Background: What is an Apple Watch actually for?
When Apple first introduced the Apple Watch eight years ago in late 2014, it seemed very much like an experimental product, one for which Apple hadn’t yet determined a primary purpose. This was an unusual move on Apple’s part, because usually when it introduces products there is a laser-like “this is what this product is for and what it does” focus. With the Apple Watch, it seemed more like Apple put the product out there because many people had been anticipating that they would for nearly five years at that point. In retrospect, it also seems as though Apple didn’t really know what the Apple Watch was actually for until people actually started using it.
Tim Cook tried to echo Steve Jobs’s iconic 2007 unveiling of the iPhone (“A phone, an iPod, an internet communicator… are you getting it?”) by following the same “this is three things in one” product pitch. The Apple Watch was supposed to be:
- A precise, customisable timepiece
- An intimate way to connect and communicate
- A comprehensive health and fitness companion
Jony Ive’s introduction video for the Apple Watch, and much of Apple’s marketing for that first year, instead attempted to pitch the device as a fashion accessory that also happened, almost incidentally, to do the three things Cook described. Apple even came out with a gold Apple Watch Edition in that first year, priced at an eye-watering $10,000.
After the first couple of years, when both the device itself and the software running on it were in essentially a widespread public beta, Apple finally honed in on what people were actually using the Apple Watch for.
“A precise, customisable timepiece” is, in a way, nodding toward the idea that this thing looks like a watch, and is a watch, but isn’t just a watch — the same way that the iPhone has the word “phone” right in the name, and can in fact be used as a phone, but isn’t used as a phone nearly as much as it’s used for other functions. It’s the most obvious function of the Apple Watch — again, the function is right there in the name — but you kind of have to say it anyway even though it’s drop-dead obvious.
Apple has introduced many new watch faces over the years, some more attractive and/or functional than others, but the basic idea of “this thing tells you the time” isn’t really something that can be improved or built upon that much. Almost immediately Apple stopped focusing on this functionality in its marketing, because once enough people realised that duh, it tells time, Apple didn’t need to push that idea anymore.
People weren’t really using the Apple Watch as “an intimate way to connect and communicate”, at least not in the way it was designed for at the outset. It’s hard to remember now, but back in the first couple years the “side button” on the Apple Watch used to bring up a dedicated shortcut UI that showed up to 12 of your friends in a wheel. The idea was supposed to be that you’d be able to quickly communicate with people on your Watch.
Apparently, hardly anyone did this. The dedicated “friends wheel” function was ditched in watchOS 3, which was the first major revamp of the Watch software that ushered out many of the UI paradigms of the first two years and brought in many new ones, almost all of which persist to this day. One example: as of watchOS 3 and to this day, the side button brings up a “dock” showing either your most recently-used apps or up to 10 apps you’ve designated as favourites. This was way more useful than the friends wheel (which I only ever activated accidentally) and transformed the experience of using the Watch.
When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, its third major feature — “a revolutionary internet communicator” — was thrown out there almost as an afterthought. Yet for most people, that’s become the primary function of the device. For many, myself included, the iPhone has become the primary means by which people access the internet.
Much like the iPhone, the Apple Watch’s third-and-almost-an-afterthought feature — “a comprehensive health and fitness companion” — has arguably become its primary use case for many people. It certainly has for me. In the seven years that I’ve owned Apple Watches, I have indeed used them to check the time and to communicate with people, but the main raison d’être this thing has lived on my wrist all day, all night, for every day and every night of those seven years, and why I would never consider wearing a traditional watch or a smartwatch from any other manufacturer, has been its health and fitness features.
Apple quickly realised that many people like me had zeroed in on the health and fitness features as their primary use case for the Apple Watch, so Apple shifted its focus both in terms of its marketing and its product design.
Now, with the Apple Watch Ultra, there is a product that is the ultimate expression of the “comprehensive health and fitness companion” aspect of the device. It is unabashedly a sports and fitness device, and it’s the first Apple Watch since the very first one that truly feels new and inspiring.
Apple Watch Ultra: the most watch-like Apple Watch yet
Apple Watches I have owned so far:
- May 2015: First-gen “Series 0” in space grey aluminium
- October 2017: Third-gen Series 3 Apple Watch Nike+ in space grey aluminium
- September 2020: Sixth-gen Series 6 Apple Watch in graphite stainless steel
- September 2022: Apple Watch Ultra in titanium
The Apple Watch Ultra doesn’t have the huge leap in device performance I had between Series 3 and 6, much less between Series 0 and Series 3. It isn’t any “quicker” than the Series 6 was, but it doesn’t really need to be, either — Apple really hit its stride with the SOC in that generation, with it arguably being the first SOC that was actually powerful enough to run the software processes being demanded of it.
Where the Ultra really shines over every other Apple Watch before it is in the screen performance and the battery life.
The Ultra is the first Apple Watch I’ve owned whose screen is perfectly visible even in direct, intense sunlight without having to shield the screen with my opposite hand. I don’t have any direct evidence, but to my eyes the Ultra’s screen seems nearly as bright in always-on mode as the Series 0 original Apple Watch was at half brightness.
The battery life is awesome. I have always been a fairly heavy user of the Apple Watches I’ve owned, and I usually got no more than 16 to 18 hours of battery life out of them before I had to recharge. The Ultra lasts me at least a day and a half. I know that’s still considered a joke in watch circles, but when you’ve spent 7 years needing to charge your watch every day, suddenly the fact that you only have to charge it every other day seems luxurious.
The aesthetics are apparently polarising. Lots of people consider it huge, ungainly, and I have even seen the word “ghastly” thrown around. Respectfully, I disagree with that opinion. I love the design of this Watch way more than its predecessors. The original Apple Watch design was good, but it was also very safe. It didn’t really take many aesthetic risks. It epitomised the Jony Ive ideology of distilling an object down to its most essential, unadorned self, a blending of form and function so complete that each informs the other in perfect balance — looking somehow elegant but plain at the same time.
The Ultra isn’t that kind of object, and doesn’t have that kind of aesthetic. It’s bolder and more in-your-face than the original design. It’s less of a fluid teardrop of aluminium and glass (or steel and sapphire) that you’re meant to admire, and coddle, and cuddle, and more of an unapologetic tool, a thing for getting things done. There’s no delicacy or fragility to its lines, no suggestion that this is an object just as much at home in an art exhibition as it is on your wrist. This is a brute-force device for brute-force use cases that the earlier devices simply weren’t designed for.
I love that they took a risk with the Ultra’s design and made it different enough from the traditional Apple Watch to make it seem fresh and bold. Is it the perfect design? No. Some things about it lack a certain refinement, like the way the screen rises with a sharp verticality from the rounded edges of the watch itself. And I very much wish that it had come in black.
I got the Apple Watch Ultra with a green alpine loop, and it’s been my favourite workout band ever thus far. It’s more comfortable than the original silicone sport band, and far more secure-feeling than the cloth sport loop. It’s difficult to get the band on and off, but that’s kind of the point. The olive drab colour with the titanium hook reminds me of safety restraints in a military vehicle. I wouldn’t choose to wear this band for any activity or occasion other than exercising, but for exercising itself, it’s an excellent choice.
I am thrilled the Ultra is compatible with the several bands I already owned. It looks surprisingly good with the original black sport band. Both that band and the stainless steel Space Black link bracelet give the Ultra an unmistakable dive watch character. And it also looks excellent (and feels extremely comfortable) with the leather café cuff band I got from Pad & Quill, which has been my go-to band when I ride my motorcycle.
Contrary to how Apple has marketed the Ultra, I’m probably not going to run a marathon, trek the Sahara, climb the Alps, or do any deep sea diving with this watch. I think maybe 1% of the people buying the Ultra are actually in what Apple claims is the target demographic for it. But that doesn’t matter, because just like an Omega Seamaster or a Rolex Submariner, the Apple Watch Ultra is still an aspirational/inspirational device. Hardly anyone with an Omega Seamaster is going to do any saturation diving that makes the watch’s helium escape valve something that’s actually necessary. Even fewer people paying Rolex prices for a Submariner are going to do any diving with that watch at all. But the Ultra has done the same thing my first Apple Watch did: it’s prompted me to move more, to exercise with greater focus, intent, and intensity. It’s an ever-present reminder that whatever I’m doing at the moment, I could be doing something more, whether that’s a walk to the beach, a HIIT session on the elliptical, or a visit to my weight bench downstairs.
Much like the first Apple Watch I got in 2015, the Ultra has been the kick in the ass I needed to get on track with my health and fitness goals. A device like this that actually helps me live a healthier (and potentially longer) life is worth what Apple is asking, especially since the Ultra has a greater focus on that side of things than the Apple Watch has ever had before.
To sum up: the Apple Watch Ultra was ridiculously expensive. It’s more watch than I will likely ever have a use for. It’s ostentatious to many, ugly to some, huge or ungainly to others, all of these to a few.
I love it.