Samsung introduced the Galaxy Watch 7 series along with its latest foldable smartphones and TWS earbuds during the most recent Unpacked event held on July 10. Just a few days after these products became widely available, the watches are now receiving their first software update. This update reportedly addresses several issues that were present from the start. However, the company has postponed the One UI 7 update, citing that they are currently 'too busy' with other updates.
Battery Life Concerns
Early adopters of the Galaxy Watch 7 series have reported unexpected battery drain issues and overall poor battery performance on both wearables.
The Galaxy Watch 7 is equipped with a 300mAh battery, which Samsung claims should last between 30 hours (with Always On Display enabled) to 40 hours (with AOD disabled). On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch Ultra features a larger 590mAh battery, which is supposed to last between 60 hours (AOD on) to 80 hours (AOD off).
Real-Life Usage vs. Advertised Specs
In real-world usage, the watches provide only about 12 hours of battery life, significantly less than what Samsung advertises. Fortunately, the company has acknowledged the issue and rolled out an update to address it.
The changelog does not specifically mention the battery life issue; it only indicates improvements in performance, bug fixes, and new or enhanced features. This update is based on One UI version 6.0 Watch. The firmware versions for the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra are L310XXU1AXG2 (~173MB) and L705FXXU1AXFB (330.59MB), respectively.
Both watches sport 1.5-inch AMOLED displays with a resolution of 480 x 480 pixels. The Watch Ultra is heavier at 60.5g compared to the 33.8g of the Watch 7 and features a square design. Both devices are powered by the new Exynos W1000 chip, which Samsung claims is more capable and energy-efficient than its predecessor.
