Apple Watch Ultra: Best Smartwatch Ever?

The Apple Watch Ultra, Apple's most adventurous watch yet, most expensive and is nearly the cost of an iPhone 14. Even more, if you consider the prices in India, is it a true bang for your buck? 

One of Apple's big announcements this year was the launch of Ultra. It comes with a larger screen that is useful for sports and despite the larger size, the titanium casing means it's not too heavy on the wrist. It still weighs 61.3g, around double that of the Series 8. It has a width of 14.4mm.

Well, if you're into intensive workouts, weight training, or even just plain jogging, this watch really comes in handy as it tracks calorie burn, it tells you if your heart rates really exceed the threshold, and the healthy threshold tells you not to overexert yourself. These are things that become a lot better, and a lot more efficient when you're using an Apple Watch.

Watch the full review

The Apple Watch Ultra is not like other Apple Watches where you have to charge it once every 14 hours, and 16 hours, this one needs to be charged once in 36 hours. So that is a huge bump up from the previous Apple Watch, if you put it on low power mode, you can even get double the juice on the Apple Watch Ultra. So battery life is not as good now as the garments and many Fitbits but still a lot better in the Apple world. So what do you need all that battery for? Well, it's clear, one would need it for swimming or even diving. After all, Apple claims it to have better water resistance certification that allows it to be used at a maximum depth of 40m, perfect for scuba diving.

It comes with the other SOS features which come with the new iPhones and the Apple Watch as well. But this was particularly useful if you're going hiking, 

Verdict

The Apple Watch Ultra is meant for the rugged outdoors and can really come in handy for recreational scuba divers as a dive computer too. While it is bulky at 49 mm and has a new action button, it most certainly stands out from other wearables in a good way. The flipside- if you want to track your sleep, then the Ultra isn’t the best sleeping companion given how clunky it is. For that, I revert to the smaller Apple Watch or a fitness band from competitors. Speaking of competition, the Ultra most certainly takes on Garmin with its enhanced build and features, but Watch OS gives limited analysis and insights when compared to Garmin. But, all of this is surround sound when you consider the main standout feature of the Ultra - battery life. The biggest gripe for Apple Watch users has always been the abysmal battery life of having to rush to a charging dock in less than a day to keep their wearable alive and kicking. However, with the Ultra boasting 36 hours of battery life, I honestly think it is a real game-changer and Apple fans can only hope that this sort of battery life comes with more affordable Apple Watch variants in the future.

It retails for Rs 89,900 and is available on all key e-commerce websites in India.

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