Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I won’t lie — I haven’t touched my Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 in a while. I liked it when I reviewed it and thought it was worth buying (it’s since been replaced by the Galaxy Watch 8), but it had a few omissions that made me long for the Galaxy Watch Ultra, squircle design and all. One of those major misses was that Samsung saved a few of its best, most complicated watch faces for its top model, leaving me behind with others that were just fine.
Now, though, the tables have turned. I finally have the Galaxy Watch Ultra faces that I always wanted on my Galaxy Watch 7, and it’s breathed new life into this solid, stylish smartwatch. Here’s how I upgraded and why you should do the same.
What’s so great about a Galaxy Watch Ultra face?
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Like I just said, I don’t think watch faces should be reserved for certain models. Sure, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has other advantages, like a tougher bezel, bigger battery, and a whole set of special watch bands — I’m cool with all that. However, when it’s running the same version of Wear OS that the Galaxy Watch 7 runs, I don’t see why there should be any difference in the faces it supports.
Maybe I wouldn’t feel so strongly about the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s faces if they were just ho-hum, run-of-the-mill options that added a new color or a pop of style, but they’re more than that. They have carefully designed hands that are more visible when the AOD is active, and they automatically swap to an all-red color profile when you toggle night mode on your Galaxy Watch. Maybe that red shift is a shameless pull from what Garmin, but I don’t mind — it’s better than the blinding brightness of pulling up my watch in the middle of the night.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch Ultra faces add more than just a pop of color — they've become fast favorites.
I also think the watch faces — or at least Simple Ultra, which I’ve taken a shine to — do a great job of applying complications. To me, some of Samsung’s Rugged faces look like they’re trying too hard to be adventurous, while some of its Informative faces are just plain cluttered, so for Simple Ultra to give me my heart rate, the weather, and my current direction is all I could ask for. It lets me glance at the important stuff, but doesn’t pull me out of my adventure.
Samsung’s Ultra Analog is a bit more complicated, with a couple more metrics around the bezel, but it’s still cleaner than many default faces. Maybe the secret to success is that Samsung stuck to a relatively simple black, white, and orange color profile, but whatever it is, it’s working for me. I’ve only had to rework a few of the complications to make specific data fields easier to read, but that’s easy enough to navigate on my Galaxy Watch 7.
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