Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00So, this is the Apple Watch Ultra.
00:06It was added in at the top of the Apple Watch lineup for an extra premium price, kinda as
00:10an excuse to pack a much bigger battery in a smartwatch, but also to offer a few extra
00:14ruggedized features for enthusiasts willing to spend the extra money.
00:19Now, this is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, and it was added to the top of the Galaxy
00:27Watch lineup for an extra premium price, kinda as an excuse to pack a much bigger battery
00:31in a smartwatch, but also to offer a few extra ruggedized features for enthusiasts willing
00:37to spend the money.
00:38Now look, there have been many copies before, in both directions, like Samsung copies Apple
00:43all the time, and Apple copies Samsung all the time, but this one is so far that it's
00:52hard to ignore.
00:53There's been a lot of chatter online about how the new Galaxy Watch Ultra is a copycat
00:57product of the Apple Watch Ultra, and yeah, it's true.
01:01It really is.
01:02But, I've said this before, and I'll say it again, I actually don't care that these products
01:06and companies copy each other.
01:08As long as they're copying the good stuff, then, you know, us as customers, we actually
01:12still win.
01:14This one copied so many things that it actually went slightly too far and copied one extra
01:19thing that I think hurt its case.
01:22So let's just go down the list.
01:24So first of all, obviously they have the same name, and the whole idea of the product as
01:28I mentioned before, this is the Watch Ultra.
01:31It's at the top of the lineup, it's the most expensive, and of course they've matched the
01:35Apple Watch Ultra's durability specs.
01:37So they're both made of titanium, they're both water-resistant to 100 meters, they both
01:43have sapphire glass over their cover displays.
01:45And then, the other basic on-paper specs, like they both have dual-frequency GPS for
01:49high accuracy, they both have extra bright displays for visibility outdoors, so actually
01:54both 3,000 nits.
01:55And then they both have three default bands.
01:58So the Apple Watch Ultra has an ocean band, a trail loop, and an alpine band.
02:04So now along comes Samsung's Watch Ultra, and they launch with three bands.
02:09They don't have an ocean band though, they have a marine band.
02:13Totally different.
02:15And then they have a trail band, and then they have this peak form band.
02:20So yeah, the ocean band and the marine band are kind of like, hey, can I copy your homework
02:24but change it up just a little bit so it's not too obvious that I copied?
02:28And they kind of didn't change it up enough, but it's like, okay, yeah, sweet, thanks.
02:32Now we have two holes on ours instead of one, and everybody knows not every marine is an
02:36ocean, duh.
02:37But each watch has three buttons, and you may remember the Apple Watch added this special
02:41orange button on the side called the action button that you could map to any number of
02:44different things.
02:45But it starts the workout selector by default.
02:48Now the Galaxy Watch Ultra comes along, has a new orange button on the side.
02:52This one is called the quick button, and it can be also custom mapped to any number of
02:57different actions.
03:00But the default, again, is the workout selector.
03:02Now don't worry, it keeps going.
03:04In the software department, they also lifted a whole bunch of stuff.
03:07So this watch face that we keep seeing Samsung using in all of their flagship marketing for
03:12this thing, with all the complications around the outside corners, definitely takes heavy
03:17inspiration from Apple's flagship watch face with the complications everywhere.
03:20It also has an all monochrome version for night mode, which was also new to the Apple
03:25Watch Ultra.
03:26And if you want to change the watch face, they both have the same mechanic.
03:28Just hold down the face for a second, and then swipe over, and you can customize the
03:33complications or watch faces from there.
03:36They both use a blob of icons to scroll through all of your apps, and even the double pinch
03:42gesture.
03:43So this is something Apple recently added.
03:44It was in beta at first, and now it's operational.
03:47And Samsung's added it now too.
03:49It's off by default, but when I turn it on, it does the exact same things.
03:53So yeah, as you can tell, there's no shortage of things that Samsung has lifted from the
03:57Apple Watch Ultra.
03:58People are calling it shameless.
04:00People are calling it pure copycat behavior.
04:03There's endless comments online about it.
04:05Here's the thing though.
04:07There's only one thing that Samsung copied that I actually have a problem with, with
04:12this watch.
04:13Like when you just look at this watch, you can definitely argue it actually looks mostly
04:18different from the Apple Watch.
04:19I mean, I know they both have the orange button, but they've done this kind of unique thing
04:23where it's still a fully circular watch face, but then it's a much bigger brawny circle
04:27shaped titanium body underneath, like called a cushion design.
04:31That's at least different.
04:32You know, I don't know if I actually like it more, but it feels definitively bigger
04:36than the Apple Watch Ultra, which was already pretty big.
04:39But in the grand scheme of watches, it's not actually huge, especially because the size
04:43of the screen is basically the same as a large watch seven.
04:46Anyway, I thought that with keeping this circular screen, they would have a physically rotating
04:52bezel, like a clicking bezel on the outside, because that was the sickest feature on the
04:57watch six classic.
04:58It's the feature everyone wanted in all the other watches, but they just didn't do it.
05:03This watch though, is just pure touchscreen for everything, which might not seem like
05:09that big of a deal at first, but this is, again, this is a watch for fitness people
05:13doing a lot of workouts and things like that.
05:15And if you use watches in all these workout situations before, then you know, like there
05:19are endless situations where like sweat or your sleeve is messing with the touchscreen.
05:24Or if you've got gloves on or if you're hiking or you're underwater or swimming, whatever,
05:29there's just plenty of chances for the touchscreen to suck.
05:33So the rotating crown to use as a selector to mess with the watch would have been a banger
05:39differentiator for this fitness watch versus the Apple Watch Ultra, but they didn't do
05:45it.
05:46Now I'm guessing if you asked Samsung, they would say no rotating bezel on this watch
05:50because that's a moving part and that wouldn't have held up to the military grade certification
05:56of the rest of the watch.
05:57Like it's got this 810H grade military certification where it's like, it can withstand even tougher
06:05drops and like more dust and wider range of temperatures and all that stuff.
06:08So the moving part wouldn't have worked with that.
06:11But honestly, Samsung, I think just do it anyway.
06:14Just go with the rotating bezel.
06:16I think 99% of users would rather have the rotating bezel over the military certification.
06:24And you know, the 1% who don't like they'll get a Garmin or whatever, something different.
06:28But I think this is something that would have actually been a great match with this particular
06:33watch.
06:34Now there's a few other things now that I've used it that do differentiate this watch too.
06:38Obviously it's going to be the one that works with Android phones and not iPhones.
06:40That's number one.
06:41But you know, Wear OS performs really well.
06:44I know there were some early concerns about it not being super smooth, but it's been great.
06:47It's very customizable, very functional.
06:50The full size keyboard is actually a bit easier to type on despite having a bigger screen
06:55because they make the letters bigger and then you have to go into a secondary menu for symbols.
06:59But I actually feel like I can type words pretty well on this versus other smartwatches.
07:04And I think best of all, the battery life has actually lived up to its claims.
07:09So sometimes it's hard to know what to make of the, you know, 60 hours versus a hundred
07:13hours in power saving mode or 48 hours in exercise power saving mode.
07:17It's kind of confusing.
07:18But what I will say is it matched and sometimes beat the battery life of the Apple Watch Ultra
07:24like pretty regularly.
07:25I felt like it has about a 25% better standby time.
07:29So if you have light use, you're just casually like getting text messages, doing one or two
07:35workouts.
07:36You can easily get two full days out of this watch.
07:38And then if you're going heavy, if it's a bunch of workouts, then it's closer to even,
07:42but still a solid day and a half, especially when you're using that 3000 nits Super AMOLED
07:47display a lot.
07:48That's impressive.
07:49So yeah, it's pretty clear that Samsung has copied a lot of features and things about
07:54the Apple Watch Ultra.
07:56But as I've kept saying, if you copy the good stuff, then you can still end up with a great
08:02product no matter how shameless it is.
08:04But the conclusion about this one is kind of funny because Apple or Samsung also updated
08:09the Watch 7 at the same time.
08:12And that watch also has dual frequency GPS.
08:16The screen is the same size, even though it's a smaller battery, it's still got Sapphire
08:20crystal on top.
08:21It's got three sporty bands and it's like half the price.
08:26So that ends up making this one feel harder to recommend if it's so similar.
08:31So this just ends up being a galaxy watch for people who want that, but with a bigger
08:36battery and I guess just a little more ruggedized features.
08:41And that's kind of it.
08:42And you have $650 you're willing to spend on it.
08:45So I think the rotating bezel would have been easier to justify and like separate them.
08:51But yeah, for now, this is one of those Samsung products that's a little more shameless in
08:57its inspiration, and it won't be the last one from either side.
09:02Thanks for watching.
09:03Catch you guys in the next one.
09:04Peace.
09:05Transcribed by https://otter.ai