Apple Watch Ultra 4 Review: The smartwatch for the health-conscious

This is going to be a review in progress.

The reason is simple: the new Apple Watch Ultra 4 , unveiled last week and launching properly tomorrow, touts numerous new features that won't be available until later this year (if you're in Europe, the timeline is unknown).

Apple provided me with a review unit of the new Ultra 4, and all I could do was focus on what was there.

The highlights: longer battery life (huge!) and a new heart rate monitoring system, which Apple says is best in the business.

First, the specs: Case : Titanium Colors : Natural or Black Case size : 49mm Display resolution : 422x514 pixels, 1,245 square mm display area Display brightness : Up to 3,000 nits peak brightness, 1 nit minimum brightness Display type : Wide-angle OLED and LTPO3 Chip : S11 with a 4-core Neural Engine, W3 wireless chip Storage : 64GB Connectivity : GPS, Cellular (5G and LTE), WiFi4, Bluetooth 5.3, satellite connectivity, second-gen Ultra Wideband chip Battery life : up to 50 hours of normal use, up to 84 hours in Low Power Mode Charging : Up to 80 percent charge in about 45 minutes Durability : Water resistance 100m, recreational scuba diving to 40m, dust resistance IP6X, tested to MIL-STD 810H standard Special features : Second-generation electrical heart sensor, always-on optical heart sensor So what's new here? Apple Watch Ultra 4 repeats the colors from last year: Black Titanium (pictured) and Natural Titanium.

Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable If you take a closer look at those specs and compare them to the Ultra Watch 3 , you'll see they're almost identical, with the only differences being the new chip, better battery life, and the second-gen heart-monitoring system.

That's right: Even the colors are the same as last year and boil down to Natural Titanium or Black Titanium (my unit was of the Natural Titanium variety).

This is the rare gadget where I don't really mind the lack of visual updates.

The Apple Watch Ultra has looked pretty much the same since the first version, but it looks rugged, powerful, and mighty, with a beautiful display that puts most other smartwatches to shame.

I wouldn't mind a new case color just for variety's sake, but the design is (still) great.

It does, however, mean that I have little to report on display size, brightness, or basic functionality.

It's all the same as last year's version.

The Siri Modular Watch Face has a special complication in the middle that always surfaces the most relevant widget.

Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable As for new watch faces, Apple's new watchOS 27 (which is what my unit is running) brings only one: Siri Modular.