KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — This Apple Watch Ultra review was harder for me because of two main reasons — still recovering from a major health event, limiting how much I could do and well, the fact the Ultra 3 looks a bit too much like the Ultra 2.

Still, the proof is in the pudding or in this case, the watch’s strengths will be in the wearing of it so as I always did; I slapped on the Apple Watch Ultra 3 but with a difference — I swapped it out every other day with the Apple Watch Ultra 2, just to see if I could really miss one over the other.

All on the inside

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has a “new” processor as in the S10 chip that first appeared in the Apple Watch series 10.

Otherwise if you look at the Ultra 2 and 3 side-by-side they look almost identical but are they?

The Watch Ultra 3 has slightly smaller bezels, giving a little bit more screen size and in the watch casing you also get a better battery that Apple says can last up to 42 hours on a single charge.

You might also not notice but the Watch Ultra 3 also has a brighter OLED display, 3,000 nits in fact thanks to LTPO3 display tech.

So you don’t bother people in the movie theatre, the watch display can now go down to just 1 nit of brightness.

Also useful so your girlfriend won’t see the text notifications from your wife on the display.

That is a separate story that might one day go in the column but for now, with the naked eye it’s not easy to see that much of a difference between the Watch Ultra 2 and the Watch Ultra 3 unless you squint a little.

A better day-to-day experience

I wear the Apple Watch Ultra 2 often enough that part of the black finish has scraped off, which is probably one of the drawbacks of the black models.

So perhaps in a year we’ll see if the finish on the Ultra 3 holds up better.

You’re not going to easily smash up the watch though as the watch case is made of titanium with a sapphire crystal display. 

Apple says that a new antenna and 5G algorithm has made the cellular model more efficient.

What I liked most however in the new Ultra 3 is how much faster it charges; you can get it to full charge in just an hour or slap it on the charger while you’re brushing your teeth and getting ready for bed for about 12 hours of charge with just 15 minutes.

I’m also rather amused that the watch comes not with one but three microphones, which is handy when I want to yell at scammers cold calling me while I’m working out.

While I’m looking forward to taking it on my jaunt to a neighbouring country, and hiking once the weather is not too risky will the Watch Ultra 3 be enough for serious sportspeople?

I can see it being used by people running half marathons or maybe marathons with certain caveats (tweaking for low battery usage ) as it now supports around 14 hours of battery with GPS turned on but Ironman? Unlikely.

Right now the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is no longer just for the weekend sportsman as you can now probably go around two whole days before you need to charge the watch but considering Garmin sport watches can go up to a week or more, it’s not surprising that some pro athletes would balk at needing to charge it more.

That would be rough in colder altitudes, such as scaling peaks, where battery runs out so much faster.

Future features

What I am most excited about is the hypertension feature, which would be a great alternative to slapping on my blood pressure monitor every day.

I’m still grateful for it, though, because my blood pressure levels going to the moon was one of the early indicators that I was seriously ill last year.

Also exciting: Workout Buddy, a feature that has a built-in “coach” giving you updates on how your workout is going and encouraging you but it’s not available in all countries as yet.

WatchOS 26 and its Sleep Tracking has also been fun to use. It’s really funny to me to have my watch congratulating me for my excellent Sleep Score every morning.

No, watch. I’m just old. I go to sleep earlier and my stiff joints make it harder to move around or get out of bed sooner. 

To buy or not to buy

As I’ve said before, the Apple Watch Ultra is the best Apple Watch ever and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is of course the best of them.

It’s not for everyone though. 

I have  large hands; Watch Ultras look fine on my wrist but if you have baby hands it might feel a bit bulky but no more bulky than the average sports watch except the Watch Ultra is all screen with no extra rubber or padding on the sides. 

If you’re lazy about charging your devices, well, needing to charge only every other day is still pretty good in the Apple ecosystem. 

However if you have the Ultra Watch 2 you can safely skip this as I’d say the experience is maybe at most 20 per cent better but if you’re looking for an Apple-friendly smartwatch and like the Health ecosystem, and want your health data more secure thanks to more stringent privacy protections, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is currently the pinnacle of Apple’s health tracking devices.

The Apple Watch 3 is available now at official retailers with prices starting from RM3,699.