The Honor Watch 5 Ultra represents a significant step into the premium market for Honor, adopting the “Ultra” moniker popularized by its competitors. Launched as a companion piece to the flagship Honor phones, this smartwatch is less a full-featured Wear OS rival and more a high-end, ruggedized fitness tracker disguised as a luxury timepiece. It impresses instantly with its stellar hardware and multi-week battery life, but its appeal is tempered by a reliance on Honor’s proprietary MagicOS, which severely limits its third-party app ecosystem. The final verdict hinges on whether you prioritize robust build quality and endurance over the extensive functionality offered by rival smart platforms.
Design, Build Quality, and Display
Where the standard Honor watches have traditionally featured more conventional designs, the Watch 5 Ultra justifies its name with truly premium materials. The case is constructed from a robust Grade 5 Titanium alloy, providing lightweight durability and superior corrosion resistance, making it suitable for both daily wear and extreme sports. This is further paired with a Sapphire Crystal screen, which is highly resistant to scratches and gives the watch a luxury aesthetic and feel.
Aesthetically, the watch boasts a unique dome octagonal design that houses a large, circular 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED display. With a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels, the screen is vibrant, sharp, and buttery smooth thanks to its 60Hz refresh rate. It is bright enough for outdoor visibility, although it is not the brightest panel available in the Ultra category. For navigation, Honor integrates a classic combination of a customizable function button and a responsive digital rotating crown, which makes scrolling through lists and zooming in on the map far more intuitive than touch alone.
In terms of ruggedness, the watch carries an IP68 rating and is certified for 5 ATM water resistance, with an additional new Free Diving Mode that allows submersions up to 40 meters. This emphasis on durable, top-tier construction is arguably the Watch 5 Ultra’s single strongest selling point.
Battery Life and Proprietary Performance
The cornerstone of the Honor Watch 5 Ultra’s appeal is its endurance. Powered by a 480mAh battery, the watch is advertised to achieve an incredible 15 days of typical usage. In real-world testing with heavy usage—including continuous heart rate monitoring, regular GPS tracking, and the Always-On Display (AOD) enabled—users consistently report between five and seven days of life, which is still exceptional when compared to competitors that require daily charging. When it is time to charge, the watch conveniently supports both magnetic charging and QI-certified wireless charging, which can be a lifesaver.
The operating system, MagicOS (Honor’s proprietary platform), provides a smooth and efficient user experience. It offers seamless navigation and snappy responses, complemented by 8GB of internal storage for music—a welcome feature for phone-free workouts.
Comprehensive Health and Fitness Tracking
As a fitness device, the Watch 5 Ultra is highly capable, catering to nearly every activity imaginable with support for over 100 sports modes. It includes all the essential health sensors: heart rate monitoring, SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation), stress, and high-precision, built-in GPS for accurate run and cycle mapping (though it lacks the dual-frequency GPS found in top-tier rivals).
The device introduces several sophisticated health features, including a Quick Health Scan for an instant overall report, a Healthy Morning Report summarizing key nightly metrics, and advanced Scientific Sleep Management, which generally performs with high accuracy. Crucially, the Watch 5 Ultra also incorporates an ECG sensor for on-demand heart rhythm checks. While the data collection is thorough, it’s worth noting that some reviews indicate the heart rate sensor can lag or provide slightly elevated readings during periods of high-intensity, fluctuating exercise compared to dedicated chest straps.
The Smartwatch Compromise: Software Limitations
Despite its superb hardware, the Honor Watch 5 Ultra is fundamentally limited by its software. The biggest setback is the lack of a robust third-party app store. This absence means the watch cannot integrate with essential services like Spotify, Google Maps, or popular third-party workout apps like Strava. Furthermore, while the watch has a microphone and speaker to facilitate Bluetooth calling (when connected to your phone), notifications are basic—you can read incoming messages (like WhatsApp alerts), but you often cannot interact or reply to them beyond canned responses. The absence of a global NFC wallet also means contactless payment is typically unavailable, even if the hardware theoretically supports it. This reliance on Honor’s ecosystem makes the watch feel somewhat “hollow” on the inside, preventing it from truly competing as a full-fledged smartwatch for users deeply integrated into the Android or iOS ecosystem.
Verdict
The Honor Watch 5 Ultra is an outstanding piece of engineering defined by its premium Grade 5 Titanium build, gorgeous sapphire-protected AMOLED display, and incredible multi-day battery life.
It is the perfect choice for the user who prioritizes:
Durability and luxury aesthetics.
Best-in-class battery endurance.
Core health monitoring (sleep, heart rate, GPS) without needing extensive third-party apps.
Existing ownership of an Honor smartphone, maximizing its ecosystem integration.
However, if you require functions essential to a modern smartwatch—like mobile payments, downloading productivity apps, or cellular connectivity—you will find the Watch 5 Ultra’s closed software system to be a significant limitation, despite its “Ultra” title.
