Posted on 04/20/2015 3:22:57 PM PDT by Swordmaker
he Apple Watch is, first and foremost, an iPhone accessory. It might be even more than that eventually, a truly independent gadget, but a vast majority of its current core functions -- making calls, sending messages, getting information, even playing any third-party games -- require your iPhone to be on, have Internet service, and be paired with the Watch via Bluetooth or a shared Wi-Fi network. If you're thinking about getting one, make sure you know that. It requires an iPhone 5 or later, and it can't even be set up without one.
Still, the Apple Watch can do a few things without your iPhone around -- more than I even realized. I left my iPhone behind and went for a stroll with just the Apple Watch to try it out.
Here's everything the Apple Watch can do when away from your iPhone:
Music
The Apple Watch has 6.2GB of available storage, of which 2GB can be used to store music. You sync music with Apple Watch via your iPhone and the Apple Watch app, no Mac or iTunes required (but, the music must be on your phone in the Music app, or in iTunes in the Cloud). Once your music is synced, you're free to listen as long you have a pair of Bluetooth headphones. I paired a few sets easily via the Apple Watch's Bluetooth settings: the ones I tested in the video above were the Plantronics BackBeat Fit, a highly-rated comfy pair of fitness-targeted wraparound wireless sport earbuds. In the Apple Watch Music app, you need to Force Press and select "Source" as Apple Watch. Once that awkward step is done, music plays just like on an iPod.
Fitness
Apple has two built-in fitness apps called Activity and Workout, and both work away from the iPhone. You can measure heart rate, too. Activity tracks steps, time spent standing, and active exercise. Workout allows timed exercise sessions that measure pace, distance, heart rate, and calorie burn estimates for various activities. The only thing you can't do away from your iPhone is track your walk or run with GPS: that requires your iPhone. Third-party fitness apps can't be used away from your iPhone, either. In fact, all third-party apps -- those not created by Apple -- need an iPhone connection to work.
Apple Pay
Once you set up a credit card for Apple Pay to work on Apple Watch, it keeps working even when your iPhone is not attached. Double-click the flat side button, and you can tap to pay at any Apple Pay-ready store. It's easy to use and addictive. If the watch is taken off your wrist, you'll need to enter a passcode to use it again. Because Apple Pay doesn't use your actual credit card number, you can cancel it from your iPhone and deactivate your Apple Watch's Apple Pay function, even if the watch isn't online at all.
Passbook
You can store boarding passes, tickets and gift cards in Passbook in the form of QR codes, and it's a great alternative to Apple Pay for a lot of stores and services. It's easy to open your cards and tickets, and QR codes even get brighter when you display them, for easy scanning.
Photos
There's a small photo album app on the Apple Watch that stores up to 500 photos from your phone library or iCloud. It's hard to see pics on the small screen, but it's a cute replacement for the itty-bitty wallet photo.
Alarms, timers, world clock, stopwatch...and watch faces
Apple has several timer and clock apps apart from the stylized watch faces, which also work when your iPhone is disconnected and offline. You can use Apple Watch like a full-featured chronograph and watch, or as an alarm clock. And of course, you can use Apple's own beautiful watch faces, too, which will still tell time.
Reading messages, recent calls and even offline voice mails
You can't make phone calls away from your phone, but you can see who's called recently, and read already-sent texts. Shockingly, you can even listen to voice mails! The Apple Watch syncs visual voice mail, and most of them will play back on my watch even with Airplane mode turned on. You won't be able to receive new messages without connecting your phone again, but at least you can browse missed connections.
That's it for now
Hopefully, someday, the Apple Watch will use its Wi-Fi antenna to get data on its own, or to pair with other devices like the Apple TV and Macs (it already has an Apple TV remote mode, but it's somewhat simple in its range of function).
In the meantime, you can experiment with the key features outlined above.
I don't give a damn about "sexual identity", self-selected or otherwise. That is your shtick. I have already posted actual gender data. You guys keep outing yourselves as closet Liberals. "Sexual identity" your rear end. . .
Then why tell us about your preference for the umpteenth time. We got it already about ten times ago.
Yup. I’m sure they know.
Then again, they sold something like 5M of them already, and none have shipped yet. It’s so successful they can’t make them fast enough. They need some kind of limit on the demand.
this is a post of an article from C-Net. It is NOT an advertisement. If you think it is an advertisement then everything on Freerepublic referencing another website is an advertisement. . . or you are an idiot.
Fine, St Thomas. Start a General Mills interest group on FreeRepublic and feel free to post your link and and article there to have all two of you who are interested discuss it. I doubt the 700 members of the Apple ping list give a damn what you like for breakfast. I certainly don't. They are, however, interest in this. You have no point of value.
Nobody except geeks wants them. They've been on the market for at least six months and have gained no traction. The Samsung Gear S does it too. . . and is falling flat in the all important desire to own demographic.
tim cook is the one that made apple about sexual identity (do you have a better term for it? homosexuals, pedophiles, animal-attracted, furries, bisexuals, polyamorous, etc. 'freaks' use to suffice). blame him if you have a problem defending their brand
i never knew Steve's preferences... and i never cared. he never focused the company around it. he was selling gadgets and software. and that worked fine. no sexual preference politics were ever introduced.
that's no longer the case.
if you have a problem supporting the fags of the country, or would prefer apple distance itself from that image, you should let them know.
I only mentioned that once... so just read it only once and you're good.
I don’t know.
Sure the Apple watch is lightyears ahead of the Linux watches which have standalone phones included.
I very much like the Apple’s style.
However the phones the Apple is up against, are the first generations. They’re undoubtedly making money, and the competitive field is expanding exponentially now.
Apple has the design factor way ahead of the competition. But there are at least two watches I’ve seen advertised which seem to be stand-along phones.
When someone brings the two of those things into one phone, it will literally take off.
I think someone will bring such a phone to market within a year.
Just saying. It would be nice if the Apple watch were to win me over.
I’m paying attention. I’m also sure there are a (bunch) of people out here, also paying attention. Moreso every day.
A phone on a watch is a real answer to the hassle of having to keep track of your phone.
Apple you’re on the right track. But not there yet, for me anyway.
We shall see how this market plays out.
hmmmm. Spend $18K on a watch or lets see, eat this year. hmmm. I am retiring so I think I’ll spend it on food and just maybe on a trip to see my son instead.
Eatings good. Sounds like a good plan to me.
I have.
(Some 700 Freepers appreciate such posts.)
Dude, stop speaking for me. I am on an Apple ping list as I like their products. However I can see the difference between a fan and a total pusher who obviously has a financial stake in doing the pushing. There is a big difference between loving the iphone which was an absolutely revolutionary product which met a totally unmet demand, and pushing the Apple Watch which does very little that other Apple products don’t do, and is therefore just pure marketing. I have yet to hear what’s so special about the Apple Watch, except that Apple has sold a lot of them. The message has got to be more than just “follow the sheep and buy one too!”
A conversation using a phone on your wrist is anything but private. . . and I hate people who use speaker phones in public. That is what happens even with the Apple Watch. It allows you to handle a quick phone call, but it is not intended for long conversations on your wrist watch. For those, you get out your iPhone and have a private conversation. For this reason alone, those stand alone wrist phones will be a fail. They will make their owners social pariahs.
The battery life in those phone watches is abysmal. . . it takes a lot of power to transmit and receive phone calls. It has to be on continually awaiting an incoming call. That means the case has to be large enough to handle the batteries to supply the power. Time between charges on one of the phone versions is in hours and their specs sheet doesn't say anything about talk time.
The Samsung Gear S wrist phone is 1.66" wide by over 2.3" long by a half inch thick. It weighs 2.36 ounces, not counting the strap. It's heavy, more than half the weight of an iPhone 6 (4.6 ounces). You still need to own an Android phone to download apps to load onto the Gear S.
Fine print on the Gear S says:
“Gear S: Requires pairing with a compatible Samsung smartphone (sold separately) with the Samsung Gear app for activation, software updates, app downloads and to route calls, text messages and 3rd party app notifications from smartphone to Gear S. “
Oops.
I agree that the Apple watch is a fanbois fashion accessory that is lame and useless. Matter of fact its only for the alpha fanbois. Your average fanbois is steering clear of it
Then you have Chinese and Asians with their herd like conformism. They buy it for status. They wear it and don’t know how to use it because the instruction manuals are only in English
Winner3000, not all members of the Apple list are there for either iPhones, or iPads, or iMacs, or iOS devices, or the other Apple products either. . . but some ARE there for each of them, now including Apple Watches. I don't discriminate by products. The Ping list covers them all. None of the articles are "pushing" any of them. As you can see, some of the members of the ping list are on this thread, discussing what is happening with the Apple Watch. others are not, many read and lurk. Others don't own iMacs or MacBooks but also read and lurk. . . or ignore both. This is about interest or non-interest.
I see quite a bit of value in the Apple Watch that will do things for me that have value as does my girlfriend. More will develop as time passes. A lot of people saw no value in the iPad that wasn't already being done on the iPhone or iPod. . . that turned out to be a completely wrong judgment.
This very thread is about what the Apple Watch can do without being connected to an iPhone. . . something many thought it could not do. Ergo, it is educational to both Apple iPhone users and non-Apple people as well.
I see you are lying again. . . and being racist to boot. How low can you go, Dennis? At least you avoided the homophobic cant this time. DennisW serial liar.
By-the-way, if I, or ctdonath2, responded to that line of thinking, winner3000, there would be no Apple Ping list anymore on Freerepublic. Ctdonath2 was referring to the fact that there are 700 members of the Apple Ping list who do not look on Apple threads as advertising Apple. . . which is what the Apple hate brigade members have chosen to characterize EVERY Apple thread as being.
Whether you as an individual member of the ping list are interested or not in any particular thread is irrelevant to the overall fact that the other members of the list may be interested in that thread. i don't poll the members of the ping list before posting any article to find out if they are interested or not first. . . Nor do I go with majority opinion on such things. I trust the members to self-select the threads in which they are interested to read and participate on their own. They are adults and can choose on their own to ignore something in which they aren't interested.
It is these Apple Hate Brigade Freepers who would prefer to ban all Apple threads completely, that act like Liberal socialist activists, shouting down anything they don't like, by, in this instance, filing all Apple threads with unpleasant, irrelevant posts about the threads being advertising for Apple, or that frequent pro-Apple posters are paid shills for Apple, or repeatedly posting in every thread about how they wouldn't buy one, or repeatedly asking the same, already and repeatedly answered, questions. Frankly, winner3000, it gets quite tiresome from the same repeat offenders whose purpose is juvenile disruption and throwing brickbats.
Oops, I referred to you in the previous post and neglected to ping you. Sorry about that.
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