[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by vb-san

It really depends on what you want the watch for.. If you give equal weightage to the so-called smartwatch features, then go with the Apple Watch (I belong to this category). I wear the watch for the whole day, fitness regimes are pretty average (long walks/gym 3-4 times a week, and get on the bike once in a while). I have to charge the Series 6 every night, but that’s a small hassle when compared to the benefits – cellular connectivity, fluid user interface, notifications, music playback, etc. And more importantly, all your health data gets seamlessly synced with the health/fitness apps on your iPhone.

And the Apple Watch Series 8 will cost much less than say a Garmin Fenix/Epix.

Your usage patterns as described here are very similar to mine. This is why I am presently using the Series 6 and in the process of moving to the Ultra.
As I have said earlier, the Ultra, to me, is like the Jeep or Land rover or Swiss Army Knife of Watches. Its a go anywhere and do anything at any time thing and this is truly the essence of its huge appeal.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

As I have said earlier, the Ultra, to me, is like the Jeep or Land rover or Swiss Army Knife of Watches. Its a go anywhere and do anything at any time thing and this is truly the essence of its huge appeal.

Yes, I am seriously considering the watch ultra - the long battery life + rugged body being the two topmost reasons. The 6 can be passed on to my girl with a Spigen armor case slapped on

[shankar.balan]

I moved my primary iPhone to Jio because their processes were more seamless. And they have Apple Watch support unlike Vi. The Jio chaps also matched the higher credit limit that I was enjoying with Vi, with no questions asked. Completely seamless process, this credit limit thing - handled neatly via whatsapp. The actual activation etc required a visit to the local Reliance Digital and the very efficient girl at the counter did all the formalities politely with zero fuss. Good experience. It’s a direct e sim. No physical sim process at all.
Plus as I understand it, it seems that Jio out scores Airtel most ways by a fair margin.

Anyway this is now done. Am just in the process of setting up the Ultra and all.So I guess tomorrow, once the sms starts working, I can set up my Apple Watch Ultra to start receiving calls etc.

I may well probably pair my old Series 6 with my secondary iPhone which is on Airtel.

As an additional thing I am just now observing, it looks like one can pair multiple Apple watches with the same iPhone. I am a but surprised to see that and Is would love to understand the logic of this.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

As an additional thing I am just now observing, it looks like one can pair multiple Apple watches with the same iPhone. I am a but surprised to see that and Is would love to understand the logic of this.

Probably (?) because it’s all configured on the same Apple ID Shankar.

Look forward to your review on the Ultra after having been a long time “normal” Apple Watch user.

Cheers

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Probably (?) because it’s all configured on the same Apple ID Shankar.

Look forward to your review on the Ultra after having been a long time “normal” Apple Watch user.

Cheers

It’s working well so far. Tomorrow I ll do the cellular pairing piece and see if I can manage with only the watch and leave the phone behind. It is a little heavier than the standard Apple watch aluminium but one gets used to it almost immediately. It is a bit bigger and the titanium contrast colour makes one aware of its presence on one’s wrist whereas one was perhaps a little less aware that the plain Apple Watch was on one’s wrist. But this may also be because of the Ultra’s newness. The Medium sized Ocean band feels quite purposeful and fits me nicely. The watch Ultra definitely feels tougher and more abuse friendly or let’s say, normal person’s usage friendly. A bit like the Jeep or LandRover of Watches as I ve said before. It is presently fully charged and I am not going to charge it at all till it is almost down to zero. This way, on its very first wear, I shall be able to judge how long the battery lasts. I ve done two walks with it so far. I intend wearing it throughout, for golf tomorrow definitely and very possibly even during the bath later today and tomorrow just to see how it behaves. And I am keeping it on normal mode, not on battery saver mode. Will add more info as we go along. But everything about it so far is positive. I like this watch, it’s heft, it’s looks and feel and aesthetics and am happy that I bought it.

[subraiyr]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

It is presently fully charged and I am not going to charge it at all till it is almost down to zero. This way, on its very first wear, I shall be able to judge how long the battery lasts.

On my Apple Watch 8, after setting it up for the first 3 days the watch dropped to sub 20% by 9pm. This is after charging it to 100% at 530am. This included a 1 hour excercise tracking with GPS, only sms notification, calendar notification and a total talk time of 20mts
However from 4th day onwards with the same use case, the charge at end of day (9pm) was in mid 50s
I have also enabled always on display and wear it overnight for sleep tracking
I am thinking that the initial couple of days was due to the watch adjusting to the individual setting and learning to optimise.Maybe you want to keep that in mind
Also body temperature tracking takes around 5 days where the watch creates a baseline of your temperature and then starts tracking. Sleep tracking has been wonderful. I normally average around 630hours and the watch is consistent with this. Checked the same on Fitbit and there was a consistent error of about 30 minutes
Overall impressive experience. Now to accessorise it with some bright colour straps

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by subraiyr

On my Apple Watch 8, after setting it up for the first 3 days the watch dropped to sub 20% by 9pm. This is after charging it to 100% at 530am. This included a 1 hour excercise tracking with GPS, only sms notification, calendar notification and a total talk time of 20mts
However from 4th day onwards with the same use case, the charge at end of day (9pm) was in mid 50s
I have also enabled always on display and wear it overnight for sleep tracking
I am thinking that the initial couple of days was due to the watch adjusting to the individual setting and learning to optimise.Maybe you want to keep that in mind
Also body temperature tracking takes around 5 days where the watch creates a baseline of your temperature and then starts tracking. Sleep tracking has been wonderful. I normally average around 630hours and the watch is consistent with this. Checked the same on Fitbit and there was a consistent error of about 30 minutes
Overall impressive experience. Now to accessorise it with some bright colour straps

In my case my iPhone has all the parameters since I simply synchronised my Watch Ultra with the phone using my other Series 6 watch back up. Now I have two Apple watches paired to the same phone so I can (if I feel like) switch between the two anytime. So all the vitals and parameters and patterns and all are readily available from my iPhone to this watch Ultra. Yesterday I used it for most of the day, took it for two or three walks, wore it in the bath and then just did the water eject thing (didn’t see any water coming out though), then wore it through the night. It tracked my sleep properly as usual. Today morning exercise and walking routine recorded. ECG checked, Blood Oxygen checked, siren checked just for fun, Heart-rate monitored.
Later today will be a full round of 18 holes of golf which I will record as usual. And then will see how much battery juice is left by tonight. Also later today once the sms resumes (since I just ported over to Jio), I will sit and make the watch set up for mobile and synchronise with my e Sim and then see if I can go for a day with only the watch. (My phone, however is an essential companion because I use it for taking photos all the time). This red screen Night mode on the Wayfinder Watch face which is only available on the Ultra, makes one feel like James Bond. Sadly in a way, just as I had earlier posted, this Ultra Watch will now subsume everything else and one will never again typically use one’s mechanical and automatic watches. At risk of repeating myself, this is most definitely going to become the Jeep or Land Rover of Watches (as per my estimation anyway.)

[shankar.balan]

The Apple Watch Ultra has been paired and the mobile thing has been set up. Even otherwise since my phone is with me most of the time I have been answering a few calls on the Apple Watch itself.
I have been using it since yesterday morning. It has been on my wrist throughout. So let's say about 33 hours odd since the last charge. Yesterday it recorded all the various exercise activities and I even took it along in my bath as I said. Today I did my 18 holes of golf and walks and all. So all the exercising circles are completed. As of now, the battery is showing 36%. I intend to wear it all night tonight and then tomorrow morning let's see how much battery is left.

[shankar.balan]

Update:
The watch sent an alarm saying it was going below 30% and that the alarm wont ring.
So I am now charging it.
Today after it reaches say 80% charge or so I will give it the stress test of using it till it gets to near ground zero.
Tomorrow anyway is another 18 holes of golf so that will help in using up battery while the activity is being tracked.
And then I will put out a further update after checking the real life battery life.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The watch sent an alarm saying it was going below 30% and that the alarm wont ring.

This is ridiculous and unacceptable, Apple should update the software. Alarms should ring, in fact everything should work like normal till the watch or whatever shuts off. By doing this Apple is forcing the user to charge the watch, not done.

Please keep the updates flowing Shankar, thank you.

Cheers

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

This is ridiculous and unacceptable, Apple should update the software. Alarms should ring, in fact everything should work like normal till the watch or whatever shuts off. By doing this Apple is forcing the user to charge the watch, not done.

Please keep the updates flowing Shankar, thank you.

Cheers

You have misunderstood me or perhaps I didn’t communicate clearly. This is merely a visual alarm not an auditory one.
Of course, as normal, my phone and my watch both have wake up alarms set for the early morning. I have not turned these off. The watch was trying to tell me that if I wanted the alarms to go off properly as normal, then it requires more than 30% battery. I didn’t know this before. And I am not sure if this was the case in my Apple Watch 6.

Anyway now the watch Ultra is fully charged. I am starting the usage journey completely fresh with a full charge this morning. I will wear it till it gets completely drained and then I can take a reading as to how long it lasts in real life. I will be using it normally for daily use with all my activities and calls and messages and everything, without any ‘babying’ whatsoever. It is also not on that low power mode - in fact I don’t even know yet how to switch it to this ‘low power mode’. I think I will try this pattern of usage for three or four cycles, in order to establish a ‘sample pool’ of data and then maybe take an average to determine how long one can expect the battery to go on for, without charging.

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

You have misunderstood me or perhaps I didn’t communicate clearly. This is merely a visual alarm not an auditory one.
Of course, as normal, my phone and my watch both have wake up alarms set for the early morning. I have not turned these off. The watch was trying to tell me that if I wanted the alarms to go off properly as normal, then it requires more than 30% battery.

No Shankar, I think this notification is to let you know that the battery has gone below 30% and through out the night it might drain out completely (depending on what notifications/apps 'you' have running) and hence, if you have set an alarm for something important (say you have a flight to catch, or something else) it wont go off. This is there in Series 6 as well and I find it super useful. A good reminder to charge your watch so that the alarm works.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

You have misunderstood me or perhaps I didn’t communicate clearly. This is merely a visual alarm not an auditory one.

Originally Posted by Pancham

No Shankar, I think this notification is to let you know that the battery has gone below 30% and through out the night it might drain out completely (depending on what notifications/apps 'you' have running)

You communicated perfectly Shankar, my point is the watch should not be asking you to charge it when there is 30% of battery remaining or your alarm may not ring. Alarms or anything should function till there is juice left in the device or until it powers off as the battery is completely drained.

Next time if possible during the day when the battery is around 30% please check how long with normal usage the battery lasts to shutdown, it would be nice to know.

Pancham, I don’t see why there should be a 30% drain or device shutoff in a brand new watch overnight even if there are apps or any notification running. That’s a lot of battery power for sleep time. I agree it’s good or smart of the device to warn you of a potential drain, but it shouldn’t be like that.

Of course as with everything in Apple’s walled garden of Eden we have to accept it as it is

Cheers

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

You communicated perfectly Shankar, my point is the watch should not be asking you to charge it when there is 30% of battery

Of course as with everything in Apple’s walled garden of Eden we have to accept it as it is

Cheers

Originally Posted by Pancham

No Shankar, I think this notification is to let you know that the battery has gone below 30% and through out the night it might drain out completely (depending on what notifications/apps 'you' have running) and hence, if you have set an alarm for something important (say you have a flight to catch, or something else) it wont go off. This is there in Series 6 as well and I find it super useful. A good reminder to charge your watch so that the alarm works.

Thanks Pancham. I can’t remember this particular notification in my series 6.
And yes Cyborg, the Garden of Eden has its own set of quirks.
Anyway I have been using this watch now about 13 hours. A full day with all the apps and location services and everything running. I went for golf. Played 18 holes. Left the main iPhone at home. Used the Ultra Watch to make and receive a few phone calls from the car and again while I was waiting for my friends at the club. The cellular function works beautifully. The golf course is about 7 or 8 km from home and during the round, depending on where I am on the course, I may actually have been more than 10 km away from my iPhone. The watch has been on throughout the day. It has been used to track my entire day’s activity and exercise and steps and everything else. Except for the fact that today I didn’t use it when taking a bath etc. Now also it is on. And it shows that the battery is at 49%. I am going to sleep shortly and will wear it. I will allow the alarm to ring tomorrow and go for my walk etc and then see after that what the scene is with the battery.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The Apple Watch Ultra has been paired and the mobile thing has been set up.

Congrats Shankar.

I have been traveling and missed this update.

Looks pretty awesome and looks so massive. Now you are tempting me to get one.

But, I will resist my temptations for a while due to a larger purchase (details somewhere on the forum, ) as I just hit "Broke".