Apple unveiled three smartwatches at its Far Out event on September 7. This includes the regular Apple Watch Series 8, a cheaper Watch SE, and a new Apple Watch Ultra. The Apple Watch Ultra is the most premium offering in the lineup, with a price that’s the same as the iPhone 14. For the price, you get a rugged watch that can withstand the most challenging conditions and temperatures.
If your eyes are on the Apple Watch Ultra, here’s everything you might need to know before spending your hard-earned money on it.
The Apple Watch Ultra is the most robust Apple watch ever. Its case is built out of aerospace-grade Titanium, while the flat display is carved out of Saphhire Glass. The case is thicker than usual and is slightly protruded in order to protect the display from severe damage. On top of that,
The Watch Ultra is offered in a singular 49mm option, making it the largest Apple Watch ever. Unlike the regular Apple Watch, it gets two buttons along with the Digital Crown. The Digital Crown and the side on the right are placed in a protruding extension. It’s worth noting that the crown is larger on the Apple Watch Ultra and has more prominent grooves. On the left is the newly added Action button that can be programmed to quick-launch a specific feature.
Apple Watch Ultra is also designed for water sports like kiteboarding, recreational scuba diving, and wakeboarding. For the same, it gets IPX6 water resistance at depths of up to 100 meters. In comparison, the Apple Watch Series 8 settles for a depth of 50 meters. The
The Apple Watch Ultra has a single Titanium color option. However, there are a few different band options to choose from — including Alpine Loop, Trail Loop, and Ocean Band. As the names suggest, these bands are designed to cater to specific activities. The Trail Loop is for endurance enthusiasts and runners. As per Apple, this is the thinnest watch band it has ever made.
Then there’s the Alpine Loop, built keeping explorers and hikers in mind. It is a band made from one continuous weaving process with a custom G-Hook. This band is being marketed as the one for most consumers. Finally, the Ocean Band is aimed at water sports enthusiasts. The band is molded from a flexible fluoroelastomer and has a dual clasp system. It’s water resistant and gets a long tail in order to easily fit users over a wet suit.
The Apple Watch Ultra packs an LTPO OLED display with a resolution of 502 x 410 pixels. It has a brightness of up to 2,000 nits, making it the brightest Apple watch ever. The watch is powered by Apple’s latest S8 chipset, which uses the same CPU as chips in the Apple Watch Series 6 and Series 7. There’s 32GB of onboard storage for loading apps, songs, etc. In order to improve navigation accuracy, Apple leverages dual-frequency GPS that integrates L1 and L5 signals.
The Apple Watch Ultra sports dual speakers for improved max volume, while the three microphones are supposed to enhance the call quality in harsh conditions. Along with this, it gets an 86-decibel siren designed for emergency situations which can be heard up to 600 feet (or 180 meters) away.
Connectivity options on Apple Watch Ultra include LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and NFC. Although Apple doesn’t reveal its battery capacity, it’s clear that
The Apple Watch Ultra runs WatchOS 9, which brings a bunch of nifty features.
The Apple Watch Ultra is equipped with a blood oxygen sensor, an optical heart sensor for pulse tracking, an electric heart sensor for taking an electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement, a gyroscope, a G-accelerometer, and a barometer.
Along with these sensors, Apple has added a temperature sensor to the Watch Ultra. The sensor records wrist temperature every 5 seconds to provide you with detailed data about temperature changes in your body. Apple claims that the sensor is capable of measuring heat change as low as 0.1 degrees. As a result, the Watch Ultra can more accurately track ovulation. Utilizing data from the temperature sensor and heart rate sensor, the Watch Ultra provides a detailed report of a person’s menstrual cycle. It also informs the user about fluctuations in the period cycle.
The Apple Watch Ultra gets a redesigned compass as part of WatchOS 9. It shows analog and digital views of the compass simultaneously. There are a couple more views that show latitude, longitude, elevation, incline, compass waypoint, and Backtrack. Compass waypoint marks a location or point on the map, while the Backtrack option uses GPS to mark the route so that you can return to the base point when lost.
The additional Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra can be used to begin an instant workout, mark locations, track running experience, etc. For runners and athletes, Apple has added new metrics for performance tracking. This includes stride length, ground contact time, vertical oscillation, and running power. You can also track multiple-sequence events, such as triathlons, duathlons, etc., via a feature called Multisport Workout.
The Oceanic+ app on the Watch Ultra tracks water sports and ocean activities. Plus, it has a Depth Gauge that enables you to view current depth, water temperature, duration underwater, and max depth reached.
Apple also introduced car crash detection with Watch Series 8 and Watch Ultra. It utilizes motion sensors and an advanced sensor-fusion algorithm to detect a severe car crash. As the watch detects a car crash, it checks in with the user and dials emergency services if they do not respond within a countdown of 10 seconds. In this situation, emergency responders and contacts receive the location of the injured user.
The Apple Watch Ultra with GPS and cellular connectivity costs $799. Unlike the Apple Watch Series 8, you do not have the option to choose between models. It’s a singular model that costs $799 upfront or $33.29 monthly. With your purchase, you will get a three-month free subscription to Apple Fitness+, worth $30.
The Apple Watch Ultra is available in a total of 40 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, and India. It is up for pre-orders now and will be available in stores starting September 23.
For another year, Google’s next-gen phones are out in the wild months ahead of their grand reveal at a fancy event. Just a day ago, the Pixel 8 Pro was unceremoniously leaked, and now, the standard Pixel 8 has also received the same treatment. OnLeaks and MySmartPrice have shared reported renders and a 360-degree video depicting the upcoming Google phone from all angles.
The design changes are subtle, but easy on the eyes. Just like the Pixel 8 Pro, the corners are once again more rounded on the Pixel 8. The frame is metallic, and there’s a horizontal camera strip at the back with a metallic luster on top. Akin to the Pixel 7, we get two cameras on the Pixel 8, sitting in a pill-shaped cutout.
Another small aesthetic tweak is the earpiece grill at the top, which is now more prominent than what we saw on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. If the current-gen Pixels are any indication, the Pixel 8 is going to offer an excellent in-hand feel. Talking about in-hand feel, though, it appears that Google is once again pandering to the small phone loyalists.
Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, kicks off on May 10. Don’t let the words “developer conference” put you off, though, as Google I/O is one of the biggest and most exciting shows of the year.
We’ve already covered what we expect to see at Google I/O 2023, and that list includes the Pixel 7a, Android 14, and even a Google Pixel Fold. But although those are all things we’re really looking forward to and expecting to see, there are a number of reveals we’d also love to happen … but are extremely unlikely to appear on the grand stage.
-Samsung’s Galaxy A Series has long been a great choice for people who want Galaxy S Series style without the S Series price. The Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34 are the latest, and Samsung isn’t being shy about giving these phones the latest flagship look.
Even better news is that the A54 continues to provide a great screen, long battery life, a decent camera, and solid everyday features you’ll love — all for a value-driven price. Could the new Galaxy A54 phone be 2023’s savviest smartphone buys? I tried it out for a short time to find out.
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