Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: Samsung's most rugged smartwatches

The Galaxy Watch Ultra has a new design that takes some inspiration from an expensive smartwatch of another brand. The squircle-shaped case is made of titanium, while and sapphire glass protects the display in a round case. The Galaxy Watch Ultra is equipped with three hardware buttons, consisting of two standard buttons and a customizable Quick Button in between them. Neither rotates like a digital crown. 

The new Samsung smartwatch is only available in a 47mm size, making it a rather big one that surely only fits people with thicker wrists. The Galaxy Watch Ultra is shockproof, IP68 dustproof and water-resistant. The watch is water-resistant for up to 100 meters for as long as 10 minutes, so you can dive with it if you wish. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra is available in a single 47mm size; it's massive, so don't buy it blindly if you have smaller wrists. 

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, on the other hand, also comes in a single 45mm size. It has a full titanium case, which has a tall bezel to protect from bumps, and also has a sapphire glass protecting the display. The watch is IP68-rated, but it's also water-resistant up to 50 meters, so diving with this one is possible, too.

Although the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is thicker, it's not as wide and massive as the Galaxy Watch Ultra. It's also much, much lighter in comparison (46.5 gr vs 60.5 gr), so wearing the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro surely feels more comfortable in everyday scenarios. 

None of these two smartwatches has a rotating hardware bezel. Well, sort of, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a capacitive one, which lets you swipe your fingertip on the inner side of the bezel and emulate the functionality, but it's nowhere near as convenient as the rotating bezel on, say, the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. Samsung has likely dropped the rotating bezel on these two titanium watches in order to ensure the enhanced water resistance. 

Colors-wise, the Watch Ultra can be yours in Titanium Gray, Titanium Silver, and Titanium White. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro came in Gray Titanium and Black Titanium. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with a large 1.5-inch AMOLED display with 480x480-pixel resolution and an extremely high peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a 1.4-inch display with 450x450-pixel resolution and lower peak brightness, but is still well-legible in bright daylight conditions. 

The main difference between the Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the watch band mechanism. The new smartwatch comes with a bespoke system that is similar to the Apple Watch one and utilizes slots in the case. Meanwhile, the older Galaxy Watch 5 Pro boasts a standard lug system, which means you can use any standard watch band. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra is available with three rugged bands: Marine, aimed at divers, a textile Trailband one, and finally, a silicone Peakform one. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro comes with standard silicone bands. 

The One UI Watch interface on top of Wear OS powers both smartwatches. The Galaxy Watch Ultra is, however, the first smartwatch with Wear OS 5 and One UI Watch 6. Neither watch works with the iPhone, and while Android phones are supported, some features work best with a Galaxy phone (ECG, Blood pressure monitoring). The Watch 5 Pro comes with One UI Watch 5, but will likely receive the next one in the near future. 

Neither watch works with the iPhone. Android phones only, and even some niche health features like ECG and blood pressure monitoring require a Galaxy phone. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with many sport-oriented and activity features. There are new features for tracking activities and sports. For example, triathletes can now track three sports at once without having to start tracking them all at once. 

The Race function on the Galaxy Watch Ultra lets you test yourself and compete against your previous achievements. This could help you achieve better results and boost your motivation.

The Advanced Glycation End Products Index (a.k.a. AGEs) is a new metric that aims to measure your biological aging process non-invasively. Thanks to this, the Galaxy Watch Ultra will try to predict if you are at risk of contracting age-related diseases as you grow older. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra has some new gestures like Double Pinch (inspired by the Apple Watch), Shake to Dismiss, and Knock Knock. These aren't terribly original as we've seen them on other smartwatches, but they work well on the Galaxy Watch Ultra, so we have no reasons to complain. 

  

Heart rate monitoring accuracy isn't such a strong suit on Samsung smartwatches. The Galaxy Watch Ultra has a new heart rate sensor, but we aren't convinced it's that much more accurate than before. An anecdotal evidence could be the anomalies that I experienced while reviewing the Galaxy Watch Ultra: it would go haywire occasionally and register super-high heart rates (above 180bpm) while I was sitting idly. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra delivers very detailed sleep data that's laid out quite comprehensively. It is also FDA-approved to monitor sleep apnea, which is great to have (the tracking, not the apnea itself!). If you don't get enough sleep, the Samsung Health app will offer coaching and advice. You also get to see what your "sleep animal" is.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro also monitors your sleep quite well and would also alert you if it detects sleep apnea. However, the latter is not FDA-approved, so its accuracy might not be as good as the Galaxy Watch Ultra. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra is also equipped with a novel Energy Score metric that effectively extracts all the data available from your sleep. Just like Garmin's Body Battery, it will determine your level of rest and readiness to tackle the day based on the quality of your last night's sleep. 

GPS Accuracy

The new Galaxy Watch Ultra has dual-frequency L1+L5 GPS on deck, which makes it more accurate in most metropolitan areas with many tall buildings that could block the GPS signal. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, on the other hand, had a single-frequency GPS that wasn't impressive at all: slow to nail the correct location and going haywire in the dense city jungle. Still, it provided some interesting features like custom map upload (GPX files) that lets you follow custom routes during your hikes. 

Battery and Charging

The same batteries