Apple Watch as the ONLY phone

[HippyRabbitFish]

I don't currently own an Apple Watch at this time, but...

I don't use my phone for much more than making calls, texting, and occasionally streaming music or playing stored music, light browsing, and occasionally GPS. I do this because my phone is comparatively ancient... the iPhone 4.

Given my particular use case, I would find it amazing to have an Apple Watch that was not a companion to an iPhone, but is itself the genuine article as a primary phone.

I would still have a computer/tablet/iPad/book device, but the watch would stand completely alone as the primary telecommunication device.

• Am I alone in wanting this?
• Are we so attached to holding a phone in our hands to use apps that we can't imagine being without that experience in our phone?
• Or can we stick the phone on our wrists so our "books" can be book-sized and not have to be small enough to hold up to our ears?

Food for thought. What do you all think?

 

[Joey Appleseed]

I don't currently own an Apple Watch at this time, but...

I don't use my phone for much more than making calls, texting, and occasionally streaming music or playing stored music, light browsing, and occasionally GPS. I do this because my phone is comparatively ancient... the iPhone 4.

Given my particular use case, I would find it amazing to have an Apple Watch that was not a companion to an iPhone, but is itself the genuine article as a primary phone.

I would still have a computer/tablet/iPad/book device, but the watch would stand completely alone as the primary telecommunication device.

• Am I alone in wanting this?
• Are we so attached to holding a phone in our hands to use apps that we can't imagine being without that experience in our phone?
• Or can we stick the phone on our wrists so our "books" can be book-sized and not have to be small enough to hold up to our ears?

Food for thought. What do you all think?

[doublepost=1505510022][/doublepost]I’m planning on doing this experiment.

I’ll let you know how it works.

 

[BLuRRnAWAY]

I think it may be a bit premature to do this, due to the battery life, however I am wanting the same thing!

 

[AlliFlowers]

As long as you've got a decent Bluetooth headset/earbuds. Otherwise you'll constantly be talking to your wrist.

 

[dave006]

Food for thought. What do you all think?

Simply it will not work. You need an iPhone to be paired with the Apple Watch Series 3 Cellular for setup and management of apps. Your iPhone has to be an iPhone 6 or more recent and has to be running iOS 11 or later. Maybe time for an upgrade.

Also what carrier do you plan to try this experiment on? So far the big 4 here in the US all require the watch to be an add-on to an existing cell service plan.

Dave

 

[douglasf13]

I would consider this, since I often have to bring my little Macbook around for work, anyways, and Siri would get me through when I don't have my Macbook...but I'm embarrassed to admit that I have quite long phone conversations with my Mom and a few friends, now that I no longer live near them, so an hour of battery life for talking would be my issue.

 

[/V\acpower]

Considering that most communication peoples do on a phone these days is through texting (or any text based messaging app), I'd say that a watch won't ever be a "good" phone. You won't ever be able to text comfortably on any device that is small enough to be worn on your wrist.

 

[BarracksSi]

OP -- battery life aside, no, you're not alone with this.

I started to notice how much attention I paid to my phone after I got my AW and was able to offload my phone out of arm's reach. It really dawned on me when I was out Christmas shopping with my wife and put my phone in her purse -- all of a sudden, I was more involved in her shopping efforts. I also noticed how many other husbands were walking around with their faces in their phones.

At home, when I'm at my computer, I don't really need the phone nearby; Messages and phone calls come through via iCloud anyway. Same with the AW -- no matter where I am in the house, I get texts or calls right there on my wrist. Even in my car, with CarPlay, I don't need to directly interact with the phone (in my old car, I parked the phone upside-down in a cupholder and solely used voice interaction).

This 2015 interview with Kevin Lynch concludes:
https://www.wired.com/2015/04/the-apple-watch/

The business implications are important to Apple, of course, but the problem the Watch aims to solve is legitimately important outside of Cupertino. If the Watch is successful, it could impact our relationship with our devices. Technology distracts us from the things we should pay the most attention to—our friends, moments of awe, a smile from across the room. But maybe a technology can give those moments back. Whether Apple is the company to make that technology is the three-quarters-of-a-trillion-dollar-market-cap question.

Lynch is leaning forward in his chair, telling me about his kids: about how grateful he is to be able to simply glance at his Watch, realize that the latest text message isn’t immediately important, and then go right back to family time; about how that doesn’t feel disruptive to him—or them.

A moment later, he stands up. He has to leave; he owes Dye and Ive an update on something important. In all the time we’ve been talking, he’s never once looked at his phone.

 

[douglasf13]

OP -- battery life aside, no, you're not alone with this.

I started to notice how much attention I paid to my phone after I got my AW and was able to offload my phone out of arm's reach. It really dawned on me when I was out Christmas shopping with my wife and put my phone in her purse -- all of a sudden, I was more involved in her shopping efforts. I also noticed how many other husbands were walking around with their faces in their phones.

At home, when I'm at my computer, I don't really need the phone nearby; Messages and phone calls come through via iCloud anyway. Same with the AW -- no matter where I am in the house, I get texts or calls right there on my wrist. Even in my car, with CarPlay, I don't need to directly interact with the phone (in my old car, I parked the phone upside-down in a cupholder and solely used voice interaction).

This 2015 interview with Kevin Lynch concludes:
https://www.wired.com/2015/04/the-apple-watch/

Good points, although, I must admit, with the Watch, people now think I'm in a hurry, because it looks like I'm constantly checking the time on my wrist.

 

[Bellagem]

I'm planning on doing the same. There are so many instances that I need my hands free but still want to check on things and receive/make calls. I can't wait until next week!

 

[BarracksSi]

Good points, although, I must admit, with the Watch, people now think I'm in a hurry, because it looks like I'm constantly checking the time on my wrist.

I've filtered notifications that hit the watch. Only emails from my VIP list, text messages, and a couple sports teams (via ESPN ScoreCenter), plus a couple news aggregator apps, come through. I think I'm fortunate that my friends don't insist on having text conversations all day long, too.

 

[douglasf13]

I've filtered notifications that hit the watch. Only emails from my VIP list, text messages, and a couple sports teams (via ESPN ScoreCenter), plus a couple news aggregator apps, come through. I think I'm fortunate that my friends don't insist on having text conversations all day long, too.

Oh, me too, but I still end up looking at it quite a bit more than a regular watch.

 

[mikey2004]

apple watch s3 is 1 hour battery life with call time, so you wouldnt get very far into the day if you plan to make many calls, unless you plan to keep a charger with you at all times or in your office

 

[BarracksSi]

apple watch s3 is 1 hour battery life with call time, so you wouldnt get very far into the day if you plan to make many calls, unless you plan to keep a charger with you at all times or in your office

1 hour by itself (using its own LTE), 3 hours if it's piggybacking off the phone (like the non-LTE models do now). But yeah, it's still not enough if you're usually talking on phone calls all day long.

 

[BlueMoon63]

I would consider this, since I often have to bring my little Macbook around for work, anyways, and Siri would get me through when I don't have my Macbook...but I'm embarrassed to admit that I have quite long phone conversations with my Mom and a few friends, now that I no longer live near them, so an hour of battery life for talking would be my issue.

Yea - I imagine the Apple Watch or any wrist based phone Watch was never intended to be a full replacement for long conversations.

Of course, Apple could be like Samsung and others and add an enormous battery for longer life and make the product unuseable for the majority of people with small to medium wrists. I tried on the Samsung watches and couldn’t get them under a dress shirt and I am 6’4” and it looked horrible.

 

[danny842003]

I wouldn't expect this to happen any time soon, even if it was possible.
It makes no buisness sense for Apple to make a watch that will replace a phone. They want you to buy a phone and a watch.

 

[GoFlex]

I wouldn't expect this to happen any time soon, even if it was possible.
It makes no buisness sense for Apple to make a watch that will replace a phone. They want you to buy a phone and a watch.

Ehh, they did it when they moved from iPod to iPhone. I think they will eventually make the watch work by itself but will offer the iPhone alongside as I think many people would choose the iPhone over the watch even if they were both independent.

 

[danny842003]

Ehh, they did it when they moved from iPod to iPhone. I think they will eventually make the watch work by itself but will offer the iPhone alongside as I think many people would choose the iPhone over the watch even if they were both independent.

If that's what you think, I believe you will be disappointed though.
Plus iPod was cheaper than iPhone and gave a reason to upgrade to the more expensive device.

 

[Julien]

You will need and probably always need an iPhone to pair, setup, install apps and sync data to and from. There is NO way to setup and use an Watch without an iPhone. Also the Watch may not be able to have its own independent cell number.

Without pairing to an iPhone all you can do is see the time.

 

[Zune55]

Considering that most communication peoples do on a phone these days is through texting (or any text based messaging app), I'd say that a watch won't ever be a "good" phone. You won't ever be able to text comfortably on any device that is small enough to be worn on your wrist.

Good point texting is the most we use for communication.

Edit: But we can dictate message from AW easily i guess.

 

[edhchoe]

I browse internet and play games during the day. Ipad mini is too big to carry in my pocket. Smartphone is the perfect size.

 

[Abazigal]

I don't share your sentiment, but I relish the challenge in seeing how far we can push the watch as a phone replacement, the same way I pushed the iPad into being a laptop substitute.

So far, I am disappointed that there is still no WhatsApp app for the watch. If the LTE watch can incentivise developers to create more standalone watch apps, I think it's a win for everyone, regardless of which watch model they are using.

 

[44267547]

Good point texting is the most we use for communication.

Edit: But we can dictate message from AW easily i guess.

Now that the Apple Watch Series 3 has audible feedback from Siri, Siri can provide audible feedback.