Tech Apple Watch 3, GPS + LTE

[Denny Crane]

I never considered that I would want or buy an Apple Watch, but I ordered one on Oct 5. Not because I really wanted an Apple Watch, but because my FitBit One no longer has a charge and I cannot find them for sale, online or anywhere, anymore. They're not on display with the other FitBit products at Best Buy or other places that carry FitBit. I religiously used my FitBit One every day to count my daily steps and mileage, etc. That's pretty much all it was meant to do.

So it really devolved to the question of Apple Watch vs. FitBit Ionic Watch vs. another alternative.

After watching reviews on YouTube and reading about the various devices online, I ended up choosing the Apple Watch. The question then was with LTE or not.

LTE is radio and it's radio that uses battery more than the other radios on phones/watches. The least power consuming is probably WiFi (also radio).

The advantage of LTE is it is the reality that the Dick Tracey watch is truly here. You can stream video/audio, and do facetime calls, and so on with it, as well as making phone calls and using Siri (which needs Internet access to do it's searches). The downside of LTE is the battery drain and you have to pay your carrier (T-Mobile in my case) $10/month for service for it.

The upside of the FitBit Ionic is that FitBit really knows exercise and monitoring. I'm already heavy into the FitBit ecosphere, having had it sync my steps/mileage with their site (cloud) since 2010 or so.

Neither the Watch of Ionic support Spotify (yet). If Ionic did, I would have bought it. I suspect Spotify will come to the Watch soon enough.

That I'm already decently invested in the Apple ecosphere, the Watch fits in. And it does a lot more than just pedometer tracking.

I haven't worn a watch in probably 30 years. This will be a big change, and I'll end up with an ugly tan line.

Being the PORTLAND and TRAIL BLAZERS fan that I am, I got the Nike version with the crimson/black band. Blazers colors!

 

[andalusian]

Congrats. Tell us how you find it once you have it for a little while. I am wondering about a gift for my wife - so hearing first-hand experience would be interesting.

 

[Denny Crane]

My hope was that I could download a playlist worth of songs from Spotify and listen via Bluetooth earbuds. Go without the phone when I go walk on the track at the gym. The phone is a bit bulky, but I’ve managed until now. Going with just the watch would be a bit of a load off.

Plus I can Apple Pay,unlock my Mac screen, etc. The integration could be neat.

The watch is due here first week of November, but it’s gone from 3-4 weeks down to 2-3. People I know said they got theirs earlier than expected.

Looking forward to the iPhone X, too. Apple made a massive mistake announcing the 8 and the X at the same time. Killed the 8 sales.

 

[THE HCP]

Denny, my wife and I love ours. Use them everyday. Use the ApplePay, Delta,Starbucks and tons of other apps right on my wrist. Answer calls and send texts. Once you get used to it, you will love how it syncs up with your phone and keeps tracks of all your workouts and daily stats. Good luck.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

Got the wife one for her birthday and she loves it. I still refuse to taint my body with an apple product.

 

[Denny Crane]

I mentioned other alternatives. LG makes a nice watch. So does Garmin. There are google/android wearables, too. Some of them are big and round like watches used to be.

Overall, it really did end up being between the FitBit and the Apple ones for me.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/2017-apple-event.320276/page-2#post-4249707

 

[Denny Crane]

How long does the battery last for you, @HCP?

When you're not carrying your phone...

 

[Denny Crane]

Denny, my wife and I love ours. Use them everyday. Use the ApplePay, Delta,Starbucks and tons of other apps right on my wrist. Answer calls and send texts. Once you get used to it, you will love how it syncs up with your phone and keeps tracks of all your workouts and daily stats. Good luck.

Does your battery wear out too fast? Do you have a portable charger?

Fill me in, nerd

 

[THE HCP]

Does your battery wear out too fast? Do you have a portable charger?

Fill me in, nerd

I have changed all my settings to make the battery last longer. Dim the display a bit, cut back on notifications and stuff like that. I'd say I'm good for a day or two at most when using it a lot. I do have a travel charger thats always in my backpack on the road.

 

[Denny Crane]

I have changed all my settings to make the battery last longer. Dim the display a bit, cut back on notifications and stuff like that. I'd say I'm good for a day or two at most when using it a lot. I do have a travel charger thats always in my backpack on the road.

Thanks for the info. I'm looking at travel chargers I can carry with me. Something that'll fit in my pocket.

I got the LGE version, not for the LTE ability but because it has 16G of RAM. I'll probably use the GPS 1-2 hours per day though.

 

[Denny Crane]

The thing weighs almost 2 pounds. That's one heavy watch.

 

[andalusian]

View attachment 16735

The thing weighs almost 2 pounds. That's one heavy watch.

Don't worry, 1.5lbs of it is hype videos of design excellence narrated in a British accent.

 

[Denny Crane]

It's obviously the packaging and charger. That adds up.

 

[THE HCP]

Thanks for the info. I'm looking at travel chargers I can carry with me. Something that'll fit in my pocket.

I got the LGE version, not for the LTE ability but because it has 16G of RAM. I'll probably use the GPS 1-2 hours per day though.

That's where I find that mine goes thru the battery..... when I'm using the MAPS app walking around and music at the same time. It so worth it though.

 

[THE HCP]

View attachment 16735

The thing weighs almost 2 pounds. That's one heavy watch.

Shoot some pictures our way when it arrives. You planning on getting specials bands? I have a few. Dressier ones and I use the rubber one it comes with while we are walking or at the gym. You can find some pretty nice third party ones that look like the Apple ones for 1/4 of the price.

 

[THE HCP]

It's obviously the packaging and charger. That adds up.

It's more solid than you would think, but not heavy whatsoever.

 

[THE HCP]

It's more solid than you would think, but not heavy whatsoever.

Kind of like a chic I used to bang in college!

 

[Denny Crane]

Shoot some pictures our way when it arrives. You planning on getting specials bands? I have a few. Dressier ones and I use the rubber one it comes with while we are walking or at the gym. You can find some pretty nice third party ones that look like the Apple ones for 1/4 of the price.

I got one that looks exactly like this:



(Blazers colors!)

 

[THE HCP]

Now thats sharp! I like that band a lot.
I did something at the time that I thought was cool, and now seems kind of a waste.
When I was down in Rio working last summer for the Olympics, the Apple Store by the Olympic Village was selling special bands that look like the one on yours. They had ones from each of the countries in their colors...... that was the ONLY place in the world you could get them and they only let you buy one at a time. They were $50!!! Guys were going back every day and buying some and selling them on eBay for like $250! I didn't have time for all that though. Got a red white and blue one and I like it, but man that was definitely a lot to pay for something like that. If I'm ever in the Apple Store though, they all come up to me and ask where I got it.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/07/21/apple-watch-olympic-bands-where-to-buy/

 

[Denny Crane]

Now thats sharp! I like that band a lot.
I did something at the time that I thought was cool, and now seems kind of a waste.
When I was down in Rio working last summer for the Olympics, the Apple Store by the Olympic Village was selling special bands that look like the one on yours. They had ones from each of the countries in their colors...... that was the ONLY place in the world you could get them and they only let you buy one at a time. They were $50!!! Guys were going back every day and buying some and selling them on eBay for like $250! I didn't have time for all that though. Got a red white and blue one and I like it, but man that was definitely a lot to pay for something like that. If I'm ever in the Apple Store though, they all come up to me and ask where I got it.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/07/21/apple-watch-olympic-bands-where-to-buy/

It's the Nike+ version of the watch (Nike a Portland company, no?). It has Nike watch faces in addition to the Apple ones.

EDIT: sorry, Beaverton company.

 

[andalusian]

It's the Nike+ version of the watch (Nike a Portland company, no?). It has Nike watch faces in addition to the Apple ones.

EDIT: sorry, Beaverton company.

Beaverton to Portland is like Carlsbad to San Diego (only much closer to Portland than Carlsbad is to San Diego). It's basically part of the "metro" area.

 

[Denny Crane]

Beaverton to Portland is like Carlsbad to San Diego (only much closer to Portland than Carlsbad is to San Diego). It's basically part of the "metro" area.

Cool. Not being from Portland, I didn't want to be incorrect. Nike recruited me to come work on their digital campus. They sent me a bunch of videos to watch about their culture and campus and so on. It looks like a beautiful place.

An odd thing about San Diego is that most of the towns from the border to basically south LA have names like "Escondido" and whatnot. Yet their mailing addresses are "San Diego." I'm not sure about north county, though. There is one exception that I know of: La Jolla.

 

[THE HCP]

It's the Nike+ version of the watch (Nike a Portland company, no?). It has Nike watch faces in addition to the Apple ones.

EDIT: sorry, Beaverton company.

Ya I've seen those. They have some extra fancy options the normal ones don't I saw. The workout apps is super integrated into it. You are going to love how it keeps track of everything, even your sleep.

 

[Denny Crane]

Ya I've seen those. They have some extra fancy options the normal ones don't I saw. The workout apps is super integrated into it. You are going to love how it keeps track of everything, even your sleep.

If it's not charging when I sleep

 

[THE HCP]

Ya, you can get to Beaverton from downtown in 15 min. Campus is very chill. Kinda has a cultish vibe out there, but very cool,

 

[THE HCP]

If it's not charging when I sleep

Good point.