All about Apple Watch Ultra, the smart watch for extreme sports. The release of the new Apple Watch 8, which took place at the Far Out event, was marked by an important novelty: the presentation of the Apple Watch Ultra, a version of the smart watch that is different in many respects from the Apple watch that we have come to know. This is not a real surprise because rumors have followed one another for days around it but there is no lack of news and details that have not previously emerged while others have finally been clarified.
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The name
As always, let’s start with the name. Apple has never changed the naming of its smartwatch since it was released, launching a new Apple Watch every year adding only a sequential number to the naming. The first of the series simply took the name of Apple Watch, followed by Apple Watch series 1 up to Apple Watch 7.
With Apple Watch Ultra this pattern changes; no more number but only the denomination, a scheme that Apple has been using for years with iPad. Note that the name Ultra probably represents the real surprise that came from the event. Most of the sources after having discarded the nme “Apple Watch Edition” and “Apple Watch 8 Pro” also followed both the label that appeared online months ago but also and above all the opinion of the journalist Mark Gurman. he had oriented himself to the name Apple Watch Pro.
Apple surprised everyone with a name it used in other contexts, such as processors, but never for personal devices.
Apple Watch Ultra what it is
But what exactly is an Apple Watch Ultra? Who wears an Apple Watch Ultra? It is a smart watch for those who want to practice a sport “to the full” and in the most difficult conditions.
We are talking about professional athletes, those who make mountain bikes or BMX, those who frequent extreme environments, the sea, the mountains, the glaciers, a desert. So mountaineers, climbers, divers, travelers on motorbikes on off-beaten paths; those who practice tough sports that involve several hours of commitment, perhaps on multidisciplinary tracks such as triathletes and decathletes and then again freeclimbers, mountain runners, snowboarders.
All of these particular categories of athletes have a hard time using an Apple Watch for many reasons. The main one is resistance; While very rugged an Apple Watch Series 7 or Series 8 cannot cope with environments like the ones described above nor is it capable of recording some of the performance that is at the core of extreme sports. Secondly, the Apple Watch is deficient in size and also in the interface. Finally, it lacks sufficient control through physical keys which under certain conditions are much more comfortable than a touch screen.
Apple Watch Ultra remedies this with design, software and hardware tweaks.
The Apple Watch Ultra design
The new design of the Apple Watch Ultra is the aspect that strikes before anything else. It is not the drastic change that was expected last year, but despite this it is very different from what we are used to.
What in 2021 was seen as a smartwatch with an angular case actually has a round case with the display cover flush with the metal edge, recalls the iPhone Pro module in many respects.
The new style should give the Apple Watch Ultra greater shock resistance. The same function performs the titanium case that it inherits from the Apple Watch Edition (which ends up in retirement). Titanium makes it possible to create a larger but also lighter device than would have been possible if it had been made of steel. The sapphire crystal screen, the same that Apple uses in the Apple Watch 8 with a steel case, adds greater resistance.
Apple Watch Ultra is MIL-STD 810H certified, to reach which it had to pass tests such as low pressure for altitude tests, thermal shock, effects of rain including wind and freezing rain, exposure to sand and dust, explosive atmosphere, and IP6X dust resistance.
The new functions
If we talk about Apple Watch Ultra functions it is to Apple Watch 8 as iPhone 13 Pro is to iPhone 13: therefore do everything that Apple Watch 8 does by enhancing some functions and adding other exclusive ones.
New training modes
As mentioned, Apple Watch Ultra is first of all aimed at those who do sports in an advanced way. It is not a G-Shock (to echo the famous Casio series) but a competing product with some of Garmin’s smart watches a multifunction smart watch for alteti, highly evolved from a technical point of view with peculiarities from the point of view of the ability to record workouts.
Apple Watch Pro offers this particular category of customers, advanced options for all the peculiar and extreme sports we mentioned above. Among other features, Apple Watch Ultra uses watchOs 9 to read ground contact time, vertical oscillation, power and present new metric views but can present up to six at once improving the knowledge of its performance.
Bigger screen
To facilitate its task and more legibly present the information it is able to provide, the Apple Watch Ultra has a larger 1.99-inch screen as expected, nestled in a 49mm case. Recall that the Apple Watch 8 have a 41 and 45mm case
It remains to everyone’s opinion whether or not to share what journalist Mark Gurman had said, who commented on this long-known information by saying that the screen is “really big” to the point of being interesting only for a specific market niche.
The screen has a brightness of 2000 nits, the same as the new iPhone 14 Ultra, sufficient to give excellent visibility even in very strong sun.
Additional physical button
A very interesting aspect and until recently not discussed either by analysts or by sites that deal with Apple things is the presence of a new button. The novelty also anticipated by some protective cases contributes to making Apple Watch Ultra very different.
We are talking about a key located on the opposite side to where the digital crown and the side key are located. It is a programmable button (as anticipated by the journalist Mark Gurman,) dedicated to athletes who prefer an analog system rather than screen taps, unreliable and manageable when wearing gloves, bulky clothes or the Apple Watch is wet. . The keys in these conditions have the advantage of being more reactive and also more easily accessible without looking.
The new “Action” button (this is the official name) allows you to time a workout, mark a waypoint in the Compass app, start a dive with a single touch. The Action key allows you to enter waypoints of your route and to activate the “Retrace your steps” function in the Compass app to follow your own path in reverse and return to the starting point.
Apple Watch Ultra then puts Apple in competition with competitors like Garmin which offers a smartwatch series for extreme sports and triathletes. All the products of the American company, from the cheaper Forerunner Plus to the Forerunner or Fenix 7, have five keys that give access to a long series of shortcuts and quick actions.
It is also important to note that the side button next to the crown is protruding but protected by a frame that also surrounds the crown itself. Here it seems evident Apple’s attempt to create a protection for the two controls that could be accidentally activated or, receiving a shock, suffer damage.
Digital crown (oversized) and the side button can also be used with gloves.
Studiato per le immersioni con App Oceanic+
Apple Watch Ultra is specially designed for the world of water sports enthusiasts and especially for those who love diving. It is EN13319 certified, marking accessories for divers, working as a depth gauge and providing useful information and functions for free diving or scuba diving up to 40 meters, and also measures water temperature.
Apple also signed an agreement with Huish Outdoors, a leader in diving equipment, to create Oceanic+ for the Apple Watch Ultra, an app that attaches a real dive computer to the wrist.
Apple explains that the Oceanic + water iPhone app doesn’t just calculate depth and duration of dives. It also provides data on local conditions, such as tides and water temperatures, and even information shared by the user community, such as currents and visibility.
Operation is simple: turn the Digital Crown down to scroll through the screens. The app displays information in various colors on the broad, helping to easily interpret even the most complex data.
Other particularities of Apple Watch Ultra
Apple Watch Ultra also has other innovations that will characterize it compared to Apple Watch 8. Here, too, these are technical details that are born to better support the reference users of this new smartwatch.
- Apple Watch Ultra has an increased battery that, next to the low consumption function, will allow its use for 36 hours which become 60 with the low consump mode
- It offers new faces that are also very complex and not present in other models and dedicated to advanced workouts
- New dual-frequency precision GPS that pinpoints you even in the most difficult areas.
- 86 decibel siren which I know sounds up to 180 meters away
- Wayfinder dial with room for eight complications that also doubles as a compass. Turning the Digital Crown activates the Night mode
- Three microphones in array with adaptive algorithm to choose the optimal microphone for audio and noise filter based on machine lerning
Apple Watch Ultra, release date and price
Apple Watch Pro was presented during the Far Out event. Together with the Apple Watch 8 and the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro.
Apple Watch Ultra cost much more than Apple Watch 7 and even Apple Watch 8. We are talking about 1009 euros. But the price really shouldn’t surprise too much.
Given inflation and all the other general market variables (including rising component costs and dollar value), it could be assumed that Apple Watch Pro could easily cost a thousand dollars which translated into euros and factored in taxes. would have meant a price around 1200 €, 40% more than Apple Watch with the Titanium case starting from 839 €. Finally, the increase of Apple Watch Ultra is “only” 20% more.
Apple Watch Ultra can be ordered from 8 September and will be received from 23 September.
