Apple launched the rugged Apple Watch Ultra this week — with a much bigger, brighter 49mm display, an extra {hardware} button, a much bigger battery, and higher audio system — made for extra excessive outside situations. But I imagine the $800 smartwatch can be utilized one other means: to look at TV.

Wait, wait, wait, hear me out; it’s not a brand new thought. In 1982, Japanese watchmaker Seiko debuted a wristwatch that could receive UHF and VHF channels, albeit the precise receiver was in an enormous belt pack you had to connect with the LCD display in your wrist. The thought by no means actually caught on (apart from within the James Bond film Octopussy), however it launched an thrilling and futuristic tv expertise we nonetheless haven’t nailed but.

Image: Seiko

When the unique Apple Watch hit the market in 2015, references had been made to the Seiko TV Watch. It was, in any case, a futuristic Bond-esque wrist pc. But seven years later, barely any performance round watching video has been added to the gadget. The two methods I’ve discovered to look at any type of video is for somebody to ship me a clip through iMessage after which view it from my Apple Watch or to obtain a third-party app known as WatchTube, which is just a little buggy and lacks a whole lot of video taking part in options. Neither of those strategies could be very near the expertise of tv. With the Apple Watch Ultra’s display, speaker, and battery life upgrades, video assist is now a extra justifiable request.

I’m undecided viewing status TV like House of the Dragon or films like Top Gun: Maverick can be an excellent expertise on a watch, however what if we might watch one thing like… a baseball recreation straight from our wrists? An ambient but energetic tv pastime. It’s the longer term that the Seiko TV Watch promised: to have probably the most transportable hands-free tv stay at a second’s discover. I might completely like to go on a stroll in my neighborhood with the Yankees recreation connected to my arm with out having to always unlock my cellphone or take it out of my pocket to view what simply occurred. I simply heard Aaron Judge hit a fly ball into left area; how briskly can I examine the display to see if somebody catches it?

I feel one state of affairs is sufficient to warrant a software program function most occasions, however I’ll share a number of extra. What for those who’re kneading dough in your outside pizza oven and also you wish to watch the gubernatorial debate? Perhaps you might be shoveling asphalt in the course of the Indy 500. You are operating monitor within the morning and love The Drew Barrymore Show. The elevator is caught and you could name upkeep, however it’s late within the fourth quarter and the Giants are driving down by 4. Scuba diving in the course of the Olympics opening ceremony? Who wants picture-in-picture mode when you possibly can watch The Tonight Show in your cellphone and The Late Show in your watch concurrently? Oh my god, what for those who get a kind of little Apple Watch stands that appears like an previous Macintosh and watch the US Open in your desk whilst you work? I want to maintain Emily in Paris taking part in on my transportable TV whereas I’m throwing a frisbee on the seaside. Forget in regards to the traditional sitcom predicament in regards to the father who has to go to church in the course of the Big Game. Who’s to say, however maybe having Quibi out there to look at in your wrist would have saved the streaming service.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The customizable motion button on the Apple Watch Ultra can be nice for altering channels on a linear TV app like Pluto TV or YouTube TV or rewinding a video again 30 seconds to replay a clip from Apple TV Plus’ Friday Night Baseball protection. A {hardware} button makes play, pause, fast-forward, and closed captioning just a little simpler with a tiny display. The brighter display would make it simpler to look at in vibrant outside environments, like tailgating at a live performance. The upgraded audio system allow you to look at with out your AirPods for household viewing.

Though the expertise is right here, the Apple Watch Ultra nonetheless gained’t allow you to do that. Is it as a result of it might diminish the already quick battery lifetime of the gadget for a function just a few folks would truly use? Is it as a result of Apple desires you to consider the watch as a well being gadget and never a tv? Probably. But the dream remains to be alive. There’s a cause why somebody made a third-party YouTube app for the watch, and I’ve seen a number of weird tiny-screen gadgets folks have been strapping to their wrists. As batteries are lasting longer and processors are getting quicker, we’ve hit the purpose the place TV may be watched wherever. So it’s time to have the ability to watch TV on my watch.