- RATING
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is the best smartwatch an iPhone user can buy. It is packed with features and a long life battery that can keep up with the most demanding users who want to get the best out of themselves and stay healthy doing it.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 takes all the features of the previous Apple Watches and makes them all better.
Better battery life and a bigger screen and more durability.
We’ve used every Apple Watch since the first in 2015 and have enjoyed every one but when we moved to first Apple Watch Ultra in 2022 there was no turning back.
That’s how we felt with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 which was like the luxury SUV with all the bells and whistles and more space.
The Apple Watch Series was the sedan version of that luxury car that’s a bit smaller and with less range.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 is made from aerospace grade titanium so you know it’s tough
For our review we received the black titanium model – it’s also available in the lighter natural titanium as well.
Naturally it is water and dust resistant and can handle depths up 40m.
It has a 49mm OLED display that’s brighter and now, thanks to the new screen technology and structure, is easier to read at any angle.
Even with Always-On display, the Apple Watch still needed to be tilted slightly to read it.
Not anymore. It can be seen even when your hands are in your lap and you can tell them time with no effort.
This is also a great feature if you’re scaling a rock face, underwater or in the gym – you can see and read the screen at even greater angles so you can see the information that’s important to at that moment.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is for the user who likes to exercise, who loves an adventure, who loves water sports and just wants to get the best out of themselves.
For runners, there’s advanced metrics like cadence and running power and you can add work and recovery intervals.
Users can also track their training load to ensure they are not over doing it and to find out when you can give a little extra.
The new Workout Buddy is exactly that – a personalised cheerleader encouraging you at the times when you need it most.
It takes information from your previous workouts and knows you inside out before offering any words of encouragement so it’s far from being a generic feature.
Hikers will love the Backtrack feature so you are able to retrace your steps via GPS.
You can also track your pace and elevation gain.
It’s also possible to download a map of where you plan to go and automatically sync when you get there so you’ll never lose your way.
And there are features that have your back when it comes to safety like Emergency SOS via satellite, Fall Detection which shares your location and alerts an emergency contact if you take a tumble and lose consciousness and Crash Detection.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 also has a siren for those times when you need to attract someone’s attention as well as a torch (it turns your display to a bright white) which is bright enough to light up the dark and with other modes to make sure you are seen.
On the health side it all there – an ECG, heart rate monitoring and warnings for high and low heart rates and blood oxygen level.
You can also track your sleep and receive a score on how well you did and receive advice on how to improve.
And it now has 5G cellular connectivity so you can leave your iPhone at home and still receive all your calls and messages, use Apple Pay and listen to Apple Music and Podcasts.
But by far the best feature is the battery life.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 usually still has more than 50 per cent charge when we go to bed which means you can wear it to bed to track your sleep and just charge it in the morning when you wake up.
The battery can last up to 42 hours and up to 72 hours on low power mode.
It also charges fast so you can easily top up the battery while you’re getting ready in the morning before you head out and still have enough to get through the day and night.
We have also tried Apple Watch Series 11 and found the battery life in comparison to be way behind where we got used to with the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available now and is priced at $1,399.
VERDICT
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is the best smartwatch an iPhone user can buy. It is packed with features and a long life battery that can keep up with the most demanding users who want to get the best out of themselves and stay healthy doing it.
