Latest news with #Ultra2
Tom's Guide
6 days ago
- Tom's Guide
watchOS 26 preview: 5 new Apple Watch features I can't wait to try
Your Apple Watch is about to get a major (free) update — at least if you own an Apple Watch Series 6 or later. During last week's WWDC, we got our first detailed look at watchOS 12… I mean, watchOS 26. Going forward, Apple's latest operating system release will reflect the last two digits of the coming year. This change affects not just watchOS but all Apple operating systems for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and so forth. While the introduction of a new 'liquid glass' aesthetic — borrowed from visionOS — is easily the most visually impactful change to the Apple Watch operating system in years, it's not the improvement I'm most excited about. In fact, it doesn't even make my top five list. Nope. As someone who reviews smartwatches for a living, these are the five new Apple Watch features coming in watchOS 26 I'm most excited to try in 2025. Ever since Apple introduced its "shake to shuffle" feature on iPod, I've been hooked on the concept of gesture controls for gadgets. Presently, the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2 also support Apple's Double Tap gesture control, where users can press their index finger and thumb together on the watch-worn hand to trigger a customizable action. Essentially, it will free you from having to interact with the screen when you're otherwise distracted. Now Apple is adding even more gesture control in the form of "Wrist Flick." With the release of watchOS 26, this action will allow you to silence alarms, dismiss calls and messages, turn off timers and quiet pings. Essentially, it will free you from having to interact with the screen when you're otherwise distracted, or in the case of sleeping, don't feel like opening your eyes. Unfortunately, this seemingly super-useful new gesture will only be available on the Series 9, 10 and Ultra 2 models. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Speaking of annoying pings and notifications, watchOS 26 should make your Apple Watch feel a little less intrusive during the day-to-day. The new operating system introduces smarter notifications that take a hint from your surroundings. Rather than let the entire library reading room or train quiet car know that you've received a message from a friend, your Apple Watch will now measure the ambient noise levels of your surroundings and adjust the notification sound volume accordingly to be less irritating to those around you. Last year's watchOS 11 release introduced on-wrist translations. Now, Apple is taking the concept a step further with 'Live Translation' in the messaging app. This new tool, available on the Series 9, 10 and Ultra 2, will automatically translate incoming texts into a user's default language. I could see this feature being particularly useful when traveling abroad, especially if you're the type of person who easily makes friends while on holiday, language barriers be damned. This also seems like a super handy tool for communicating with friends and family members partial to a language other than your own. Now I can visually scan my shopping list — created on my iPhone hours prior — mid grocery run via a glance at the wrist. I use Apple's Notes app for a wide range of tasks, from jotting down grocery and to-do lists, to recording dreams, article concepts, date night ideas and so much more. Now, finally, Apple is bringing this simple yet oh-so-useful app to the Apple Watch. Users will be able to record notes either via dictation, the tiny virtual keyboard or through Siri. Of course, you don't need to create the note on your Apple Watch. As always, a user's notes get shared across all connected devices, meaning now I can visually scan my shopping list — created earlier on my iPhone — mid-grocery run via a glance at the wrist. Rumors strongly suggested some sort of AI-powered workout coach coming to Apple Watch, and they turned out to be true. Apple's new AI "Workout Buddy" feature — available on Series 9, 10 and Ultra 2 — is designed to deliver personalized words of encouragement, wellness insights and more mid and post workout. These messages — delivered via Bluetooth audio — are based on factors like your current heart rate, pace or speed, as well as Activity Ring history and personal workout milestones. Once you're done, the Workout Buddy sums up your efforts with key stats, along with some final thoughts to gas you up for your next session. While it sounds a tad cheesy to me (do I really need a computer-generated voice giving me a pep talk before my next bike ride?), I'm cautiously optimistic that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to AI-powered health features on Apple Watch. The watchOS 26 developer beta is available now, while the public beta — which anyone can try — is set for a July release. As with previous updates, the full release of watchOS 26 is expected in the fall. All Apple Watch models Series 6 and later are eligible for the upgrade, as well as both SE and Ultra models.
Phone Arena
13-06-2025
- Business
- Phone Arena
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is unusually affordable in brand-new condition for a limited time
Do you know that outstanding Apple Watch Ultra 2 Woot deal from just a couple of days ago? The Amazon-owned e-tailer is now running another sale on the same 2023-released rugged smartwatch, and some of you dear readers might find this one even more compelling than the previous offer, even though you have to spend a little more money today (and today only). That's because your $669.99 will buy you a brand-new, unused, unopened, and undamaged Apple Watch Ultra 2 unit this time around instead of a "grade A" refurb. The refurbished promotion is actually gone already, so I should probably stop talking about it and focus more on comparing this price with what Amazon itself is currently charging for a new Ultra 2 with a full 1-year manufacturer warranty included. $129 off (16%) GPS, Bluetooth, Cellular Connectivity, Always-On Retina Display with Up to 3000 Nits of Brightness, Apple S9 Processor, 1000m Water Resistance, Double Tap Gesture, ECG, Blood Oxygen Sensor, Sleep Apnea Detection, High and Low Heart Rate Notifications, Irregular Rhythm Alerts, Temperature Sensing, Fall Detection, Crash Detection, Siren, Up to 36 Hours of Battery Life, 49mm Titanium Case, Two Color Options, New, 1-Year Apple Warranty Included Buy at Woot GPS, Bluetooth, Cellular Connectivity, Always-On Retina Display with Up to 3000 Nits of Brightness, Apple S9 Processor, 1000m Water Resistance, Double Tap Gesture, ECG, Blood Oxygen Sensor, Sleep Apnea Detection, High and Low Heart Rate Notifications, Irregular Rhythm Alerts, Temperature Sensing, Fall Detection, Crash Detection, Siren, Up to 36 Hours of Battery Life, 49mm Titanium Case, Multiple Colors and Band Options Buy at Amazon That's around 70 bucks more than Woot, mind you, after a much humbler $60 discount from a $799 list price. Now, it's highly debatable if the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is worth eight whole Benjamins with a potentially vastly improved sequel likely right around the corner, but at $670, the value for your money is essentially unbeatable if you're an iPhone owner with a passion for the great outdoors. If you hurry, you can opt for a black titanium model with a matching black trail loop or a rugged titanium version with a blue ocean band at the exact same $669.99 price. The impressive new Woot deal is technically scheduled to go away at the end of the day as far as both those models are concerned, but due to their younger age and arguably classier look, the all-black units could well go out of stock even sooner. As such, I can't stress enough how important it is to pull the trigger as soon as possible... if you're sure this is the best smartwatch for you. The Apple Watch Series 10 is obviously still a lot more affordable, but it's also much less robust and nowhere near as well-equipped to handle an adventurous lifestyle. Oh, and did I mention the Apple Watch Ultra 2 comes with built-in cellular connectivity as standard too?
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Don't Wait—Amazon Has the Apple Watch 10 at Its Lowest Price Ever Right Now
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." MEMORIAL DAY MARKS the unofficial start of summer, and with it comes a wave of major sales. From outdoor essentials to golf clubs, retailers are rolling out serious discounts ahead of the holiday. Right now on Amazon, some of the most eye-catching deals are on Apple gear. Since Apple rarely discounts its own products, Memorial Day is a great time to save—nearly every current Apple Watch model is now up to 24 percent off, including the latest Series 10, Ultra 2, and 2nd Gen SE. It's rare to find discounts on Apple's latest tech, which is why we were shocked to see that the Apple Watch Series 10, which was released last September, is down to the lowest price we've seen at 18 percent off. That might not seem too steep, but trust us, Apple rarely has five percent off its latest work, let alone pushing 20. If you're not a tech junkie who needs the latest release, we also discovered discounts on editor-approed Apple Watches currently available on Amazon, from nearly $60 off the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (our top fitness tracker for iPhone users) to the Apple Watch SE for 24 percent off. And that's just the start of these deals. Below, we break down every Apple Watch Amazon is offering deals on ahead of Memorial Day weekend. SHOP APPLE WATCH MEMORIAL DAY SALES Apple's newest release, the Series 10, is its thinnest watch yet at just 9.7 mm, making it more comfortable for sleep and workouts. Despite its slim build, it features the largest display of any Apple Watch—even surpassing the Ultra 2—and debuts a wide-angle OLED screen that's 40 percent brighter. Though Apple rates the battery at 18 hours, we saw up to 24 hours with regular use. It includes familiar health and safety tools along with new features like sleep apnea alerts, depth and water temperature sensors, and advanced health tracking—making it a solid upgrade for users of older Apple Watch models. $329.00 at about the suped-up version of the Apple Watch 10? It offers the same display and health features, like temperature sensing and sleep alerts, but with added cellular capabilities. By adding LTE connectivity, you can call, text, stream music, and get notifications without your iPhone. Today, you can get it for over $70 off. $629.00 at Apple Watch Ultra 2 is built for adventure, offering premium features the rest of the lineup can't match out in the woods. It boasts up to 36 hours of battery life—or 72 in low power mode—and a bright 49mm display. With water resistance, a compass, and water temperature sensors, it's ready for extreme conditions. You'll also get Apple's full suite of health and safety tools. It's the ideal pick for outdoor enthusiasts. Best part? Right now it's over $50 off. $739.00 at dude always goes for the black Apple Watches, why not stand out a bit with the white version? It'll give you a cleaner, more optimistic look, while matching with everything in your closet. Plus, this is also over $70 off. $329.00 at don't overlook the 2nd Gen Apple Watch SE. For under $200 with a 24 percent off discount, it delivers core Apple features like activity tracking, heart rate zones, sleep monitoring, and an 18-hour battery life. While it lacks ECG and blood oxygen sensors, it's a great value. $189.00 at | | | | | | You Might Also Like The Best Hair Growth Shampoos for Men to Buy Now 25 Vegetables That Are Surprising Sources of Protein
Android Authority
15-05-2025
- Android Authority
This is the biggest mistake Samsung could make with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority For years, my favorite Samsung Galaxy Watch feature has been the brand's rotating bezel and its satisfying, tactile feedback. Lately, swirling rumors suggest that Samsung will bring the bezel back on the Galaxy Watch 8 after skipping it on the 7. That's all well and good, but if the company is serious about making the Ultra 2 its definitive flagship, the rotating bezel needs to make an appearance there as well. Not doing so would be a colossal mistake in my opinion. Would you like to see a rotating bezel on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2? 0 votes Yes NaN % No NaN % I am not interested in the Ultra 2 either way. NaN % Samsung's functional rotating bezel first debuted on the Gear S2 and quickly became a standout feature of the company's smartwatches. When the Galaxy Watch 4 series arrived, it offered shoppers two options, including a bezel-touting Classic model. Then the 5 series landed with a Pro option but no Classic, and we were left without it until the 6 series. Most recently, the Galaxy Watch 7 launched without a rotating bezel option, and to my chagrin, we got the oddly shaped Ultra instead. Despite its popularity, the rotating bezel has made inconsistent appearances on Samsung's smartwatch lineups. In other words, the bezel has come and gone, despite its consistent popularity. However, the feature isn't just a design gimmick; it's a smart, functional way for users to interact with their watch. I love that it offers precise control, smooth navigation, and is invaluable in situations where using a touchscreen isn't ideal. For me, spinning through menus is much quicker with the physical bezel than with the digital one. It's also far better for everything from gloved hands to sweaty fingers. Aside from offering intuitive interaction, it also delivers a satisfying mechanical feel that makes every action feel deliberate and the device more responsive to each of my actions. Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority The bezel returning to the Galaxy Watch 8 is a welcome sign that Samsung is listening to its loyal user base, but the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 needs the feature just as much, if not more. As Samsung's flagship smartwatch, the Ultra 2 should stand out from the crowded smartwatch landscape and distinguish itself in the ever-growing Pro/Ultra/Suped-up model market, and the squircle shape isn't doing it. The rotating bezel could be an iconic way for Samsung to elevate its premium lineup with an enhanced user experience. It would also help justify the Ultra line's lofty price tag. Of course, adding a rotating bezel to the Ultra 2 isn't as simple as it sounds. The series is built for rugged use, and the addition of moving parts could create some engineering challenges. The bezel would need to be designed carefully to ensure it doesn't compromise the device's durability or water resistance. A great challenge with a greater reward for Samsung. It's a premium design feature that belongs on the company's premium lineup. At the end of the day, the rotating bezel is more than just a nostalgic callback to older Galaxy Watch models. It's a smart, functional feature that genuinely upgrades the user experience and provides a distinctive edge over competitors. Since its debut, there haven't been two consecutive series without a rotating bezel, but it has yet to land on any Pro/Ultra models. If Samsung can find a way to incorporate it without sacrificing the Ultra 2's toughness, I'd be much more inclined to overlook the line's other design decisions.
Tom's Guide
14-05-2025
- Tom's Guide
I tested the Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs the Garmin Instinct 2 by hiking 1,500 feet up the Columbia River Gorge — here's what I learned
The Columbia River Gorge is an 80-mile-long river canyon that cuts through the U.S. Pacific Northwest's Cascade Mountain Range, splitting the states of Washington and Oregon before reaching the mighty Pacific Ocean. Truly a natural wonder to behold, particularly with spring flowers blooming, I had the chance to hike a portion of the Gorge while wearing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Garmin Instinct 3. These happen to be two of the best rugged-built smartwatch models you can buy today. Outdoor apparel brand Timberland arranged the opportunity, inviting me along to test out the new Timberland Motion Access Hiking Sneakers (full review coming soon) and other gear. With bright blue skies and perfect temperatures, we began our trek up Washington's Dog Mountain, an appropriately named trail with no lack of furry four-legged friends to greet us along the way. With the Apple Watch Ultra 2 on my left wrist and the Garmin Instinct 3 on my right, I also fired up Strava for the duration of the hike as an additional source of data. Scroll down to see how results from the three methods compare, along with five takeaways from the hike. The Ultra 2 is one of my favorite full-featured smartwatches thanks to its super-bright and immersive AMOLED touchscreen, rugged design, programmable action button, helpful wellness and fitness training tools, and an enormous selection of apps. It's also Apple's longest-lasting wearable. The Garmin Instinct 3 is a tough-as-nails outdoor adventure smartwatch with epic battery life and cool onboard features, like a 'torch' LED flashlight built into the case. It also has some of Garmin's best workout training tools, impressive sleep and recovery insights, and supports an enormous range of exercise types. But first, how do these two popular wearables stack up spec-wise and feature-wise? Here's a full breakdown of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 versus Garmin Instinct 3 across six categories, including price (Garmin wins), build-quality and design (draw), battery life (Garmin), fitness tracking (Garmin), smart features (Apple), and safety tools (draw). Ultimately, the Garmin Instinct 3 is better for folks who want a dedicated fitness and wellness tracking wearable, especially one that's going to last a long time and survive hard knocks. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is more ideal for folks who want a tough-built, do-it-all smartwatch with solid workout tools and the best apps and smart features. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Now, on to the hike! Apple Watch Ultra 2 Garmin Instinct 3 Strava Distance 3.67 miles 3.48 miles 3.56 miles Elevation gain 1,578 feet 1,518 feet 1,477 feet Steps no data 9,816 steps 9,280 steps Average heart rate 124 bpm 115 bpm n/a Max heart rate 164 bpm 156 bpm n/a Calories burned 895 calories 694 calories n/a The Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Garmin Instinct 3 have both proven to be competent fitness trackers in my testing. However, the data generated on this hike isn't quite as cohesive as I've come to expect, particularly elevation gain metrics. This was a steep hike right from the start, with loads of switchbacks and nothing but incline. In just under two miles, we made our way from the canyon floor to soaring mountain meadows bursting with yellow flowers. And given our efforts, I was more than a little curious to find out just how much elevation we'd conquered. Unfortunately, my climb data is all over the place, with the Apple Watch reporting 60 more feet of climb than the Garmin and a whopping 101 more feet than Strava. Which device should I trust? While it's tempting to go with Apple, my gut tells me that the Ultra 2 likely inflated my efforts. Still, with 41 feet separating the Strava and Garmin tallies, I'll likely never know whether I cracked the 1,500 feet mark or just came oh-so close. Distance data is a little more consistent, thankfully, with less than 0.2 miles separating the results between Apple, Garmin and Strava. As of this writing, Apple doesn't provide step-count data for individual workouts, only a total for the day, something I'm hopeful will be addressed when watchOS 12 launches. Garmin and Strava, meanwhile, do provide step count totals for hikes and walks, but similar to my climb data for this particular outing, the tallies are annoyingly inconsistent. In roughly 3.5 miles, Garmin calculated 536 more steps taken than Strava. Which one is more accurate? Again, it's nearly impossible to tell, but I am seriously surprised by how off these measures are. Given the device's greater distance and climb data, I'm not surprised that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 noted 201 more calories burned than the Garmin Instinct 3. Apple also calculated my average and max heart rate as roughly 10 bpm faster than Garmin. As noted above, this was a fairly steep trail, and I got the blood pumping and the lungs working overtime on more than one occasion. With that in mind, I suspect Apple's max heart rate of 164 bpm and average heart rate of 124 bpm more accurately reflect my actual cardiovascular efforts than Garmin's 156 bpm max and 115 bpm average. Blame it on Apple Watch fatigue — a square piece of glass on a strap is old hat at this point — or Garmin's sporty yet playful design ethos (and brightly colored cases), but the Instinct 3 drew far more curiosity from onlookers than the Ultra 2 during this trek. On roughly half a dozen occasions, I was asked by someone in our group of journalists and outdoor industry folks about the chunky, "retro" teal smartwatch on my right wrist. Of course, once they found out the Instinct 3 is an outdoor adventure beast that costs half as much as the Ultra 2 on my other wrist, with five times (or more) battery life, better durability and similar safety features, they just had to know more. Smartwatch nerdery and hiking metrics aside, hiking Dog Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge was nothing short of a magical experience. If you have the chance to take on the excursion yourself, I definitely recommend shooting for early May when the Balsamroot flowers are in full-on glorious bloom, as seen in the photos here. As for the Apple Watch Ultra 2 versus Garmin Instinct, the metrics for this hike are less consistent than I've come to expect, particularly the climb data. However, rather than stressing about it, I look forward to pitting these two wearables against one another in a future walk-test showdown, either on Dog Mountain or somewhere equally as scenic. Stay tuned.
