Sunday Runday
this Weekly ColumnAndroid Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks about the world of wearables, apps, and fitness tech as it relates to running and health as part of his quest to get faster and healthier.
Over the past year, I’ve gently criticized Samsung for not taking fitness as seriously as its rivals. When I saw the improved heart rate accuracy and dual-band GPS on the Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra on The Unpacked, my expectations for these two watches were at a fever pitch, but I had to test these upgrades for myself. After two days of running, I’m very optimistic!
my Galaxy Watch Ultra Our review unit arrived on a Thursday afternoon at 102ºF, so testing time was limited to the last two sweaty mornings (it’s a Saturday as I write this). We’ll do more in-depth testing in a week and a half or so, but we wanted to get this up and running quickly for anyone considering pre-ordering the Watch 7 or Ultra.
There are four main upgrades from the Watch 6 to the Watch 7: Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra: faster Exynos, twice the storage, three times the LEDs for the bottom health sensors, dual-band GPS. The first two are welcome but expected annual upgrades, while the value of the last two is somewhat subjective. Is the HR and GPS data on the old Watch 6 good enough to warrant an upgrade, or will Wear OS athletes be able to afford it? need Are you upgrading?
My Galaxy Watch Ultra Fitness Test
To test the accuracy, I went for a run with the Galaxy Watch Ultra on my left wrist. Garmin Forerunner 965 to my right COROS Heart Rate Monitor To get more accurate heart rate results, I synced the wrist-worn data with my Garmin.
The Garmin watch is set to SatIQ mode, which means it boots up with GPS only to save battery, but switches to dual-band mode if the signal is blocked. In theory, the Galaxy Watch Ultra could stay in dual-band mode by default, which would make it more reliable.
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My first 5K jogging loop ended with both the Garmin and Samsung recording 3.11 miles and an average heart rate of 159 bpm. It was a great start, but in the graph above you can see some gaps in heart rate where the Samsung over- or under-estimated my effort, but it was balanced out. On the GPS map, you can see that the Garmin (blue) followed my path, while the Samsung (orange) leaned closer to the road throughout the entire loop.
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The second 5 mile run finished with the Galaxy Watch Ultra recording 5.04 miles and an average of 145 bpm. The Garmin Forerunner 965 recorded 5.01 miles and the COROS HRM recorded 146 bpm.
In this test, the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s dual-band GPS maps outperformed Garmin’s SatIQ maps: On a round-trip route, the Samsung consistently followed my running path while the Garmin drifted off path, and at the beginning of my run down the road and past a construction site, the Samsung did a better job of capturing the moment when I stopped to turn around and watch a car go by.
As for heart rate, the Samsung pretty much matched the peaks and valleys of the HR monitor, but lagged slightly during quick changes. This is pretty consistent for wrist-based optical HR data, and Samsung is in good company. Aside from a few anomalies, the Ultra’s accuracy was roughly on par.
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Finally, I tested the accuracy of the Galaxy Watch Ultra with a quick 1-mile run in lane two of the track, at maximum effort. In this case, the Samsung measured 1,670m, while the accurate distance was 1,640m. The Ultra’s average of 171 bpm was 6 bpm lower than the COROS HRM.
You’ll notice heart rate issues right away when you start your run. I think it’s because I took the watch off to take photos before my run and it wasn’t fastened tight enough. The watch wobbled when I moved my arm, so I fastened it on the first lap and the results improved (though not immediately). Still, the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s results were off by about 5-8 bpm at various points until it got completely on track on the last lap.
The GPS map was a bit weird but I haven’t found it yet. Any It’s a fitness watch that perfectly matches your lane while track running, so you don’t have to think too hard about it.
Overall, my GPS results were: Last year’s Galaxy Watch 6 fitness testMy heart rate results have improved, but I would like to do more anaerobic exercise to see if the track running issues were a coincidence.
As an aside, the Samsung’s step count was a bit erratic. It was mostly accurate when I walked 1,000 steps while counting, but seemed to miss a few steps when I was running. My cadence (steps per minute) was off by a few spms on each run, and the daily Ultra step count was about 100 steps short of the Forerunner 965 every few thousand steps. The Garmin watch wins. Several my Step count testSo I’ll trust that data more here.
My impressions after working out with the Galaxy Watch Ultra
The Galaxy Watch Ultra and Watch 7 feature the same dual-band GPS and improved HR LED, so whichever you choose, you’re sure to see better fitness results than with the previous-generation Galaxy Watch.
Focusing specifically on the Galaxy Watch Ultra, I wrote earlier this week: Ultra has inactive crown, disappointingWhile I like having a dedicated button for pausing or resuming a workout, it’s frustrating having to swipe multiple times to switch screens, even when wiping sweat off your fingers. It’s not a huge issue, but I hope Samsung gives this a proper crown in a future Ultra.
Samsung sent me the bulkier Ocean Band, but I think the nylon Trail Band was lighter and fit my wrist better. My arms have gotten used to heavier fitness watches over the years, so I didn’t find the Galaxy Watch Ultra too much of a hassle to wear. That said, if you have smaller wrists, you might want to try it out first to see if it works for you.
I like that the display brightness has been increased to 3,000 nits. Apple Watch Ultra 2Colours are vibrant and text is easy to read, even on sunny days.
Samsung claims the Galaxy Watch Ultra will last 16 hours with full GPS use in normal conditions. I started my run with the Ultra fully charged and finished at 85% after two hours of combined running and auto-tracking walking. In theory the Ultra is on pace to last 13 hours, not far off Samsung’s promise.
If nothing changes in future tests, the Galaxy Watch Ultra (or the more affordable Galaxy Watch 7) will easily beat the Best Fitness Watches Samsung still has room to improve on the software side — hopefully we’ll see training loads and suggested workouts in future Wear OS updates — but it’s catching up with competitors when it comes to hardware.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra
