Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

[groove-agent]

WHAT ABOUT MUSIC QUALITY??? There's nothing "Ultra" about listening to crunchy ~65kbps AAC music off of downloaded Music on your "high end" Apple watch. Forget about 5G for a watch, give us a choice to have quality music to work out to without our phones! 🏃‍♂️🤸‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🧘‍♂️ ... or just bring back a wireless Nano

I’d love it if we could leave the phones at home and just carry an AW. Apple unfortunately banks on people buying multiple devices to get through the day.” So it may not happen unless another company does it first. For the AW, it’s going to have to have a camera on it to allow you to leave the phone at home as the camera is now a necessary feature for safety reasons etc. and I feel a camera on a AW is a long ways away, if at all.

So you’re better off just to carry your phone with you and simply use the AW to control playback.

 

[neotint]

I’d love it if we could leave the phones at home and just carry an AW. Apple unfortunately banks on people buying multiple devices to get through the day.” So it may not happen unless another company does it first. For the AW, it’s going to have to have a camera on it to allow you to leave the phone at home as the camera is now a necessary feature for safety reasons etc. and I feel a camera on a AW is a long ways away, if at all.

So you’re better off just to carry your phone with you and simply use the AW to control playback.

What I don't get is that the chip fab has constantly lowered power reqs, while battery formulation tech keeps improving, and if the AW has cellular connectivity, it's a fairly complete product. Plus I'd love to see what % of AW users use it for fitness time, how often etc. I bet it's a top 5 use case (number 1 is for setting timers I bet). The integration with Apple/Beats headphones is excellent... the low-quality sound is the most glaring quality issue in an otherwise high quality product.

 

[groove-agent]

What I don't get is that the chip fab has constantly lowered power reqs, while battery formulation tech keeps improving, and if the AW has cellular connectivity, it's a fairly complete product. Plus I'd love to see what % of AW users use it for fitness time, how often etc. I bet it's a top 5 use case (number 1 is for setting timers I bet). The integration with Apple/Beats headphones is excellent... the low quality sound is the most glaring low-quality issue in an otherwise high quality product.

I would agree that the low quality sound would be annoying. I'm not a fan of Apple Music as it's no where as good as Spotify, but it has lossless audio which I love, especially listening on a $1500 USB audio interface. We're at that stage with respect to technology where we're giving up quality for convenience, but it gives hardware manufacturers something to overcome.

I hate having to carry my phone around me everywhere, but at least we can leave our wallet at home for the most part these days. I'd love to just have an Apple Watch as it's always on your wrist, but the technology is still years away from replacing the phone, even for short outings.

 

[ct1211]

An accurate blood pressure sensor is compelling, but I also want the blood oxygen saturation sensor back.

I tend to agree with what everyone is saying here obviously it’s right in our faces! I swear I’m starting to feel like my ultra one series has turned out to be the best Apple purchase I’ve ever made in terms of longevity. I am older with a few things healthwise I need to watch Like everyone else. I also don’t want to give up my oxygen sensor as it is fairly accurate, I was able to test it during a recent hospital stay that’s impressive.

What’s not impressive? Listen, when the world found out that Apple had steel, the sensor from another company, cooks, shiny moment, would’ve been to come out, admit THE THEFT and pay the company he stole from!! If Samsung had somehow grabbed a technology that Apple invented and started using it without the patents being addressed, suffice it to say Samsung would have a FRUITY new name now!

The AI debacle is another situation where cook an apple of course need to swallow it, pay Google to tap into the excellent Gemini AI in their voice technology, they can just slap the voice from Siri on it and move on. I have turned off as much AI on all my Apple product as possible. It’s all a nuisance. Whatever in the world they did to the passwords app, I don’t know about the rest of you, but it just doesn’t work any longer!

One last thought on interacting with my Apple Watch. Even with the health features I use, 98% of the time it’s just a watch. I glanced at once in a while if I even remember. I still find the software a mess for navigating around, mainly because I just don’t use it that much. Sometimes it’s like you’re dropping $800-$1000 for an extension of notifications from your phone, and guess what? They’re just as annoying as they were when I was just retrieving them from the phone! I could go on forever, end of my rant!

 

[throAU]

What would be nice is slightly rounded off bevel on the screen.

I do like the way it looks but its easy to scratch the hell out of things with the watch.

I've taken chunks out of plaster covered columns, scratched the leather on my couch, etc. with the AW2 Ultra. Terrified of accidentally clipping the door to my new car with it.

So slightly rounding off that 90 degree edge around the screen would be nice to make the watch slightly less damaging to other things in my life. The durability of the watch is great, but it keeps damaging other things I own

 

[Tozovac]

Still a huge watch… there should be two sizes like the other ones come on guys…

Not everyone who wants the top of the line also wants the biggest screens possible on every device.

You two are shopping wrong.

You’re overlooking the purpose of the ultra. It’s not the “top of the line” AW. It’s not a “step up” from the 10. It’s an ultra/outdoors/sports/action/activity/adventure device where larger size doesn’t matter as much when used along the lines of its design intent. Which isn’t day to day around the office or home.

 

[stealthytolkien]

Same great 10 hour battery life? /s

 

[throAU]

Same great 10 hour battery life? /s

My almost 2 year old AWU2 gets 36 hours on a regular basis without using power save mode.

 

[UltimaKilo]

I don't want to replace the battery again. I want the purely larger battery of the ultra series. I do not care about features in the watch segment. There is almost nothing my series 6 offers that I use frequently that wasn't already in the original I bought in 2014.

At this juncture I know that replacing a battery on a S6 means I will get 1.5 years of acceptable battery life, .5 years of tolerable battery life, and after that the thing requires active management to make it through a day with a morning or evening workout.

I just want the 36 hours of every day use on a new battery plus the fast charging feature available on S7 or newer + Ultra series watches. I imagine that I will be able to get days of all-day and sleep wear without needing a full charge just passively getting some juice when I take showers or remove it for some other reason. As the battery degrades, it will still not require active management like a 2+ year old Series 6 battery will. Starting from more capacity at 100% battery health is the feature I really want.

Shoot, you must have had terrible luck with bad batteries. My S5 lasted 5 years without issue, same with my S2 and the S10 battery has been incredible with always-on display turned off. I also sleep with my watch, take phone calls on it, exercise with it for 2+ hours a day and only charge it once a day before I hit the gym. It does get below 25% daily, though.

 

[stealthytolkien]

My almost 2 year old AWU2 gets 36 hours on a regular basis without using power save mode.

It was sarcasm bud.
/s

 

[rgwebb]

Shoot, you must have had terrible luck with bad batteries. My S5 lasted 5 years without issue, same with my S2 and the S10 battery has been incredible with always-on display turned off. I also sleep with my watch, take phone calls on it, exercise with it for 2+ hours a day and only charge it once a day before I hit the gym. It does get below 25% daily, though.

Mine just hit 79% battery health and I will replace it soon. Still thinking I will trickle-down techonomics this to my father or mother.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Mine just hit 79% battery health and I will replace it soon. Still thinking I will trickle-down techonomics this to my father or mother.

To be fair, that’s what I did with the S5 and still works great for them even with the degraded battery life.

 

[incoherent_1]

You two are shopping wrong.

You’re overlooking the purpose of the ultra. It’s not the “top of the line” AW. It’s not a “step up” from the 10. It’s an ultra/outdoors/sports/action/activity/adventure device where larger size doesn’t matter as much when used along the lines of its design intent. Which isn’t day to day around the office or home.

You are "reading wrong." What about my simple statement implied I wanted it for "day to day" use "around the office or home"?

I'm an avid outdoorsman who has summited several of the seven summits. I have tiny wrists and want all the features of an Ultra without looking like a clown with a disproportionately sized screen on my wrist.

The arrogance of some people...

 

[Tozovac]

You are "reading wrong." What about my simple statement implied I wanted it for "day to day" use "around the office or home"?

I'm an avid outdoorsman who has summited several of the seven summits. I have tiny wrists and want all the features of an Ultra without looking like a clown with a disproportionately sized screen on my wrist.

The arrogance of some people...

I’m sorry if I insulted you. That was not my intent. However I’m operating on the assumption that Apple stuffed in all the extra features and battery and sensors and whatnot into the Apple Watch Ultra in as small a package as it could. I have a hard time believing Apple plumped up the size intentionally because it’s the top of the line model, as some seem to think. An Apple Watch is sized what it is in order to do what it does, and that size works for some and unfortunately, not for all. Some might want the top-of-the-line processors available in a 16 inch pro but they want the 13 inch fanless form factor. So then what?

 

[ajfahey]

I will upgrade…from a Series 7.

 

[sfrangu]

Does anyone know how difficult it would be to order an  WATCH from Canada (or other country) to get a watch with the O2 sensor?

I have a quickly-aging Series 6 and I no longer can get it wet (crack near the bezel broke the seal), and the battery lasts ½ day at best, but I really don’t want to lose the O2 readings.

I had the 1st generation  WATCH (bought April 2015), purchased the Series 6 on Black Friday 2020, so it seems like I am on a 5-year cycle.

Anything would be an upgrade for me at this point.

I am SOOO interested in this too. I upgraded my Series 7 to the 10 but I miss/need the pulse oximeter.

 

[f1vespeed]

With even less battery life? 😂😂😂 Just buy the normal Apple watch!!! An „Ultra“ watch should be functional as the name suggest and not an nerd or gucci instrument.

i don’t think this is how it works in the watch world. look at rolex. they have to pack a watch with useless extra functionality like diving water resistance or a chronograph that’ll never be used, just to justify larger size and “more” design, that’s precisely what apple does with the ultra.

 

[CR90]

I run every day and need to charge my Ultra 1 before going to bed every day. I run from 8 to 18K a day with 25-27K in the weekend and I’m not even close to being able to go two days

The Ultra 2 should already be better but would like 4-5 days with my use

Would love 4-5 days but I don’t think two days with to longer runs is a big ask. I have to charge mine each morning, although if it’s a shorter run I’ll get a day and a half.

A slightly better battery would make a huge difference

 

[xDKP]

Would love 4-5 days but I don’t think two days with to longer runs is a big ask. I have to charge mine each morning, although if it’s a shorter run I’ll get a day and a half.

A slightly better battery would make a huge difference

Same here. Daily top up needed