Samsung Galaxy Watches: Features, Design, and Performance Insights

The Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7 offer new features, designs, and battery performance, with some drawbacks like limited wireless charging compatibility.

### Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7: Initial Impressions and Key Features
* ⌚️  The Galaxy Watch Ultra features a **polarizing squircle design**, while the Galaxy Watch 7 is more **traditional and comfortable**, especially for **smaller wrists**.
* 🔋  The Ultra boasts the **largest battery** of any Galaxy Watch, but real-world battery performance is still being **assessed**.
* 🛌  New health features include **sleep apnea detection** and **energy scores**, with AI recommendations expected after a few more nights of data.
* 🚴‍♂️  The Ultra introduces a new **Functional Threshold Power feature** for cycling, allowing for **quick calculation of maximum power**.
* 🔌  A major downside is the removal of wireless charging from Samsung phones, attributed to the **design of the new bioactive sensor**.
* 🎨  Both watches offer **new watch faces** and a **night mode option**, with **improved always-on display interaction**.
* 🔊  The quick button on the side can be **customized**, and **double pinch actions** can be enabled in settings.
* 📱  The sleep apnea detection feature requires the Samsung Health Monitor app, limiting compatibility to **Galaxy phones**.

[Music] The Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7 are here. I've spent 48 hours with Samsung's new watches, so let's get into it. Now, this is not a full review. Make sure to subscribe if you're not already and stay tuned for that. So, in 2 days, I'm not really able to do a full deep dive into all of this because we need a lot more data about sleep activity and battery testing, of course, but here are some answers to your most burning questions. Let's start with the design and the fit. Now, the Ultra is the big new watch, Samsung's first Galaxy Watch to get the Ultra branding, and the look is, well, I initially called it unique, but I think it's actually now more polarizing. The squircle design, or really it's called a cushion case, is either something you're going to love or hate. Sounds odd to say, but I think it actually looks better in real life than it does in photos and videos. It doesn't photograph that well, and the white version is my favorite. That's the one I

initially tried on in the demo room. The one here that I have in for review is the titanium gray with the orange Marine band. Now my wrist is 152 mm and it does feel quite big on me. And also, you know by now, the bezel around the screen doesn't move. This is the Galaxy Watch 7 on my wrist. It fits a lot better. It's the 40 mm smaller size and it is more comfortable to wear, especially when doing things like sleep tracking. But of course, then you'll lose out on the tough construction and bigger battery on the Ultra. But apart from those two things, these watches are actually way more similar than you might think, very much how like the Watch 5 and the Watch 5 Pro were pretty much the same under the hood, apart from that construction and a couple of extra tools like Trackback. There are some new watch faces on the Ultra like Ultra Analog Simple, Ultra Ultra Infoboard, and more. There's also a night mode option available on them and you can set that to be on all the time.

or so it comes on automatically. A nice touch on both the ultra and the Seven is that you don't need to wake up the always-on display to select stuff anymore. So if it's inactive, just tap on the item you want to launch, and it launches. That's kind of a nice touch. The quick button is here on the side, and it doesn't rotate like a crown, by the way, it is just a button. By default, it's set to launch the workout menu, but you can go into the settings and change it. So here, you'll see that there is either a stopwatch option, a flashlight, and a water lock, and you can also long-press the button to get to the siren, and you can also customize the actions on all the other buttons. Yes, I immediately changed the top button from the Bixby default to activate the power-off menu. The double pinch action is on this watch, so you can do this to answer calls, dismiss alerts, play and pause music on your phone, or just take a photo with the

camera, but you do have to turn this on. This is not on by default. Find that in the settings under buttons and gestures. One big new feature on these watches is sleep apnea detection. So to set this up, you will need to have the Samsung Health Monitor app on your phone. And know that this is a feature exclusive to Galaxy phones. So even though you can pair these watches with any Android device, the sleep apnea detection needs this app, which is only on Galaxy devices. Unless you want to sideload, but that's another conversation. Once you go through and activate the sleep apnea detection, it needs two nights of sleep data as a minimum. And it will give you a notification if it detects something abnormal. Then there's the energy score. This is actually really nice, and it's taking into account things like your activity and sleep. But I haven't got any of the AI recommendations yet, like wellness tips. That's going to take at least a few more nights of data and a few more workouts. So stay tuned for that.

I'm looking forward to seeing if that actually helps give some actionable insights, or if it's just going to be pretty generic and obvious stuff. One element on the Ultra I'm really excited to test out is the new Functional Threshold Power feature for cycling. This is the maximum level of intensity that you can maintain for an hour. So, the Galaxy Watch Ultra can actually calculate your maximum power in just 4 minutes, compared to say a 20-minute or an hour test you usually need to do. But for this, you will need to connect to a power meter from your bike, go really hard for 4 minutes, and then it should hopefully automatically calculate. The Ultra has the biggest battery of any Galaxy Watch so far, but if you're familiar with earlier Galaxy Watches, you'll know it takes a few days to a week to really get to learn your usage habits and calibrate. So, stay tuned for the full review for the real-world battery performance numbers. Okay, some bad news about charging that I have just discovered in my first 48 hours.

wireless charging from a Samsung phone is gone. This is a huge downside for me. I've always loved topping up the Galaxy watch when I've been away from a charger. Here is the support page confirming that change. Apparently it's because of the design of the new bioactive sensor, so now the watch doesn't sit flush against the back of the phone. I tried to push the watch down firmly and held it in place just to test it out. It kind of gives you the buzz, it starts charging, but then it gives you an error message. I am so out about this. First you take my rotating bezel, and then you take my wireless charging. What are you doing to me? Okay, I've got lots more testing to get into and stuff to get over, obviously, but let me know what else you want to know about the watches, and I'll get into it in the full review. Thanks so much for watching, and I will catch you next time. See you.

My First 48 Hours With Galaxy Watch Ultra

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Samsung's New Galaxy Watches: A 48-Hour Impression

The Galaxy Watch Ultra has a polarizing squircle design and a big size, while the Galaxy Watch 7 offers a smaller and more comfortable fit.

Both watches are similar in many ways, with the Ultra having a tough construction and a bigger battery.

The Ultra also introduces new watch faces and a night mode option, but a full review would require more time for sleep activity and battery testing.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and Seven Features

The new watches have a convenient always-on display for easy selection.

The side button can be customized to launch different actions, such as the workout menu or power-off menu.

They also offer sleep apnea detection and an energy score, which provides AI recommendations based on activity and sleep data.

The New Functional Threshold Power Feature of the Galaxy Watch Ultra

The Galaxy Watch Ultra introduces a new Functional Threshold Power feature for cycling, allowing for a quick calculation of the maximum power in just 4 minutes.

However, using this feature requires connecting to a power meter from your bike and going through a rigorous 4-minute test.

The watch also has the largest battery of any Galaxy Watch, but it may take some time to learn and calibrate to the user's usage habits.

Samsung Phone No Longer Supports Wireless Charging for Galaxy Watch

Samsung has removed wireless charging support for the Galaxy Watch due to the design of the new bioactive sensor, preventing it from sitting flush against the back of the phone.

Despite attempts to force the charging, it results in an error message.

This change has left the user feeling disappointed, especially after the removal of the rotating bezel feature.