This is the best sports watch that Apple has produced so far. Here the battery life and the Action Button are set for athletes in a way that was not available in Apple before this. But this Ultra is very expensive and looks bigger than your wrist.
The Apple Watch Ultra is the best adventure watch from Apple. It has a very good durable design. It has a large 49-millimeter display and an Action Button. Also, the outdoor sports features here make a runner, hiker or ironman feel like home. A 60 hours battery life has been introduced this time as a solution to the long battery life that was introduced in previous years.
It is currently the most valuable watch you can find in the market. It runs on WatchOS 9
Apple Watch Ultra Price The Apple Watch Ultra is $799. That’s £849 and AU$1299. It also comes with cellular support. On the other hand, the $399 Apple Watch 8 does not support this cellular connectivity.
This will be released first on September 23. It can currently be found on Apple and other third party retailers such as Amazon.
Design and display review
You know that good things don’t come in small packages. The first thing you will notice about this Apple Watch Ultra is its large size. It measures 49 mm around your wrist. It is larger than the 41mm and 45mm displays of the Apple Watch 8. Its good or bad is up to you.
The brightness of the display is 2000nits. It is twice as bright as Apple Watch 8. It’s beautiful and makes it easy to read even if you’re in direct sunlight. This big screen allows you 7 data fields. It is greater than 6.
Also, Apple has taken steps to make this Apple Watch Ultra very rugged. In addition, you will be more able to cope with the knocks and drops that come with outdoor sports. Its bezel is made of titanium. Also you can see here there is a lip around the screen which provides extra protection. The display is made of sapphire glass and the water resistance has been increased to 100m.
Apple Watch Series 8 41mm and Apple Watch Ultra
The digital crown here is bigger and has deeper groves. Also, a side button with melds can be seen in a protruding ledge on the right side of the device. This makes it easy to use the button even when you are wearing gloves. Here you can see an Action Button on the left side. It is programmed to do a quick-launch to an assigned purpose.
This new button becomes a visible speaker grille. It serves two purposes. As the first one, it provides good sound quality even in windy conditions. Second, it provides an emergency siren of 86 decibels. It produces sound up to 180 meters and alerts you.
When testing here, this emergency siren mode was quieter than I thought. It is a siren in two different ways, ie alternative and repeat. But it won’t damage your eardrum. It is not like the sound of a car alarm. So you won’t confuse it with a car alarm. It may continue to ring for several hours depending on your battery life.
It’s a great feature. And it is very good for the woman traveling alone. If this is found in all Apple Watch, I think it will be good. And if you think this sounds like a rape alarm, it’s not.
During the testing here, I fell in love with the Action button as I thought. I have programmed the Action button to its workout function. If I want, this button will take me to an outdoor run. But I often use my Apple Watch for track hikes with my dog, swims, and bike rides and then I go to the full list of workout modes. I also use the button mid-run to pause the activity. I found that I can squeeze the action button and side button more easily than swiping on the screen. Or you have to tap both bezel and side button at the same time.
Bands review
The Apple Watch Ultra is available with three different bands to suit you. The thinnest band currently available is the Trail Loop band. It has been designed for endurance athletes and runners. The Alpine Loop band features two integrated layers and a G-hook fastening designed for explorers. You can also see the Ocean Loop designed for water sports and diving. You can buy any band you want but their price is set at 99$.
If you want to choose the band that suits you, it depends on your personal preferences, and it depends on the activity you are planning to do. Anyway, the size here shows a lot of differences. The Alpine band comes in small, medium and large sizes. Also, the Trail loop can be seen in S/M, M/L sizes. If the band is too small or tight, or too much strap to try and tuck in, it will affect your comfort. So grab a measuring tape before you invest.
The Alpine loop is definitely a fan favorite. It comes in orange, starlight and green alpine. In the early days of my testing I struggled with the grips and the strap. But the G-hook was a bit fiddly to get on and off. It is especially effective if you remove it to shower daily.
Features Review
Like the other Apple Watch Series 8, the Apple Watch Ultra has a skin temperature sensor and crash detection. But it can be seen that it has designed many features suitable for adventure.
Let’s start with a revamped compass app that turns the Apple Watch Ultra into a very capable navigation accessory. There is a track back so you can retrace your steps. It also saves the waypoint and provides specific markers if you need a flag.
This Ultra has smart features like precision start. It gives you to bypass the 3..2..1.. countdown sequence when starting an activity. And wait until you know that the watch has received the GPS signal. It makes the ultra one great to wear on your wrist even on your race day.
Also, there is a new dive app called Depth. With this new depth app, you can automatically measure your dive while swimming. And you can go as deep as possible within the standards of the Apple Watch. Apple is working with Huish Outdoor to turn the Apple Watch Ultra into an on-wrist diving computer.
Currently you can only upload offline maps through a third party app. Let’s hope Apple adds it directly to the watch. This is a shortcoming that I see in the fitness features here.
GPS review
Apple has included dual-frequency GPS in their watch. That is with L1 and L5 integrating. According to their company, Apple says that this Apple Watch Ultra “provides the most accurate GPS among the Apple Watches available today”.
I checked this GPS with Google maps. Track that exact mile from my house. Then I found that the same distance was tracked by the same Apple Watch Ultra when I ran. No watch is 100% accurate on race day. But when you run, you have to rely on the data on your watch.
Health and sleep tracking review
Like the Apple Watch Series 8, there are two skin temperature sensor areas in Apple’s health suite, sleep tracking and cycle tracking. Using two built-in sensors, Apple Watch Series 8 reads the skin temperature every 5 seconds throughout the night.
For sleep itself, the deviation in baseline overnight temperature helps you determine how external factors affect your regular rest.
I used cycle tracking here with my regular period tracking app. I got the same results from both. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch had advanced my fertile window by two days. It might be because of the heat.
Apple’s vice president health, Sumbul Desai, says, “We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right and your health data is something that only you should know. Your cycle tracking data is encrypted with your device and your passcode, touch ID or face ID can only be viewed. When you use iOS or WatchOS, it is accompanied by two-factor authentication and a passcode. Your health care data is synced to iCloud as end to end encrypted, which means that Apple decrypts the data. No one can read them.”
I consider the absence of recovery data as a missing health feature. Here’s how long your mussels need to rest after a hard track session.
Battery life review
When everything is on, Apple’s battery life is only 12 hours. Apple’s new low power mode, along with the same GPS and heart rate as Ultra, extends the battery life to 15/16 hours. With the new update, this can be extended up to 60 hours. In its settings, there is an option to reduce the frequency of GPS and heart rate.
Between testing, I ran 10-mile with 100% battery charge. I ran for about 85 minutes without turning on the low power mode. I finished the run only 91%. Then I found that when everything is turned on, the watch needs to be charged every 55 hours.
Verdict review
With its action button and its start feature, and good battery life, with all these, it can be said without any doubt that the Apple Watch Ultra is suitable for serious training for anyone. It is one of the best Apple Watch in a long time. But here too some things seem to be missing. That means Garmin and Polar have mastered. And there is no recovery data, for example there is no other option to upload offline maps at writing time.
If you buy an Apple Watch to check your texts and workout at the gym, I think you should save your money and spend it on the Apple Watch Series 8. Apart from the Precision Star and the dive app on the Ultra, as well as the Way Finder Face, all the new improved features of WatchOS 9 are the same.
Overall, this is great if you’re running, swimming or biking before work, then settling down for a day of emails. But this requires a longer battery life and mapping capabilities. However, this is one of the best Apple Watch to wear around your wrist 24/7.
