Apple Watch Ultra 3 In-Depth Review: Satellite, Battery, and Health Features

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Design and Display

• ⌚ The Apple Watch Ultra 3 maintains the 49mm case size and identical dimensions to its predecessor, with no change in weight.
• 💡 A minor debate about thickness was clarified: it's due to how the heart rate sensor was listed, not physical dimensions.
• 📈 The display is approximately 4% larger with 24% thinner bezels, offering a noticeable but not drastic improvement.
• 👁️ Enhanced wide-angle visibility allows for easier at-a-glance viewing of information like heart rate or notifications.
• ⚡ Features LTPO3 technology for variable refresh rates, improving battery life, and maintains a peak brightness of 30,000 nits with a low of 1 nit for nighttime use.

Battery Life and Charging

• 🔋 The Ultra 3 boasts an increased battery life, claimed up to 42 hours compared to the previous 36 hours.
• 🔋 Real-world testing indicates the watch can achieve around 2 days of battery life, even with LTE usage during outdoor activities.
• 🚴 For outdoor activities using LTE without a phone, it lasted approximately 16 hours, exceeding Apple's 14-hour estimate.
• 😴 Sleep tracking uses about 7-8% battery per night, even for over 9 hours of sleep.
• ⚡ A quick charge feature provides up to 12 hours of use with just 15 minutes of charging.

Health and Sleep Tracking

• ❤️ The heart rate sensor is the same as the previous generation, with an ECG function for atrial fibrillation detection.
• 🩸 Blood oxygen saturation tracking is available in the US, but data must be viewed in the Health app, unlike outside the US where it's visible on the watch.
• 😴 The new sleep score feature uses sleep duration, bedtime consistency, and interruptions, focusing more on routine adherence than other brands' health metric-based scores.
• 🩺 Introduced features for high blood pressure detection, requiring 30 days of baseline data to alert users to potential hypertension signs, though it doesn't provide actual readings.

Connectivity and Satellite Features

• 🌐 Equipped with a new 5G modem for improved cellular connectivity, speed, and battery efficiency.
• 🛰️ Key new feature is satellite messaging, including SOS for emergencies, standard text messaging (emojis supported, no images/video), and a share location feature.
• 📡 Satellite connectivity uses Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, requiring a clear view of the sky and potential reacquisition as satellites move.
• 🆘 The SOS feature is free for the first 2 years, routing to appropriate emergency services after attempting cellular and phone connections.
• 💬 Standard messaging works with iMessage (within 30 days of prior contact) and SMS (requires phone to be online), with potential for intermittent connectivity.
• 📍 The share location feature is manual, available every 15 minutes, and requires an active cellular plan for messaging and location sharing.

Sports and Accuracy

• 🏃 The Ultra 3 offers the same extensive sports tracking capabilities as the Ultra 2, covering running, cycling, swimming, and more.
• 📍 GPS accuracy utilizes the same dual-band/multiband chipset, performing well in challenging environments like canyons and heavy tree cover.
• 📊 Heart rate accuracy is generally good, performing exceptionally well during indoor cycling and running.
• 🚴 Outdoor cycling showed slight accuracy drift compared to the lighter Series 11, possibly due to the larger watch size and vibrations.
• 🏋️ Weight training and high-intensity interval training showed more variability, particularly during gripping activities like rowing or ski erg, but performed well during wall ball portions.
• 🔗 For improved accuracy during certain activities, the Ultra 3 can be used with external Bluetooth heart rate straps or the AirPods Pro 3.