I don’t think the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra is ‘Ultra,’ but it’s a fine smartwatch nonetheless

What does the word “Ultra” mean to you? In the tech world, I think most can agree that it’s come to mean “the absolute best.” The Galaxy S25 Ultra is the best phone Samsung makes and one of the very best Android phones you can get, for example. Similar things could be said about other Ultra-branded products, like the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which is easily one of the best smartwatches on the market. You’ve also got things like the Roku Ultra and Intel Core Ultra processors. Generally, when you see “Ultra” in the name of something, you expect it to be top-of-the-line.

I expected that when I went hands-on with the new HONOR Watch 5 Ultra. However, I’m not so sure “Ultra” should apply to this watch. Don’t get me wrong: it’s got a lot of great things going for it, and people in the market for a new smartwatch should give it a look. But is it really Ultra?

Based solely on construction, the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra is a very premium smartwatch. It’s beautifully designed with an enormous 1.5-inch AMOLED display housed in an octagonal Grade 5 titanium case. The display is covered in sapphire crystal glass, which makes it much more scratch-resistant than your standard smartphone display (but also makes it more prone to cracks, so be careful just the same).

At the top right of the case is a grippy crown with a classy red stripe going around it. You can use that to navigate through the UI (complete with haptic feedback) or press it to bring up the app launcher. Under that is a flat button that is set to launch the activity tracker app by default but can be configured to do other things if you like.

The display also gets pretty bright, with a typical brightness of 700 nits and a peak brightness of 1,500 nits. That’s not quite as bright as the Google Pixel Watch 3 (that has a peak of 2,000 nits), but I had no issues with seeing the display even under the California midday sun.

The HONOR Watch 5 Ultra is also, in a word, massive. The case measures 46.3 x 46.3  x 11.4mm, which makes it only a bit smaller than the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. I realize many of our readers like big smartwatches, but I’m not in that camp. To me, the Pixel Watch 3 in its 45mm size is perfect, and that watch is significantly smaller (not to mention lighter) than this one. The Watch 5 Ultra clocks in at a hefty 52g, almost 30% more than the 45mm Pixel Watch 3. In other words, if you like big watches and you cannot lie, you’re going to love this. If you don’t, buyer beware.

If it’s not too big for you to go for a swim with it, you’ll be fine underwater, too. The watch has an IP68 rating and supports up to 5ATM of water resistance. It’s not safe to go scuba diving with, but it will be perfectly safe on your pool dives.

Finally, there are two color variants on offer. The black model comes with a black fluoroelastomer strap, which you can see throughout this article. There’s also a brown model with a leather strap. The straps can be easily swapped out, though, using any standard 22mm band.

Ultimately, I was impressed by the look and feel of this watch. It feels like a tank, would go with any outfit, from a tuxedo to mechanic’s overalls, and that display is absolutely stunning. Throw in that terrific digital crown and you’ve got a real winner for design.

Generally, when you think of a top-of-the-line smartwatch, you think of one that has a powerful, well-supported operating system with tons of apps, features, and settings tweaks. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra. In place of something like Wear OS 5, it has a much more simplistic operating system that HONOR calls Magic OS (not to be confused with its Android skin of the same name). There’s no app store, for example, so the apps the watch comes with are the only ones you’ll get.

Granted, there are plenty of cool apps on here. For health, you have a standard activity-tracking app that can track over 100 exercises, an SpO2 tracker that takes manual readings, a sleep tracker, and a heart rate monitor. For tools, there’s a flashlight, alarm clock, and timer. You can also see notifications from your phone and control your phone’s music playback. It’s also possible to load songs onto the watch itself and play them back on Bluetooth headphones (it supports Bluetooth 5.2), allowing you to go out for a run, leave your phone behind, and still have your favorite jams. Just be sure to compress those songs to 128kbps, as there’s only 8GB of storage here.

However, if you want to do more complicated things with your smartwatch, such as chat on WhatsApp, control your smart home, talk with a digital assistant, etc., that won’t be possible with the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra. It’s not out of the question that HONOR could push more apps and services to the watch in the future, but for now, what you get when you take it out of the box is all you’ll have.

The trade-off here, though, is battery life. Since the Watch 5 Ultra is relatively simple compared to other smartwatches, it sips on power. When you combine this with the gigantic 480mAh battery in the watch, you have a battery life behemoth. HONOR claims you can get up to 15 days out of it without a charge, which seems unlikely in real-world usage, but judging from my limited time with it, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could max out all display settings and still get a week of life before needing to charge.

When you do need to charge, it supports wireless charging at up to 7.5W. It comes with a magnetic charging puck in the box, but you can drop it onto any charger — or even the back of your phone if it supports reverse wireless charging — to top it up.

Finally, although Android users (on Android 9 Pie or higher) are the obvious target market for the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra, iPhone owners can use it, too. As long as your iPhone supports iOS 13 or higher, you’ll be good to go.

During my time with the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra, I couldn’t get the word “Ultra” out of my head. Sure, this watch looks great, performs great, and has a battery that just won’t quit. But it’s exceptionally deficient in key areas that, in my opinion, prevents it from earning its name.

For example, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 comes with 64GB of storage, which is eight times as much as what we have here. The Watch Ultra 2 can also go on a SCUBA dive or even to the top of Mount Everest, thanks to its durability going way beyond a standard IP68 rating or 5 ATM of water resistance. It also has an app store, more robust health-tracking features, and is getting better all the time thanks to continuous software updates from Apple. You could say similar things about the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, even if that watch came out of the gate a bit shaky for various reasons.

The HONOR Watch 5 Ultra, in comparison, is just a basic smartwatch with a premium build. Slapping “Ultra” in the name is, at best, wishful thinking and, at worst, misleading.

The ace in the hole, though, is the price. While the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($759.99 at eBay) and Galaxy Watch Ultra ($649.99 at Amazon) both properly earn their names, they are far more expensive than the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra (on the product’s website) that costs €279 (~$289.53). So you might be losing out on the ultra performance, but at least you’re not paying the ultra price.

Regardless, I enjoyed my limited time with the HONOR Watch 5 Ultra. If you’re looking for something that looks nice on your wrist, nails the basics, and won’t need to be charged every night, this is a good option. If you really want something “Ultra,” though, stick with the big name competitors.