Apple Watch Ultra

This is the Apple Watch you’ve been waiting for... if you can afford it

The Apple Watch Ultra is the best Apple Watch ever. It’s an easy thing to say, as nearly every part has been an upgrade, and all for the better — in fact it’s easily one of the best smartwatches out there. As a response to the growing power of the “premium fitness watch” segment, this was the Watch Apple had to make. With a rugged design, better screen and better GPS tracking, it’s the first design change in eight years, but it’s also expensive at $799.

Design

The titanium frame was something that worried us when we started seeing renders appear online, but in reality it’s attractive and we prefer the rugged, metallic stylings to the sleeker lines of the Apple Watch Series 8.

This is a 49mm Apple Watch, with a much–larger display sitting bigger and prouder on the wrist. If you’re used to a smaller Watch, the Ultra will feel big and heavy to start with. However, you quickly get used to its extra heft.

The Digital Crown and Side button on one side of the Watch Ultra have been beefed up, with both being encased in metal to make them more rugged and resistant to damage. The Digital Crown is also larger with bigger ridges, designed to be used with a glove. While it is easier to interact with, the Digital Crown’s oversized nature does rub into one’s skin when spinning it on occasion, which is annoying.

The Ultra’s display is raised a little from the main body, with plastic strips under the screen. This adds to the rugged look, and allows for improved GPS performance.

On the other side of the Watch Ultra is the Action button. This is designed to be a place to start runs, activate workouts, turn on the torch... and it makes pausing a workout so much easier. And the same side as the Action button houses the all–new speaker and microphone holes — the sound that emanates from the Watch Ultra is 40% louder than on the Watch Series 8, and there are now three beam–forming microphones, which means they’ll adjust to remove noise and take the sound from the best–performing microphone when making phone calls.

We tested this by making a call by a busy road, with the person on the other end being by an air conditioner. Even though the Watch Ultra was in such trying conditions, our voice could be heard clearly and cleanly on the other end, and the speaker gave a good enough performance that we could hear their responses.

As for the display, Apple’s boosted the peak brightness of the Watch Ultra’s screen to 2,000 nits. That’s twice as bright as a Watch Series 8 and it shows. The screen, a flat, large and clear surface on the wrist, is always easy to see no matter the conditions we tried it in. The Always–On display doesn’t seem to have been altered despite the rise in brightness, but it’s still legible from any angle you glance at, thanks to the display providing the colorful and contrast–rich images.

Fitness And Health

While the Apple’s Watch has always had fitness tracking as a reason to buy it, the Watch Ultra kicks it up a gear.

There’s now better satellite tracking for more accurate run distances, a larger battery, better monitoring of transitions between triathlon sections and a depth sensor for diving.

One feature we particularly like is the Siren. This is designed so people in a 600–feet radius can hear you when you’re lost or need help, and works well. It doesn’t just blare out, but gives a series of more–urgent squawks at increasing volume, as well as moving to SOS Morse code, so folks will know you’re in trouble. It’s not a feature you’ll use a lot, but it shows Apple is thinking about how to make the Watch Ultra useful in the Great Outdoors, not just paying lip service to being “active”.

Finally, let’s get onto the big issue that Apple is still dealing with: battery life. Apple Watches have always been OK, but mostly need a daily charge. They’ll last between one to two days without needing to be juiced up, but that’s still pretty regular. The Watch Ultra can last a lot longer than it’s siblings, with battery life moving from 18 hours on the Watch Series 8 to 36 hours. That means you’ll get a couple of harder or longer workouts in before needing to reach for the charger.

Features: 49mm case size, Apple S8 processor, Always–On Retina display, dust–resistant to IP6X, water–resistant to 100m, up to 36 hours’ battery life, dual–frequency GPS, cellular connectivity options

Price: $799

The Watch Ultra is arguably the best smartwatch around, fusing functionality, safety and smarts in a way that most will really enjoy. It’s not a total success, though.