Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Review: The Ultimate Android Smartwatch

Weight comes as a surprise when unboxing. The watch initially feels quite heavy in the hand. After a few days of wearing it, it feels noticeably lighter and more comfortable; weight distribution does its job, and you quickly forget it’s there on the wrist. The proprietary strap has also been revised, now thinner (1.9 mm) and 25% lighter than previous accessories. It uses a new technology called Air Pocket and is indeed more pleasant on the skin. I still appreciate the numerous perforations that allow a perfect fit on any wrist.

The display is arguably the standout feature of the specs, with a maximum brightness of 5,000 nits. Unprecedented in the smartwatch space, where premium models cap at around 3,000 nits. It is also slightly larger than the previous model, improving daily navigation comfort. In practice, the difference is most noticeable outdoors: readability remains flawless where others struggle. Indoors or at night, the screen does its job well, but outdoors, in bright light, this figure makes all the difference. Saying the difference is glaring would be an exaggeration, but the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s ultra-bright, perfectly defined display is simply the best I’ve seen on a smartwatch.

The microphone and speaker are genuine pleasant surprises. Voice capture is clear, recognition efficient, and calls come through without issue, which isn’t always a given for a watch. The only downside is that sound quality drops slightly at maximum volume, but in normal use—the majority of cases—it remains crisp and enjoyable.

In terms of durability, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 takes splashes and baths in stride, and carries EN13319 and IP69K certifications for swimmers and divers, attesting to its resistance to extreme pressures.

Software: Gemini accelerates, the smartphone slows things down

One UI 9 Watch marks a real maturity milestone for Samsung. The interface doesn’t change radically (Notifications on the left, widgets on the right, home menu at the bottom) but is more legible and better organized. Widgets benefit from clearer visual separation, navigation is fast, and the whole feels designed for a small screen rather than a phone adaptation. On personalization, Samsung remains one of the most generous manufacturers in the Android market, offering numerous free and paid dials.

The Snapdragon Wear processor clearly makes a leap in performance. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 responds instantly, moving between apps is ultra-fluid. We expected nothing less from a premium product.

On the intelligence front, the watch carries both Gemini and Bixby. In practice, it’s mostly Gemini I use daily for general queries and information requests, with a response speed that impressed during testing, whether asking a question or dictating a command like “Start a walk” to begin exercise tracking. A new feature in this version: Gemini now has a “Raise to speak” mode, which, like Siri on an Apple Watch, listens with a simple arm-to-mouth motion. You must bring the watch close for the gesture to be understood, but it works well after a few tries. Bixby remains more on the sidelines, limited to system settings such as brightness, and I admit I hardly used it directly. Have you ever used Bixby on your phone? Me neither.

The real downside is the persistent smartphone dependency. Despite all the power packed into the watch and a well-thought-out interface, many features still point back to the phone for configuration or activation, with menus that simply say “Show on the phone” where the action could very well be done at the wrist. It’s genuinely frustrating, and it slightly undermines the idea of having such a self-contained device on paper: what’s the point of such a chassis if you always have to pull out your phone for advanced configuration?

On the payments side, however, there’s no fault to find. Samsung Pay and Google Pay are present and work flawlessly in daily use, which is not a given for a watch intended to accompany outdoor activities without a phone. In the same vein, the watch handles notifications reliably, with complete synchronization, and offers full media control as well as remote triggering of the phone’s camera. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is one of the most complete watches on the market, and that’s even more true if you own a Samsung phone.

The app ecosystem is another major asset. Beyond Samsung’s own apps, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is compatible with dozens of services like Strava, but it’s especially Google Maps with offline maps that proved most useful on a daily basis, a real comfort for wrist navigation without constant network dependence. The Samsung Wearable app, which centralizes the settings, also gains clarity with a more modern interface, well-presented data, and excellent translations.

On the health front, Samsung has pulled out all the stops. Beyond the classic heart rate, SpO2 and stress tracking, the watch extends to cardiovascular load, body composition, cycle tracking, diet, and even hearing health: few manufacturers cover such a wide spectrum. The energy score shown every morning is arguably the most useful daily metric: I really integrated it into my routine, it provides a concrete, actionable snapshot in the widget area to frame your day—much more informative than a stack of graphs. Alarm wake detection, coupled with sleep tracking, rounds out the picture. Samsung Health’s recent update turns the app into a comprehensive dashboard for a holistic view of your metrics, similar to a Google Health recently. Apple should take a leaf from this, as its Health app lags well behind this interface.

Not all measurements are as well conceived. The antioxidant index is the best example: you literally have to flip the watch on your wrist to take the measurement, a somewhat unnatural gesture that betrays a sensor limitation rather than a real ergonomics choice. Technically understandable, yet inconvenient in use and it clashes with the care given to the rest of the health experience. You’ll unfortunately forget it after one or two attempts.

Autonomy: three days of quiet, a charger that drags

With all features enabled, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 lasts a little under three days, with an hour of activity and GPS tracking active, which is still a very good result given the power onboard and the brightness of the display. In my daily use, it’s more than enough: I never had to monitor the battery with anxiety, the Always-On Display stays active from start to finish, and notifications continue to function until complete discharge. Samsung quotes an average of 90 hours of use, likely with lighter usage than mine during this test.

Charging, however, slightly dampens this positive impression. Expect around 1h30 for a full charge via the wireless charging puck, a bit long given the product’s premium positioning. It’s not a deal-breaker, though: you can schedule it easily—one charge in the morning under the shower or during breakfast is usually enough to cover the day.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Clubic’s verdict