Watch Ultra2

[AceJoey]

For anyone who has the Watch Ultra2 what is the your personal experience on it, I've seen the hype is it worth the upgrade over the Watch Ultra?

[Robin621k]

I am currently on my fifth day with the Watch Ultra 2. My initial charge provided approximately 3 and a half days of use. I do not utilize the Always-On Display feature, preferring the "raise to wake" function. With adaptive brightness enabled, the screen consistently achieves sufficient brightness outdoors, eliminating the need to shade it to view content.

I am in the process of trading in my first-generation Ultra, and I believe the upgrade is certainly worthwhile, particularly due to the new Snapdragon SoC. This new processor offers remarkable speed and has completely eliminated the lag I occasionally experienced with the previous generation.

Is it worth the upgrade, only you can be the judge. For me, absolutely!

[Franny21]

The only disappointment of the new one is that I know it's just not as loud as the old one.Are you experiencing that as well

[Robin621k]

That doesn't bother me. I don't use it for calls. Outside I am almost always using buds.

[Franny21]

I understand but for the price, I mean, it should be loud.Especially if you want to use different calls, and what about ringtones?Last year's models was much louder

[AceJoey]

@Robin621k Honestly I really love my Watch Ultra, although I like what I see in the Watch Ultra2 I might hold off till atleast maybe black Friday when bigger deals will be there

[userlQcCM1wRc8]

Most of the YT reviewers never bother to leave the studio and test the sports features. Swiping around on the screen and opening apps is not stress testing the watch.

Here are the three key features of the new architecture that everyone seems to miss.

1. Less thermal throttling.
Scenario: Texas summer heat, 🥵 GPS walk/run/hiking, stream music using data and LTE services.

GWU1 #fail everytime. It shuts down and needs to cool internally. There are several technical reasons why this is so and suffice it to say there is no software update to fix it.

GWU2 - Tested the same exact scenario, and went on a one hour hike, streaming music with the watch to my Galaxy Buds 4 Pros.
The GWU2 did not even break a sweat. No thermal throttling and at the end of my hike I remotely started my car where I left my phone, on purpose.

This is a huge update and all hardware based.

2. Speaking of Buds 4 Pros, leaving the phone behind, voice commands now work with the GWU2 (play /stop music, volume up/down, and next/previous track, just like the phone. There is a widget for the watch that controls noise cancelling just like if the buds were paired with the phone. To my knowledge, none of these features are available on the GWU1.
It is fantastic!

3. Stored Modes from the phone now process independently on the watch!
Just like Apple watches, the GWU2 functions cleanly on its own and not like a phone accessory. You can now leave the phone behind and the watch does everything the phone can. Reconnect to the phone and the mode the watch is set to syncs with the phone.

Again, this is all due to the processor, with GPS on board and not a separate chip and the snapdragon processor.
The GWU2 is literally a phone on your wrist.

Oh, and that 1 hour hike, streaming music, tracking GPS, while not in power savings mode, was not only flawless execution, including hydration and goals reminders, it only cost the watch 17% battery. That's really good when streaming music. Yes, I have stored music on my watch too and the extra 32GB of storage is great. But the GWU2 functions like it is supposed to, streaming music, tracking GPS is no longer marketing fluff.

Last comment. Use a 45W charging brick, of the fast charger bricks from Samsung.
The watch charges really fast with the supplied fast charging puck. Yeah, I am bummed my 3-in-1 chargers won't work anymore, but there will be third party chargers that will come to market. Until then, there is the puck.

See watch settings for battery. There is a simple battery protection setting that limits changing to 90% and then starts charging again at 85% back to 90. That's great for battery life and overnight charging.
Samsung can definitely improve upon this feature though and add more options like the phone has received over time.

The GWU2 is a winner!
Lighter and more comfortable too. The screen is not only brighter, but more screen real estate, and much sharper. It is like a high end phone screen and a more efficient panel to boot.

It smokes the GWU1 as Samsung gave us legitimate hardware updates. With trade-in, and pre launch discounts I got mine for $350.
Worth every penny for the upgrades mentioned.