The “Apple Watch Ultra” in a long-term test: these are its greatest strengths and weaknesses

Last fall, Apple introduced the Watch Ultra. A larger, more powerful and all-round better protected variant of the hugely successful Apple Watch. And somehow “ultra” seems to be the target audience for it as well.

In the accompanying commercial, the smartwatch on the wrist is used to climb rugged mountain passes in a blizzard, run along the ledges of sand dunes in the scorching heat or plunge through the darkness of the underwater depths.

True, all this has nothing to do with the everyday life of a fairly active resident of the city. Nevertheless, we tested the new top model in exactly this setting and above spoke to Jay Blahnik. The manager and fitness guru is responsible for all fitness technologies at Apple.

You can read how the device performs in the daily life of the average person in our test.

What stands out at first glance is the size. When we first touched it in Cupertino in September, we too had our doubts that it wouldn’t feel too big on the wrist:

Compared to the “normal” Watch Series 8, the Ultra has grown by four millimeters (mm) to 49mm high and 44mm wide – about ten percent each. However, it has increased considerably in thickness: instead of 10.7 mm, the Ultra now measures 14.4 mm.

The weight of the watch is also significantly higher: 61.3 grams – over 20 grams more than the Apple Watch 8 in the larger case version. This also has to do with the material. The Watch 8 is made of aluminum, the Watch Ultra case is made of titanium. The slightly more expensive stainless steel watch model, on the other hand, is only about 10 grams lighter than the ultra model.

To our surprise, the difference in size and weight was no longer a problem after just a few hours of wearing. Typical men’s chronographs are often two or three times as heavy anyway.

Even beyond the dimensions, the Watch Ultra is noticeably different – for the first time since the introduction of the smartwatch, Jay Bahnik emphasizes in an interview with T-Online:

“Essentially, the design of the Apple Watch has been pretty much unchanged from the start because it works really well for people.” But “a few years ago” Apple decided they would launch an externally customized Watch Ultra as well.

The end product of this decision actually looks significantly different: for example, the crown (the dial) and the adjacent button are now placed in the case in such a way that they are better protected. This is certainly important for extreme climbers – but it is also practical in everyday life in the big city. In the test, it was significantly less common for the controls to be accidentally activated by bending the wrist too much.

Completely new is the action button on the other side of the watch case. Numerous functions can be assigned in the device settings: for example, you can start a specific workout, start the stopwatch, run a shortcut – or activate the flashlight. Third-party apps can also provide defined actions for the new button – there are sure to be some other applications in the future. This has already proven to be very practical in the test.

It’s remarkable that this button exists at all, says Blahnik:

It would probably be possible without major technical effort to integrate such a button into the upcoming models of the normal Apple Watch. Blahnik remains vague, as is typical for Apple: “We’ve heard this wish from many athletes – I’d say never say never.”

Incidentally, for the first time in this watch model, Apple uses a second GPS frequency – L5 – in addition to L1 to locate the watch. This should be especially helpful for runners, but only under certain conditions, says Blahnik:

So if you do a lot of jogging in urban canyons, you might be happy with this extension. In the test, it was not so easy to find places where the simple GPS in the Apple Watch Series 8 had problems at all. There, the GPS positioning of the Watch Ultra worked more accurately. However, this should not be a convincing buying argument for most users.

The situation is similar with the new display: it can be impressive at peak brightness 2000 nits now shine twice as bright as all other models in direct sunlight. This means that the watch is very easy to read in all circumstances – but even with the Watch 8, which already offers good readability outdoors at 1000 nits, you have no real problems.

However, it is much more positive the enlarged screen on: A separate watch face can now show a total of eight complications – three more than is possible on the Watch 8. The on-screen keyboard feels a bit better – the new screen never seems too big.

It is also the first watch to be water resistant to 100 meters and particularly dust resistant. It also has a depth gauge. In combination with the paid app Oceanic+, the watch becomes a dive computer for holiday divers. But that’s not what this everyday test is about.

The main difference is the battery. It feels twice the size of the usual watch models. If the battery of a normal watch – even the latest model 8 – usually lasts a day, with the Watch Ultra it is two days.

According to Apple manager Blahnik, the main focus has been on extreme athletes who could not use an Apple Watch until now: “We believe that most athletes can now complete an Ironman on one battery charge – and the maximum time allowed here is 17 hours. »

This is also useful for outdoor activities:

There were no Ironman runs or camping trips in our test – the advantage of a larger battery was still felt throughout. For example, for users who also wear their watch at night and use the sleep tracking function. Because depending on how actively you use the watch during the day, the other models can have a short run time at night. It was not unusual for an Apple Watch to need to be charged in the evening.

The Watch Ultra lasted two full days and two nights in the test under normal use with about an hour of training per day before needing to be charged. In everyday life, this means considerably more flexibility: instead of slavishly charging every evening or morning, you can sometimes skip this.

In the test of several weeks it never happened that you could not find your way home by bike because you didn’t have enough energy. This also has to do with the fact that the 10 percent battery warning gives the user about twice as much run time as the same warning on a classic watch.

The new energy saving mode This also helps: the recording intervals for heart rate measurement and GPS location are slightly reduced, but the run time is increased to a maximum of 60 hours, Apple promises. We achieved that in the test.

In addition, the capacity of the battery decreases with age and a normal watch hardly gets through the day. Here too, the Ultra will offer large reserves in the long term.

Apple knows all this too. blahnik says:

In the test, the Apple Watch Ultra turned out to be a surprisingly versatile and everyday smartwatch. Of course, some special functions are specifically tailored for extreme sports and recreational divers. But four weeks of testing in Berlin shows that the Watch Ultra is the better Apple Watch in many ways.

But for many users, buying a Watch Ultra should not be an option, and that is mainly due to the price: with a list price of 849 francs (or 999 euros), the smartwatch is almost twice as expensive as the Watch Series 8 with the larger case of 45 millimeters (from 429 francs or 539 euros).

For recreational athletes and especially running enthusiasts, all compatible Apple Watches with the current WatchOS 9 have become a much better fitness companion – software-wise, the Ultra has nothing up its sleeve. However, it goes too far to explain this. On the hardware side, the Ultra is clearly better.

However, the price difference narrows as soon as you buy better equipped models. If the Series 8 also needs to be connected to the internet and telephone without an iPhone, the LTE version costs 529 francs (or 659 euros).

If you also want – just like with the Ultra – scratch-resistant sapphire glass on the watch display, then you have to buy the Series 8 with a stainless steel case (799 francs or 949 euros). But that is not really recommended to anyone, because for only 50 francs or euros more there is the Watch Ultra, which is much better.

Within the Apple world, the price is therefore quite reasonable – but certainly too high for most potential buyers.

It is to be hoped that in the future Apple will include some of the advantages in the cheaper models – if only the new button and the better battery. Because the Watch Ultra shows just how much better the Apple Watch could be – even if it’s already widely regarded as the best smartwatch on the market.