Apple Watch Ultra 2
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 takes an already fantastic smartwatch and dials everything up to eleven. The display can reach a cornea-searing 3,000 nits, and the new S9 SiP SoC means that it can last longer than ever before. All of this great hardware comes at a price, though, and whether the slew of fitness features and pro-grade specs are worth it to you will depend on a lot of factors.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic brings back the beloved rotating bezel absent last year. Theclassicdesign is paired with a larger display and brand-new chip, resulting in one of the best Wear OS smartwatches you can buy.
Last year’s Apple Watch Ultra blew everyone away when it was announced. It featured top-of-the-line specs and could, in some ways, compete with professional equipment in the diving and mountaineering space. Now it’s time for a refresh, refining what was already there and adding a few extras. When it comes to thebest Android smartwatches, we have theGalaxy Watch 6 Classic, another chunky device that ticks as many boxes as possible. How do these watches stack up? Let’s find out.
Price, availability, and specs
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 starts from $800, and is available directly from Apple or from most major carriers and retailers.
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is available in two sizes, each of which can be had with or without cellular data. The 43mm is $400 with Wi-Fi and $450 with cellular. The larger 47mm is $430 with Wi-Fi and $480 with cellular. It’s available from Samsung and most major retailers and carriers.
The biggest difference between these watches is software, but you may check out the hardware specs side-by-side below:
The Apple Watch Ultra 2’s design is an evolution of the Apple Watch we already know. It features a display that isn’t quite a perfect square (somewhat rectangular), flanked by a rotating crown and button on the right side, with a speaker and action button on the left. Once you get close to the details, the difference to the standard Apple Watch becomes more apparent. The titanium frame protrudes slightly to protect the display, and the crown and main buttons are more pronounced. The crown wheel can be used to scroll through lists and other UI elements.
You can order the Ultra 2 with three different bands, each with a different activity in mind. The Outdoor Loop is suited for hiking, the Trail Loop for general outdoor activities, and the Ocean Band for swimming and diving. Each strap comes in three colors, and you can replace them with compatible third-party straps.
The Galaxy Watch 6 will look familiar if you’ve seen a Galaxy Watch 4 Classic or any fancy analog watch, for that matter. A stainless steel frame and a physical rotating bezel surround the circular display. Spinning the bezel isn’t just satisfying; it can scroll through UI elements and perform different actions.
The left side of the watch is blank, while the two buttons are over on the right. The top button acts as a home button and can be programmed to do various other tasks when double-pressed or held down. The lower button navigates backward through menus. The Watch 6 is available in either black or silver, and you can choose from seven band styles, each with multiple color options.
The Galaxy Watch 6 has a 1.3 or 1.5-inch display, depending on which size you get. Both are AMOLED panels that can reach 2,000 nits and are covered by sapphire crystal for improved damage resistance. The Watch 6 is 60Hz and has a higher resolution than the previous model. At 424x424 and 480x480, respectively, both screens are incredibly sharp and detailed. Samsung has made some of the industry’s best displays for years, so it’s no surprise that the Watch 6 Classic is this good.
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a large 1.92-inch display with a 502x410 resolution, making it more than sharp enough for a device this size. Like the Watch 6 Classic, the Ultra 2 uses a 60Hz display, but it has a major advantage — LTPO, a technology that allows for variable refresh rates. The Watch Ultra 2 can drop its display as low as 1Hz when you’re using the always-on display, drastically improving battery life. It’s brightness bumped up to 3,000 nits, making it even brighter than the 6 Classic.
The biggest difference between these displays is their shape. The Apple Watch is not quite square, whereas the Watch 6 Classic is circular. The Apple Watch is able to show more information on its screen at once, while the Galaxy Watch has a more, as the name suggests, classic look. There’s no right or wrong choice here, as which is best will come down to the user’s preference.
Software is the key differentiating factor between these devices. Just as iOS and Android are like chalk and cheese, WatchOS and WearOS are just as disparate. This is especially true for Samsung watches than other WearOS devices, thanks to One UI Watch, the Samsung software that sits atop WearOS.
Navigation can, of course, be done via the touch screen, but both devices also offload a lot of scrolling to some of their hardware. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a slew of new gestures that can navigate the UI and open apps by tracking the movement of your hands, and you can also use the digital crown to navigate. The Galaxy Watch 6 is similar; a “knock knock” gesture can open an app or perform a chosen action, and the rotating bezel serves the same function as the crown wheel.
When the Apple Watch was first released, it could only use pre-installed watch faces. This gave WearOS a massive step up since it had access to a wealth of custom faces from the Play Store. However, that all changed with the release of WatchOS 7, as you may now download third-party watch faces from the App Store. As things stand, the Apple Watch has more licensed watch faces from big brands, while WearOS has a thriving indie market.
Health and fitness
Both watches have a suite of fitness-focussed features, but this is a particular focus of the Watch Ultra 2. Like the Series 9, it can measure heart rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen, and ECG. It also has more specialized hardware, like a depth monitor for diving. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic can measure heart rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen, ECG, and even blood pressure. I’d argue that keeping track of your blood pressure is something you’ll do more often than deep diving, but to each their own. Both devices can automatically detect workouts.
Sleep tracking is available on both, and each has pros and cons. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is more accurate when recording sleep, but it isn’t as automatic as we’d like. It’ll record sleep automatically at night based on your iPhone usage, but during the day, it won’t because it doesn’t know if you’re asleep or simply not using your phone while working.
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is accurate enough in this regard to give you a good idea of what you need to improve on, but automation is where it shines. It can detect when you fall asleep based on its own sensor readings, so your midday nap will be recorded automatically, unlike with the Watch Ultra 2. The Galaxy Watch can also work in random with your phone to record your snoring, whereas the Apple Watch requires a third-party app to do this.
These devices trade blows pretty evenly until you get to three specific activities: hiking, climbing, and diving. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 had a lot of extra hardware to help here. For instance, dual GPS ensures it can keep a lock on your location no matter where you are, perfectly recording route data. An altimeter keeps track of elevation when climbing, and a depth sensor knows how deep you are when diving. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic simply can’t compete in those activities.
Which should you buy?
There’s one key factor we haven’t mentioned yet — ecosystem lock-in. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 only works with the iPhone, and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic only works with Android phones. For us, that makes the Watch 6 Classic an easy recommendation. Aside from the more specialized fitness features, the Watch 6 Classic remains competitive with the Ultra 2 in most areas despite costing half as much. It also looks a hell of a lot better, in our opinion, at least.
Classically handsome
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic brings back the beloved rotating bezel that was absent last year. Thisclassicdesign is paired with a larger display and brand-new chip, resulting in one of the best Wear OS smartwatches you’re able to buy.
If you’re an iPhone user, then obviously, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the one to pick. It has a beautifully bright and crisp display, fantastic battery life, and a plethora of health sensors to keep you on track.
The do-it-all all powerhouse
