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The Apple Watch Ultra 4 may finally be the watch that will convince you to buy one. It has new sensors, a new processor, and a larger battery. But otherwise it looks like the same old Ultra. However, after weeks of testing, it definitely doesn't feel like the old Ultra. There are two updates that make the Ultra 4 more like the dedicated sports watch it has been striving to be for years. Battery life and readiness indicator. And I tested both thoroughly to see if they were worth it. I'm not going to list all the features of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 right now, because you can read my full review on cnet.com.
This is a solid sports watch from Apple for $800. Bigger and tougher than Series 12, built for diving and endurance sports, with satellite connectivity for emergencies outside of coverage areas, and all the health, safety, and smart features you expect from Apple Watch. I spent the most time testing the two features that make it unique, and I'll start with the battery life. Battery life has always been the main reason to buy the Apple Watch Ultra, but this year it has more improvements than ever. The battery itself is larger, and the new S11 chip handles background tasks more efficiently. So the watch can, for example, measure your heart rate every 5 seconds without forcing the power-hungry main processor to run constantly. Apple rates this
watch's battery life at around 2 days, and so far I've been consistently getting around 60 hours of use. In fact, today I'm on my 62nd hour of use and I still have 11% charge. On days when I'm running, such as long distance cross- country runs, I get somewhere around 56 hours, but it consistently exceeds Apple's own estimates. I know, I know, you Garmin users are saying, "Yeah, that's nice." "Our battery lasts for weeks." But I like using Siri on my watch and doing other things that aren't related to sports. So that's one of the advantages. And these ratings are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to battery life, as the watch now has two additional modes that save battery during workouts: " extended" and " maximum extended". If you don't
change anything in your watch settings, you can get up to 18 hours of continuous workout tracking. If you enable extended battery mode in the Workout app by tapping this icon, you can track your workouts for up to 25 hours continuously. This number increases to 45 hours if you select the extended maximum mode. 45 hours of training-that's serious, and while I'm not one of those crazy people, I know you're doing some incredible ultramarathons, and that's one of the reasons why many haven't switched to the Apple Watch from regular sports watches. So this is very important. Of course, I had to find a way to test it. So I ran the same trail three times, using three different battery modes. First run-I test with normal
training settings, starting with 80% charge. That's all. Let's check the battery status. There is 73% left, so 7% spent- not bad. Now I'm going on the same run as last time, but this time I'll turn on the extended charge mode to see how much it will use. I can immediately name one of the disadvantages of this regime, and it is this. I have to wait a few seconds to see the readings on the screen because the screen turns on when I raise my wrist. And when I'm on a trail like this, I really don't want to take my eyes off the road and risk falling. OK. Let's see what we have. 78% battery charge. 2% is not bad. Now my last run in the extended maximum mode in the Training app to see how much charge it saves and what you have to sacrifice in this
mode. Let's take a look. This is my third 4 mile run in less than a week and I can feel it. It's a difficult trail, but it's worth it. I'll show you. This is what I see from my side. So, this is what the metrics look like in the expanded maximum. First, it turns on again when you raise your wrist, which I don't really like. But, as you can see, one indicator is clearly missing here-the pulse. OK. It was n't easy. So let's see what our result is. This is 80%. What kind of magic is this? It didn't even use 1% of its charge. This is simply incredible. So, here's what I came up with. Of course, I'm not going to test the 45-hour battery life, but you
can already see where it's going. I will say that the results of my hour-long test matched Apple's claims pretty well, and I expect that to be the case for the next 44 hours. And when I looked at the training results off the watch, the difference wasn't as significant as I expected. Yes, in power saving modes, the performance was lower, but the important data from my run was still preserved. And even with limited heart rate information in the "max" mode. advanced", my overall heart rate data provided enough information about the workout. For those trying to cover a 100-mile distance or climb mountains all day without letting the watch run out, this is a perfectly acceptable compromise. But the most interesting thing is that Ultra 3 owners will get these
power saving modes in the Workout app with the update to watchOS 27, so the Ultra 4 may not be necessary. Now for another battery feature I liked-it's slightly faster charging time. If you use the cable from the kit, you can get about 18 hours of work in just 15 minutes of charging. This is convenient because since I can't charge the watch at night due to the readiness tracking, being able to top it up a little during the day really helps. So, let's talk about the readiness indicator, because it has become one of my favorite features on this watch. And the fact that I'm willing to sleep in it says a lot about its value, because wearing it is not at all comfortable. To unlock this metric, you will need at least 7 nights of sleep.
They do not have to be consecutive, but each must last at least 4 hours to be counted. When you unlock it, it will analyze your activity level, sleep quality, and vital signs to calculate your recovery rate. It rates you from 1 to 10 and provides a light recommendation on how to proceed. But unlike other gadgets that give you a morning score for the entire day, the Apple Watch score is dynamic-it changes throughout the day depending on your body's condition. The reason why this is possible and why the feature will not be available on older models is because of the new processor and new sensors. This allows Apple Watch to take more frequent heart rate measurements every 5 seconds and track
heart rate variability more frequently, up to every 5 minutes, compared to several measurements per day in older models. This also means you will be able to see your daytime vital signs as well as your nighttime ones. So, when I first started testing this feature, it wasn't very dynamic. So I could start the day, say, with a grade of seven, and end it with a six, no matter what I did. But the more I used it, the more dynamic it became. I was in for an unpleasant discovery during the party. So I started at eight, went for that long run you saw in the previous part, and it dropped to seven. And then I went to a party. And keep in mind, I don't drink much. So I had one drink with a friend, and it was a tequila drink, if you're wondering. And then I
accidentally looked at the clock before going to bed. By evening, the indicator had dropped by as much as three points. Three. One drink. So, I think I learned a lot about what affects my body and how. Now, what I do n't like about the readiness score is that everything I just told you is based solely on memory, as there is currently no way to view the readiness score history , or for that matter, track any trends or see a graph, nothing. You look at it and that's pretty much all the information you get, at least for now.
Another thing I think is missing from the readiness indicator is an explanation of why it is here. This is another factor in the readiness indicator, namely your cycle. And I know for a fact that the phase of my cycle determines my energy levels throughout the day even more than sleep, but the system seems to just leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions. There is another feature that makes this watch unique, but I was not able to test it. It's called audio intelligence. This is essentially a set of features that will allow Siri to listen to conversations and then transcribe them or provide you with a summary. The reason I haven't tested it is because this feature hasn't even been released yet, but it's already causing controversy.
So when it comes out, we'll make a separate video testing it. So, after a month of testing, is this watch ready to compete with the best sports models on the market? No, definitely not. At least in terms of battery life. You still get 60 hours versus the weeks of Garmin watches. However, those 45 hours in extended workout mode significantly close the gap between the older Apple Watch Ultra and this model. That's definitely enough to get you through a long day of competition. And the readiness indicator now elevates it to the level of a true training watch. Plus, you don't have to choose between a smartwatch and a sports watch, because you get all the benefits: Siri on your wrist, access to all apps, security features that
are only available on Apple Watch, and of course, no additional costs, since you don't need to pay for a subscription to access health metrics. If you have an Ultra 3 and don't need a battery life indicator, you can simply update to watchOS 27, as the enhanced power saving modes will make your watch seem to last much longer. So, if you have an Ultra 2 or are thinking about trading in your old Garmin watch, this might be the option for you. Let me know in the comments, and also write what else you want me to test next time. Thanks for watching, see you in the next video.
