Apple Watch Ultra review

Although the Apple Watch Sequence 8 is a wonderfully effective smartwatch for on a regular basis health monitoring, it’s probably not suited to extra excessive out of doors sport with its delicate design. Apple’s response? The Apple Watch Extremely, a brand new rugged model of the Apple Watch tailor-made to explorers and endurance athletes with a specific give attention to operating, mountain climbing and diving.

It’s far more costly than the Apple Watch Sequence 8 at $799/£849, and it’s not the proper wearable, however advantages together with the longest battery lifetime of any Apple wearable, dual-band GPS and waterproofing right down to 40m nonetheless make it a tempting purchase for some.

Design & construct

• Greater and bulkier than a normal Apple Watch
• Rather more sturdy and proof against climate
• New straps might be improved

The Apple Watch Extremely should have that signature Apple Watch look, nevertheless it’s definitely extra sturdy and sturdy than the smooth Apple Watch Sequence 8 with a bigger, stronger case, a very flat show and new straps designed for excessive train.

Let’s begin with the case itself; it’s the biggest Apple has made up to now at 49mm, in comparison with the 41mm and 45mm variants of the Sequence 8. It’s additionally product of titanium rather than the aluminium or stainless-steel on the cheaper Watches, permitting the watch to be each sturdy and comparatively light-weight. It does nonetheless weigh 61.3g, round double that of the Sequence 8, however the weight isn’t actually that noticeable in on a regular basis use.

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What’s noticeable, nonetheless, is the added bulk. It’s an even bigger Apple Watch in nearly each method, and with a width of 14.4mm, you may wrestle to suit it underneath some shirt cuffs. It’s additionally far more noticeable when carrying the Watch to mattress – a possible dealbreaker for those who’re into sleep-tracking analytics.

The aspect button and digital crown are current and accounted for, although sit barely additional out, semi-encased inside an extrusion of the case. That does make it tougher to show the digital crown shortly, nevertheless it’s probably not a dealbreaker – simply one thing to get used to.

The actual pleasure takes place on the left aspect of the Watch Extremely, which incorporates a new Motion button. It’s shiny orange, or Worldwide Orange as Apple calls it, to assist it stand out from the titanium case, and could be assigned to numerous capabilities from initiating a exercise to accessing the Compass app, turning on the flashlight and launching the Backtrack navigation options (extra on that in a bit!).

Should you do use the motion button to provoke exercises, it may also be used to pause and finish exercises with out interacting with the show, good for winter jogs if you’ve acquired gloves on. It might get unintentionally activated every now and then, however the advantages outweigh the potential for unintended activation for me.

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The intense sport-focused Apple Watch Extremely doesn’t merely look the half both; the smartwatch is examined to military-grade MIL-STD-810H to raised shield it towards shock and use in each excessive and low temperatures, excessive altitudes, and freezing situations. There’s additionally an upgraded sapphire crystal show to assist shield towards scratches and different knocks.

It additionally has higher water resistance certification that enables it for use at a most depth of 40m, good for scuba diving.

With a give attention to excessive sport comes new straps, tailor-made to both operating, mountain climbing or diving. The nylon Path Loop is the lightest of the bunch, designed for runners and athletes, the Ocean Band is designed to be used within the water and the Alpine Loop strap, which I used to be offered for overview, is tailor-made to mountain climbing.

Reader, I actually don’t like the brilliant orange Alpine Loop strap. Certain, it feels light-weight and comfy, however so does my commonplace silicone strap that ships with the Sequence 8. The fabric means it’s far more breathable than the usual Watch straps, which needs to be a profit for lengthy sweaty hikes, however there are many downsides too.

The most important is that it will get soiled in a short time, and to a noticeable stage too, seemingly hoovering up each spec of filth as I went about my day by day life. It’s not as straightforward to placed on as the usual silicone strap both, with an odd hook attachment that goes into considered one of many tiny loops on the within of the band. It’s additionally not waterproof, so it will get a bit damp if I get it moist when washing my arms, and it means I can’t put on it within the bathe both.

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The Watch Extremely is suitable with 41mm and 45mm straps for the Sequence 8, so I’d suggest selecting up considered one of Apple’s entry-level silicon straps for on a regular basis use and solely utilizing the devoted Extremely bands if you’re doing what they have been designed for. It’s what I did throughout my time with the Watch Extremely, anyway.

Show & audio

• Greater, higher-res show seems attractive
• 2000nits brightness makes out of doors use straightforward
• Devoted siren speaker alongside commonplace speaker

The upside to a bigger case is an even bigger show, eking out a smidge extra display screen area than the 45mm Apple Watch, although with an elevated 410×502 decision making all the things appear that little bit crisper. It’s additionally a very flat show rather than the curved show of latest Watches, encased inside the titanium body.

Whereas that’ll probably higher shield the show towards aspect impression, it does make the bezels on the show that rather more noticeable than these of the Sequence 8, which appear to vanish inside the curve.

It’s not only a barely greater, higher-res show both. The important thing function right here is the 2000nit most brightness, 2x that of the Sequence 8. That makes the Extremely straightforward to make use of, even in shiny out of doors daylight, and the watchOS torch perform is far handier with that shiny show too.

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There’s additionally a brand new twin speaker setup on the Apple Watch Extremely, hidden beneath the grille on the left aspect of the physique. Whereas the highest speaker is similar as that on the Sequence 8, designed for cellphone calls, incoming notifications and different watchOS sounds, the underside speaker is completely new siren speaker.

Apple says that it may be heard as far-off as 600ft, excellent for emergency eventualities (particularly when mountain climbing), and whereas I can’t verify that, I can say that it’s very loud certainly.

Sensible options & watchOS

• Comes with all the identical enhancements as Apple Watch Sequence 8
• watchOS 9 is among the many most succesful round
• No want to decide on between nice health monitoring and respectable software program

Whereas the design of the Extremely is tailor-made to excessive sports activities, the Apple Watch expertise could be very near that of the Sequence 8, full with the identical dual-core S8 processor and W3 and U1 chips because the flagship, together with the identical new options together with Automobile Crash Detection. You do get mobile connectivity as commonplace on the Extremely although, unsurprising given the character of the wearable.

That familiarity additionally extends to software program, operating the identical model of watchOS 9 because the Watch Sequence 8, so anticipate a really recognisable software program expertise, full with customisable watch faces with third-party issues, Apple’s signature app grid view and distinctive on a regular basis efficiency.

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As you’d anticipate from an Apple Watch, all the things feels responsive and prompt, be it tweaking the color of the watch face or opening the Climate app to verify for upcoming rain. There’s a plethora of third-party apps designed for the Watch that additional lengthen performance, excess of that of any Android-based competitor, and you may both set up from the Watch itself or the companion app for iPhone.

There’s additionally impeccable notification dealing with, permitting you to not solely see however actively reply to incoming notifications with out your cellphone, the flexibility to make use of Apple Pay out of your wrist is useful and music providers like Apple Music and Spotify will let you save music domestically so you’ll be able to hearken to music with out your cellphone or an energetic web connection.

Siri can be very useful on the wrist, and I discover myself utilizing it extra typically on the Watch Extremely than I do on my cellphone as a result of it’s so accessible – you don’t even need to press a button, simply elevate to your mouth and communicate.

It’s arguably the perfect smartwatch working system round, and it really offers the Apple Watch Extremely an edge over fashionable rugged smartwatches from the likes of Garmin and Casio that are inclined to fall flat on the subject of performance past well being and health monitoring. With the Extremely, you actually are getting the perfect of each worlds.

Well being & health monitoring

• New dual-frequency GPS
• Backtrack for off-road mountain climbing
• New Diving app for divers
• On a regular basis well being and sleep monitoring

After all, it’s all in regards to the well being and health monitoring on the subject of the Apple Watch Extremely, with new devoted {hardware} and software program tailor-made to excessive sports activities.

The large headline function that’ll attraction to runners, hikers and cyclists is the addition of dual-frequency GPS. The tech works by way of L1 and L5 frequency GPS bands and when mixed with Apple’s new customized algorithm, it could ship extra exact positioning knowledge in difficult areas like forests or built-up cities.

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Whereas I can’t say I went for a run in a dense forest – there aren’t a lot of these in London – I can attest to the accuracy of the GPS monitoring when jogging on the road in built-up areas. Wanting again on the heatmap routinely generated by the Apple Watch Extremely, it tracked my common jogging path completely. The truth is, that goes for a lot of the metrics offered by the Apple Watch when operating, together with my coronary heart fee, cadence and common tempo.

These metrics are all damaged down each on the Apple Watch Extremely and the Health and/or Well being app for iOS relying on which you favor to make use of. It might additionally usher in different metrics from different apps that feed into the Well being app to supply a extra holistic overview of your well being and health. That’s no totally different from the usual Apple Watch, nevertheless it’s value noting right here.

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All that apart, there are different options distinctive to the Apple Watch Extremely that ought to profit hikers. In addition to a brand new Compass app that give you three views to get a greater thought of your environment within the nice outdoor, however what’s handier is the brand new Backtrack function. Because the title suggests, the Apple Watch Extremely will information you again to your place to begin on lengthy off-path hikes – so long as you arrange the exact location monitoring mode earlier than you start, that’s.

With severely upgraded water resistance from the Watch Extremely, it shouldn’t come as a lot of a shock that water sports activities are a spotlight. Specifically, the Apple Watch Extremely can double up as a dive look ahead to scuba divers that features each a depth gauge and water temperature sensors, with the Dive app routinely showing on-screen when you’re deeper than 1m.

Those who need a extra in-depth expertise can at all times go for the Oceanic+ app that primarily turns it right into a fully-fledged Dive Pc.

Other than that, it’s just about enterprise as standard for an Apple Watch, providing the flexibility to trace every kind of train, all-day health monitoring, ECG monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, physique temperature monitoring, cycle monitoring and the vastly improved sleep monitoring launched in watchOS 9 that enables it to raised compete with most different health trackers.

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It doesn’t delve too deep into the weeds with knowledge and evaluation in comparison with the likes of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus, however in contrast to loads of manufacturers together with the ever-popular Fitbit wearables, Apple doesn’t disguise any of its well being knowledge or health options behind a month-to-month subscription.

Battery life

• Longest battery lifetime of any Apple Watch
• Can squeeze virtually three days out of a cost
• Longer to cost than commonplace Apple Watch

No matter it’s you’re as much as, I can assure that the Apple Watch Extremely will last more than some other wearable in Apple’s assortment – and by an extended shot too.

The Apple Watch Sequence 8 tends to final for round 24 hours with minimal use and no GPS-powered exercises, which is healthier than the promised 18 hours however not that nice for multi-day use.

The Apple Watch Extremely, alternatively, can comfortably final for a few days earlier than needing a top-up. To provide you an thought of the battery life on provide, I took the Extremely off cost at 5pm on Friday and it didn’t run out of battery till 4pm on Monday.

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Admittedly that’s with none exercises over the weekend (don’t choose me!) and the battery does run down faster the extra you’re employed out, nevertheless it’s a two-day gadget at a minimal. The aid of not having to cost my Apple Watch on daily basis is welcome, and for the primary time, I don’t consistently verify my battery ranges all through the day.

You do have the choice of enabling the brand new Low Energy Mode that Apple says extends use to round 60 hours however doing so will cut back the frequency of coronary heart fee and GPS knowledge sampling throughout exercises, so I’d solely advise utilizing it if you recognize you gained’t be close to a charger for some time.

With the most important battery within the Apple Watch assortment, it shouldn’t come as a lot of a shock that it takes slightly longer to cost by way of the (properly braided) puck charger within the field. In testing, the Apple Watch Extremely achieved simply 28% in half-hour, in comparison with the 69% from the Sequence 8. A full cost takes round 90 minutes relying on the charger you employ.

The longer charging instances imply it’s not fairly as handy to shortly cost earlier than mattress, however with for much longer durations between costs, it’s a worthy sacrifice.

Value

Although some might wince on the $799/£849/€999 price ticket of the Apple Watch Extremely, I’d argue that it’s really fairly low cost for what’s on provide – particularly when you think about that some out of doors health rivals just like the Garmin Enduro 2 value as a lot as $1,099/£929.99, and also you get mobile connectivity as commonplace.

After all, you’ll need to be actually devoted to train to go for the Apple Watch Extremely – that or the lengthy battery life – because it does value round double that of the 41mm and 45mm variants of Apple Watch Sequence 8, which are available in at $399/£419/€499 and $429/£449/€539 respectively. Should you simply need an Apple Look ahead to notifications, on-the-wrist apps and entry to Siri, one of many cheaper Watches in Apple’s assortment might swimsuit you higher.

If you’re tempted, you should purchase the Apple Watch Extremely from Apple itself alongside US retailers like Finest Purchase and the likes of Amazon within the UK.  

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Verdict

The Apple Watch Extremely may simply seem like an even bigger, extra rugged Apple Watch, however there’s extra to it than that. It’s not solely extra sturdy however boasts a variety of enhancements particular to the high-end Watch that profit out of doors sports activities lovers, from the intense temperature resistance to the improved water resistance capabilities.

The brand new Motion button is a welcome addition that I hope makes its option to the usual Apple Watch, offering a useful option to entry key performance with out the touchscreen, and the dual-GPS is an actual game-changer for those who prefer to get lost the crushed observe.

Certain, it’s greater, bulkier and weightier than the usual Apple Watch, however for those who’re in search of one thing that’ll take a knock or two and final days on a single cost, the Apple Watch Extremely is a stable premium possibility. Nonetheless, for those who’re solely in search of an Apple Look ahead to day-to-day use, the cheaper, slimmer Apple Watch Sequence 8 might show extra tempting.