Galaxy Watch Ultra is proof that good smartwatches are more than just tech

Take a look at the Wear OS-powered smartwatch landscape and you'll notice very little effort in terms of design. Most seem to have cookie-cutter round designs with a couple of buttons and a circular display. There was a time when every other tech company seemed to be making smartwatches but that frenzy has since died down, and with it the often wacky design choices that we saw at that time.

Samsung and Apple remain two of the biggest smartwatch vendors. In recent years, it has been evident that the focus has been on tech rather than design. The Apple Watch is set in its ways as far as the design is concerned, with not much being changed, and Apple choosing to focus on its hardware and software capabilities. That's also been the approach that Samsung has taken.

Recent Galaxy Watch models have made significant strides in capabilities, they offer Bioelectric Impedance Analysis, enhanced sleep tracking, sleep coaching, new features for running, blood pressure monitoring, ECG, and more. No courageous design choices were made, though, and we got new models that more or less looked the same while they could do a lot more than what their predecessors could.

There's a reason why conventional watchmakers have thrived over centuries. People want new designs and even as some iconic designs have become synonymous with brands like Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Calatrava, Cartier Tank and the like, who have only refined those lines, the same brands also put out new lines that are in sync with the times. Whether that's moving towards larger watch sizes or new color options, there's an adaptability and the understanding to move with the times, even for brands that could be held back by decades of industry inertia.

As someone who uses both conventional and smartwatches, the latter must have enough of a design appeal for me to warrant an upgrade. If I have a smartwatch that does much of what I need and a new one comes out that's marginally better at sleep tracking or has a faster process or more RAM, I'm not going to buy a new one if it looks the same. There's only so much I can extract from improved internals on a new smartwatch, particularly if I have the model immediately preceding it.

That's precisely why the Galaxy Watch Ultra has felt like a breath of fresh air. It's a bold new design approach from Samsung, and one that I wish we'd see more often from it. It blends both traditional and modernity, retaining a semblance of Samsung's classic circular design set in a squarish frame that sits nice and wide on the wrist, a hallmark of modern watches. Add to that the striking contrast colors that Samsung has chosen from the buttons and the straps, and you've got a very visually appealing smartwatch, never mind all of its impressive capabilities, such as the fact that you can summit Mount Everest while wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

It's arguably a very good smartwatch. Samsung has packed it to the gills with the best in smartwatch technology. The new software and AI features are impressive, helping you extract the most from your health and fitness tracking to improve wellbeing. It looks like the kind of watch that someone would do a double take to look at on your wrist. The Galaxy Watch Ultra has an imposing presence that's not overbearing yet manages to stand out from all of the other smartwatches that it competes with.

To me, that is the hallmark of a good smartwatch. It's great to see what we've seen such a dash of creativity from Samsung after a few years, as the design alone has been the only reason for buying the Galaxy Watch Ultra. One can hope that it only goes from strength to strength.