Apple Watch

[explanade]

For me it's Apple Pay and then the playback controls.

I have some wireless headphones which do not have volume controls so I otherwise would have to pull out my iPhone.

The controls have little buttons to FF or Rew 15 seconds which is useful inpodcasts because they now embed so many commercials and live reads of commercials these days.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrvlBug Finally got around to adding data plans on both watches. Had I known how much the add'l taxes and fees were (my fault, I should have asked), I would only have activated mine and waited on DH's to see if we really needed both on data plans...AT&T garbage fees of $4.75/mo. and Gov't taxes & fees of $3/mo. as well as a $30 activation fee on each .

Yeah - I'm afraid of that.

Didn't they give you three months free at least?

Ouch! on the activation fees!!!!!

We don't really need the data plans, so we have been hesitant to sign up. Our plans would be t-mobile.

We've been waiting for the plan prices to drop anyway.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by copyright1997reloaded As an Apple and AT&T stockholder, I thank you for your business.

Sounds like AT&T if getting the most out of this!

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides me to my my 13 year old nephew (who got a gen1 apple watch for christmas: So.... how do you use your new apple watch? him: "well sometimes when I'm bored I flip my wrist and I can see what time it is" also him: "sometimes I can play tic tac toe on it" me: do you read texts and stuff on it? him: "well I see them on my watch but then I pull out my phone to do that because it's easier" and yet next time you're in a large group or on a flight or something, take a look, they are on about 50% of wrists. Heck, 5 years ago, less than 50% of ppl wore any watch at all.

Well - we use ours much more heavily than your nephew - but then he is only 13 (and has his own iPhone!!?)

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister Several things for me. I love my Apple Watch (2nd edition here), and DW is head over heels with hers. When out for a workout, I have my progress being tracked and visible on my wrist, which is really nice. Also a little tone to mark each mile or exercise goal. Another is that when I get a text I can glance at my wrist and I don't have to pull out my phone. I have a bunch of canned responses I can reply with on the watch. That's handy in the car, as the #1 canned response on my list is "Sorry, I'm driving now." A quick tap will send that and I barely have to take my eyes off the road. Another is Apple Pay. Instead of pulling the phone out of my pocket I can just hold my wrist next to the terminal and double-click the watch button. I use that one often. Much to my surprise, I was able to do that yesterday at a vending machine at a highway rest area. I also have the current outdoor temperature displayed (along with time and date) all the time, so a glance tells me the weather. I never thought I would actually buy an Apple Watch, but once I did I wondered why it took me so long.

Yep - all of these plus we use the built in timers and reminder lists (for shopping in particular) extensively.

Shared shopping lists in reminders works really well in the iOS, and you can view and check off the list on your apple watch when in the store!!!

The "wrist" timers I use several times a day.

Lots of things are on my main watch display (customizable) - a very quick glance and I'm up to date with huge amount of important to me info. Tap on the section of the display to get to any details.

I do a lot of scheduling and get pings on my watch as handy reminders. Coordinated through the Calendar and Reminders apps and shared across all Macs and iOS devices. For traveling and doctors appointments we have shared calendars so DH also has the latest time-critical info.

Driving with a GPS route Apple Maps - in addition to the audio prompts from the phone, the watch does wrist taps to tell you when to turn very precisely! You don't have to guess how far a mile is! We're approaching two decades of GPS driving, and I can't tell you how important this subtle little feature is.

I can control my Apple TV from my watch. That is handy. Like when I'm cooking but the remote is in the main room.

[Human]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrvlBug Finally got around to adding data plans on both watches. Had I known how much the add'l taxes and fees were (my fault, I should have asked), I would only have activated mine and waited on DH's to see if we really needed both on data plans...AT&T garbage fees of $4.75/mo. and Gov't taxes & fees of $3/mo. as well as a $30 activation fee on each .

I’m not sure this is still valid:, but when I activated my Apple Watch with AT&T, I recieved a credit after 3 months of service.

See here:
“Add Apple Watch Series 3 on an eligible AT&T wireless plan and get up to $55 in bill credits”
AT&T Offers Deals on New Apple Products Including iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

[Human]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Shared shopping lists in reminders works really well in the iOS, and you can view and check off the list on your apple watch when in the store!!!

This is one of my favorites [raises wrist and says “Hey Siri, add beer to my grocery list”]

[Human]

A couple other features not mentioned that I love:

When I approach my Mac, Apple Watch unlocks it

Nightstand Mode makes it the best bedside alarm clock I’ve ever owned

[braumeister]

I just don't see the point of adding cellular coverage to the watch (for me, anyway). I nearly always have the phone with me.

Occasionally a voice call will come in, and I'm either driving or at home with the phone in another room. I can answer the call easily on the watch, Dick Tracy style. Having a watch with cellular would be a waste of money for me.

[iloveyoga]

I just got an Apple watch, I think Series 2, and I am surprised how much I like it. It only works when my phone is near, but my phone is usually near. Now according to blow that dough, I should have bought the latest version and I made up my mind that next time I will.

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iloveyoga I just got an Apple watch, I think Series 2, and I am surprised how much I like it. It only works when my phone is near, but my phone is usually near. Now according to blow that dough, I should have bought the latest version and I made up my mind that next time I will.

Why not return it if your are still within the window? There isn't much difference in price between the model 2 and 3.

[explanade]

Yeah cellular is for people who want to go jogging without having to carry the iPhone.

[Human]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade Yeah cellular is for people who want to go jogging without having to carry the iPhone.

Yeah, I’ve had my Series 3 for 4-5 months and have used the LTE functionality only a handful of times.

[iloveyoga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Why not return it if your are still within the window? There isn't much difference in price between the model 2 and 3.

Oh, I like the one I have, I just made a mental note for the next Apple product I buy .

[CountryGal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 We use the built-in reminders list to keep our shopping list. It displays on the phone and we can check items off right there. We share a couple of lists including "Shopping List" and so it's synced across all our devices and computers. It's quite handy having the list on your wrist when our shopping!!!

Can you explain more about how you are doing this? Is it just the built in apps? TX!

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister Several things for me. I love my Apple Watch (2nd edition here), and DW is head over heels with hers. When out for a workout, I have my progress being tracked and visible on my wrist, which is really nice. Also a little tone to mark each mile or exercise goal. Another is that when I get a text I can glance at my wrist and I don't have to pull out my phone. I have a bunch of canned responses I can reply with on the watch. That's handy in the car, as the #1 canned response on my list is "Sorry, I'm driving now." A quick tap will send that and I barely have to take my eyes off the road. Another is Apple Pay. Instead of pulling the phone out of my pocket I can just hold my wrist next to the terminal and double-click the watch button. I use that one often. Much to my surprise, I was able to do that yesterday at a vending machine at a highway rest area. I also have the current outdoor temperature displayed (along with time and date) all the time, so a glance tells me the weather. I never thought I would actually buy an Apple Watch, but once I did I wondered why it took me so long.

I can pull my phone out of my pocket to use Apple Pay with one hand, and probably faster than reaching over to a watch.
My phone has an app that helps with workouts and tells me mileage too. Also sets goals if I desired.
I can ask Siri about the weather if I choose, and often do in the morning.
I still don’t see why I’d ever pay for an Apple Watch, and I’ve had iPhones and MacBooks for years.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Human This is one of my favorites [raises wrist and says “Hey Siri, add beer to my grocery list”]

Exactly! And it’s even smart enough to ask me which shopping list, or I specify add X to my Costco shopping list, for example.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister I just don't see the point of adding cellular coverage to the watch (for me, anyway). I nearly always have the phone with me. Occasionally a voice call will come in, and I'm either driving or at home with the phone in another room. I can answer the call easily on the watch, Dick Tracy style. Having a watch with cellular would be a waste of money for me.

Yeah. We bought the cellular version of the watch due to a couple of other features. But the times we would really need it are small - mainly if we are out exercising without our phones (long walks from the house) so maybe we miss a call or a message until we return home. We don’t stream music to our watches, and we tend to carry our phones on long bicycle rides anyway.

Another scenario would be a long walk on a beach or hanging by the pool on vacation, or going out on the water. You can safely leave your phone locked away back in the room, and the watch is waterproof so you don’t have to worry about it getting wet. Just not that common for us and we don’t mind being incommunicado for brief periods of time.

BTW, I love, love, LOVE the phone in another room or place feature. My phone is usually in another room - in my purse or on my nightstand, yet I can interact with it anywhere in my small house. And if out doing stuff - sure my purse is with me, or in the back seat of the car or whatever, but I don’t actually have to dig it out.

When driving I’ve often just say “Hey Siri, route me to XYZ” and the watch figures it out and I’m running a route on my phone with voice prompts from my phone which I can hear even though it’s still in my purse, and wrist taps from my watch.

Putting my watch on airplane mode on a plane puts my phone on airplane mode too, so, again, I don’t have to dig out my phone. Probably should mention that turning airplane mode off, you do have to do it on both devices individually.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryGal Can you explain more about how you are doing this? Is it just the built in apps? TX!

Yes, it’s just the built-in Reminders app which is available on all iOS devices plus Macs. You can share individual reminders lists between multiple folks. Several of our shared lists are shopping lists for various stores we frequent plus checklists for travel or repeating scenarios like preparing the house before a trip.

Worth mentioning that you can use the “show completed items” feature to uncheck things which puts them back on the lists. Thie is very useful for things that often repeat.

We also use shared calendars (Calendar app) heavily as things with schedules match that format better. You can have schedule repeated and time triggered items in Reminders too, so you just pick which is more appropriate.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash man I can pull my phone out of my pocket to use Apple Pay with one hand, and probably faster than reaching over to a watch.

I seriously doubt this. My hand is already at the payment terminal. I push a couple of buttons with my other hand.

Way faster than pulling out a credit card or phone. Even much faster than sticking a credit card in a slot and then removing it!