Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra Expand Health, Safety, and Connectivity Features

FWIW, I had misgivings re AW Ultra: too big; didn’t need features, chunky (or as they say on the interwebs: “chonki”. But, coming from my first AW, Series 4, seemed time to upgrade so I went to try it on on Friday: immediately bought it from stock. Rationale:

  1. Big, yes, but not too big (I’m a big person though); not much bigger than Casio G-Shock I wore for MANY years.
  2. Battery life game changing, as real world seem to be close to 2 full days.
  3. Am a diver, even if not often anymore.
  4. It really isn’t ugly and screen real estate is wonderful; the unfortunately orange button is on the inside of my wrist.
  5. Buy w/ AppleCard for interest free over 2 years.

Definitely try it on; good luck with your choices, all.

(If you want it now, try your store; people are canceling delayed orders and buying immediately as I did from stock.)

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I thought the watch doesn’t work correctly on the inside of the wris…is this something new in either watchOS or the 8 series…or is the ‘don’t do that’ overblown? I would much rather wear mine inside like the Times Ironman that I wore for probably 20 years.

@neil1 I mistyped really, I didn’t mean on the inside of my wrist where one would take a pulse. I meant facing up my arm… :-) I didn’t know that you couldn’t wear it on the inside but I wouldn’t want to as I find it uncomfortable. Btw, you meant Timex Ironman, no?

@schinder You said you hoped to get four years plus out of the Ultra? I sure hope so; I bought my Series 4 soon after release in 2018. For once I bought the right release and it’s still going strong.

I’m with you on that and I’m not trying to knock the Apple Watch per se. It’s Optical HR recording (OHR) that “bugs me”. Even prior to these new AWs, they (Apple) were probably the most accurate form of OHR recording - but still too inaccurate (for me). I can live with a few percent of inaccuracy; but, for example, my current (and previous) Polar give a wildly varying estimate (OHR) from 105-120+bpm when the H10 chest transmitter is sitting at a very steady 95 bpm or so. It gets even worse when my HR increases to above 160 (not often as I’m in my mid-60s) the OHR goes off the chart at 200+. The AW appears to be better than this, but it needs to be way better. You might think that after about 40 years or so, using a chest transmitter would be no problem - but it’s starting to bug me and I can’t wait for “accurate” OHR.

Here’s a YouTube video in which the presenter demonstrates the Depth app on an Ultra.

I Tested Apple Watch Ultra In A Dive Chamber

Yep…autocorrect got me. Drats.