navigate the user interface. It’s a missed opportunity here to include a rotating crown to navigate the menus or interface though this is presumably also to make the device water resistant by minimising the number of moving parts.

Another quibble is that the Galaxy Watch Ultra unfortunately lacks a physical rotating bezel which was something we loved to bits on the prior Galaxy Watch Classic that debuted last year as it made getting about the menus an absolute joy. Even so, you can still mimic the capabilities of the rotating dial by tracing the edges of the display with your fingers.

By default, you get a colour-matched strap that goes with the colour of the watch case with our Galaxy Watch Ultra first look sample in Titanium White coming with white silicone straps. In addition to the Titanium White colourway, you can also acquire the Galaxy Watch Ultra in Titanium Gray and Titanium Silver. Oddly enough, the Galaxy Watch Ultra uses its own proprietary straps and a customised set of lugs which means that swapping out to third party designs is not an option.

The provided straps are made of silicone though the formulation has been improved to make them more comfortable to wear for extended lengths of time while featuring a large metal clasp to keep it secure. There’s plenty of length to the straps and even with my fairly thick wrists, it didn’t prove to be a problem though those with smaller wrists may find the extra bit flapping around.

This time around, the underside of our Galaxy Watch Ultra first look unit hosts an Enhanced BioActive Sensor that has been upgraded over the previous generation model to offer enhanced accuracy on account of a 3.2x denser array of sensors versus the prior version used in the Watch6. 

Unfortunately, the trade-off of an improved bioactive sensor is that the underside sensor housing bulges out prominently to the point that it won’t sit flush on a flat surface; this means that the Galaxy Watch Ultra is unable to get Reverse Wireless Charging support which is irksome but not a deal breaker.

Overall build quality for our Galaxy Watch Ultra first look unit is superb and while it does appear rather chonky, it’s big and bold in a good way with the watch itself looking premium and prominent, garnering admiring looks when worn. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra First Look and Unboxing – What’s Under the Hood?

On paper, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has a new five-core Exynos W1000 processor built on a 3nm process running under the hood as the Watch 7 series with 2GB RAM and 32GB of on-board storage with Samsung’s One UI Watch 6 interface overlaying the Wear OS 5 firmware. This means that you can access third-party wearOS applications to further augment your experience including essentials like Spotify and Strava.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra also has LTE connectivity too with eSIM support, allowing it to function somewhat independently away from a paired smartphone and is thus far the only available version globally unlike the Watch 7 series which have LTE-enabled and Bluetooth only variants.

Where the Galaxy Watch Ultra stands above its peers is that it has better battery life with the larger case enabling it to pack a 590mAh battery that is rated for up to 100 hours of use if you kick in Power Saving mode. Another major improvement in hardware is that the Galaxy Watch Ultra also has improved GPS tracking with a dual-frequency GPS system that enables better accuracy even in dense urban areas though the Galaxy Watch 7 also has this improved hardware too. We’ll put it through its paces in our review.

It also has all the health, sleep and fitness tracking capabilities of its predecessors such as blood pressure, ECG and heart rate and adds in a new Energy Score that assesses how well rested you are based on your prior day’s activities and sleep quality.

All told, the Galaxy Watch Ultra looks like a promising acquisition especially for sportsmen and those looking to optimise their day The addition of an alternative orange strap plus a free charger, power bank, bag and strap in the Adventure Pack does add quite a bit of value to the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s substantive RM3,399 price tag. To purchase, check out Samsung’s official online store here.