Tips and tricks for Apple Watch owners

[TheForce]

OK guys, it just arrived and here is what the sport model looks like:



So a couple surprises:

It arrives in a long plain brown box.
It comes with two male bands of two lengths as seen in the last photo.
The charging cord is much longer than the one I got with the iphone.

It was totally discharged and before I can pair it to the iphone I have to charge it up.
The little magnetic disk attaches with more slop than what I saw in the TV adds, but it does work and in a couple minutes the watch face lights up with the first screen for languages, I selected English and the next one is a pairing screen with instructions to be sure the latest version of iOS is installed on the iphone and to launch the watch app. This is as far as I will go until I get some charging time.

 

[TheForce]

Pairing and syncing took about 5 minutes and uses the iphone camera. Most of the syncing time was in the final "sync" part but pairing was just a few seconds.

I took the watch outside and when I cast shade on the watch with my head (sun behind me) I could see the screen very well. When I aimed the watch into bright sun, the screen was dim but viewable. The iphone screen was not readable. So, it seems the new OLED screen looks brighter than the older LCD in bright sun. Also, I could see the Apple screen with polarized sunglasses while the screen on my Sony disappears.

While playing around, I was explaining to my wife, about 2 ft away, how the easy way to make a phone call is to use it like a Dick Tracy watch. Since she had our daughter in her favorites on the iphone I said all you have to say is "Hey Siri, Call Jennifer" To my surprise her watch came alive and called our daughter! It was a fun test since the speaker was quite loud and I could hear everything as well as the iphone speaker phone. Our daughter said she couldn't tell it was a watch and sounded as good as a regular phone. I don't think this will be as good in a noisy environment, however. Besides, who uses a speaker phone in a crowd? This is good and bad and we will probably need to learn how to switch between a BT ear piece and using the "Dick Tracy wrist phone" Siri is really the easiest way to navigate on this thing. I never thought Siri was anything useful until now.

The app on the iphone and the watch has lots of settings and we will have to take the time to learn all the options. It is way more customizable than my Sony.

 

[TheForce]

Two ways to do calls.

One is to lift watch up to your chin and say "Hey Siri, Call ........" And it begins to ring. The other is to bring up the phone on the screen and punch in the number or select a favorite. On inbound call you can accept, reject or send a canned text message like "Busy, will call you later" If you mean respond to an inbound call when you are on another call. Not sure as I haven't tried that.

Excuse my ignorance on iphone but if you meant auto reject calls from a list of nuisance numbers to ignore? I do that with the Sony2 / Samsung s5 now; those calls just never bother me. Not sure if iphone can do that too. Something I will need to learn later. If the iphone has a junk caller list, I'm sure the watch will never see it. I can't put a new nuisance call number on the list from the watch but later add it from the recent callers on the phone.


It appears that celebrities who ordered the SS model did receive them today. Wife said she heard Rush Limbaugh bragging about getting his SS model today, and the ladies on the Today show too. Jim Cramer had one on but said it was borrowed. I believe the first indication I got that my shipment was imminent was not on the Apple website or an email from Apple but I got a hit on my CC that a reserve charge was put their by Apple 5 days ago. I think it was a couple days after that the preparing for shipment showed up.


BTW- my wife is doing fine with the rubber white band but really wants me to order the Milanese one. We noticed the low end rubber band with that pin is not that easy to fix snugly with one hand. In the store she really liked the Milanese SS band we tested on the 38mm sport. I guess I'll be ordering one of those next.

 

[tigerfan33]

Yes. You can block calls on iPhone. You'll see (i) icon after a call is received. Scroll down and you will see "block this caller".
Caller can't send voice or text message when blocked.

 

[TheForce]

Whoa! That was the easiest thread I ever started here. LOL!

Anyway, wanted to post this for those who will be getting your Apple watch soon. It will probably be completely dead and need charging so as soon as you unpack it, just plug in the charger and attach the little disk to the back of the watch to get it charged. You will want to leave it charging for a good 45 minutes before doing anything else. In the meantime, check to be sure your iphone is also charged up and you have updated the iOS to 8.3 or higher. 8.3 is the latest out.

Here is the link to the initial setup for the Apple watch. You will want to have this handy during the process since the setup is unlike other Apple or PC startups. I just displayed it on my ipad so I wouldn't disturb the iphone during the process.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204505

Have fun!

 

[Ilya]

Whoa! That was the easiest thread I ever started here. LOL!

Anytime, Don!

 

[TheForce]

Doing some experiments on ability to recharge the watch in the field. The idea is when your watch goes into reserve power mode it only allows you to see time and shuts down all other functions of a smart watch so you can use it as a normal watch for another 24 hours with only 15% battery remaining. According to reports this assumes only 4 displays of the watch time per hour but I have not tested that yet.

My goal is to create a way to recharge the watch while on the go using a standard compact phone recharge battery as shown in the photo. This particular battery costs $17 and includes a charging cable with both Apple lightnin and micro USB connector. I've been using this for awhile and it works great to recharge boost both my Samsung s5 and my wife's iphone 5 in a short period of time. To use it with the Apple magnetic cable we needed to use an adapter that is Female USB A to Female micro USB. This adapter was not easy to find. At first I tried a Y cable that had the required Female connectors but it did not work between the required USB connectors. A simpler cable was the one with just the required connectors. Boosting from 40% remaining on the Apple Watch to full charge worked fine and brought the watch up to 100% in less than an hour. However, recharging from the Power reserve mode of 10% remaining did not work and the watch continued to run down to 3% with the boost battery connected even though the watch indicated it was charging. I'm not certain why this is so, but my guess is that boosting from the 40% to 100% was less of a strain on the tiny wires in the boost battery for the current required by the mag charging cable. The wires and watch were warm to the touch after 2 hours which is an indicator that the thing was working but just not enough voltage at the end of the line to work. Like I said this is just a guess since I did not open the cables to attach meters to get some measurements. After this failure, I connected the mag cable to the supplied Apple power pack and charged it back up to 40% in about 30 minutes, then did the test again and in an hour checked and it was back to 100%. Note the lightning bolt symbol above the 12 and the 100 in the circle in the upper left corner to show the charge at 100% and is connected and charging. If I remove the mag cable the little green lightning bolt goes away and the 100 begins to count down as the watch battery drains from use.

So far we experienced 24 hours of battery life with a few phone calls and plenty of notifications, playing with the navigation maps and demoing to friends. This is only our second drain and recharge cycle, however.

I have another one of these boost batteries that has a standard USB A jack so I can plug in the watch mag charging cable without the adapter. If that works, then I will know that the adapter cable is the problem and will need to only use a boost battery with built in USB A jack for this field recharger to work.

 

[tigerfan33]

I wonder if charging via the iPad plug could boost charging speed like it does with the iPhone?
Mine is preparing for shipment as of this morning

 

[TheForce]

Years ago I was working with a guy who was a researcher for GE in their battery technology. He told me that boosting charge rates is a double edged sword on rechargeable technology. You can increase the charge rate of the battery by boosting the supply voltage and that will increase the current flow and shorten the total charge time. However, this also reduces the number of recharge cycles or recharge life of the cells. They try to develop an optimum balance between charge time and number of recharge cycles. Each battery chemistry has it's own peak performance curve. For LiIon it is about 800 cycles before the cells don't hold a charge for long. The newer Polymer based Lithium is a bit longer at 1000 cycles. This means that current cell phone batteries can be recharged daily for slightly under three years before needing replaced.

As for the ipad, vs iphone charger, this has to do with the size battery itself. The phone battery is much smaller than the ipad battery so the current supplied for a given voltage is a greater capacity than the iphone. Both have the same voltage output and therefore it is not likely that using a larger watt rated charger will charge any faster, UNLESS, it can also operate at a higher output voltage. Since all these batteries are designed around a charge differential of 5 volts supply ( USB standard )and the battery is 3.7 volts, the charge rate and time will be the same. In a Macbook Pro, I believe the voltage of the charger is higher so the battery is higher voltage and therefore the battery will not charge. But if you used a Macbook Pro charger with some sort of cable adapter, you may charge it up really fast but the cells will suffer an early death. If you can find a USB charger with no voltage regulator, then you may be able to boost the supply voltage and charge faster, but all the chargers I have seen for USB cableling are regulated at 5 volts.

 

[tigerfan33]

Got my Watch this morning
Setup up took about 10 min. No issues.
Since I'm a lefty I changed ends with each band. Surprised how easy they did slide out of the slots as I've seen some on YouTube really struggle. I had 78% battery on mine when I checked after setup. I did sync about 50 songs into the Watch which is required to be on charger when syncing. It added another 4%battery. I did customize my apps when they were installed. What app I wanted to send notifications to Watch or if you want sound or the "tap". I had it on my wrist for about 5 minutes when someone sent a message. A pretty long message too. Got all of it on the watch. You can send a default message or voice you own. I voiced and then sent with no problem. Got every word. BTW you can add your own default message in the settings.
Went for a walk/run for about an hour. Chose walk in the workout app. Had my phone for gps purposes. The Watch will calibrate to how you use it during exercise therefore not needing your phone. Calorie burn was 512 during the 4.4 miles. Heat rate average was 139.
The apps I've used have been very close to these readings on calories and distance. Pretty accurate. To a "T" accurate? Probably not. Good enough for me and I'm into fitness. Hardcore fitness buffs probably lacking some things but not sure what. Will be interesting to see how tennis will do on the workout app. Will need to choose other when doing so. I'm off work this week so may go in to try it out and to see what range I'll have at work with wifi. I did turn off Bluetooth and was able to send messages and make calls over wifi at home with no problem.
Dislikes so far are few. I got the sport band and had it pretty tight. Too much for my liking. I'll try loser tomorrow and see how heart rate sensors perform. Cannot customize all watch faces. Yes it would be the ones I like too.
Viewing outside yellow on black is a lot better contrast than white on black. Changing colors will help a lot.
Battery was only down to 68% after 82% start with heavy use for 5-6 hours. Did notice my 6+ drained a little quicker during workout. Usually using bt and no watch during 1 hour I'll drop 2%. Paired to the watch with bt headset it dropped 6% in the hour. No biggie to me but noticeable.
I do not use the crown to scroll. I do that on the watch.
Still learning but very happy with the purchase.

 

[TheForce]

Only complaint my wife has had is that the rubber band causes her to sweat under the band. She is looking forward to getting the SS Milanese band which she tried on and liked.

He usage rate has the watch going from 100% to 20% in about 28 hours. We have recharged it using the Extenda battery for 90 minutes to bring it back up to 100%. I'm pretty convinced even with just a few days that Apple's battery life is extremely conservative. I just put the watch back on recharge now for the 4th time on one full Extenda battery charge last Thursday. It seems carrying the Extenda, we can go a full week of average use without needing to plug into a wall outlet. I am very pleased with this testing of the field power now.

 

[tigerfan33]

Went for 5.36 mile walk/run at familiar track.
Distance is spot on. Workouts are put in the activity app along with the health app. Health app will give you more data. The heart rate monitor measures every 4-5 seconds I believe.
The activity app will give you calories burned during workout and resting calories burned.
Battery dropped 12% during workout. Only dropped 3% 2 hours later. Didn't wear it but those 3 hours today.
Really liking this thing. Well worth the wait.
Will go in for a few hours tomorrow and test it out there.

 

[TheForce]

You seem as obsessed with running and walking everyday as the family of runners I used to record for my TV show- "Running the Road" The Apple watch is surely a great tool for you.

I do something similar but for a different goal. I like to hike out west in the Desert and in the mountains. A combination of high altitude, scenery, rock climbing and filming so I'm carrying a camera, usually several. I have to be careful, however, due to my heart condition. I am looking forward to having the heart monitor for future hikes but am also keeping my eye out for any app that will display my altitude. Now I use my Tissot T-Touch which is very accurate altimeter. I understand the Apple Watch also has an oxygen dosimeter ready sensor but so far does not have an app for that. Speculation is that this requires an FDA certification which is the hold up for that. If you or anyone else learns of either altimeter, or O2 dosimeter ( Hemoglobin Oxygen meter) please post it here. I now carry one of those for my hiking adventures.

BTW- I got the short cable mag disk charger today and it is in a SS case as opposed to all plastic.

 

[tigerfan33]

Not obsessed. Just a hobby
Was one of the reasons to get the watch.
Going into work for a few hours tomorrow to test out the range I have on wifi (the other reason for the purchase) and see how the workout and activity app does with tennis.

 

[tigerfan33]

Went into work for a few hours today. Tested the range of watch while my iPhone was still in my car but connected to my work wifi. Pleased to say I stayed connected anywhere I went at my facility. I have two tennis on one side of my office and four on the other with a park extended to the parking lot. Very happy about this
Did a 1:15 minute tennis practice using workout app. Used other and it captured all data. I will normally use the activity app but wanted data broken down just to see what data was retrieved.

 

[TheForce]

So I have this correct, your phone is connected to the Office wifi and your watch is connected to the same office wifi network, therefore the watch stays connected to the phone since both are on the same SSID. BT was disabled manually for this or did it switch automatically when you went out of BT range? The next question is, since this is not your own private wifi network, what do others see when they log into your office wifi? I am concerned with security of your personal data on your phone and watch on the office wifi.

 

[tigerfan33]

Don.
Yes the connection was done automatically from BT to wifi.
Any wifi that your iPhone is on will be connected to your watch.
My wifi is secured.
Remember. iPhone will only connect to a wifi only if you allow the phone or have been connected to that wifi in the past. Secure or not.

 

[TheForce]

How is it secure from others on the same wifi network? I have accessed these "secured" wifi networks and they all warn you should never turn on file sharing, which I assume would negate the watch-phone connection. If file sharing is allowed, then anyone can get into your phone data who is inside the firewall, or your coworkers. If the wifi network is unsecured, then there is no firewall, no password and anyone can access.

My point is with BT, the connection is very secure since pairing is limited. A secure wifi, is only secure to those outside the firewall of the wifi router. An unsecured wifi, like some hotels and restaurants use is, well, unsecure and open to anyone.

If someone in your company gave out the password to your network then it will allow anyone with the password to access the computers in the network by sitting in the parking lot. The only way around that is to limit the IP addresses and be on a mac id list that can get passed the firewall. At least that's my understanding but I'm not a network professional. I remember my wife's company was very secure and only devices and computers listed in the router for her department could access the network. No employee phones were allowed.

 

[tigerfan33]

My router offers two SSID.
Both of them are secured. No one has access to one except me. The other is still secured but I do give out password to the that one when asked.

 

[StevenD]

A secure wifi, is only secure to those outside the firewall of the wifi router. An unsecured wifi, like some hotels and restaurants use is, well, unsecure and open to anyone.

If someone in your company gave out the password to your network then it will allow anyone with the password to access the computers in the network by sitting in the parking lot. The only way around that is to limit the IP addresses and be on a mac id list that can get passed the firewall. At least that's my understanding but I'm not a network professional. I remember my wife's company was very secure and only devices and computers listed in the router for her department could access the network. No employee phones were allowed.

And this is why I run an OpenVPN server at home. As soon as I disconnect from my home Wifi, I connect to OpenVPN, whether I'm on AT&T's LTE network or a "public" wifi.