GoKawiilThat did limit what I was able to test during my week with a unit of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. And because I was unfortunately sick during my first few days with it, I wasn't physically well enough to go out and do much. What I did end up doing those days was obsessively check my antioxidant levels and repeatedly get told I'm very toxic. Kidding, of course that's not what those readings mean and not what the feature is meant to do. Besides, the antioxidant index feature isn't even new, but it was something relatively recent to test.
I'll quickly note that the antioxidant feature is somewhat flawed, and not something I really understand at the moment. It's basically analyzing reflections of light emitted by the device's LEDs to determine carotenoid concentration in your blood. I guess I need to be better about eating my fruit and vegetables but my readings, both before and after I took my supplements of vitamin B12, vitamin D and iron, were all "Very low" (bad). Even after chugging cold pressed juices the numbers only increased slightly, but never enough to get me from "Very low" to "low" (still bad).
More interestingly, I found that lighter-skinned individuals seemed to yield higher scores by default. My partner is fairer than me and his readings were better, though I know for a fact I have a better diet. I tried placing the sensor on the palest part of his arm and his score shot up a few more points, which made me think the system was better suited to people with fairer complexions. (As with much of the world?)
On those idle days, the Watch Ultra 2 prevented me from being too much of a couch potato by vibrating harshly to prompt me to get up and move every hour or so. As long as I got up and took a few steps, the watch buzzed again to congratulate me. Pretty standard smartwatch stuff. It, of course, ably performed other typical tasks like alerting me to smartphone notifications, keeping tabs on my heart rate and steps and setting alarms and timers. Oh and tell time and look nice, of course.
In fact, the Watch Ultra 2 is a pretty handsome piece of hardware. It's still very similar in appearance to its predecessor, of course, but the way it has etchings in the bezel around its face and the general sharpness of its edges was very pleasing. Most people I showed it to immediately remarked how nice it looked, too.
When I finally got out of the house, the Watch Ultra 2 was pretty helpful, proactively tracking walks once I had been moving for at least 10 minutes. The bright, roomy screen made my data easy to see at a glance, and was particularly useful when my partner and I got quite hopelessly lost after we went off the trodden path during a casual hike.
Thankfully, I had dropped a waypoint and started the compass-based tracking features on the Ultra 2, so we were able to pull up the navigation guidance there and find the right entry point back into the woods. And because the screen was so large, it was easy to see where we were relative to where we needed to be.
That said, I could probably have used a similar feature on my Apple Watch Series 9 to accomplish the same, and it's a lot smaller and more comfortable, too. Even the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is noticeably more compact than Samsung's chonkster, and offers many of the same features.
Where Samsung is unique is some of its health-related offerings. The antioxidant test remains a rarity in the smartwatch category, while the hydration reminders are also uncommon.