Apple Watch Ultra 49mm Titanium–Unboxing, Review and How Tos

Apple released the Apple Watch Ultra 49mm Titanium and I have had the chance to do an unboxing, review, and also provide you with some how tos for this watch.

After continuous releases of the Series watches, Apple decided to release the Apple Watch Ultra to be the most outstanding of their watch releases yet. Apple claims to have designed this watch to be the toughest and most versatile of them all with its endless features, since it has made it mostly for outdoor adventurers. The watch can still serve its purpose for the regular watch consumers like me, and maybe you too. Without adding anything much, let’s take a bite of this Apple.

Unboxing the Apple Watch Ultra

I purchased my Watch Ultra from Australia and it was brought to me by a close friend of mine. At a cost of 1,299 AUD, the watch was quite pricey, but I was determined to have it on my wrist so I went for it. Out of their various designs for the watch, I went for the Midnight Ocean band design. The Midnight in the name describes the colour of the watch straps. The colour is a mix of navy blue and black, and since I like the colour blue, I went for it.

The Watch Ultra comes in an attractive white box with the Apple logo and the name ‘watch’, both embossed on top of the box. The inside of the box has a picture of a dark sea filled with crashing waves, spread on it. The dark sea image also ran over the manual that was the top item of what was in the box, creating one big sea image once you open the package. This was really impressive as it clearly matched the ‘Midnight’ colour of the watch I expected, with its latter name, Ocean.

What’s in the box?

Inside the package was the product manual seated at the top, followed by a box with a picture of the Watch Ultra on the top of it, and at the bottom, a slim box with a picture of wristbands on it.

On the first page of the manual was a picture showing the different variations of the Apple Watch Ultra. These variations are based on the design of their wristbands. These are Alpine Loop, Trail Loop, and Ocean Band. Further details on these loops/bands are in the ‘Apple Watch Ultra Wristbands’ section of this article. Other information in the manual included parts of the watch with their respective functions, along with some features exclusive to the Watch Ultra only.

The Apple Watch Ultra

The box with the watch is next to be opened. The box contains the watch itself, and another packaging having the charging cable for the watch in it. The 49 x 44 x 14.4mm-sized watch is made of a platinum casing. Covering the watch display on top is sapphire crystal. These materials make the watch pretty resistant to scratches which is a great design feature for adventurers who will likely cause frequent impacts on the watch.

On one side of the watch are a bunch of features, most of which are exclusive to the Watch Ultra. From the top is a tiny hole that is a microphone. Below the microphone is the watch’s speaker. And below the speaker is a big orange button available only in the Watch Ultra, called the Action Button. This Action button can be customized to perform certain instructions such as start a workout, mark a compass waypoint, begin a dive, open the flashlight among others. Below the Action button is another new feature in the Watch Ultra only, that is a tiny hole which is a siren. This siren can be activated by pressing and holding the Action button. The siren is quite loud as Apple says it can be heard from 600 feet, or 180 meters away. Helpful when one gets lost from the trail with friends.

The other side has four features. At the top is a tiny hole useful for those with an interest in diving. The hole is a gauge that can; measure the depth of water, the temperature of the water, and how long one has been in the water. Below the gauge is the digital crown, a rotating button that can be used for navigating through the watch’s display, and also activate night mode on the display. There is another hole below the digital crown and also at the bottom of this side that are microphones. The number of microphones have been increased to ensure clearer audio to your callers even in windy areas. Between the two microphone holes is a side button used to activate safety features. Long pressing this button will make an emergency call, retrieve your medical ID or access the siren.

At the top and bottom of the watch are narrow ‘slots’ to slide in the wristbands.

Charging the Apple Watch Ultra

At the back of the watch is a round magnet for wirelessly charging the watch. Charging the watch is through the help of the Apple Watch Magnetic fast charger to USB-C charging cable, contained in the packaging included in the watch’s box. You can also use a MagSafe Duo charger or an Apple Magnetic Charging Dock to charge. Charging the watch is easy. Connect the USB-C end of the cable to a power supply and then place the back of the watch on the white concave end of the cable. The watch will be magnetically attached to the charger and it will begin charging.

The watch will take approximately two and a half hours to charge from 0-100%. Under normal use, the watch has a battery life of 36 hours, and up to 60 hours when set to low-power mode.

Apple Watch Ultra Wristbands

The remaining box contains the watch wristbands. I ordered the Midnight Ocean band design so that was the wristband design I got. Also contained in the box is an instruction manual showing how to insert and remove the wristbands from the watch.

As mentioned previously, Apple has designed three types of bands for the Apple Watch Ultra. These are, Alpine Loop, Trail Loop and Ocean Band. The Alpine Loop has been designed for outdoor adventurers such as mountain climbers, with its light textile material and a very secure G-hook that ensures the watch doesn’t fall off your wrist when outdoors. The Trail Loop is designed for high-performance athletes, with its flexible nylon material that makes the watch feel very light on your wrist. The band also has velcro adjustments for quick adjustments when on the go. The Ocean Band is made of a flexible rubber material with a tubular design. This design is meant for those into diving or water recreational sports, as it is wetproof and will therefore still feel comfortable even in the water. Each of these bands have different colours to pick from.

That is everything that comes in the Apple Watch Ultra packaging; a manual, the watch itself, a charging cable and the watch’s wristbands.

How to insert and remove the Watch Ultra wristbands

Take out your Apple Watch Ultra wristbands from their box and follow these steps to be able to wear the watch on your wrist. To begin, ensure your watch is facing down.

1. Take the strap of the side you want i.e the longer strap for the bottom of the watch, or shorter strap for the top side of the watch.
2. Ensure the strap is facing the correct way by checking the top connecting part of the strap. The downward-facing side of the wristband, when wearing the watch, should have three metallic-like spots. This side will face upwards for now as the watch is upside down.
3. Once you have identified this, slide the strap into the slot until you hear a click. The click is a confirmation that the strap has been successfully attached and secured to the watch.
4. Repeat this for the other strap.

For the Ocean Band design, the buckle of the watch also needs to be placed. All you need to do is pull the buckle to ‘expand’ it, and then slide it through the longer band.

When the time comes to remove the bands, follow these steps;

1. On each side of the back of the watch, just above the slots, there is a button.
2. Press and hold the button as you slide out the corresponding wristband. It’s that easy!
3. Now do the same for the other band.

How to connect the Apple Watch Ultra to your iPhone

You now have your Apple Watch ready to wear, all you need to do is turn it on and start setting up the watch for use. Ensure you have your iPhone with you, as the watch only pairs and connects to iPhones only. This is because the watch relies on your iPhone’s Apple ID to set up. The Watch Ultra operates on watchOS 9, so ensure your iPhone is an iPhone 8 or later, or an iPhone SE 2^nd Generation or later. Otherwise, the two devices will not connect. Also ensure your phone has an active Wi-Fi or data connection, and the Bluetooth is turned on. Lastly, before you start, ensure you have the Apple Watch app installed in your phone. iPhones come pre-installed with this app so it will be available for most of you. However, if you do not have the app, you can simply re-install it from the App Store.

To now set up your watch, follow these steps;

1. To turn on your watch, press and hold the side button, the one below the digital crown, until the Apple logo displays on the watch screen. Place your iPhone close to the watch for the watch to detect it.
2. Once it detects the phone, a pop-up will appear asking whether to use your iPhone to set up the Watch Ultra. Press continue.
3. On the selection asking whether to set up for myself or set up for a family member, select Set up for Myself.
4. You will then be instructed to lift your iPhone over your watch and ‘record’ it, just as you would scan a QR code. Once this is done, the watch will be paired to your phone.
5. Choose the wrist you will be wearing your watch on, and press continue. I picked left.
6. The phone will take around a minute to connect to your watch.
7. Next will be the terms and conditions. Click Agree. This will allow the watch to sign in to your device’s Apple ID account.
8. Once the sign-in process is complete, you will head on to the next step of creating a passcode for your watch. This passcode will help keep your watch secure when you don’t have it on. The watch locks when you take it off and so a passcode will be required to unlock it. Click on create passcode and follow the steps to create your passcode successfully.
9. Selecting your watch’s font size is the next step. The pre-selected font size will be that of your iPhone. Click continue after selecting the size you prefer. You can still change this in settings after finishing the set up process.
10. Click continue and Ok on the next two steps as they are providing information on battery and shared settings.
11. Your health information such as date of birth, height, weight and gender will appear. Click Continue as this information is required by the health and fitness feature on your watch. If you use a wheelchair to move, ensure you have selected the wheelchair option.
12. The next step is on the Activity section. Activity tracks your calories, time spent walking and also time spent standing. Clicking next will allow for tracking of these aspects. You can click not now to skip this part.
13. To let Apple track for outdoor workouts, enable Route tracking by clicking on Enable Route Tracking.
14. After this, select among the list, the health notifications you would like to receive from your watch. Click Continue.
15. If you have any heart medications you are currently taking, select the ones you’re on and click Continue. Press continue again on the next safety information details.
16. Next will be choosing what you would like the Action button to do. Some of the options include; starting a workout, starting a stopwatch, recording a waypoint and turning on the flashlight. You can do this later by clicking Set up Later in Settings.
17. The next step is allowing the watch to detect depth, temperature and time spent underwater. To enable it, click Open Depth when Submerged. If you don’t want this activated, select Don’t open Automatically. Click continue on the safety recommendations brought after allowing opening Depth when in the water.
18. Your watch will begin syncing and you won’t be able to use your iPhone for this period. You will receive an alert during this syncing process notifying you that the watch has been added to your account. Click OK.

The process will now be complete once the watch displays the time face and you can use your phone. Your iPhone will be on the watch settings where you can read through some of them and adjust the settings to your preference. You can now wear and use your Apple Watch Ultra as you please.

The default face of the Apple Watch Ultra, known as the Wayfinder, displays number of items. These items are referred to by Apple as complications and they include Activity, alarms, compass bearing, contacts, phone, mail, music, news, weather etc. The complications can be adjusted in the settings to display whichever ones you would like.

Additional Features of the Watch Ultra

The Apple Watch Ultra comes with additional features such as;

1. The watch comes with Night Mode to reduce eye strain when looking at the watch display in the dark. It works by changing the colour of the display and its features to red. Night Mode can be activated by turning the digital crown.
2. The watch comes with an improved GPS tracking system. By using the compass app one can track his/her journey by adding waypoints. These waypoints are ‘markers’ that help someone go back from where he came by using the path he came with, how he came.
3. Because of the increased need for keeping oneself healthy and fit, Apple has included many health and fitness features in the Watch Ultra. These include;
   • Tracking sleep activity to determine your sleep patterns. This helps determine your sleep quality and therefore how you can improve it.
   • Recording your blood oxygen level.
   • Recording the noise level around you and notifying you if the noise can affect your ears.
   • Tracking your heart rate and body temperature.
   • The watch also helps women keep track of their menstrual cycle.
4. Another new feature available only in the Watch Ultra is the Car Crash Detection. The watch is able to detect when you have been involved in a car crash and will contact your emergency contacts once it doesn’t detect any body movement for 10 seconds. The feature, however, has to be turned on in the Settings for it to work.
5. When you don’t have your phone around, or just don’t feel like carrying it around, you can use the watch to make calls, send text messages and stream music. However, to make calls and send text messages from the watch, ensure the mobile service provider in your iPhone is compatible with the Watch Ultra. To check if your service provider is compatible with the Apple Watch Ultra, click here.
6. The watch, also, is water resistant to 100 meters, but Apple recommends not having the watch past 40 meters deep in the water.
7. Like other Apple watches, the Watch Ultra also comes with Apple Pay to manage your credit and debit cards, and also pay for purchases.

The Apple Watch Ultra comes with all these features, and so much more for you to discover and familiarize yourself with. So if you are one of the outdoor adventurers into mountain climbing, desert adventuring, or into deep sea diving, why not grab the Watch Ultra for your next adventure. Or if you’re just a regular watch user like me, why not just tell the time from the Apple Watch Ultra?

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