Can you see where this is going?

by Volker Weber

watch-series-3-nike-newband-white

I used to say that before you marry a girl, throw her in the pool. Only if she comes out laughing trying to throw you in, you found the right one. I no longer say that, because everybody is carrying a smart phone, all of the time. Chances are, you are going to not only ruin a perfectly good phone.

Do you think this will go on forever? I find myself leaving the phone behind more often. But when I do that, I am completely off the grid. The Apple Watch has given me an opportunity to catch important notifications and even answer a phone call. But I have to be close to the phone. This will change.

Everybody is reporting that the red dot model, the one with LTE, lets you make phone calls without your phone. That's only for emergencies though, since the LTE connection eats into the battery. Even a fully charged watch will not survive a single conference call. But the Series 3 watch adds more, for instance a faster CPU. Siri can now talk back to you. Add your AirPods, your Apple Music streaming, and that NFC connection to leading gym equipment, and you will go to the gym without your phone.

If your draw a line from where the Apple Watch started, to the Watch Series 2 which added GPS, and the Series 3 that adds LTE, I can see where this is going. When (if?) Siri gets smarter, as LTE gets replaced with less power hungry 5G, we might be wearing our morst important connection to the digital world on our wrists and not grasping it with our hands always afraid to drop it. We still need a large display, we still want a camera. Just maybe not all of the time.

And, isn't this pretty? Everybody I know who has a Nike Sports Band loves it.

Comments

I love the new design of the Single Tour Eperon d’Or and will be updating my watch for the first time. But I am not sure what it's like in Germany, but exercise equipment in US gyms and hotels can take years - 5 to 10 - to get updated/replaced. It will be a while before most of us see the new exercise equipment with the NFC stuff on a regular basis. I hope I am proven wrong, but don't expect to be.

John Head, 2017-09-17

Pünktlich um 9 Uhr bestellt. Ich laufe ohne iPhone. Auch im dunkeln durch den Wald. Demnächst werde ich wohl ein deutlich besseres Gefühl haben. Wenn der Knöchel knackt, kann ich wenigstens jemanden anrufen.

Gespannt bin ich auf Music. Ich mag Hörspiele (???). Wenn ich nicht rechtzeitig (vor dem nächtlichen Aufladen) die Playliste erneuert habe, muss ich mit dem bekannten Programm vorlieb nehmen. Das könnte nun deutlich bequemer werden.

Tobias Berns, 2017-09-17

What are the requirements on the cellular contract? Is the integreated eSIM considered an additional SIM on the contract, i.e. a multi-SIM contract is required? I guess most people with such a contract nowadays use it in their phone and tablet, so the currently supported 3rd SIM could be the watch. But for users who also connect a laptop or other devices, the current Telekom offering (maximum of three SIMs / three devices) seems to be a bit too limited.

Ragnar Schierholz , 2017-09-17

I remember talking about wearable computing to research partners back in 2003 and the examples of concept studies we had back then looked sort of ridiculous. From today's perspective they are a bit outdated in design, but the use cases are mostly perfectly reasonable. We were laughed at for the digital jewelery case... :-D

I must admit that I also assumed that the wearables will always be at a fraction of the "regular computer's" computational power due to conceptual constraints like power consumption, etc. I guess that's a bit of a 640k case.

Ragnar Schierholz , 2017-09-17

Ragnar, to make the Watch work with your phone on the same phone#, its eSIM has to be registered against the same contract as the iPhone SIM. Whether Telekom counts it as a full SIM against their 3-SIMs limit, I don't know.

Volker Weber, 2017-09-17

LMGTFY (well, for me...): The Telekom FAQ clearly say that it does and that only two multi-SIMs can be added to the contract.

Also, they say that the cellular functionality won't work abroad (I assume they mean when roaming). That is a bit surprising to me. Why would a network operator not be able to accept a device with an eSIM into his network (assuming that in general there is a roaming agreement with the operator the eSIM is registered with)?

=> https://www.telekom.de/hilfe/geraete-zubehoer/handy-smartphone-tablet/apple/apple-watch-series-3/voraussetzungen-apple-watch-series-3-im-mobilfunknetz

Ragnar Schierholz, 2017-09-17

Schade:

"Eine Nutzung der Mobilfunk-Funktion ohne Verbindung mit dem iPhone ist jedoch im Ausland nicht möglich, weil die Roaming-Funktion vom Hersteller Apple nicht unterstützt wird. "

Es bleibt noch Raum für zukünftige Erweiterungen & Verbesserungen :-)

Felix Binsack, 2017-09-17

Now, how is it if someone throws me into a pool wearing the watch? How much water ( pressure) does it withstand?

Axel Seifried, 2017-09-17

It's swim-proof. It also tracks swimming in a pool or in open water.

Volker Weber, 2017-09-17

I like the two first sentences. :-)

Mathias Ziolo, 2017-09-17

Yesterday at the Apple Store (or must I say town hall) in Düsseldorf I was told by an Apple employee that the Series 3 LTE Apple watch will only be working with Telekom because of the LTE band/frequency which is exclusive to Telekom. That's the reason why Apple watch cannot be used with other companies such as Vodafone and won't be working outside germany in roaming. Sounds weird to me and I haven't checked the LTE frequency in the specs but that's the explanation they gave to me.

Jorge Reis Pires, 2017-09-17

Now, that's a beauty. But it still doesn't fit my needs. For now i'll be good with the Garmin Fenix 3Hr. But it seems this is going all the way down to be the only Device needed on Tours and Sports and i'm quite looking forward to that, maybe in Watch 4 or 5?
But there is a single thing that is anacceptable for me and that's the battery, it's supposed to work for 18h/max. While this is enough for a day (without cellular of course) it bothers me to charge a Watch every day.

Kai Schmalenbach, 2017-09-17

Read about the technical requirements too in an article.

Seems that at least o2 has no plans at all to support the watch because of technical limitations with their bands.

That isn‘t a problem for Vodafone (they use the same technique as Telekom as far as I know) but so far the have no plans either. Might change with increasing demand as they say.

Interestingly that works for me :-/ Telekom was always the last for me to consider. Liked o2 but it‘s very bad in the areas I am now frequently. So while I had planned to move to Vodafone I know strongly consider Telekom as my next provider!

Harald Gaerttner, 2017-09-17

You should have ended the post with "I look forward to the very near future when one can again throw their loved ones in the pool again" :)

Darren Duke, 2017-09-17

@Kai Schmalenbach: I thought the same about the daily recharge. With some tweaking, you will easily survive two days.
But the truth is: you don't wear your watch at night. Let it sleep on the wireless charger and you'll be fine.

Axel Koerv, 2017-09-17

Ever tried open water with the apple watch?

The reviews I found tell it's on the same level as the other sports, fine for occasional use but miserable for real athletes. Touch displays and (sea) water don't play very well, it might get fiddly to get a lap or stop the workout on point.

But I'd like a Nike Sports band on my fenix.

Kai Nehm, 2017-09-18

A drawback is the eSIM: still not easy to get it in Germany. Telecom charges 5€/month, Vodafone only has it for private customers with Samsung Gear S3.
Hope this will improve in the near future.

Luckily my HuaweiWatch 2 has both eSIM and a nano SIM slot, so no additional costs for the MultiSIM, and it works abroad :-)

From time to time I left my phone at home. It works, but still often I miss it: taking pictures, searching something on the web...
But I agree, the usage of watches will increase, and with it the smartphone usage decrease.

Jean-Marc Autexier, 2017-09-18

I was bemused by the thought that "Enemy of the State" and "Idiocracy" were coming true at the same time.
.
It also seems that The Time Machine is coming true as well.
.
We look to be splitting into the Eloi, who enjoy beautiful things in a minimalist way, and the Morlocks, who actually build things and make things work, but are kept out of the way in other countries.

Craig Wiseman, 2017-09-18

Hat die Nike+ watch tatsächlich keine Probleme mit der Nike+ App? ich hatte mit meiner Apple Watch Series 0 (also die erste Version, nicht Nike+ - also app nicht vorinstalliert) nur Probleme - egal welche Version ich verwendete. Entweder stoppte die App mitten im Lauf, die GPS Verbindung ging verloren, die Musik stoppte oder die App lies sich trotz mehrfachen Neustart der Uhr nicht dazu bewegen zu starten. Extrem nervig war auch der Umstand dass die App einfach nicht mit der App am iPhone kommunizieren wollte (sync Ring wurde am Display angezeigt .... aber nichts passierte --> Neustart).
Das war nach unzähligen Versuchen letztlich der Grund die App zu löschen und die "Plain" Variante von Apple selbst zu verwenden. Eine gute Werbung für die Nike+ war das natürlich auch nicht... das Vertrauen war / ist dahin...

Wie ist eure Erfahrung hier?

Anton Seissl, 2017-09-19

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