I have a series 3 that stutters and freezes occasionally with apple fitness plus. I am waiting till the fall, as the ultra 2 was not upgraded this year.I think apple will add blood pressure monitoring, so, I’ll wait even if series 3 doesn’t last till then.
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Ultra 2 Question
- Thread starter djr7572
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Yes, I think you're right, it is a function of the price. On a side note: I really didn't need 1TB, but after having used it for a while now, I'm like wow, I really do have all this space to store all my digital books and I have been! I LOVE IT. ;-)
I though you were going to say you shoot a lot of 4k video or store a library of downloaded movies. I think of ebooks as being tiny, as in a 16GB Kindle can hold literally thousands of them.
Well, I have other things like photos, music, that I haven't wanted to cull so instead I've been off loading digital books. Many are PDFs so they are bigger than ePubs, typically.
I’ll add in my anecdotal info here to help.
I was also trying to figure out whether I wanted to upgrade to an Ultra 2 (from S8 41mm) or just wait for the next revision.
Then I got a chance to purchase a brand new Ultra 2 for about $490 (pre-tax) from Walmart direct. Only thing is they were clearing out their variants from 2023 (you can tell by the bands that were included). Couldn’t say no for the price so I went for it.
Of course being a 2023 variant the battery was dead when I unboxed it and it asked to be charged before starting the setup process. Fast forward after setting up and using for a few days, it’s at 100% battery health. Battery life is often more than what Apple rated it for. Was able to easily add AC+ & the standard warranty itself started the day I activated it.
However, I also use a very basic photos face from watchOS 10 (not available anymore in 11 & can’t edit either without upgrading to the 11 variant). Cellular also enabled and I use it to track strength training + cardio throughout the week (to get an idea of usage)
All this to say, I wouldn’t worry too much about your concerns. There’s also no chance Apple itself has older variants on hand, you’ll only see this from their authorized resellers.
You got a good deal on the ultra 2, I would have purchased it too at that price.
Yea I would wait. By the time fall rolls around the Ultra 2 would have been out for two years. Ultra 3 should *hopefully* have bigger updates. Especially since the S10 (and presumably S11) are thinner and smaller SOC’s maybe it’ll be slightly thinner.
Yeah the S3 to S4 jump was the last big jump in responsiveness.
- S1 to S2 was huge
- S2 to S3 was maybe 1.5x performance.
- S4 onward is essentially "as fast as needed" and honestly if you were to turn off the always on display on later models and blind test you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference between s4 and later.
well, not really, as far as UI performance goes, probably true. As far as loading complications/widgets/live activities - I don't really use those so have no comparison data but would be interesting.
When I upgraded my Ultra to the Ultra 2 I noticed that boot time was ~ 30% faster as well as OS upgrade time.
Posted details here back in Sep/Oct 2023.
Siri is noticeably faster on my S9 than it was on my S5 thanks to the fact that the newest watches process speech on-device rather than in the cloud.
I made a mistake when purchasing my series 3, the series 4 was for sale and I opted for the lower cost version. Also, to make things worse, lack of os support has caused issues with my apple fitness + subscription. I’ll see what’s available in the fall, probably time for an upgrade.
I actually found a general performance jump from S8 to U2. Wasn’t expecting anything but definitely noticed less loading times & spinning wheels when loading apps and navigating the UI. And Siri is actually useful now.
Fair enough I don't use Siri a heap so hadn't noticed but if you do I guess thats useful.
I bought the S10 Ti on introduction day. Got the itch for the new black U2. I purchased the Ultra 2 mainly because it was black and I really liked the look. I found after wearing it for a few weeks was a bit larger than I wanted to put up with and went back to my S10 Ti. Both are great watches and glad Apple gives us a choice.
I currently have a 41mm S7. I really want an Ultra 2 for the larger screen etc, but I'm also afraid of exactly what you state above! I don't have the biggest wrists and the Ultra 2 may just look completely odd on me!
That is the main reason I'm considering holding out until fall, myself: Hoping the U3 will be a bit more svelte.
Since 11.3 My ultra2 now charges to 100% every time with optimized on as before. One year old and my battery is 98%.
Sometimes this chunk on my wrist is irritating for sure.
The same Warranty as if the watch was made yesterday so I don't understand the concern. Buy the monthly AppleCare and the warranty is as long as you want.
Well, it took me a while, but I couldn’t resist. Had to get it. Definitely took me a few days to get used to the extra weight, but I’m used to it now and I don’t think I could go back to the Series watch. This was a really risky purchase, considering I already loved my Series 10, but as it turns out, I like the Ultra 2 even more.
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It was a risky purchase for me as well, since I purchased mine in November 2024 from Costco. I’m satisfied and love my Ultra 2 and kept my ultra 1 as a backup. I guess I got used to the weight of it pretty quickly and loved it since day 1. I’ll be holding onto mine until the blood oxygen ban is lifted.
At this point the Ultra 2 is a terrible buy. It’s basically a slightly (not noticeably) faster version than the Ultra 1. Just wait for the Ultra 3 this September or buy a used one at a great discount. Good luck!
It is definitely noticeably faster. Also: brighter screen, double amount of storage, double tap gesture, faster (i.e. on-device) Siri, sleep apnea detection.
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