As promised in my initial review video, this is a follow-up a month later, using the Apple
Watch Ultra as my main watch.
As an average dad.
I am sorry, no scuba diving here.
It hasn’t been a perfect ride!
In that initial video which got nearly 100 thousand views (thanks YouTube) I got so many
questions…
So I will try to answer some of them in this video and also sharing with you a couple of
issues I’ve had with the Watch Ultra so far.
Some of the questions I got was, Has it helped me track my sleep better?
How well did it work with my exercise?
And how useful really…is the cellular and GPS, is the call quality any good?
I am Alex and I do down to earth tech videos.
Talking about down-to-earth, this watch has been with me every single day since I bought
it on launch date.
So this strap got really dirty, fairly quickly.
But here’s the surprising thing…
As a football coach, I sometimes need to get involved and it can get quite muddy.
Whilst cleaning my boots after training, I got splattered with mud all over the watch.
But what I noticed with this particular Alpine loop is that it’s surprisingly easy to Clean.
The easiest way, is to run it down the shower.
But if you get stained with grease or something, you can use some mild soap.
Remember this is meant to be taken through some extreme weather so I’ve been quite
relaxed about that.
I am going yo share my favourite apps in a bit but one my absolute favourite things,
without a doubt is how comfortable this Watch is.
A lot of people seem to be focusing on the size and how big it looks but honestly…
I don’t have large wrists, the exact size is 19cm.
But the watch sits really comfortable, and I was shocked that I was able to sleep with
it.
It’s been superb in tracking my sleep and here is the kicker.
I’ve actually been getting MORE sleep.
And I think that is a direct result of one of the apps I am using.
I will get onto that in a moment when I talk about my favourite apps.
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I have loads of new content, I reviewed the new iPhone 14 Pro Max, 14 Plus… but also
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In my initial video I did a call test with a friend of mine which is fine, I am glad
I did that and he was surprised at how good it sounded.
Just be aware of HOW you are talking to the watch.
Even though it has three microphones, you really need to speak directly at it for better
results.
Ok, so call quality is great but how about trying to use Siri when you are out and about??
Now…
It’s only by using it daily that we find problems right?!
And this may not be an issue for you but for me it’s pretty annoying.
And honestly, I don’t know how Apple could improve on this.
One of the benefits of having a cellular option, is that you can leave your phone behind.
In my case, I leave my phone in the gym locker and they have a trail run so I tend to go
for a run outside.
Now if I want to ask Siri to skip a track or turn the volume up or down, and there’s
wind….
It’s virtually impossible.
So 9 times out of ten, if it’s windy, I have to stop my run and almost shout to get
Siri to work.
And I know there are a couple of variables here right, there’s the microphone on the
AirPods Pro 2 which were supposed to be amazing too and take into account external noise,
etc.
And the microphones on the Watch.
The best way I found was to elevate the watch to my mouth and use that for Siri or hold
the button.
It is annoying as it kinda breaks the rhythm of your exercise.
And running is not an issue, but if you are cycling and trying to use Siri for directions
for example, it could be an issue.
This is my personal experience, I was honestly expecting better from this combination of
AirPods Pro 2 and Watch Ultra.
Now one the things that I HATED about my previous watch is how sensitive the screen was to accidental
touches.
Crossing the arms was a recipe for disaster for me.
The Series 5 I had previously would open random apps, change the watch face, and a funny story…
I have this weather app called Carrot Weather that blurts out very snarky and sometimes
very rude comments.
I was at a very serious work meeting and crossed my arms.
You can imagine how horrifying that was.
Well, I am very pleased to say that with the Watch Ultra… despite this massive display,
it has been great from a touch sensitivity point of view.
It will be interesting in to see how it behaves in the winter and wearing gloves, but so far
so good on that front.
I haven’t submerged this in any way but I am pretty sure that would be fine.
For me, I am more worried about how chlorine in swimming pools may impact the Alpine loop
and the painted areas like the action button and the crown.
I have been super careful with it but I’ve been brave enough to use it without a screen
protector.
I did buy some but my viewers convinced me that the sapphire crystal would be durable
enough.
And I guess they were right, there were a couple of knocks on door frames and in the
car when I thought, hmmm that’s gonna scratch but not even a micro scratch.
I have ordered new straps for it but I will be reviewing them in a separate video.
Now for some of my favourite apps for this watch…
Remember I am just an average dad.
And all of these apps are not necessarily Apple Watch Ultra specific, but the experience
on it is much better than on the regular watch.
Spotify on the Apple Watch is great, but for the first couple of weeks it was a terrible
experience, it kept pausing the songs for no reason, pretty unusable.
But updating to 9.0.2 fixed that.
Now it’s great, and because of this display, everything is just THAT much useful and easy
to see and access.
This is doable on previous series but I always found myself not being able to tap the exact
thing I wanted that easily.
Sometimes you don’t want to interact with Siri, like in public spaces so being able
to control it via touch, so easily is great.
In some cases, I can quickly respond to emails and messages, which again makes it super convenient
when you don’t want o carry your phone with you.
I love how the action button makes it quicker to start a workout and when you press the
action and side button together, you can pause the workout.
I wish it would synchronise with Android devices even if it was for limited functionality but
I appreciate that this would potentially reduce iPhone sales so… yeah that’s never gonna
happen.
My absolute favourite thing about the watch and the reason this has been worth every penny…FOR
ME… is how much it helped me with my sleep tracking.
I work really late sometimes and most days, it’s virtually impossible to get more than
5 hours sleep.
Now there’s a lot of science in sleep and I appreciate that this will be different for
a lot of us.
I need to keep measuring this and see how it changes over time, but a very small change
in how I wake up, means I feel more alert during the day, I don’t feel so tired, even
when I only got 5 or 6 hours sleep.
I use this app called Sleep Cycle.
I’ve been using it for many years.
It’s quite an in-depth app, you can really go into the analytics, it records your snoring,
sleep talking, it can do A LOT!
But the main feature, is the alarm.
It sounds simple and basic, but for someone like me who finds it difficult to go to bed
every day at the same time, having a set alarm for say 6AM can really be bad if you’re
get woken up during the wrong cycle of your sleep.
What this app does is works out that it might be better to wake up 5:45 AM instead because
you won’t be in that deep sleep.
And it sounds counterintuitive but it’s really helped me.
I tested the call quality and other features in this video over here and YouTube thinks
you might also like this video over here.
See you soon.