Apple's new Watch Ultra is a maximal wearable with new features designed to make life easier for mountaineers, deep sea divers, endurance sports athletes, and people who don't spend their days in front of a laptop screen in general. I am none of these things, but even as a merely semi-active urbanite, I can see the appeal of the Apple Watch Ultra -- it's got a bigger, brighter screen that's easier to read even from a distance or under the most intense sunlight; it's built like a tank, so I don't stress when I accidentally clang my wrist against table edges and car doors; and battery life is much, much better -- enough that I can take it on a weekend trip without needing to bring a charger.

Are these features worth double the price -- the Apple Watch Ultra starts at $799 -- of standard Apple Watches? Only you can make that call.

Apple's new Watch Ultra is a maximal wearable with new features designed to make life easier for mountaineers, deep sea divers, endurance sports athletes, and people who don't spend their days in front of a laptop screen in general. I am none of these things, but even as a merely semi-active urbanite, I can see the appeal of the Apple Watch Ultra. It has a bigger, brighter screen that's easier to read even from a distance or under the most intense sunlight; it's built like a tank, so I don't stress when I accidentally clang my wrist against table edges and car doors; and battery life is much, much better — enough that I can take it on a weekend trip without needing to bring a charger.

Are these features worth double the price — the Apple Watch Ultra starts at $799 — of standard Apple Watches? Only you can make that call.

Apple Watch Ultra: Price and availability

The Apple Watch Ultra comes in one case size, 49mm, and one price: $799. It's on sale now at Apple's online store and third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and a myriad of other online outlets.

About this review: This review was written after two weeks using an Apple Watch Ultra purchased by XDA. Apple had no input in this article.

Design and hardware: A big, new button and more

• Larger 49mm titanium case with a flat-screen protected by a raised lip
• Battery lasts 2-3 days
• Dual-frequency GPS and three microphones

The Apple Watch Ultra is a big and bulky smartwatch, with a 49mm casing that looks a bit big for even my averaged-sized wrist, and absolutely monstrous on my girlfriend's thinner wrist. The casing's main frame is crafted out of unibody titanium and feels premium and sturdy, and the sides elevate higher to wrap around the screen in a way previous Apple Watches do not. This is also made possible because the screen is completely flat, instead of slightly curved downwards like standard Apple Watch screens.

Is the Apple Watch Ultra too big? I'm torn. The watch is actually lighter than I expected, at 61g, but its 14.4mm thickness does mean it can get in the way when putting on/taking off jackets or long-sleeved shirts. In fact, I was scolded by an opponent during a basketball game for wearing such a bulky device on my wrist (his arm had accidentally grazed the semi-sharp edge of my watch as he attempted defense). I had worn Apple Watches to play basketball before and never encountered this issue.

The typical Apple Watch rotatable crown and side button are still here on the right side, but both are protected by a protruding housing. This fixes one gripe I've had with previous Apple Watches: When I do pushups, the back of my wrist sometimes will accidentally press into the crown or button. That doesn't happen anymore — at least with these specific buttons.

But there's a new button on the left side of the casing, a giant orange one, called "Action Button" that I accidentally press all the time when I was instead trying to access the digital crown. I suppose this is due to my habit of placing my thumb on the left side of the watch as an anchor off which my index finger can generate force. This is a habit I will have to fix.

The Action Button does what it suggests: One press immediately launches into a specific activity. By default, it begins workout tracking, but it is customizable to launch the flashlight, stopwatch, or "Shortcuts" (more on this soon). This button should be handy for athletes in the middle of their activity. For example, triathletes can use the button to switch to the next leg of the workout. Runners can use the button to mark segments of their runs. Divers have a physical button to press instead of dealing with a touchscreen.

For those of us who aren't competitive athletes, the Action Button's ability to launch Shortcuts comes in handy. Shortcuts is an iOS app that does what it implies and launches a specific action immediately. This could be texting the last image snapped to a contact, beginning a voice memo, or smart home automation. I mostly use it to start Shazam to quickly identify music playing nearby.

Long-pressing the Action Button for three seconds also launches the emergency menu; keep pressing for five seconds to trigger the siren (which comes through loud and clear thanks to the large speakers on the side of the casing). This latter feature could be a lifesaver in times of need.

The LTPO OLED display is absolutely gorgeous, pumping out vibrant colors and reaching a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, which is twice as bright as the Apple Watch Series 8 screen). The 401 x 502 resolution is still pixel-dense enough that texts, which are displayed larger on the Ultra display, are still sharp enough. The larger text allows me to read navigation instructions or incoming Slack messages while keeping my hands on the wheel while driving or handlebar while biking. With other smartwatches, I generally have to use my hand to bring the watch closer to my face to read texts.

The ceramic back of the Apple Watch Ultra houses the usual sensors: an electrical heart sensor, blood-oxygen sensor, ambient light sensor, and gyroscope. New in the Series 8 and Ultra are high-g accelerometers (for detecting car crashes) and skin temperature sensors. The Ultra also has an additional water temperature sensor not found in any other Apple Watch.

These sensors can do a lot, including helping divers keep track of water depth, temperature, and distance underwater. The WR100 rating means the watch can go underwater up to 328 feet (100 meters). I already mentioned at the beginning that I am not active or adventurous enough to take advantage of all the new features, but they do track my steps, elevation, cycling time and distance, heart rate, and sleep very accurately from my testing. I'll elaborate more on this in the performance section.

The larger battery and newer chip also combine to give the Ultra the best battery life in any Apple Watch yet.

Powering the watch is the new S8 chip, which helps the UI zip along. Even with a dozen apps open in the background, I can jump back to the first one I opened and launch it immediately. There's no waiting a second (or three) for apps to launch like on many WearOS or Samsung watches.

The larger battery and newer chip also combine to give the Ultra the best battery life in any Apple Watch yet. Apple advertises 36 hours of battery life, but I have been able to get well over 48 hours on a single charge. I took the Ultra on a weekend trip to San Diego and didn't bring a charger. I began my trip Friday after lunch, and by Sunday night dinner time, the watch still had 18% battery life left. To be fair, I didn't do any exercises during that weekend, so I didn't really push the watch's abilities. That being said, not needing to bring a charger for a casual weekend trip is great and rather impressive for a smartwatch.

The watch lugs are the same as with typical Apple Watches, so any existing Apple Watch band works with the Ultra. The Ultra itself comes in one of three specific bands: Alpine loop (which is the one I am testing), Trail loop, or Ocean band. The Alpine loop is interesting: It's made of soft fabric with individual sewn-in loops into which the metallic clip goes. I find this to be a more comfortable fit around my wrist than the typical vinyl Apple Watch bands that ship with non-Ultra watches.

Software and features: For the adventurous and athletic

• WatchOS 9 brings more health and fitness features
• New Backtrack feature is very useful for hikes or even wandering new cities
• Plays nice with other Apple products

The Apple Watch Ultra runs WatchOS 9, which brings further health and safety features, including medication tracking, car crash detection, and a new Compass app. The latter includes a new Backtrack feature that creates a virtual breadcrumb that maps your exact steps and coordinates. So if you get lost during a hike, you can always retrace your steps to get back to your starting point. I travel solo often and enjoy wandering around a city without exact destinations in mind, so I can see Backtrack coming in handy if I get lost.

To take advantage of the new Compass app, Apple designed a Watch Ultra exclusive watch face named "Wayfinder" that shows the compass, flanked by eight complications. If you twist the crown, the watch face turns crimson red to improve visibility in dark situations.

Fitness and health tracking

The Apple Watch Ultra, like previous Apple Watches, can automatically detect some workouts, including walks and cycling. However, for gym sessions, you still have to manually select the type of workout. I found the Apple Watch Ultra consistently identified my bicycle rides while the Google Pixel Watch could not. I can check the distance of my ride and how hard my heart worked within the Apple Health app.

The temperature sensor right now is just used to help track ovulation cycles. It doesn't attempt to detect general health issues, such as fevers, the way other smartwatches do. I have not tested car-crash detection, which uses the high g-force accelerometer to sense extreme acceleration or deceleration, for obvious reasons.

Existing Apple Watch health features, such as the ability to conduct an EKG (electrocardiogram), still work very well. Sleep tracking, however, is hit or miss. Part of this is the software; the Apple Watch doesn't always detect my sleep, even when I've worn the watch all night, lying horizontally, clearly asleep. This was the case with the Apple Watch 7 too, so it's not a new issue. But the Ultra is even more impractical as a sleep tracker because it's so bulky. It got in the way when I adjusted my body mid-sleep.

As a general smartwatch

Elsewhere, the Apple Watch Ultra does a great job as a regular smartwatch that, of course, plays nicely with Apple products. These features I'm about to list aren't new, but they make using the Apple Watch an enjoyable experience. I love the ability to record a voice memo on my wrist, and that memo shows up on my MacBook, iPhone, or iPad. More importantly, the Apple Watch (not just the Ultra, all of them) are great at receiving and responding to text messages, including Slack messages. I receive probably over 100 messages a day and being able to read and respond via voice dictation or text input directly saves me from pulling out my phone.

General performance: When using your watch as a phone

• Great as a shortcut to communicate without needing a phone
• Low Power mode adds more endurance to already good battery life
• Phone calls sound great on both ends

With great build quality — I dropped the watch a few days ago from standing height to the concrete ground, and it didn't leave a scratch or mark — longer battery life, and excellent software that plays nice with the entire Apple ecosystem, the Apple Watch Ultra offers a refined and polished day-to-day experience. I enjoy being able to receive and respond to messages or even take calls while driving without needing to take my hands off the wheel. The three microphones and Apple's software algorithm do a great job of isolating my voice. The party on the other end said she could hear me clearly even when I was driving with windows down and the watch about 18 inches away from my face. I could also hear the other party clearly thanks to the loudspeaker.

Another little touch that deserves praise are the haptics, which are precise, firm, and noticeably better than the Pixel Watch or Galaxy Watch 5 Pro's haptics. Whenever I am driving and navigating, the Apple Watch Ultra will give my wrist a strong pulse that lets me know I have to make a turn or exit a freeway.

I already mentioned earlier that battery life is great for an Apple Watch, but there's also a low-power mode that, when turned on, bumps battery life to 60 hours. Low power mode does turn off the screen more often and stop actively checking your heart rate, but the Apple Watch Ultra still remains functional.

Should you buy the Apple Watch Ultra?

You should buy the Apple Watch Ultra if:

• You want a more rugged and durable Apple Watch
• You want a smartwatch that can handle being deep underwater or high up in the mountains
• You are an iPhone user and want a do-it-all smartwatch
• Pricing isn't a concern

You should not buy the Apple Watch Ultra if:

• You already own the Apple Watch 6, 7, or 8 and have no complaints about performance
• You don't like big and bulky watches
• You don't want to pay $799 for a smartwatch

I am not the true intended target audience of the Apple Watch Ultra, so this review is from a casual user's perspective. To me, the Apple Watch Ultra is an Apple Watch 7 or 8 with a bigger, better screen, longer battery life, and a more rugged build. These things alone make the Apple Watch Ultra the best Apple Watch ever, and I want to wear the Apple Watch Ultra over the Apple Watch 8.

But I didn't have to fork over my own money for the Ultra; the company I work for did. Would I pay double the price out of my own pocket to buy the Ultra over the Apple Watch 8? I wouldn't, because I can't take advantage of all the benefits. Most people are better off buying the Apple Watch 8 if they are looking for a new Apple Watch. There are many great deals for the Apple Watch 8 too, so it's a much easier entry point for most consumers.

The Apple Watch Ultra is the best Apple Watch ever.

But if you are often underwater, hiking through the woods, participating in trail running, or mountain climbing, the Apple Watch Ultra should be appealing. Sure, there are amazing smartwatches that cater to this crowd from brands like Garmin or Polar, but the Apple Watch Ultra has much stronger brand recognition, software support, and hardware ecosystem than other brands.