Apple Watch Ultra 2 Review

Performance Comparison

Smart Function

The primary value of a smartwatch lies in its array of intelligent features that enhance our lives, and increase productivity by offering a convenient substitute for devices such as laptops or phones. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 offers an impressive suite of intuitive smart apps and functions, can make and take phone calls with a high fidelity, and a host of other functions to make your life easier.

Our test team scored each model based on the presence and quality of proprietary Apple apps, third-party apps, our user experiences with making phone calls, texting, and the GPS mapping experience and display. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 performed well, as did other Apple watches, largely thanks to user-friendly Apple apps and the extensive selection of third-party applications.

If you are familiar with, or already on an Apple Series watch, you won't notice much in the way of new features or functions. However, at 49 millimeters, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is ever-so-slightly bigger than watches like the Series 9, which is available in 41mm or 45mm sizes. The increase in screen size makes a significant difference in the usability of maps and also makes the full-sized but very tiny keyboard surprisingly useful.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 uses a dual-frequency GPS, which means it uses both the L1 and L5 frequency bands. L1 band is commonly used in devices with great precision and accuracy, but the L5 band handles obstruction better with better signal processing that removes erroneous data, like multiple confusing signals bouncing off of tall buildings or data convoluted by dense vegetation.

In addition to dual-frequency GPS, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a cellular-capable model, so you don't need to have it tethered to an iPhone to enjoy the convenience of phone calls, but the overall experience is better when it is used alongside an iPhone. This model is snappy, running the Watch OS on the Apple S9 64‑bit dual‑core processor, and supports both the double tap gesture and an on‑device processing version of Siri.

The phone call quality is of the highest fidelity, and a step above all other brands of phone call-capable watches we've tested, with crystal clear sound and a sensitive microphone that mitigates background noise. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is also user-friendly and straightforward to handle when making and accepting calls. The addition of speech-to-text functionality and a larger display with a full keyboard significantly reduces the need for your phone, and a scribble feature that is unique to Apple, is surprisingly effective, albeit just a tad bit slow. Both the keyboard and the scribble feature give you a more discrete option for sending messages when in a crowded space where you may not want to make a call or use speech-to-text.

As you would expect from a premium smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 supports NFC for features like Apple Pay.

Health

Almost every smartwatch offers some level of health monitoring or fitness tracking, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is no different. Considering the widespread use of smartwatches for health monitoring and fitness tracking, our health test metric accounts for thirty percent of the overall score of each model, and the Ultra 2 did not disappoint.

Our test team thoroughly evaluated the Apple Watch Ultra 2 by running on paths with known distances and utilizing specialized equipment for dedicated heart monitoring and GPS tracking to verify the accuracy of health sensors. We also interrogated the data reported in the smartwatch's health monitoring and fitness tracking applications for accuracy, and considered the robustness of those applications.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 provided a high level of GPS accuracy in our walking tests conducted on premeasured paths, which is unsurprising with its dual-band GPS support. However, as our testing did not face signal obstructions from large buildings, we didn't observe a greater level of accuracy than Apple watches using single-band GPS. Those in cities with more obstructions, may see greater performance than watches without dual band technology.

In a similar fashion to other Apple models, we found the step counter to be less accurate than other brands of watches, about a 97 percent accuracy, which is not so stark that it would negatively affect most fitness-tracking endeavors. The only real weak points in the Apple Watch Ultra 2's health monitoring abilities was its treadmill walking inaccuracy, and more importantly a lack of activity-specific metrics and features within Apple's proprietary apps, of which there are more than eighty. Users looking for more specific activity monitoring data will need to explore third-party apps to achieve a greater level of detail.

In a similar fashion to filling a void in data with third-party metrics, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is equipped with Gymkit, which allows you to connect to Gymkit-compatible exercise equipment, including some treadmills. The connection can be used to download workout data, but the caveat stands that a lot of gym equipment does not have Gymkit, and manufacturers encourage users to download apps that are proprietary to their exercise equipment. A good example is Peleton's One-Tap Tracking function within their software.

Battery Life

Our team tested the battery life of each model under conditions designed to simulate more typical uses and weighted the results to twenty percent of each smartwatch's final score. Impressive runtimes and a massive capacity earned the Apple Watch Ultra 2 an impressive score, only scoring second to a model that has limited smart features and a focus on fitness tracking.

Apple claims that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 battery can last up to 36 hours under regular usage and 72 hours in low power mode, where the always-on display is disabled and background sensor readings are limited to conserve battery. However, we conducted our own tests to assess battery life under typical usage scenarios, both with and without the GPS activated. Our testing yielded a battery life of 16.7 hours with the GPS on and an impressive 100.0 hours without. The impressive battery life is made possible by the massive 564 mAh battery, that is nearly double the size of the typical smartwatch battery. While it may take the longest of all the models we tested to achieve a full charge, it can reach a half charge in about 50 minutes.

Display

Smartwatch displays are increasingly impressive and consistently high-quality among the top models. The smaller disparity in modern displays led our test team to weight the display test metric at ten percent of each watch's final score. Given Apple's track record of exceptional device displays, it's no surprise that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 boasts the most bright and most impressive display at 1.91 inches.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 display is an impressive forty-nine millimeters and every bit of it is brilliant. It is easily, and very noticeably, the brightest and most vibrant display we've seen. It is also protected by sapphire crystal glass, which is crystallized aluminum oxide and not glass, and provides a previously unseen hardness and scratch resistance, scoring a nine on our in-house Mohs hardness testing. It is harder than Gorilla Glass, and significantly harder than the Ion-X glass used in other Apple models. The display is large, brilliant, and scratch resistant but also sharp at a 326 pixel per inch resolution.

Should you buy the Apple Watch Ultra 2?

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a premium watch at a premium price. If your budget allows you to purchase this model, you won't regret it as it is currently the absolute best offering on the market today. That said, we can understand the aversion to paying so much for a smartwatch when a handful of other great options exist and are even better choices for fitness tracking, Android users, and more budget-sensitive shoppers.

What other Smartwatches should you consider?