Kalakshar US

The latest generation of smartwatches is looking to the skies to expand their connectivity capabilities. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 will be the second mainstream smartwatch (not counting the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro) to support satellite communications, and the new connectivity feature is one of a few changes coming to the device. Other upgrades include the S10 chip, a slightly larger display, bigger battery that lasts up to 42 hours, support for 5G, as well as the hypertension and sleep score features coming to the Series 11 (and also the Ultra 2 and several older Apple Watch models).

While I continue to review the Series 11 before spending more time with the Ultra 3 (and the SE 3), I wanted to share what it’s like to use satellite communications on the wearable and how it differs from the approach on the Pixel Watch 4. To be clear, I have yet to receive a review unit of the Pixel Watch 4, so my impressions are based on a recorded demo at a hands-on event. For the Watch Ultra 3, I have a review unit and am using its built-in demo tool to connect to satellites.

You can launch satellite communications on the Watch Ultra 3 in a few ways. Add it to the Control Center or as a complication on any watch face, and you’ll get options to send messages, share your location or contact emergency services. The first two require paid cellular service for your smartwatch. The device will also automatically suggest satellite connectivity when you’re offline, though that’s a situation I have yet to encounter. Regardless of where you use it, a lot of the process of connecting to a satellite is similar to that on the iPhone 14 and newer. If you’ve never tried that before, hang tight, as I will explain the steps a little further down.

Emergency satellite communications on the Apple Watch Ultra 3

There’s also another screen where you might encounter a prompt to link to a satellite — in the phone dialer. Whether you’re on the watch or iPhone, Apple imagines (and likely hopes) that dialing your local emergency hotline is your first step. Here in the US, that number is 911. Of course, as a socially responsible person, I didn’t want to unnecessarily burden emergency services and did not try this out myself on the Watch Ultra 3. Instead, Apple representatives gave us a demo in Cupertino last week, and made a call to 911 that was routed to the company’s own call centers.

As a reminder, the process for emergency SOS via satellite is different from using Messages or Find My via satellite because users are likely to be dialing their local services first and foremost. Only when that fails will the emergency satellite communications interface kick in. Once you select the Emergency SOS via Satellite option that appears after a few seconds or when your watch detects you’re offline, you’ll be shown a list of guidelines, recommending you be outside with a clear view of the sky and explaining that transmission will take longer than when sent over cellular networks.

After that, you’ll be presented a series of multiple choice questions to inform rescue services of your condition and environment. Thanks to the Watch Ultra 3’s larger screen, the system’s large buttons and readable font weren’t hard to see, and I could make out the options at arm’s length. A few taps later, we had selected some answers indicating we were “lost or trapped,” alone, unharmed and near steep terrain. The Apple representative performing our demo also opted to notify the emergency contacts set up on the Watch Ultra 3.

Once that was done, the watch displayed an interface similar to the version on the iPhone, featuring a glowing arc and translucent image of the earth. Words on the screen said “Try to get a clear view of the sky” and guided the wearer in various directions to attempt to connect to satellites passing overhead. After a link was established, the words “Sending report” appeared with a progress bar below.

We had to wait a minute and a half for the message to go through, which is quite long, but it was probably not the usual amount of time. At about 25 seconds in, it seemed like the connection was lost and had to be re-established. That may seem like a long while to hold your wrist up, but Apple did say you only need to lift your arm while establishing a connection to the satellite and not while the information was being sent. I believe the rep only had their arm up so we could more easily see the screen.

Finally, when the report had been delivered, the Watch Ultra 3 took us to the Message window showing a confirmation that the request had been received. It also tells the wearer to reply with “Stop” if emergency services were not or no longer required.

Using satellites to send Messages and your location

Outside of using satellite communications when you’re in need of emergency services, you can also send messages or share your location when you’re off the grid. This, again, mirrors the iPhone version of this service. You can go to the Find My app on the Watch Ultra 3 to share your location when you’re out of coverage, and your position can be shared up to once every 15 minutes to previously added contacts. In the Messages app on the watch, you can contact people you’ve chatted with in the last 30 days.

In my experience, it was easiest to add Satellite as a complication to a watch face. Tapping the button will bring up the Satellite screen with options to try a demo, go to Messages, share your location or contact emergency services. Like on the iPhone, the demo is there for users to get familiar with the process of connecting to a satellite, so they’re not completely unfamiliar in high pressure situations.

Unfortunately, as I spent most of my time with the Ultra 3 so far in areas that had good coverage and signal, I never really got a chance to try to send a message or my location via satellite. First world problems, I know. I’ll embark on an adventure upstate soon to check it out, though, and will report back after.

Those unfamiliar with Messages or Find My via Satellite on iPhones may wonder why those features exist. It’s not just for the frivolous desire to play with a novel feature. You can send texts, emojis and tapback reactions to let a loved one know you arrived in the desert safely for Burning Man, for example. Texts go through with a delivery message that says “sent via Satellite,” so your recipient will understand you have limited connectivity and can’t engage in a full-blown tea-spilling session right then.

Or, if you’re like my partner and sometimes go camping in the middle of nowhere, sharing your location when you’ve arrived at your campsite can bring some peace of mind. (Note: I don’t go camping.) My partner tends to favor forested areas, though, where satellite connectivity would struggle with the dense foliage, hampering its usefulness.

To be very clear, emergency SOS via Satellite will be supported on all models of the Watch Ultra 3, but satellite communications for Messages and Find My require a paid cellular plan. With all purchases of the Ultra 3, Apple is providing two years of satellite service for emergency, Messages and Find My.

Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Pixel Watch 4: The satellite comparison

That’s somewhat similar to Google’s approach for the Pixel Watch 4, where Satellite SOS “is included at no additional charge for 2 years after launch.” However, only the LTE models of the Pixel Watch support its satellite feature, and it’s only available in the contiguous United States at the moment. Google’s version also uses Skylo’s Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Network (NB-NTN), and adopts similar haptic and audio cues to the Watch Ultra 3’s in the connecting process. One area that appears to be different is that the Pixel Watch 4 will offer a “check replies” button that Google says “guides you to re-establish connection for updates from emergency services as needed.”

Meanwhile, Apple’s Find My and emergency satellite features will work in 18 countries at launch, including the US, UK, Japan, Switzerland, Australia and others. Messages via satellite is limited to Mexico, Canada and the US at the moment.

Other testing impressions of the Apple Watch Ultra 3

As I continue to put the Watch Ultra 3 through its paces, it’s worth noting what changes the latest model has over its predecessor. Like I mentioned, it has a larger display while maintaining the same size, thanks to thinner bezels (which Apple said are 24 percent slimmer). It also uses an LTPO 3 panel that enables a faster refresh rate in Always On mode, as well as wide-angle OLEDs for easier reading at off angles.

I’ve found the Watch Ultra 3 lightweight and comfortable to wear so far, and I enjoy tapping buttons or reading messages on its 49mm screen. Unfortunately, I am also a person who wears long-sleeved shirts that are snug at the wrist, making the bigger watches a harder sell, especially as the weather gets colder here in New York. I did find it amusing when the Night mode got triggered any time I tucked the Ultra 3 under my sleeve, turning the watch face’s dials, complications and other elements red.

The Watch Ultra 3 gets the same 5G support, hypertension notifications and Sleep Score as the Series 11, along with watchOS 26 upgrades like Workout Buddy and Liquid Glass. I need a few more days with the Ultra 3 before I can vouch for its 42-hour battery estimate, but it’s nice to see longer runtimes on an endurance watch.

My evaluation of those new features and whether they add up to a meaningful package will be ready soon in a full review. In the meantime, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available for pre-order and will arrive in stores on September 19.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-ultra-3-a-closer-look-at-its-satellite-communications-tools-120012387.html?src=rss 

The tenth generation of the Apple Watch came and went without much fanfare last year, and the arrival of the Series 11 is similarly subdued. Not much appears to have changed with Apple’s smartwatch, with no redesign to be seen. Still, that isn’t to say the Apple Watch Series 11 is unimpressive or unexciting. It has new health-related features, improved durability, 5G connectivity, support for a wrist-flick gesture and, for the first time in years, the promise of longer battery life.

The most noteworthy of these is Apple’s new hypertension alerts system, which only received FDA clearance last week soon after the “Awe dropping” launch event. The feature has yet to roll out to review units, and will remain untested until later this week, when I can enable it. Thankfully, it’s not a tool that will impact my experience with the Series 11 in my daily life, as it’s something that should work mostly in the background and only alert me if it notices I might have high blood pressure.

Because of that, I’m not going to be able to evaluate its practicality in this review, and I will update this piece when I’ve had a chance to use it. To be clear, though, even after it arrives, you won’t be able to use this feature ad-hoc to get blood pressure readings. Right now, all I can say is I think it’s an important area of health to pay attention to and I’m glad Apple is giving it due attention.

Of all the newness coming to the Series 11, the one that more people might encounter more frequently are the sleep score, wrist flick gesture and longer battery life.

A very Apple approach to the Sleep Score

In the land of sleep-tracking wearables, sleep scores are far from a new feature. But Apple is introducing it with the Watch Series 11, and as usual, its approach is a bit different from the competition. Whereas the likes of Fitbit, Google and Samsung will present you with a number and some data on how you slept, maybe assigning an animal to represent your profile, Apple’s score is shown in a ring with three colors. They represent the three components your Sleep Score is being calculated from: duration, interruptions and bedtime.

The first two are pretty self-explanatory; the longer you sleep and the less you wake up during the night, the better your score. As for the last one, Apple is looking for consistency in the hours at which you go to bed. The idea is that the routine helps your body maintain some consistency and better prepare for recovery.

I’m a huge proponent of getting more sleep, but I never was a stickler for bedtime schedules. As a reformed night owl that used to go to bed at 2AM and wake up closer to 9AM, I now go to bed by midnight and rise at 6AM. I’m surprised that despite having to get up earlier nowadays, I can still feel refreshed and energetic, as long as I’ve been routinely getting enough rest at roughly the same time each night.

While I haven’t worn the Series 11 to bed for that many nights, the Sleep Scores I’ve received so far have been telling. The first was 82, after a long day checking out of a hotel, meeting up with a friend from Singapore and then moving to a different friend’s home in California. I only got around to unpacking after dinner and a long heart-to-heart chat that lasted hours, so by the time I collapsed in bed it was about 1:30AM.

The next night, since I was already unpacked, I was able to fall asleep a bit earlier, just past midnight. The result? A Sleep Score of 97, with full marks across the bedtime and duration sections and only one interruption of three minutes. When I finally got home and forced myself to wear the watch to bed, a combination of jetlag and general anxiety brought my score down to 53, with the duration of 2 hours and 17 minutes being the main contributing factor.

Not only did the numbers seem to match how rested I felt, it also felt like Apple accurately detected when I had drifted off into slumber. I did find it funny how the Series 11 almost immediately told me to try and move about to meet my Stand goal for the hour, and even though I hardly stirred, it quickly told me I had moved enough to hit the mark.

Compared to the offerings from Google and Samsung, the broad strokes of Apple’s sleep score are similar. In my experience, I’d get about the same numbers for those types of nights. But it’s not the Score alone that matters. I like that Apple’s system makes it very easy to see at a glance what areas I should strive to improve. It’s almost like closing your activity rings in Fitness or watchOS — because it’s so clear on the Sleep Score’s ring where your deficits might be, it makes trying to hit a target a little easier to visualize.

Meanwhile, sleep scores on the Fitbit app, which is what Pixel Watches use, will show more data as you keep tapping on the charts.

I do prefer Google (or Fitbit) when it comes to the interface and data visualization, though. On Apple’s Health app, scrolling through your previous results isn’t as simple as swiping horizontally through pages. I also wish I could tap the “interruptions” scale to see exactly what times I stirred or woke up. I eventually did find that information, but I had to go to the Sleep graph in its dedicated section to see more. It’s just a bit unintuitive and requires a lot of tapping and swiping around to find things.

The Series 11’s hardier design is a subtle refinement

I usually loathe going to bed with a smartwatch on, but because the Series 11 is so thin and light, it wasn’t too bad. Its dimensions are identical to the Series 10, measuring 9.7mm thin and weighing about 0.3 grams more. As my relatively high Sleep Scores show, I didn’t actually jolt awake in the middle of the night like I usually did with previous heavier, clunkier watches. (I still hate wearing watches to sleep, though.)

More importantly, the Series 11 also has an IonX glass coating that Apple says is twice as scratch resistant as the Series 10, which might account for the slight increase in weight. While I didn’t try very hard to test that claim, I’ve certainly bumped my review unit against lots of hard surfaces, including the iPhone 17 Pro, and have yet to see a scratch.

I even knocked it against the Series 10 on my other wrist as I laid my hands on top of each other in various yoga poses that involved lying face down, and neither device was damaged. Given that the Series 10 I’ve been wearing remains pretty pristine after a year, I’m confident that the Series 11’s hardier material means it’ll stay similarly unmarred.

Workout-tracking, gestures and watchOS 26

During my time with the Series 11, I tracked a variety of workouts, including a yoga class, as well as my usual sessions of outdoor walking, functional strength and cross training. I noticed little differences here compared to my Series 10, and the main changes were the watchOS 26 interface. After I turned on Workout Buddy, selected one of three available voices and let it finish downloading, I had to set some targets and connect headphones before I even heard anything during my sessions. I don’t usually work out with headphones on, but I can see the coaching being useful for an aspirational future where I’m perhaps trying to hit a 6-minute mile (my current time is about 8 minutes).

I will note that a lot of what makes the Series 11 feel new is in the software, which will be rolling out to older Apple Watches soon. watchOS 26 brings the Liquid Glass style, which allowed me to use some slick-looking fonts on my clock. I also liked the larger buttons across the interface and the refreshing feeling of looking at the translucent cards instead of the version before. It’s just a visual change that makes things feel updated, and my eyes welcomed it.

The Series 11 also gets a new wrist flick gesture that feels familiar for those of us who have covered the smartwatch industry since its inception. The gist is that you can quickly twist your wrist away from you to interact with your wearable. On other devices, you could use this action to scroll through lists of apps, for instance. On the Apple Watch Series 11, you have to first raise your wrist when a notification arrives, then flick your wrist to dismiss it and return to your watch face. This also works to end calls, alarms and timers. I was able to use this to silence an alarm, as long as I first raised my wrist before flicking.

Battery that lasts longer than a day

When Apple said during its keynote that the Series 11 will last 24 hours thanks to its re-engineered battery, my colleague Sam Rutherford scoffed. That number is measly compared to the multi-day runtimes promised by the likes of Pixel and Samsung watches, let alone Garmin’s almost week-long estimates. But when you consider Apple promises up to 18 hours for the Series 10, the improvement is nothing to sneeze at.

Also, 24 hours is an estimate depending on how you use your Apple Watch. Many people only put their watch on when heading out for a walk, run or workout, while others use it all day. That estimate includes time for overnight sleep tracking, with 18 hours devoted to daytime “activities like checking the time, receiving notifications, using apps and doing a 60-minute workout.”

The gain in runtime is thanks in part to a 9 percent bigger battery in the 42mm model and an 11 percent larger one in the 46mm version, as well as optimizations in software and a new modem that also supports 5G.

The Series 11 certainly outlasted the 24-hour estimate in my experience. It usually lasts one and a half days, including some light activity tracking, media control and sleep tracking. One day, I pulled it off the charger at 2PM, tracked a workout at 4PM, used the camera remote control and viewfinder for about 20 minutes, went to dinner and wore it to bed. I woke up at 8AM with 39 percent left in the tank. Even hours later at 3:15PM, I still had a healthy 22 percent to work with. On a different day, I woke up with 29 percent of juice, tracked a 37-minute morning walk and had about 20 percent remaining. The energy efficiency does seem to have improved.

This also means continuous runtimes for specific activities have been increased. For example, you can run for an extra hour while tracking your heart rate, GPS and using other Apple Watch features for eight hours straight. Or, more likely, simply run a marathon without worrying about having juice after.

Apple was also able to boost its low power mode, now squeezing up to 38 hours of juice when enabled. It will turn off the always on display, disconnect cellular and Wi-Fi connections and also limit sensor activity, so background heart rate measurements and related alerts won’t work. I switched it on at 9:20PM one night when the battery was at 86 percent, in anticipation of a long day away from a charger.

The next day, after tracking about three hours of sleep overnight, a few workouts and general testing, the watch still held fairly strong at 22 percent at 8:50PM. I did have to restart the device and turn off low power mode a few times throughout the day just to check that certain features (like the AOD and gestures) were working, though, so uninterrupted use of the mode might get more hours out of it.

Charging is also quite speedy. I placed the Series 11 on the charging puck at about 1PM with 8 percent left, and came back ten minutes later to see it had already reached 38 percent. Just over thirty minutes later, it was fully recharged. That, of course, is with an Apple-supplied fast charger.

Which Apple Watch is right for you?

If you’re reading this review, you’re not likely to be considering non-Apple watches, so I won’t even compare the Series 11 to the Galaxy Watch 8 or the Pixel Watch 4. We haven’t even reviewed that latter one, anyway. You also probably don’t currently own a Series 10, though if you do and are wondering if this is worth an upgrade, read on.

For those on older Apple Watches (like the Series 9 or earlier), the Series 11 is a solid upgrade. The battery life improvements will be meaningful even if you’re coming from the Series 10, though if you’re moving on from anything older the impact will be greater. You’ll appreciate the bigger screen with wider viewing angles, thinner profile and general modern features like the watchOS refresh and AI-based tools.

If you’re considering one of the three new Apple Watches, this year is a trickier situation than usual. Because it added an always on display and faster charging to the SE 3, Apple has made the entry-level smartwatch a no-brainer for pretty much anyone considering a starter device. For $250, that watch gives you everything the Series 11 does, except in a slightly bulkier case and smaller, dimmer display. You’ll be giving up ECG and blood oxygen features, as well as hypertension alerts and sensors for depth and water temperature. Battery life is also a bit shorter, and you won’t have an ultra-wideband chip for precision Find My.

But with the Watch SE 3, you’ll still be able to access a wide range of health and fitness features like wrist temperature monitoring, sleep score, emergency SOS, fall and crash detection and more. It’s a compelling option at an appealing price.

Wrap-up

I don’t expect companies to completely retool their products, especially 11 generations in. The Apple Watch Series 11 is a refinement of an already winning formula, packing a device that’s always on your person with exactly the type of passive features you’d want in something like that. Whether it’s quietly keeping tabs on your heart health and blood pressure changes, or providing better information on how well you slept, or even saving your life if you’ve fallen or gotten lost in the wilderness, the Series 11 is a capable companion. With longer battery life this time, it promises to provide even more peace of mind. Nifty touches like Liquid Glass in watchOS 26, Workout Buddy and 5G connectivity are icing on a rich, substantial cake.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-series-11-review-a-reliable-wearable-for-when-it-matters-most-120016945.html?src=rss