How do these new fangled cellular Smart watches work?

[gazzarose]

Evening all,

I've just got back from a bike ride and met up with my brother. He was telling me about his new Apple Watch that's got a SIM card in it and uses witch craft to relay everything from his phone to his watch so he doesn't have to carry his phone all the time. We're both similar in that we cycle, mountain bike and ride off road motorbikes so the watch is perfect for all those activities when you don't really want a phone in your pocket. He had his on contract from EE and it's all linked to his iPhone thats also on EE. Can it be done with non Apple products and other networks? On the advice of PHers, I got off the phone contract upgrade bank wagon and I'm now on Smarty. I can get another SIM from them to put in a watch, but could I get the phone call/SMS relay working? Things like Facebook messenger would be easy, but can they do things like Whatsapp, which is linked to the phone number rather than a normal login. Or is the sync'd together bit an Apple only thing?

Sorry for all the questions, I usually think of my self as pretty Techy, but this whole thing was something I'd never heard of.

Cheers

[Mr E]

It doesn’t have a SIM card. It has an eSIM.

Your network operator will need to support an eSIM to make it work.
Last I checked, EE and O2 do. This information is probably out of date as I’ve not been involved for a while.

Edit, to expand on functionality. It’s not a traditional “watch links to phone” type think like a Fitbit or similar. The watch has a cellular chipset, and a software sim card. You have a single contract, but two devices. You can leave your phone at home, wear the watch and do cellular type things (phone calls, texts etc)

I don’t think anyone offers only a wearable option yet, they all require a phone as well, but there’s no technical reason why not and surely it’ll happen soon.

We truely live in an age of wonders.

Edited by Mr E on Sunday 31st May 23:10

[Akz]

Can it call an ambulance as well? I'd want a phone still for emergencies.

What would be nice is if you could get multiple SIMs and have a bashed up phone for outdoor pursuits.

[Mr E]

Akz said:

Can it call an ambulance as well? I'd want a phone still for emergencies.

I suspect it can be configured to detect a fall and a following lack of response to trigger an automated call with location info.

Edit; yep, that’s exactly what at least one device does.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208944

Edited by Mr E on Sunday 31st May 23:17

[pip t]

Akz said:

Can it call an ambulance as well? I'd want a phone still for emergencies.

What would be nice is if you could get multiple SIMs and have a bashed up phone for outdoor pursuits.

The cell service Apple Watches can make and recieve phones calls in exactly the same way as a phone can (and texts/ emails etc).

Essentially, where a non cell Apple Watch relies on wifi or it’s connection with an iPhone to do anything, the cell version can connect to the mobile network independently. Through witchcraft, it still uses the same actual phone number as your iphone though.

You do still require an iPhone for the initial set up though. You can’t just have an Apple Watch.

Incidentally a ‘normal’ Apple Watch can make and recieve calls as well, but only when within range of its host phone.

Edited by pip t on Sunday 31st May 23:48

[anonymous-user]

EE & Vodafone only I believe
The esim is around £6 a month to work on Vodafone
Has emergency calling yes, can be set to do it if you crash etc
Can only store Apple music on the watch. Can’t store or stream eg Spotify on watch only
The workout recording, pace etc when i run, is ok
But not as good as my running Garmin
But my Apple watch 5 is a great thing
Apple Pay / calls / Whatsapp works except only pixilated pics / mails / compass / hr / vo2 max / noise measurement / eco heart test

[gazzarose]

Thay are properly clever things then! Not having an iPhone and being with Smarty kills the apple watch off for me then. I wonder what the score is with the cheapy ones. I wonder if any of them use a proper Sim. Ultimately all I need is a means of contact when Im out on the bike. So having another number wouldn't be too much of a problem. I could leave my phone with my mrs and She could actually as my secretary!

[The_Jackal]

It would be a hell of a lot easier to just buy a cheap phone to pair with a normal smart watch, and just keep the phone in your pocket or backpack.

[stemll]

Jimboka said:

EE & Vodafone only I believe
The esim is around £6 a month to work on Vodafone
Has emergency calling yes, can be set to do it if you crash etc
Can only store Apple music on the watch. Can’t store or stream eg Spotify on watch only
The workout recording, pace etc when i run, is ok
But not as good as my running Garmin
But my Apple watch 5 is a great thing
Apple Pay / calls / Whatsapp works except only pixilated pics / mails / compass / hr / vo2 max / noise measurement / eco heart test

Add O2 to that (not sure about MVNOs on O2 like Smarty or GiffGaff)

https://www.apple.com/uk/watch/cellular/

[Piginapoke]

stemll said:

Jimboka said:

EE & Vodafone only I believe
The esim is around £6 a month to work on Vodafone
Has emergency calling yes, can be set to do it if you crash etc
Can only store Apple music on the watch. Can’t store or stream eg Spotify on watch only
The workout recording, pace etc when i run, is ok
But not as good as my running Garmin
But my Apple watch 5 is a great thing
Apple Pay / calls / Whatsapp works except only pixilated pics / mails / compass / hr / vo2 max / noise measurement / eco heart test

Add O2 to that (not sure about MVNOs on O2 like Smarty or GiffGaff)

https://www.apple.com/uk/watch/cellular/

I have one, it's great for running, cycling I'm using a Garmin 530.

Just to add, the AW can stream Apple Music, so with a subscription you can listen to whatever you want, on your wrist.

Podcasts are free and you can also stream, no need to download to the AW. Audible, annoyingly, is not so slick; if you want to leave the phone at home you need to download the book to your AW- proper 1st world problem.

[Akz]

The_Jackal said:

It would be a hell of a lot easier to just buy a cheap phone to pair with a normal smart watch, and just keep the phone in your pocket or backpack.

Yeah but then the benefit of your usual number is lost. Like I'd love to have a cheaper phone out with me cycling that I can care less about but I want to be able to respond to text messages and whatsapp (maybe possible via whatsapp web and data) especially if trying to meet friends.

[gazzarose]

Akz said:

The_Jackal said:

It would be a hell of a lot easier to just buy a cheap phone to pair with a normal smart watch, and just keep the phone in your pocket or backpack.

Yeah but then the benefit of your usual number is lost. Like I'd love to have a cheaper phone out with me cycling that I can care less about but I want to be able to respond to text messages and whatsapp (maybe possible via whatsapp web and data) especially if trying to meet friends.

Sorry for the lack of responses from me, been a main week, and my Gmail on my phone has been playing up and not telling me about emails coming in. Just happened to login to my emails on the laptop to be greeted by loads of emails from the last few days that I hadn't seen!

The above is exactly what drew me to the idea of the Apple watch (or similar type doodas). Things like phone calls are easy forward (although I'm not sure whether that can be done on Smarty) and Facebook Messenger can be on as many devices as you want, but text messages and Whatsapp, Whatsapp being the main communication medium at the moment, are a bit trickier. Half the problem is that half decent phone is now the size of house brick (remember the days when phones were getting smaller with every generation!!), and they won't fit in my saddle bag on my bikes or my riding jacket on my motorbike. Which means compromising on the phone that I use every day for the sake of a couple of hours a week when I've only got it with me 'just in case'.

I'll keep the idea on the back burner for now, maybe Smarty will start supporting Esims, or if I change back to one of the major networks I can revisit it.

Thanks again for listening to my idle musings!