The idea of strapping a smartphone to your wrist is nothing new, but also not especially compelling. I found one for about $25 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013YDFHGQ/
how about you buy one first? even on gym days where i use the green heart rate monitor, i still have 40% left when its time to charge before bed.
A watch that lasts only a day or two on a single charge is crap and you know it. I have one. It's the reason why it can't do sleep tracking. It's probably the reason why Apple can't add more sensors to it (i.e. GPS, barometer, etc.)
Battery life is the biggest thing that's holding back the Apple Watch from doing a lot more. Apple knows it and I hope they figure it out.
nope. it's an accessory to my phone -- my phone which i must charge every day. it adds no burden for me to slap the watch onto my dock right next to my phone. none.
some users do sleep tracking and charge in the morning for 30 minutes as they get ready for the day. it's your choice.
until there is some new battery tech as of yet unseen by man, thats just gonna be the way it is. i hope youre ok with that.
People are thinking LTE in terms of Mobile connectivity, which isn't what i think the rumors was suggesting.
The current baseband includes LOTS of function for GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, basically everything from 2G-3.9G. An LTE only solution will cut these down dramatically.
IT is likely the LTE here are for m2m, machine to machine function, specifically the newest LTE Cat. 0.
But the LTE Cat 0 was only recently approved, Apple had to pull out some magic to get it shipping this year.
I have always been hoping will make the jump in some of their devices to offer LTE only, saving the cost of licensing and circuit complexity with previous gen.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to add on another $15-$30/month cellular charge to my family share phone bill to make my watch an independent phone, just yet. It's ok occasionally to make a call to a restaurant to confirm a reservation, or to receive a call from the iPhone in my pocket, but that's about it. Call quality on the Watch is pretty weak, and I don't need another phone number.
I'm sure this full independence is in the cards for a few years down the line, but I don't believe the technology is quite there yet. I have the same technology concern for throwing in GPS functionality, with battery life a significant issue.
I agree with you. It seems like the only way this could fly is if the carriers are willing to allow the WATCH to run independently on the same iPhone account for no extra charge - or perhaps for only an extra $5 a month. Also wonder how much Juice & Space both the GPS & Cell connectivity would add to the battery drain and space inside that might be counteracted by the ability to fit a larger battery inside. Only another 6 weeks or 5 months til we find out I guess.
I am not so much social yet, I cannot share my always private conversations with people around. What the wristphone is shouting would be heard by everyone.
again you are stuck thinking about the mic/speaker in the current Watch.
There is no reason Apple can't put a mic/speaker just as powerful as the iPhone in a new Watch that has an LTE radio.
So your two choices:
Hold the phone near your ear in a very uncomfortable way, remembering that most people wear their watch on their left wrist and hear better from one ear which might not be their left.
Have everyone hear your conversation on the underground (if it can work on the underground).
I really don't think that Apple is going to build a phone into the a watch; not because they can't do it, but because they know shouldn't. I think Apple will focus on standalone GPS functionality for the athletic types, and also make the watch more durable.
People reject a state of the art retina MacBook for not displaying their nose hair at 480 pixel FaceTime, how can we expect they accept a standalone watch with features much less than the current Apple Watch?
Geeks on forums reject the Retina Macbook because of the camera resolution. We have yet to see how Apple's real customers take to it. Likewise, only geeks would reject the Apple Watch for not behaving like a fully-fledged smartphone; normal people wouldn't try to use it as one because that would be silly. They will take messages and respond to them, use it track their jogs around the park.
Having said that, I still don't think Apple will be building a smartphone into a watch. Aside from the usability aspects, it would be a tremendous drain on the battery.
again you are stuck thinking about the mic/speaker in the current Watch.
There is no reason Apple can't put a mic/speaker just as powerful as the iPhone in a new Watch that has an LTE radio.
So your two choices:
Hold the phone near your ear in a very uncomfortable way, remembering that most people wear their watch on their left wrist and hear better from one ear which might not be their left.
Have everyone hear your conversation on the underground (if it can work on the underground).
I really don't think that Apple is going to build a phone into the a watch; not because they can't do it, but because they know shouldn't. I think Apple will focus on standalone GPS functionality for the athletic types, and also make the watch more durable.
It's not about making the WATCH a phone. It's about cellular DATA service so the WATCH can access the Internet without the iPhone nearby.
Hold the phone near your ear in a very uncomfortable way, remembering that most people wear their watch on their left wrist and hear better from one ear which might not be their left.
Have everyone hear your conversation on the underground (if it can work on the underground).
I really don't think that Apple is going to build a phone into the a watch; not because they can't do it, but because they know shouldn't. I think Apple will focus on standalone GPS functionality for the athletic types, and also make the watch more durable.
It's not about making the WATCH a phone. It's about cellular DATA service so the WATCH can access the Internet without the iPhone nearby.
You can talk with the actual watch. So the talk feature would be stripped off from that LTE watch. How many of current Apple Watch's features would be stripped off for the sake of making it "standalone"? Cellular connectivity in an iPad is not redundant, because it is a full featured computer compared to the Watch, it browses the web independently, for example. Cellular in the Watch would be redundant with a phone already present. Apple might put a cellular radio and a SIM tray in the same watch case instead of the haptic engine, but opted not to do so. There is no reason to think that Apple will roll back things...
There will be always more people with smartphones than people with smartwatches, because smartwatches compete with traditional watches for that single spot on the wrist. Not all of smartphone owners will switch to smartwatches, a considerable percentage of them will still use traditional watches. So, a "standalone" smartwatch is pointless because the owner of that smartwatch is already the owner of a smartphone. Yet they push that "standalone smartwatch" nonsense just because Apple Watch is not present in Android. If the Android camp wanted Android support, Apple would open its APIs to Android and make an Apple Watch application for Android. But the Android camp instead choose to compete with Apple by launching their Android Wear thingy. Blame Android for the lack of Apple Watch in that platform, why do you blame Apple for a successful watch operating smoothly and transparently with a successful smartphone?
agree. I don't think they will get rid of the $299 non-LTE model. Some people don't need it as a stand alone device.
I'm hoping the LTE version is $399
I don't believe Apple will ever do LTE Watch, at least in the next 2-3 years. Watch with SIM card doesn't make sense. LTE watch just add 1 benefit ( phone call wo iPhone) but create a lot more issues from hardware design to battery drain. I understand that many features should be independent in AW, but phone call. I rather have GPS than LTE in AW. A
It will take years for Apple to make a jump to independent Watch with Cell funtionality. They're all about incrementalism. I think they will introduce that option with the 5th generation watch. And of course a Watch with Cell support will cost much more than regular cell. Its the difference between iPod Touch and an actual iPhone. I wouldn't want to be dependent on one with the current quality of SIRI. After being introduced in 2021, it will probably work decently in 2023.
If you could share data with your Watch and iPhone without added costs I'll be all over this.
Many days I don't even need my phone and a Watch would do.
The idea of strapping a smartphone to your wrist is nothing new, but also not especially compelling. I found one for about $25 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013YDFHGQ/
There's been Cell watches for a number of years. Does anyone really care? Not that I see. Fact of the matter if, if you want to kill battery life, slap CELL service onto it plus GPS another killer and see your battery life get worse. For what? So you can pay another $10 a month to your cell phone company? So your watch is now costing you $120 a year for service on top of your phone. So that now you're back to using a even smaller screen then a old iPhone with a 3.5" screen. Trying to use SIRI all the time. It's almost as dumb as Google Glass.
I can only hope cell service isn't the direction Apple is heading for the next watch.
The idea of strapping a smartphone to your wrist is nothing new, but also not especially compelling. I found one for about $25 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013YDFHGQ/
There's been Cell watches for a number of years. Does anyone really care? Not that I see. Fact of the matter if, if you want to kill battery life, slap CELL service onto it plus GPS another killer and see your battery life get worse. For what? So you can pay another $10 a month to your cell phone company? So your watch is now costing you $120 a year for service on top of your phone. So that now you're back to using a even smaller screen then a old iPhone with a 3.5" screen. Trying to use SIRI all the time. It's almost as dumb as Google Glass.
I can only hope cell service isn't the direction Apple is heading for the next watch.
The short sightedness of these forums is often staggering.
the one thing Apple is very good at is making deals. Does anybody remember how the cellular industry worked before Apple got involved? You had to buy your phone through the carrier, it had to branded with the carriers logo, and their custom bloat ware was installed on the phone. Since Apple got involved, they have pushed the boundaries of all aspects of cellular plans. FaceTime doesn't count toward the bandwidth use plan? Genius. Calling over wifi? Why did the carriers ever agree to that?
If Apple offers a cellular watch, then there will be some kind of "family" device plan going forward.
im sorry but these kinds of hysterical responses are the very definition of FUD.
So people here demand that the next version have cellular connectivity, AND GOPS, AND be thinner, AND have longer battery life.
Hilarious. I don't know a SINGLE Apple Watch user who has any complaints about battery life. It lasts a whole day, easily. What benefit would even an extra day bring, really?
Sure you don't... Siri does that but Siri cannot talk on your behalf yet, you must shout in the middle of the diner and bow towards your wrist to hear without earbuds.
Its rude to make a call at the dinner table even with a smartphone. Go into another room if you need to make a call.
sorry but your reasoning does not fly.
And you don't need to bow your head to make a call on the Watch. Just bring the Watch up to your face. Hello.
Of course. You apologize and leave the table to talk without disturbing anyone. So, what is the point in strapping a phone to your wrist if you have to leave the table and switch to "call mode" anyway? You left the table and you still need to plug your earbuds for a comfortable conversation, you cannot walk outside watch to mouth, watch to ear, watch to mouth fashion in noisy environments. Still not more convenient than carrying an iPhone, even with earbuds.
You seem very insecure about how other people think of you in public places.
I quit wearing my Apple Watch because it was making me neurotic. I have a slightly elevated heart rate and I found myself constantly checking it on the Watch. Since it was always higher than I wanted it to be, I became anxious and worried which only served to elevate the rate even further. Then I would perceive I was suffering from shortness of breath due to excessive heart rate which only compounded the problem further.
Finally I discovered that I could hide in Glances so I feel better now.
More exercise would help to correct all of these perceived problems.
Comments
some users do sleep tracking and charge in the morning for 30 minutes as they get ready for the day. it's your choice.
until there is some new battery tech as of yet unseen by man, thats just gonna be the way it is. i hope youre ok with that.
Actually, given likely use cases, why do you need LTE? It would not need that bandwidth
Would make more sense if they add it across the board to all apple products including airport as a basestation for lte-u.
The current baseband includes LOTS of function for GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, basically everything from 2G-3.9G. An LTE only solution will cut these down dramatically.
IT is likely the LTE here are for m2m, machine to machine function, specifically the newest LTE Cat. 0.
But the LTE Cat 0 was only recently approved, Apple had to pull out some magic to get it shipping this year.
I have always been hoping will make the jump in some of their devices to offer LTE only, saving the cost of licensing and circuit complexity with previous gen.
Hold the phone near your ear in a very uncomfortable way, remembering that most people wear their watch on their left wrist and hear better from one ear which might not be their left.
Have everyone hear your conversation on the underground (if it can work on the underground).
I really don't think that Apple is going to build a phone into the a watch; not because they can't do it, but because they know shouldn't. I think Apple will focus on standalone GPS functionality for the athletic types, and also make the watch more durable.
Geeks on forums reject the Retina Macbook because of the camera resolution. We have yet to see how Apple's real customers take to it. Likewise, only geeks would reject the Apple Watch for not behaving like a fully-fledged smartphone; normal people wouldn't try to use it as one because that would be silly. They will take messages and respond to them, use it track their jogs around the park.
Having said that, I still don't think Apple will be building a smartphone into a watch. Aside from the usability aspects, it would be a tremendous drain on the battery.
The short sightedness of these forums is often staggering.
the one thing Apple is very good at is making deals. Does anybody remember how the cellular industry worked before Apple got involved? You had to buy your phone through the carrier, it had to branded with the carriers logo, and their custom bloat ware was installed on the phone. Since Apple got involved, they have pushed the boundaries of all aspects of cellular plans. FaceTime doesn't count toward the bandwidth use plan? Genius. Calling over wifi? Why did the carriers ever agree to that?
If Apple offers a cellular watch, then there will be some kind of "family" device plan going forward.
im sorry but these kinds of hysterical responses are the very definition of FUD.
Hilarious. I don't know a SINGLE Apple Watch user who has any complaints about battery life. It lasts a whole day, easily. What benefit would even an extra day bring, really?