So I've been wearing the Apple Watch Ultra since it came out about ten months ago. We're not quite at a year. I think it's been around ten months, been a long time.
And so I think we are at an appropriate place for a check in, call it a long term review. And since the Apple Watch Ultra Two is set to come out in like a month, you know, it's a good time to let you know whether or not you should wait for that Apple Watch Ultra Two, or just go ahead and pick one of these up if that's something you're interested in. But before we get into all of that, if you end up liking this video, if you find it useful, let me know in the comments down below.
Leave a like and of course, subscribe to the channel so you don't miss more videos from us in the future. Now, I do want to preface this video by saying if you're looking for a review from an outdoorsy person or someone who's very athletic's point of view, obviously that's not me. And so I think I bring a different perspective, somebody who is looking for an Apple Watch and really likes the design of the Ultra and some of the unique features that you do get.
And I think that anyone out there could get the Ultra if this fits your kind of wish list. And so let me talk about the things that are important in my perspective. And so let's start with durability, because this is a rugged watch, and again, it's targeted towards those who are outdoorsy, who go on a lot of hikes and dive and do all of these things, and maybe they do tons of marathons and triathletes, I don't know.
But also, just like everyday life gets in the way of your watch. And I can tell you from a Durability standpoint, I've never broken an Apple Watch. That's never been a thing.
But I've had tons of scratches and nicks and chips on older watches, stainless steel watches, the normal aluminum ones, and nothing has held up as good as this Apple Watch Ultra, which is great to hear because again, it is a rugged, outdoorsy watch. And so I am happy to report that Durability has been fantastic, especially from the viewpoint of the screen. I can't tell you how many times in the past my screen's been like just super scratched up.
You're rubbing your finger all over, you can feel the scratches. I cannot see a single scratch on this screen. And whatever they're using on this for the Apple Watch, they need to bring that glass over to the iPhone, because my iPhone has tons and tons of scratches, but here I can't see any micro scratches.
The scratches and scuffs that I do see are around the titanium frame, and it's not a huge deal. There's a few looks like whatever they use to anodize it has been kind of scraped off a little bit and you'll see a little bit of marks and scuffs, but overall, it's held up super well. And I have been anything but careful with this watch.
I have tried to not go out of my way to be kind of careless with it, but I'm just not keeping it in the back of my mind, like, oh, I have my watch on. I probably shouldn't do this. I've rubbed it up against parts of my house, and it's whacked against my garage door, just, like, flailing my arms when I walk.
And sometimes I just hit things. And when you get that feeling like you've rubbed it against something, you're like, oh, that's definitely going to be scratched up. And then I've surprisingly looked down and it's been totally fine.
So, all in all, I just want to say that durability has been great. The screen's durability for scratches and Micro scratches have been amazing. I really can't see any of them.
So the durability has been amazing. In terms of bands, I really only ever used one band. I've tried out a bunch.
All of the bands that Apple has released with the Apple Watch Ultra, specifically, there's, like, that diving band, whatever that one is. The swimming band. I believe this is the Trail band, though, and I absolutely love this one.
It's velcro. It just gets on and off super easily. It's comfortable.
And I like the other one. The trail. Loop one, I believe, is what it's called.
Or is that this one? I don't know. There's another one where you kind of hook it in. That's the one that I bought it with.
It's the orange one that you see here. I really like that one as well. But this is by far the better fitting one.
I believe this is the trail loop. That's the one that I would recommend. But again, the best thing about this is if you have one of the larger, normal Apple Watches, or the 45 millimeter bands per se, those will fit this just fine.
It might look a little funky, but it works totally fine. And honestly, I don't have a problem with the way they look. So if you want to use your older bands, you can do that.
The next best thing about the Apple Watch Ultra is the battery life. I think that's the main reason why I would recommend absolutely anyone should buy this. If you like the look and the design and how big it is, which we'll get into in a minute, the battery life, because of how big this watch is, is simply amazing.
I'm traveling right now. Obviously, this isn't my normal set. I'm in a hotel room.
But one of my things with traveling with this watch is that I don't need to bring my Apple Watch charger. In fact, the last time I was here in New York, I completely forgot my phone charger and my Apple Watch charger. And so I went out and bought a phone charger because there's just no way my iPhone's going to last me three days without charging.
But I didn't buy an Apple Watch charger because by the time I got a lightning cable later on in the day after traveling, my watch was at like 85%, and it was in the evening time. And I said, well, I could take this off and leave it docked on my nightstand when I go to bed, and it's not going to eat up any battery. And when I woke up, I had around 80, 80 something percent.
And I went on with the next day, and I had 60% at the end of the day. And then I went on with my third day before I left, and I had 40%. I traveled back home and then made it all the way to the end of that day.
Three whole days worth of traveling. Charged it with like 4% left, and in the morning, my watch was ready to go for another three days if I wanted to. So the Apple Watch Ultra, the Ultra, for me, it stands for Ultra battery life because that's what you get.
And so if you're somebody who uses an Apple Watch and wants that battery life for days and days, I would highly recommend it. Now, this part is not, honestly, that big of a deal to me, but it is kind of the part that I don't like the most about the Apple Watch Ultra, and that is the size and the weight and the feeling of it on your wrist. I'm obviously way more used to it since it's been almost ten months to a year of owning this watch.
But even every now and then, it is a chunky. Boy, it is massive. It does sometimes get in the way of everyday life, like having a coat on with this thing and trying to get your coat sleeve over.
If you're wearing anything remotely tighter than normal and you try to pull your sleeve up, it's just not going to happen. So these are things that you do need to kind of keep in mind. It is a very big watch, but again, that battery life is kind of the trade off.
It is pretty heavy, but I think you get used to it pretty quickly. And it might not be that big of a deal later on in the future, but I don't know if you're somebody who doesn't like big watches, that's going to be that kind of trade off. So it's worth bringing up.
But overall, it feels pretty good on the hand, like any other Apple Watch. It's comfortable for the most part in terms of the way it fits on your hand. It's just the weight and the size that could be an issue every now and again.
Let's jump to that action button, because that's kind of the main reason why I think a lot of people might want to buy this watch, as well as the larger screen and the battery. But the action button is something that I absolutely can live without. It's not that necessary.
And I sit here as someone who's excited to see the rumored action button on the iPhone, but I think that there's more possibilities there on your phone as opposed to your watch. But the action button here is a good premise. I'm not saying Apple should remove it.
I just think that we need a little bit more options. The options that you do have now are limited. It's not great.
You can use shortcuts, but if you don't already take advantage of shortcuts or have a shortcut that you use on a daily basis, that you're like, oh, hey, that would be a great thing to have on my watch. Like me, I don't have one that I used on a regular basis. It just kind of becomes another button that you never used.
In fact, one of the biggest things that I forgot to mention about how big this watch is, is like, I sit like this a lot, or stand like this a lot and fold my arms. And so the watch kind of like, goes into my wrist a little bit. And then, yeah, basically I accidentally push the action button almost all the time.
And so I actually turned the action button off. It's not mapped to anything. I know I'm a terrible person or a terrible tech person.
Feel free to shame me in the comments. Maybe if Apple opens it up a little bit more and offers something that I find useful, I'll eventually switch it on and use it. But as of right now, there's just nothing that I use it for, and that's okay.
And then the last thing I want to touch on I mentioned it a couple of times, it's the display. It's huge. It's a great display.
You can see so much more information compared to some of the other size watches. Especially, obviously, if you have smaller wrists, you're probably not going to get this. But I mean, I came from the 45, and even this being a 49 inch, 49 inch, a 49 millimeter watch, that would be massive.
49 millimeter watch, you can still tell there's a pretty big difference there. And you can see a lot more information. It's easier to type.
I type a lot more on this watch. Just quick messages. I use the Swipe keyboard all the time, and I can send off text, and I use my phone less in that regard.
And I really like that. So to wrap it up yeah, I think this is 100% worth 799, especially if you want. I think it's a classy looking watch.
I know some people might disagree with me, but I think it looks nice. And if you pair it with a good band, this is good for everyday use. But if you want to use it where you dress it up a little bit more, maybe like a stainless steel link band or some sort of leather band.
You can make it look nice and use it for when you're going out for work or maybe something a little bit fancier. I think you can use this and you don't even need to be an outdoorsy person or someone who is a triathlete to take advantage of all this. It's the same health and fitness features that you'd get on any other Apple Watch, but with more accuracy, better GPS.
If you're someone who is even remotely thinking about diving in the future, you've got a dive computer on it, you can do so much with it. So, of course, I would love to hear from you in the comments down below. I've ranted, I've talked about it.
I think it's a good buy. I think it's a great watch. If you can find it for less than what it retails for, especially when the Apple Watch Ultra Two comes out, I would highly recommend just picking up this model because there's not going to be that big of a difference, or at least that's what we're hearing.
So, yeah, let me know in the comments down below what you think if you have an Apple Watch Ultra. Do you agree, do you disagree? Let me know down in those comments. This has been dan with Mac rumors.
Thanks so much for watching and I hope to see you around in the next video.
