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Apple Watch Ultra 2 Review: A Brighter Screen Makes My Favorite Watch Better

A searingly bright screen and faster responses are nice but not necessary upgrades.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, simply because it doesn’t have to. After wearing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for a week on hikes, bike rides and some casual spelunking (seriously!), it has less of a wow factor compared with the first Ultra. And that’s only because it feels so familiar. It’s available now alongside the Apple Watch Series 9, which shares the same upgraded chip.

Like Apple’s first Ultra, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 costs $799 (£799, AU$1,399) and is sold as an outdoors watch with a rugged design and a range of sports features. The Ultra 2 still has a customizable action button, fall and car crash detection, ECG, temperature sensor, dual-frequency GPS, and built-in LTE. It shares the same heart rate sensor, which is incredibly accurate, and has the same collection of sports features to suit divers, runners and outdoor enthusiasts. It also looks identical to the first Ultra, even though the 49mm case is now made from 95% recycled titanium.

So what is different? The screen, chip and new Double Tap feature are the key highlights. For hikers and cyclists in particular, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a lot to offer, but that’s more a reflection on WatchOS 10 than the hardware itself. You’ll be able to get most of the same great experience on earlier, compatible Apple Watches too, including the original Ultra, which I named the most exciting watch in years when it came out in 2022. 

That blisteringly bright Apple Watch Ultra 2 screen

It’s impossible to spot the difference between the original Ultra and the Ultra 2 — that is, until you see the screens. Apple has cranked the brightness to 3,000 nits on the Ultra 2, earning it the title of the brightest screen on any Apple product. The iPhone 15 Pro by comparison reaches a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, the same as the original Apple Watch Ultra.

I took the Ultra 2 on a hike in the Marin Headlands on a bright overcast day, then to Ocean Beach in San Francisco when the sun was in full force the following day. I didn’t have any issues seeing the screen in either situation, whether it was a quick time check, reading a message or glancing at my workout stats. To be fair, I had no issue with the screen brightness on the first Ultra when it comes to readability and outdoors use.

But it’s the flashlight that gets a bigger boost. I took the Apple Watch Ultra 2 into a cave and it lit up the rockface much better than the first Ultra when I compared the two. 

Apple Watch Ultra 2 screen

You can even force the Ultra 2’s flashlight to hit maximum brightness by turning the digital crown, which is something you can’t do on the first Ultra. Side note: Don’t do what I did and crank the brightness on the flashlight in a dark room, screen aimed at your eyes. My retinas are still cursing me.

From a safety point of view, the brighter flashlight is great if you’re walking, running or riding at night. But you can’t see workout stats, messages or make a call without losing the light. Maybe in the future, the edge of the screen could stay at maximum brightness so you could still interact with the watch and not lose the light. I’m still not totally sure what the best use case is for this brighter new screen if it’s not for safety purposes, given the screen on the first Ultra was bright enough for just about any environment.

On the flip side, the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s screen also gets dimmer than the first watch, going down to just one nit when you have the watch in sleep mode. It can also get that dim if the screen isn’t active and you’re in a really dark room.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 gym

Apple Watch Ultra 2 gets Double Tap

The Ultra 2 shares the same S9 chip as the Series 9, which allows for on-device Siri, overall performance improvements and the double tap gesture.

Just as the name suggests, you double tap your thumb and index finger to act as a screen press when you can’t reach the watch with your other hand. There are over 65 different actions you can make in Apple’s own apps, like skipping a track in the Music app, taking a photo on the iPhone with the Camera remote app or starting a timer. Third-party apps can also work with Double Tap.

Double Tap on the Series 9

While I wasn’t able to use Double tap on my Ultra 2 review unit, I was able to try a preview of it on the Series 9, and the implementation will be the same. So far, the most helpful Double Tap action has been responding to a message when I can’t reach the screen, like when I’m walking my dog. I’ll feel the buzz of an incoming message, raise my wrist to read it, then double tap to reply and voice-to-text dictation automatically pops up.

Double Tap builds on the foundation set by AssistiveTouch, a feature designed to help people with physical impairments control the Apple Watch without touching the screen. Double Tap is a separate function exclusive to watches that have the S9 chip, and it’s on by default, while AssistiveTouch needs to be turned on from the Accessibility menu. 

Double Tap has been accurate at registering my gestures, but I wish it did more for the workout app specifically. At the moment, double tapping doesn’t do anything. I’d love to see it sub in for the action button so if you can’t press it, you could just double tap instead to perform the same action, like marking a segment.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 gym

WatchOS 10 adds so much to Apple Watch Ultra 2

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 brings several important updates for hikers, cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts thanks to WatchOS 10. Offline and topographic maps are now available in Apple Maps and the compass app supports cellular waypoints. This means it shows the last place you had a signal so you can make a call and check messages on your own carrier, or a spot where you can make an emergency call on any network. 

Apple Watch Ultra cellular waypoint

Cyclists get two big updates with WatchOS 10: support for Bluetooth accessories like power meters and being able to see your metrics as a live activity on the iPhone. Both features work for indoor and outdoor cycling workouts. 

From a safety perspective, I love seeing the live activity on screen, because you don’t want to lift off the handlebars all the time to see your stats on the watch. It shows you all the same detail as the Apple Watch but on a much larger surface area. If you pair the watch with a cycling accessory like power meter pedals you can also see more in-depth data like cadence, speed and power, including functional threshold power.

You’re also getting a few new Ultra-exclusive watch faces including Modular Ultra, which has a horizontal complication slot and the option to show the time nice and big. It’s coming to the original Ultra too. Night mode on this watch face and the Wayfinder face now activates automatically using the ambient light sensor, instead of turning the digital crown like before. 

Apple Watch Ultra 2 is faster thanks to that S9 chip 

Aside from Double Tap, the S9 chip also supports on-device Siri, which is helpful because it’s faster and works when the Ultra 2 or your iPhone doesn’t have a signal. You can do things like start timers, start a workout, or even add a waypoint in the Compass app with your voice.

Later in the year, you’ll be able to ask Siri for health data, such as how many hours you slept or log medications. I wish that feature was active at launch, because it’s probably one of the big reasons I’d choose to use Siri on the watch rather than pull out my phone.

To see if there was a tangible difference in performance between the first and second Ultras, I ran a couple of side-by-side tests. Opening apps was the same, but the Ultra 2 turned on 20 seconds faster than the first Ultra. Message dictation was faster on the Ultra 2, but the biggest perk is it’s more accurate, especially getting my Australian accent right.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 performance

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 also has the same new ultra wideband chip found in the Apple Watch Series 9 that supports precision finding. You do need an iPhone 15 or 15 Pro to take advantage, otherwise you’ll just hear the familiar chime when you ping your phone from the watch.

I also appreciate that the Ultra 2 doubles the internal storage to 64GB of the original, a big deal for any media storage but especially for offline music. Unlike earlier Apple Watches, there is no limit to the amount of manual music downloads you can make on the watch. 

Apple Watch Ultra 2 battery life is the same as before

There’s not much new when it comes to battery life as the Ultra 2 lasts the same amount of time as the first Ultra. It’s tricky to give a catch-all estimate of how long the battery will last since everyone uses their watch differently, but I get close to two full days of use out of the Ultra 2 on a single charge with notifications, a GPS workout and sleep tracking. Apple’s official rating is up to 36 hours with regular use, but it’s possible to get almost three days with light use and by not using LTE, playing music or tracking sleep.

For extended outdoor workouts with GPS, you can expect up to 12 hours, which is enough for a marathon or century ride. There’s also a low power mode that can now get up to 72 hours of runtime out of the Ultra 2 thanks to performance optimizations and the new chip. Compare that with the 60 hours Apple quoted for the first Ultra. I still have more battery testing to run with the Ultra 2, especially around LTE connectivity, so check back soon for more. You can also charge the Ultra 2 from the iPhone 15, thanks to USB-C.

While it’s a good thing that Apple managed to maintain the same battery life while adding resource-intensive tools like a brighter screen and S9 chip, I would have preferred to keep the same screen on the original Ultra and get more runtime as a result.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Who is the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for?

If you already own the first Apple Watch Ultra, this is a modest update and I’d recommend skipping the Ultra 2, especially since Apple’s always good at delivering feature updates to older watches through software. If you’re coming from an earlier Apple Watch Series, it’s more compelling because you get a completely new design, a huge screen and better battery life.

The Ultra 2 feels like it’s forging its own path compared with other sports and endurance watches because you can wear it everywhere, for almost any activity. Most importantly, it’s a true smartwatch: there are no compromises on app support, cellular connectivity or that seamless second screen experience that you often miss out on with competing sports watches.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is still missing a way to interpret all your health and fitness data with recovery metrics. I hope that’s in the works and maybe something that could be added in a software update.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs. Apple Watch Ultra vs. Series 9

Apple Watch Ultra 2 Apple Watch Ultra Apple Watch Series 9
Shape Square Square Square
Watch size 49mm 49mm 41mm, 45mm
Materials, finishes Titanium Titanium Aluminum, stainless steel
Display size, resolution 1.91-inch, 502 x 410-pixel OLED 1.91-inch, 502 x 410-pixel OLED 41mm: 1.61-inch, 430 x 352-pixel OLED; 45mm: 1.77-inch, 484 x 396-pixel OLED
Dimensions 44mm x 49mm x 14.4mm 49 x 44 x 14.4mm 41mm: 35 x 41 x 10.7 mm; 45mm: 38 x 45 x 10.7 mm
Weight 61.4g 61.3g 31.9g-51.5g, depending on size, spec and material
Colors Natural titanium Natural titanium Aluminum: midnight, starlight, silver, pink, Product Red; stainless steel: graphite, silver, gold; Hermes stainless steel: silver, space black
Always On Yes Yes Yes
Interchangable bands Yes Yes Yes
GPS Yes (L1 and L5) Yes Yes (L1)
Automatic workout detection Yes Yes Yes
Compass Yes Yes Yes
Altimeter Yes (operating range: -500m to 9,000m) Yes Yes
Water resistance 10ATM (100 meters) and recreational scuba diving up to 40 meters Yes, up to 100m 5ATM (50 meters)
Calls Yes Yes Yes
Microphone Yes (3-mic array) Yes Yes
Speaker Yes Yes Yes
Voice assistant Yes (Siri, on-device) Yes (Siri) Yes (Siri, on-device)
Mobile Payments Yes (Apple Pay) Yes (Apple Pay) Yes (Apple Pay)
Sleep tracking Yes Yes Yes
Period tracking Yes Yes Yes
Sensors SPo2 (blood oxygen), ECG, optical heart, ambient light, high dynamic range gyroscope, high-g accelerometer, water temperature, depth gauge + app SPo2 (blood oxygen), ECG, optical heart, ambient light, high dynamic range gyroscope, high-g accelerometer, water temperature, depth gauge + app SPo2 (blood oxygen), ECG, optical heart, ambient light, high dynamic range gyroscope, high-g accelerometer
Emergency features International emergency calling, Emergency SOS, crash detection International emergency calling, Emergency SOS, crash detection International emergency calling, Emergency SOS, crash detection
Compatibility iOS 17 iOS 16 iOS 17
Software WatchOS 10 WatchOS 9 WatchOS 10
Processor Apple S9 S8 SiP with 64-bit dual-core processor Apple S9
Connectivity LTE and UMTS, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.3 LTE and UMTS, Wi-FI LTE and UMTS, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.3
Memory and storage 64GB 64GB 64GB
Power USB-C magnetic fast charging USB-C magnetic fast charging USB-C magnetic fast charging
Battery life Up to 36 hours; up to 72 hours (low power mode) 36-hour battery life, 18 hours on LTE Up to 18 hours; up to 36 hours (low power mode)
Battery capacity Unavailable Unavailable Unavailable
Price (USD) $799 $799 41mm: from $399; 45mm: from $429
Price (GBP) £799 £849 41mm: from £399; 45mm: from £429
Price (AUD) AU$1,399 AU$1,299 41mm: from AU$649; 45mm: from AU$699

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Technologies

The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Bring the Heat to Xbox Game Pass

Two amazing games will be available soon for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

The second half of February and early March could be considered one of the best stretches in recent memory for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, widely regarded as one of the best games of the past decade, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 headline a lineup that leans heavily into sprawling, choice-driven adventures but does throw in some football to mix things up a bit. 

Xbox Game Pass offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV, PC or mobile device, with prices starting at $10 a month. While all Game Pass tiers offer you a library of games, Game Pass Ultimate ($30 a month) gives you access to the most games, as well as Day 1 games, meaning they hit Game Pass the day they go on sale.

Here are all the latest games subscribers can play on Game Pass. You can also check out other games the company added to the service in early February, including Madden NFL 26.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition 

Available on Feb. 19 for Game Pass Ultimate and Premium Game Pass subscribers.

The Witcher 3 came out 10 years ago, and it’s still being praised as one of the best games ever made. To celebrate, developer CD Projekt Red is bringing over The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition to Xbox Game Pass. Subscribers will be able to play The Witcher 3 and its expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Players once more take on the role of monster-slayer Geralt, who goes on an epic search for his daughter, Ciri. As he pieces together what happened to her, he comes across vicious monsters, devious spirits, and the most evil of humans who seek to end his quest. 

Death Howl

Available on Feb. 19 for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Death Howl is a dark fantasy tactical roguelike that blends turn-based grid combat with deck-building mechanics. Players move across compact battlefield maps, weighing positioning and card synergies to survive increasingly difficult encounters. Progression comes through incremental upgrades that reshape each run. Battles reward careful planning, as overextending or mismanaging your hand can quickly end a run.

EA Sports College Football 26

Available on Feb. 19 for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

EA Sports College Football 26 delivers a new take on college football gameplay with enhanced offensive and defensive mechanics, smarter AI and dynamic play-calling that reflects real strategic football systems. Featuring over 2,800 plays and more than 300 real-world coaches with distinct schemes, it offers expanded Dynasty and Road to Glory modes where team building and personnel decisions matter. On the field, dynamic substitutions, improved blocking and coverage logic make matches feel more fluid and tactical.  

Dice A Million

Available on Feb. 25 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Dice A Million centers on rolling and managing dice to build toward increasingly higher scores. Each round asks players to weigh risk against reward, deciding when to bank points and when to push for bigger combinations. Progression introduces modifiers and new rules that subtly shift probabilities, making runs feel distinct while keeping the core loop focused on calculated gambling.

Towerborne

Available on Feb. 26 for Game Pass Ultimate, PC, and Premium Game Pass subscribers.

After months in preview, Towerborne will get its full release on Xbox Game Pass. The fast-paced action game blends procedural dungeons and light RPG progression, with players fighting through waves of enemies. You’ll unlock permanent upgrades between runs and equip weapons, spells and talents that change how combat feels each time. The core loop pushes risk versus reward as you dive deeper into tougher floors, adapting builds on the fly, and mastering movement and timing to survive increasingly chaotic battles.

Final Fantasy 3

Available on March 3 for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Another Final Fantasy game is coming to Xbox Game Pass. This time, it’s Final Fantasy 3, originally released on the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) back in 1990. Since then, Final Fantasy 3 has been ported to a slew of devices and operating systems, including the Nintendo Wii, iOS and Android. Now, you’ll be able to play on your Xbox or PC with a Game Pass subscription. A new group of heroes is once again tasked with saving the world before it’s covered in darkness. Four orphans from the village of Ur find a Crystal of Light in a secret cave, which tasks them as the new Warriors of Light. They’ll have to stop Xande, an evil wizard looking to use the power of darkness to become immortal. 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Available on March 3 for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Last year was stacked with amazing games, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was one of the best. Developer Warhorse Studios’ RPG series takes place in the real medieval kingdom of Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic, and tasks players with a somewhat realistic gaming experience where you have to use the weapons, armor and items from those times. The sequel picks up right after the first game (also on Xbox Game Pass) as Henry of Skalitz is attacked by bandits, which starts a series of events that disrupts the entire country. 

Games leaving Game Pass in February

For February, Microsoft is removing four games. If you’re still playing them, now’s a good time to finish up what you can before they’re gone for good on Feb. 28.

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, and check out our hands-on review of the gaming service. You can also learn about recent changes to Game Pass.

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Technologies

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt Trade Blows in Latest AI Slop Video, and Hollywood Won’t Stand for It

While some Hollywood icons are feeling doom and gloom over the AI-generated clip, labor unions are fighting back with legal threats.

Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are trading blows in a viral AI-generated clip on social media, sparking backlash from the film industry. Chinese company ByteDance’s new video generation model, Seedance 2.0, allowed people to create fictional videos of real likenesses with short prompts. Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson used two lines to generate the clip of Pitt and Cruise fighting.

If ByteDance sounds familiar to you, it’s because the company also owns TikTok internationally, though it recently sold its US ownership of the social media and video-sharing platform to US companies. Oracle, MGX and Silver Lake each hold a 15% stake. 

The actors in this latest viral AI slop video still don’t look like perfect re-creations — close-up shots of the fake Brad Pitt’s face, especially, have an «uncanny valley,» dreamlike AI look where the cuts blend into his flesh a little too smoothly. However, a CNET survey from earlier Tuesday showed that while 94% of US adults believe they encounter AI slop on social media, just 44% say they’re confident they can tell real videos from AI-generated ones.

One of the most inflammatory parts of the Pitt-Cruise video is the dialogue, as the computerized facsimiles of the actors fight over a supposed assassination plot regarding Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who maintained ties to rich and powerful people worldwide. The two actors’ likenesses became a vehicle to push conspiracy theories that have been picking up steam as the millions of pages of redacted emails, receipts and other documents that make up the Epstein files continue to trickle out of the US Department of Justice.

Hollywood is fighting back as AI-generated content consumes and spits out actor likenesses and copyrighted content alike. Major studios and their labor forces alike have united to push back against the precedent set by the viral AI video.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Motion Picture Association demanded that ByteDance «immediately cease its infringing activity» through Seedance. SAG-AFTRA, the labor union that represents Hollywood performers, released a statement on Friday saying it «stands with the studios» in condemning the Seedance video generation model.

The Screen Actors Guild specifically pointed to Seedance’s unauthorized use of members’ faces, likenesses and voices as a threat that could put actors out of work. 

«Seedance 2.0 disregards law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent,» the actors’ guild said in its statement.

Representatives for the MPA and SAG-AFTRA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Similar videos generated by Seedance have depicted Star Wars characters dueling with lightsabers as well as Marvel superheroes Spider-Man and Captain America brawling. Disney issued a cease-and-desist order to ByteDance on Friday in response to these videos, which it alleges constitute copyright infringement, according to the BBC.

A representative for ByteDance didn’t immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment, but issued a statement to the BBC saying it is «taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users.»

Following the viral incident, ByteDance updated its tool to prevent people from uploading images of real people for AI-generated content, but it remains to be seen how effective that policy will be. Certainly, it won’t curb the output of videos depicting fictional masked or anthropomorphic characters like Spider-Man or Mickey Mouse. 

As AI models continue to create mediocre copies of cultural icons, this won’t be the first — or last — legal battleground for AI video generation.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 18, #983

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 18 #983.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle was great fun for me, as I’m the co-author of two pop-culture encyclopedias, one about the 1970s, and 1980s and the other about the 1990s. Two of the categories are retro-themed! Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Farrah hair.

Green group hint: Totally tubular!

Blue group hint: Bock-bock!

Purple group hint: Can refer to a dairy product or a cosmetic.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Retro hair directives.

Green group: Retro slang for cool.

Blue group: Chicken descriptors.

Purple group: ____ cream.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is retro hair directives. The four answers are crimp, curl, feather and tease.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is  retro slang for cool. The four answers are bad, fly, rad and wicked.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is chicken descriptors. The four answers are bantam, crested, free-range and leghorn.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ cream.  The four answers are heavy, shaving, sour and topical.

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