Samsung introduces ‘Raise to Talk’ gesture for its Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Galaxy Watch9, expanding Gemini’s role as a hands-free assistant, though reliability remains a challenge.
Samsung is widening Gemini’s role on its latest watches, turning the assistant into a more practical tool for quick, wrist-based actions. According to Samsung’s US product page and Periodico Equilibrium’s report, the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Galaxy Watch9 now support “Raise to Talk”, a gesture that lets users lift the watch towards the mouth and start speaking without pressing a button or saying a wake word.
The feature is designed for short, hands-free interactions when reaching for a phone would be inconvenient. Samsung says users can send messages, start calls, summarise emails, set reminders, add calendar entries and control connected SmartThings devices from the watch. It also supports natural-language requests for things such as directions, weather checks, sports updates and playback of music or podcasts.
This is the latest step in Samsung’s broader effort to push Google’s AI across its wearable line-up. Periodico Equilibrium says Gemini first arrived on Samsung smartwatches last year, while SamMobile reports that the assistant has since expanded beyond the newest models to older Galaxy Watches running supported software. That rollout matters because it means the experience is no longer confined to the flagship devices, although not every watch will necessarily have the same feature set.
There are, however, limits to the promise of the new gesture. SamMobile’s review of the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 says Raise to Talk does not always trigger reliably, even if the idea is straightforward. Google’s own support material for the feature on Pixel Watch describes similar gesture-based activation and notes that sensitivity settings can be adjusted, suggesting that wrist-to-mouth control is still a software experience that may need fine-tuning before it feels fully dependable.
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