Samsung S21 Ultra 2 Sim
Marie Ota
I don't climb, swim, run, or dive off cliffs. I check the time. No one would describe me as "ultra," I'm arguably not the target market for the new Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. But I've been wearing it for almost two weeks (ever since Paris and Galaxy Unpacked), and I have some thoughts.
Don't misunderstand me, though; I am not the person to review this $649 / 599 / AU$1,299 adventure-seeker smart timepiece seeking to join our best smartwatch list, but I am a watch fan and have, for the better part of 14 days, put aside my Apple Watch Series 9 and all the fun analog watches I started wearing again earlier this year so that I could experience what has to be the largest wrist gadget I've ever put on my wrist.
At 47mm wide by 12.1mm thick and 60.5 grams, this watch is a wrist statement. There's never a time where I forget it's on my wrist. Sometimes, I feel it resting on the space between my wrist and the back of my hand, a nudging reminder that this watch is low on subtlety and high on performance (even if I'm not).
At 480 pixels by 480 pixels and 335 ppi, the Samsung Galaxy Display dwarfs virtually any smartwatch I've worn before, even the Apple Watch Series 9 (484x396 at 326 ppi). Naturally, the real comparison should be made with the Apple Watch Ultra but my experience with that adventure clock is limited to a quick tryout last September when Apple launched the Watch Ultra 2.
By the way, I get that many people see an almost uncomfortable level of similarity between the two Ultra watches, but I can also see the differences. One is the unusual shape of the Galaxy Watch Ultra, which is a perfectly round face in a squarish body. Apple Watch Ultra takes its cues from the rectangular shape of its non-ultra forbearers.
In any case, I think the Galaxy Watch Ultra screen, with its non-existent blank space between the display and hardware bezel, is a real triumph. I love looking at it, changing out faces (which offer a clarity that makes them look almost like real analog faces), and how its always-on screen is viewable from any angle.
Over the years, Samsung has had physical rotating bezels, touch bezels, and even no bezels on its Galaxy Watches. In the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, they have the best touch bezel I've ever used. First of all, it's subtle. Instead of a wide band that looks like a design element, this looks like a classic chronograph bezel. Running my finger around the edge spins me through watch features, delivering a little haptic bump for each one.
Samsung's Dynamic Lug system for adding and removing the band is one I'd love to see on every smartwatch. It's so simple, sure, and satisfying to use. All it takes is a button press and a pull to remove. This makes attaching the band even easier: just push the band into the slot, and it snaps into place. I only wish I had more watch band options to try.
One of the marquee features of the new Galaxy Watch Ultra is the new Energy Score. It's an amalgam of various health metrics, including heart rate, sleep, and activity, and, as I learned, it is not the kind of measurement you can compare with others (no: "Hey, what's your Energy score? Mine is..."). Basically, it's a score about how well your human batteries are charged for the day ahead, and if the energy score is low, Galaxy AI is supposed to offer tips for raising it.
The art of the smartwatch is now almost as fixed as that of the traditional analog watch. So much of what I discovered and can do with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is obvious to me because I've been doing it or something similar to it before on the Apple Watch Series 9 and various other smartwatches.
Yes, it notices when I've been sitting for too long, prompts me to move, and, of course, commends me when I do so. In the world of smartwatches, there may be no other way to do this. I envision a future where people won't ever stand up without their wearable telling them to do so.
When I summon my favorite workout with the Quick Button (yes, just like the Apple Watch Ultra's Action Button) running the workout, pausing, and ending it doesn't look much different from what Apple offers.
Days and days of battery life, that's what you can expect with the Galaxy Watch Ultra, even without turning on the power-saving mode. As I write this, it's been more than a day since I charged the Watch Ultra, and I have more than two days left on the charge. if I enabled power-saving, I'd have four days.
I am really disappointed with extreme battery drain in my S24 ultra. With 14 hrs total use the screen time is 2 hrs and standby is 12 hrs the battery is already down to 30%. I don't think it should be this is right. I had high expectations from s24 ultra but this is really bad. I have seen really good reviews on s24 ultra but having faced this issue I am really disappointed. May be my device is faulty please help me with a replacement. I paid 2200 AUD for this phone not to face this issue. DISAPPOINTED.
The Always on Display on your S24 Ultra can be set to show automatically (e.g. it would show all the time unless your phone detects that it's in a dark place such as a purse or pocket).
To toggle this on, please go to Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Always on Display > Toggle this ON > When to show > Choose Auto.
That's not a thing and you should know it. The real consumption is since last charge, not when you charge your phone over the day and maybe even use it on the screen while charging. 8 hours SOT is not realistic. The battery drain is when you charge your phone to 100% and go out without a charger, so you will never ever get 8 hours SOT. Do your own experiment and you'll see that the "Today" drain is completely misleading. When people say "the battery is draining too fast", means it drains over the day from 100% without charging it. Samsung added that "Today" statistics exactly to mislead you and convince people like you that they have good battery life. No, it's not the same thing. Use it without a charger from 100% and when you're at 20% you'll maybe have 4 hours SOT. Wake up.
It's true. I could go through 2 days with normal usage without having any stress, but since the last software update the battery drains way faster. Don't listen to these people, you didn't do anything wrong that you don't have whatever good guardians and obscure apps. Your battery is supposed to last longer without any apps and tricks. Do the wipe cache partition from time to time, some restart, but don't install weird apps that need battery to "save" battery. Crazy.
Updated my samsung s23 ultra to one ui 6.1 this morning and no sound from the phone. It is not playing any media files on any apps. No audio sound for the incoming/outgoing calls. Bluetooth also not working. Horrible Experience.
Right after the May security update (Verizon) my S23 Ultra's microphone and speakers stopped working. On reboot I get "Change main audio output device? The audio device you selected to seperate for certain apps () is the same as your main audio device. Change you main audio device to This phone to seperate soud for these apps."
I've now spend some extra time, with online support, a Verizon corp site, back to online support and ended up going with their suggestion to do a full factory reset. I did that but even then it still doesnt work. Looks like the security update broke the audio codec firmware parts? No solution so far. Day 2, phone pretty useless, no audio/speakers/mic, SMS intermittently works, cant receive or make calls.
[Update] After an additional hour of troubleshooting (mostly same steps again), debugging, enabled developer mode, the update was a Samsung (not Verizon security/monthly update), this update seems to have rendered my audio codec chip & GPS unusable. Ive done another facory wipe (All data) and no luck. Under Developer mode, Trigger Bluetooth Audio Codec Selection, AAC, Qualcomm aptX audio, LDAC & SSC are all greyed out. Trying to take a picture crashes the photo app.
While its aluminum design, squared off sides and iPhone-like rounded corners are just a bigger version of the regular S24, the Galaxy S24 Plus has a new screen that has the same resolution as the S24 Ultra. In fact, since the S24 Plus has a smaller 6.7-inch display, compared to the 6.8-inch one on the Ultra, the Plus actually has a higher pixel density. It's only an 8-pixel difference and I know most people can't see it. I can't see it myself, but in my heart I know it's more and that's something.
The Plus and Ultra have the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, screen brightness and resolution, RAM, Galaxy AI features and storage options (except 1TB is reserved only for the Ultra). The Ultra is made of titanium instead of aluminum, has an ever-so-slightly bigger battery, houses an S Pen and, of course, has better cameras (on paper).
During my testing, the S24 Plus lasted two days on a single charge, ending the second day at 11 p.m. with the battery at 11%. The S24 Plus has a larger 4,900-mAh battery than last year's S23 Plus, which has a 4,700-mAh battery. The first day of use involved a lot of downloading, having the screen on at full brightness for a photoshoot in the morning and then keeping the screen at full brightness for a video shoot in the afternoon. And that was all while trying out new features like Circle to Search throughout the day. The Plus' battery ended the first day at 38%.
The second day was a bit more normal in terms of my workflow. I tried more new AI features. The phone can expand a photo's frame to show parts that were cut off, and it can erase an object from an image. I'm obsessed with keeping the horizons on my photos level (sorry, my dad was an architect) so being able to straighten a photo and then use the S24 Plus' onboard AI, called Generative Edit, to create new edges seemed too good to be true. The results weren't great, but they weren't horrible either.
Take a look below at another version of the photo. Using the edit tool, I moved the striped pillow, enlarged it and repositioned it above Mariel's head. I also straightened the photo, then let the AI do its thing. The results? For better or worse, it's obvious that something has been altered, but it's still fun. The fill around the photo's edges and the background fill where the couch pillow was look off. Note that the bottom left corner now has a tiny AI watermark to let you know that the photo was altered. The photo's EXIF data also includes a "Modified with Generative edit" label.
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