When testing new devices in a short time, it is difficult to delve into all their capabilities, especially if they are smart sports watches, the advantages of which are revealed during long-term use. That's why we decided to conduct an experiment: three people of different ages, genders, and physical activity levels used Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra for three weeks, and we share the results in this article.
Taras Mishchenko, 38, editor-in-chief of Mezha.Media
Given that I have a mostly sedentary job and often stay in front of the computer late at night, I'm impressed by the idea of a smart sports watch that should help the user lead a healthier lifestyle by collecting and analyzing data. Being able to look at yourself "through the eyes of a soulless machine" is actually quite useful. After all, our perception of our own physical activity, sleep, and nutrition is often very distorted. And when it seems that you've definitely walked at least twenty-five kilometers in a day, in reality it can be barely five. It's the same if you go to bed at three in the morning and get up at 8 in the morning thinking you've had a good night's sleep. Or eating one more candy, because it's so small.
Therefore, after using the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra for a long time, I expected to find an answer to the question: can a smart sports watch really have a direct impact on human health and change people's habits?
Looking for an answer, I decided to follow the Samsung watch's instructions and try to give it as much information about myself as possible. I don't have a lot of physical activity during the day, because I spend most of my time at the computer. Sometimes you can take less than 4,000 steps in a day, so I try to compensate by jogging outside in warm weather and going to the gym and swimming pool once a week in winter. I also manage to play basketball 1-2 times a week.
First, I'd like to note that the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra counts steps quite accurately, and I've never had it show a significant deviation from my usual figures. And if you set up a reminder to get up every 50 minutes, it actually increases the number of steps per day by more than 1000 on average. After all, if you're already away from the computer, you're going to walk anyway, at least to get a drink of water.
By the way, together with the Samsung Health app, the watch allows you to enter the amount of water you drink and remind you to go for a drink every hour. This is not mandatory advice, as our body often knows better when to drink water, but such reminders are helpful. Sometimes you can work so hard that you forget not only to drink but also to eat.
In the morning, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra provides information about the quality of sleep and calculates the energy level, i.e. the total energy reserve of the body for the day. The maximum score is 100 points. When you start using the watch, you realize that it actually knows more about you than you tell it. For example, if you've been drinking alcohol, the next day the watch won't show a high energy level. It will calculate this by monitoring heart rate and sleep, because the heart rate will be higher and the quality of sleep will be lower. Similarly, after high physical activity, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra recommends slowing down and resting. This is very good advice from the watch, which I tried to follow.
At the same time, if the body is exhausted from active training, then sports activities the next day will not be as effective. This will primarily be noticeable in your overall well-being, and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra will summarize this state with a higher heart rate and stress value.
The watch is more accurate in terms of recovery thanks to its bioelectrical impedance sensor, which measures body composition by determining the mass of skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, and water in the body. Based on this data, the basal metabolic rate is also determined, which allows the watch to more accurately determine the number of calories the user burns during rest.
It is very useful to start counting calories in order to regulate your weight. It's hard to do because our idea of how many calories we consume per day is often very wrong. Samsung Health has a convenient way to enter the foods you consume every day.
The company provides a fairly extensive database for free, which is also relevant for products sold in Ukraine. You just need to be patient and have a kitchen scale to weigh what you eat and enter the data into the program. By calculating your metabolism, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra can help you determine the target number of calories you need to reach your goal weight. This allows you to adjust your diet, creating a new healthy habit of avoiding quick snacks and consuming unnecessary calories.
In terms of content, Samsung Health generally provides a number of additional features for free that other manufacturers usually pack into paid subscriptions. For example, there is a whole set of free workouts with video instructions that can be downloaded to your smartphone, and when you start them, the watch will track the correctness of the exercise and suggest the next one.
In addition, Samsung Health offers free meditation programs, which are an effective way to reduce stress.
When you work out in the gym, the watch can detect weight training and some machines; if you do a vertical deadlift or shoulder press, it can automatically count the number of reps and the time you need to take a break.
Not all sports have the same in-depth data analysis as running or swimming, but in all cases, the heart rate is monitored to prevent overload, and this is really important.
If you need to monitor your heart health in general, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra's BioActive Sensor set can track the heart's electrical activity, which is not a medical version of an ECG. This indicator allows the watch to detect one of the types of heart disorders - atrial fibrillation. Early diagnosis can allow you to seek professional medical help faster.
In summary, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Samsung Health platform provide many tools for monitoring your health, analyzing data, and developing healthy habits that can improve both your physical and mental health. However, a smartwatch is not a magic wand that can immediately change your life for the better; you need to make an effort and try to be more disciplined. However, if you are motivated to do so, the Galaxy Watch Ultra can really help by additionally offering various game modes that will encourage you to move more or go to bed earlier.
Yaroslav Verbytskyi, 14 years old
My name is Yaroslav Verbytskyi, I'm 14 years old, and for the past three weeks I've been using the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. It was very interesting for me to try out such a cool new product, and here I want to share how this gadget helped me change my approach to physical activity, sleep, and even gym sessions.
First, let's talk about activity. Before, I didn't really pay attention to how many steps I took per day or how much time I spent sitting still. But now, thanks to the watch, I have clear data on my daily activity. It reminds me when I've been sitting at my desk for too long or stuck on my phone. I started going for short walks more often, trying to move more during breaks. As a result, I noticed that I concentrate more easily in class because periodic "movement breaks" give me the opportunity to stretch and take a break from sitting.
As for sleep, it's interesting. I didn't think that improperly organized sleep could have such an impact on well-being. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra analyzes how many hours I sleep, how often I wake up, and which sleep phase I prefer. Looking at this data, I realized that staying up late on weekends and catching up on sleep on weekdays is not a good idea. Thanks to the watch, I try to go to bed a little earlier and monitor the quality of my rest. As a result, I feel more refreshed in the morning.
The gym is another area where the watch has come in handy. I'm just starting to go to the gym regularly, but the watch helps me track my heart rate during exercise and tells me when I'm training in the optimal load zone.
It is very useful because I can not only "lift weights" but also see my progress, understand what should be added to the program and what should be changed. In addition, it can analyze workouts, count calories, and this all helps me set realistic goals.
In my opinion, using such a smartwatch is useful because it helps you pay attention to things you hadn't even thought about before. I've started moving more, sleeping better, and being more conscious about my exercise routine.
Yevhenia Hubina, 38, editor of Mezha.Media
Today, gadgets have become an important tool for people who care about their health. That's because modern technology allows you to monitor your diet, physical activity, and even your emotional state. But does it really help in any way?
My past experience shows that not always. Once my fitness bracelet counted more than 30 km in a few hours of walking! This, of course, pleased my self-esteem. However, because of the false figure, the "reliable assistant" turned into a mere accessory.
That experience influenced my opinion of such devices, so I was cautious about the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. As it turned out, I was right to be: the smartwatch not only coped with my requests, but also helped me in situations where I did not expect it.
One of my main requirements is monitoring during physical activity. First of all, I'm talking about crossfit, which I've been actively doing for almost two years. It has become a kind of lifestyle, so I go to the gym up to six times a week.
It's worth reminding you that society usually talks a lot about the benefits of sports, but sometimes ignores the potential risks. And that's a shame, because the wrong kind of exercise can be seriously harmful.
With this in mind, I keep an eye on my heart rate during my workouts. This is something that Samsung's new product really helped me with: when my heart rate jumped to 198 beats per minute, the watch gave me a signal and I slowed down.
However, monitoring is not only about health safety, but also about sports excitement. Simply put, I was interested in measuring my "achievements" in calories. And here I was confused at first! The fact is that at the beginning, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra almost recorded "Olympic records". For example, after my first hour-long workout, it showed that I had burned as many as 628 calories.
I won't underestimate my efforts in the gym, but I definitely don't have such results. However, the very next time, the watch recorded 469 calories burned, and then it dropped to about 350. I'm ready to believe these numbers. The more data Galaxy Watch Ultra received, the more accurate the measurements became.
Despite my great love for crossfit, my physical activity is not limited to it. I love walks - they are often quite long, so I want to keep track of these indicators as well.
When using a smartwatch, I paid attention to several things. First, I didn't need to record when the walk started and ended. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra did it for me. And it did it accurately.
It is also important that it did not record unnecessary things. For example, my previous fitness bracelet perceived my active gestures as walking. A short conversation is 50 steps, an argument is 100. The new Samsung watch has no such problems.
And, of course, I kept track of the number of steps recorded by the smartwatch. It showed that I easily "took" 10,000 steps per day, and in some cases, more than 20,000. It motivated me to be active and not sit still.
I have been trying to be attentive to my health for a long time: I try to go to bed on time, eat healthy and avoid stress. But taking care of myself reached a new level when I first became a blood donor.
Unexpectedly for me, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra made it easier to prepare for the donation. For example, with the watch, I was able to monitor my diet more closely - what I ate and when, and whether I ate any prohibited foods.
I used the gadget to monitor my sleep quality, blood pressure, and stress level. All this is important because the success of the procedure depends on my well-being. In the end, the watch became an assistant that made me feel more confident at that moment.
As for monitoring the level of stress, I would like to dwell on this separately. I monitored this indicator not only in preparation for the donation, but also during the air raids.
I care about my emotional state, and thanks to the watch, I knew exactly when my stress level was rising. So I did the exercises I learned in therapy on time to overcome anxiety and feel better.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is quite massive. You should take this into account if you have thin wrists. For example, it took me a few days to get used to the gadget. At first, there was a slight feeling of discomfort, but it went away over time.
The active gesturing I mentioned earlier played a trick on me again. Involuntarily, I often touched the screen with the palm of my other hand and started a new workout. I think it's also a matter of habit.
However, these are trifles compared to the cool features that the watch offers. When I talk to my friends, I even joke that the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra doesn't do massage. But maybe I just haven't found this feature yet!