A week with iPhone X’s Max and Watch 4

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lparsons21

lparsons21

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Jul 17, 2009
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Herrin, IL 62948
I’ve now had these for a week and can say both were worthy upgrades from previous models. Yes, they are expensive, but no more so than the flagshipmodels of other brands, or at least not significantly so IMO.

Some issues reported:
Connectivity - both WiFi and cellular. Some users are seeing issues with these. I ended not noticed either on mine in my location.
‘Yellow’ screen - a fair number are reporting issues with a slight yellowish tint to the screen. I’ve noticed that too with the default settings, which is fairly low brightness and true tone on. For me pushing the brightness to a setting I find more pleasant cured the issue.

Those are the only two issues I’m seeing reported with some regularity. Otherwise it is a good new issue for the phone. It is much quicker than my 7+ was and is certainly bigger. FaceID is just superb! I don’t even notice it doing it, pick up phone and swipe up and I’m good to go. Other gestures also work well and become intuitive very quickly IMO.

The Watch 4 is a good upgrade from the Watch 3. For me the reasons are bigger screens, fall detection and the upcoming ECG app.

The integration of Watch and iPhone is very good. I use Track My Golf gps app and it has both a minimal Warch app and a full featured one for the phone that sync quite well. Also use some music and book reader software that is integrated at least to the point of controlling volume, skip and start/stop. The Audible app has those as well as chapter support, and is the only audio book readers that I know of that has an actual Watch version.


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You generally sleep with it on, right? The reasons for wearing or not wearing at night?


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Two times I don't wear the AWatch. When it's charging and when I'm in the shower. What traveling I would switch to my diver's watch when in the ocean. I don't trust the water purge of the speaker and microphone with salt water.

So unless I need to charge when I go to bed I leave the watch on while sleeping.
 
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navychop said:
You generally sleep with it on, right? The reasons for wearing or not wearing at night?


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Click to expand...

I don’t sleep with mine on though I probably should. I used to, but found tay on occasion I would stop my alarm and oversleep.


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Been using the Watch and Phone a lot this past week. Here's some software that you might want to consider

1. First up is the various music and audiobook apps. Currently only Apple Music and Audible have actual apps for the phone and watch. With Apple Music you can get to playlists and such but frankly it isn't handy at that, screen is just too small IMO. Same for Audible, the app for the Watch is quite extensive offering chapter level support in the app. Downside for Audible is the cost. @$15/month for 1 book of any kind and 2 'audible originals', it is fairly expensive though the selections are quite good.

2. For other apps that play music or audio books, you are limited to start/stop, skip and volume controls. You have to start the apps on the Phone and then the controls can be done on the Watch. The volume is really handy for those with AirPods or other EarPods that don't have volume buttons as getting to the Watch is simpler than getting to the phone.

For Audiobooks, there is really no doubt that Audible is an excellent product, but the cost is relatively high for the limited number of books you can hear in a month without paying more, and there is no way to read a book except having it played for you.

I use Scribd for that. @about $9/month you get unlimited reading and playing of books in their extensive library and the audiobooks I've listened to so far, have been read as good as Audible does. I think that Audible has more of the current big names than Scribd has, but there are a fair number on Scribd also.

3. Golf GPS apps:
A: I use TrackMyGolf for my golf gps app and it works well, but to get the Watch portion you have to pay for the premium upgrade which is about $19/year. Well worth it IMO. It is one of a very few that offers some functionality with only the Watch. It can track your swing using sensors in the Watch, shows distances to back/center/front to the green from your location and allows for keeping and saving your round scores. With the iPhone app it syncs up to it and offers much more.

B: Golfshot is another one that is very good, but it requires the phone to be in range and their phone app running. The phone app is quite extensive. The Watch app, not so much though it does show a small picture of the hole layout. You don't have to get the pay upgrades to use it though.

C. SwingBySwing is another one, but the Watch app is pretty limited IMO. The Phone app is quite good, though as with most, the best features are in the pay add-ons.

One of the things I thought odd was that there is no Apple Books app for the Watch, but then I thought that since it doesn't do audiobooks, why would you want it to. Call it a brain fart!! :)

What, other than the default apps are you using on your iPhone/Watch combo?
 
TheForce said:
Thanks for that tip. I agree that audible is quite a bit more expensive. So I see there is an iphone app but can you download the book to read when no connection to the internet or is it streaming only?
Click to expand...
Yes you can download which is what I do most of the time. Both ebooks and audiobooks.
also has a 30 day free trial
 
Thanks. That clinches it then. I will subScribd. I will drop my 2 credits per month back to 1 credit and save that way. The books I have used an Audible credit on are all available on Scribd and the audio reads are the same. Don't need them to be loaded on the Apple watch so it's a win-win. Thanks much! :)

Edit- Done! Got my first book downloaded on this new service. Now I can save my credits for books not on scribd.
 
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One thing I noticed on Scribd. It seems books are available as ebooks or audiobooks but not both. Or at least I haven't noticed any. And their UI could use some work IMO.
 
Lloyd- the only time I prefer text in ebooks is when it is a more technical publication with charts and graphs and tables. These cannot possibly be properly communicated in audio form. I made that mistake with Jim Cramer's books.
 
I'm actually just the opposite. I prefer to read ebooks rather than listen to audiobooks. Probably because I've always been an avid reader. I fondly remember reading Andersonville, about the civil war and the prison there, in one sitting way back when. It is not untypical of me to get that involved in a book. These days I'm most often reading 3-5 books at a time.

I took the phone and watch to the golf course and noticed that after a round of golf, using the golf GPS apps, that the battery was down much less than it had been after a round with my AW3 and iPhone 7+. I really like that!
 
lparsons21 said:
These days I'm most often reading 3-5 books at a time.
Click to expand...

Now that's a good trick! :D

I can scan websites and or work around the house, multitask while listening to audio books, but I can't read 2 things at the same time much less 3-5. :D

Seriously, I found listening to audio books both entertaining from a performance art form as well as it allows me to enjoy the author's works while I and get other things done at the same time, such as driving, working in the shop, yard work and even scanning the internet.
 
I’ve had it to a minor degree. I thought it was just me, and pulled the plug and inverted it before reinserting.

Gotta find a reliable wireless charger.


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I have tested 3 wireless chargers. One Anker, and two battery wireless chargers and all three work about the same. They are not as fast as the USB C to lightning charging but all work fine. I no longer own any non MFi cables so all my cables work. Monday, I used the USB C 29watt power supply and USB C to lightning cable and it is blazingly fast up to about 70% and then it is slow to 100%.

One of my wireless battery chargers has a USB output that is labeled QC2.0 The other is labeled 5V2A I am curious as to whether the QC2.0 will charge the iphone XS Max any faster than the regular USB outlet. I'm not sure the iphone has the Qualcomm QC technology to take advantage of the voltage switch from 9v to 5v . I have not tried it yet.
 

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