Samsung’s new wearables may look similar to their predecessors, but the tech giant has made various improvements to its flagship smartwatch range.
In fact, the Galaxy Watch 7 is the first wearable in its category to hit the market with no less than three major upgrades. And the same things are true of the new Galaxy Watch Ultra , too – both were announced at its big Unpacked launch event alongside many other new devices .
So, while the new straps with cotton thread details look nice, the real innovation is under the surface. Let’s take a look.
Power up
For starters, the Watch 7 and Watch Ultra are the first to run on a 3nm processor. This comes in the form of Samsung’s own Exynos W1000.
It has an unusual setup with five cores, one for performance and four for efficiency. Samsung says it can launch key apps up to 2.7x faster than its predecessor, the 5nm Exynos W930.
It also comes with 32GB of integrated storage, double that of the Galaxy Watch 6 series.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Sensory overload
Samsung has also fitted the Galaxy Watch 7/Ultra with an upgraded BioActive Sensor. This now combines electrical heart signal, blood pressure, BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis) and SpO2 (blood oxygen).
And the firm says it’s the first wearable on the market to offer all of these. The result is a more holistic view of your health and wellbeing.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Wear is better
The Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra are the first smartwatches to come to market with the WearOS 5 , the latest version of Google’s operating system for wearables.
Samsung was quite light on details during our briefing despite adding its own One UI 6 Watch user interface.
However, we know that WearOS 5 adds features like improved battery life and better watch faces.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
And a little extra
As a bonus, the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra both come with features like dual-band GPS (it’s just not new to the market) and work better if you pair with a Galaxy Ring .
With two wearable devices taking measurements, you’ll get a more accurate set of data and with the Ring having to take fewer readings than on its own, the battery life of the smart ring will be up to 30% longer.
The Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra are available to pre-order from today and go on sale 24 July. They start at £289/$299 and £599/$649 respectively.
Author: Chris Martin, Managing Editor, Tech Advisor
Tech Advisor Managing Editor Chris got his break as a reporter at infamous site The Inquirer and has been with us for more than 12 years. With a BA degree in Music Technology, audio is his specialism, but over the years he has reviewed all kinds of gadgets, from smartwatches to mesh Wi-Fi to coffee machines.
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