Today, the new Apple Watch Ultra goes on sale in stores. Folks who pre-ordered will start to receive their deliveries today. Although I doubt I will ever own one, I am fascinated by this version of the Apple Watch. It offers lots of features that I'd love to see on a regular Apple Watch like the action button, longer battery life, and some interesting sensors. And it includes lots of features that belong only on an Apple Watch Ultra, and I'm interested to see how people use those. The initial reviews are now out from members of the press who got a pre-release units, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. The consensus seems to be that it can do most but not all of what a high-end sports watch sold by companies like Garmin can do, so it will be perfect for some sports watch customers but not quite enough for high-end users. But unlike those other watches from Garmin and similar companies, the Apple Watch Ultra is the best ever Apple Watch, so it will have a broad appeal to those who might not have purchased a sports watch before. I think it is great that Apple is now selling this model, and I suspect that it will make a lot of folks happy. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- As we near the end of September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is coming to a close. Right now would be a great time for you to do something that will make you feel great: donate to St Jude. A big thank you to those who have already donated.
- There are lots of Apple Watch Ultra reviews that are worth reading if you are interested in this product. I'll link to some of my favorites. Amy Eisinger of Self reports that the larger screen makes tapping the screen mid-run even easier, the Action button is one of the best features, and it greats battery life. She also said that the bulkiness might be a drawback for some, and the watch is so large that it invited several unprovoked comments. She includes a comment about the temperature sensor for fertility tracking that I did not realize: "Temping is persnickety because, in order to get an accurate reading, you need to take your temperature immediately upon waking—before you even sit up in bed. The watch solves this. While Apple is quick to point out that this is not a true basal reading, it comes close."
- Liz Plosser, the editor-in-chief of Women's Health, says that if you were already thinking of getting an Apple Watch Series 8, the Apple Watch Ultra is a better purchase for many. She liked the Action button "to turn on the stop watch in a flash, which was great for cooking, and to instantly begin a workout." She notes that the 86-decibel siren may be designed for hikers, but "it's also going to give peace of mind to everyday, recreational adventurers like you and me."
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball says that thanks to the big display, loud speakers, and long battery life, an Apple Watch Ultra could almost replace an iPhone, except that you lose the camera.
- Lexy Savvides of CNet concludes that if you want "a true hybrid smartwatch and sports watch, the Ultra is the one to beat."
- Leon Poultney of The Gear Loop wrote a comprehensive review for an extreme outdoor enthusiast and concludes that "the Apple Watch Ultra does most things very well but never quite goes to the lengths real outdoors enthusiasts want and often need in the wild. However, the same cannot be said for its quality as a smartwatch, where it is still undeniably one of the best around."
- Michael Frank of Men's Journal notes that a key advantage of the Apple Watch Ultra over other sports phones is that the Apple Watch Ultra contains a phone and does a great job with text messages.
- Victoria Song of The Verge wrote that even though she has small wrists, the Apple Watch Ultra felt light for its size, and she loves the large screen. She also notes that when attorney Nilay Patel was wearing the watch at home and not pushing it too hard, he got 56 hours on a single charge.
- There are also many video reviews of the Apple Watch Ultra, and I thought that the one by iJustine was the best.
- Another new Apple product that goes on sale today is the second generation AirPods Pro. Mine should arrive later today, so I'll have more to say about them next week. As Joe Rossugnol of MacRumors noted in a review roundup, the initial reviews from folks who have been using them for a while indicate that while they look about the same, they sound better, have better noise cancellation, gain the useful ability to adjust volume, and are easier to locate if you misplace them because the case now has a built-in speaker to make noise.
- Zac Hall shares the story of a person in the UK who had only had his new Apple Watch Series 8 for a few days before it detected a potentially fatal heart condition of his mother.
- If you use an iPhone 14 Pro, you should download iOS 16.0.2 (released yesterday), which fixes a bug that could cause the camera to shake when taking videos, fixed a bug that could cause lots of prompts to appear when you copy-and-paste between apps, and fixes other bugs.
- Mike Wuerthele of AppleInsider reviews the iPhone 14 Pro and concludes that anyone considering an iPhone 14 should get the iPhone 14 Pro instead.
- Rajesh Pandey of Cult of Mac notes that Apple is using a better modem in the iPhone 14 Pro that can provide up to 38% faster 5G data speed, depending upon the network that you are using. This is just one data point, but I just ran a few tests on my iPhone 14 Pro in New Orleans on AT&T and saw that I was consistently getting about 50 Mbps on LTE but 250 Mbps on 5G, which is a big increase for 5G speeds since the last time that I paid attention to it on my iPhone 14 Pro. I see that I'm on AT&T's 5G+ network—which, confusingly, can mean two different things on AT&T: C-Band spectrum or millimeter wave spectrum.
- I agree with Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels that it makes no sense that when you transfer data to a new iPhone your CarPlay settings do not transfer, which means you need to go back and re-order your apps again. It baffles me that Apple hasn't fixed this yet.
- Josh Centers of TidBITS reviews the iPhone 14, comparing it to the iPhone 11 Pro.
- Glenn Flieshmann of Macworld compares the camera on the iPhone 14 Pro to an expensive mirrorless camera.
- Jason Cross of Macworld recommends some iOS 16 features that you might want to use, such as locked folders in Photos, the ability to see a wi-fi password after you are already connected, landscape Face ID, and more.
- Allison Sheridan of Podfeet shares some favorite iOS 16 features, including dictation improvements.
- Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories recommends some favorite iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets.
- If you enjoyed the show Better Call Saul like I did, you will be pleased to learn that Nellie Andreeva of Deadline reports that co-creator Vince Gilligan and star Rhea Seehorn (who played Kim Wexler) are going to do a new drama on Apple TV+.
- The Joy of Tech comic books a trip to Dynamic Island.
- Kevin Hurler of Gizmodo reports that the first Emoticon debuted 40 years old. That makes me feel old :-(
- And finally, I figured it would be just a matter of time before someone would post a YouTube video of a car crash performed for the sole purpose of determining whether crash detection in the iPhone 14 works. TechRax did just that and ... spoiler alert ... it works. In all seriousness, it is useful to know how this feature works before you get in a car crash. When the iPhone senses the change in motion, it first waits about 10 seconds (I suppose for the crash to end), and then it beeps and starts a 10-second countdown timer with an alert that it is about to call emergency services. You can cancel it during those 10 seconds. Otherwise, it makes the call. If you have both a new iPhone and a new Apple Watch that both have crash detection, they talk to each other to determine which devices will make the call (so it doesn't dial 9-1-1 twice):
