[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Very interesting observation. Do let us know if you find out.

Just curious, what kind of typing interface is there? Is there some kind of soft keyboard or can it be paired with a bluetooth keyboard.

For example, phone is used for shopping, emails, banking, messaging, content consumption (Youtube, browser etc), what all can be done in the ultra watch?

And for phone calls from the watch, does it have mike and speakers, or do you need to connect bluetooth headset?

I shall be travelling soon. But its just not possible to leave the mobile behind. So this question that I asked ref International roaming with only the watch with its cellular thing on and the consequent charges may never end up with an answer.

Ref the queries on key board and all - first off there is this app called watch chat which clearly has gotten itself neatly integrated with whatsapp api’s. Whether whatsapp offers open api’s of this kind is not something I know about.

But this app is able to clearly scan and read and display the messages and allow one to reply as well, using a virtual keyboard on the watch dial. My fingers are big. But the watch dial and work surface is also large. Hence Im able to work the keyboard as needed if needed. The watch chat app does not allow you to make or receive whatsapp calls though.

Ref normal sms also, one has templatised messages to choose from and reply. Or one can type a message too.

The phone book also opens and allows you to type a name and all. But its basically easier to use voice commands vja siri.

I know I can happily stream youtube music and apple music and track activity and track a golf round on the USGA Golf Handicap Index Network (GHIN) (IGU - Indian Golf Union) and all. Also supports watch banking. Walkie Talkie functionality between 2 Apple Watches is there. Some Frequent Flyer Memberships may work provided you're logged in via the phone.

But Im not yet sure about consumption by way of Youtube videos and online shopping and all.

Here are a few screenshots to illustrate some of what I have mentioned above.

But it is also true that the majority of users will mostly use this as a watch, health and fitness and activity tracker and for a little messaging and calling. And of course the compass and all that.

Its a bit like the Swiss Army Knife - at the end of the day most of us probably use only 5 functions out of fhe 30 that it offers.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by vb-san

A 45mm Series 8 will be ideal for you, especially if entering the Apple Watch space for the first time. I am totally sold on the Ultra, but just make sure to try it before buying. It's chunky and feels really big on the wrist.

When tried the Ultra a couple of days back

Attachment 2373034

What I like about the ultra is the looks. The flat screen, the more curved corners give it a better look. The regular 8 looks toy-like in person although I think a proper band can prop it up.

Another question, how useful is the ECG feature? The first thing we did after setting up the watch was check our ECG. I don’t have heart problems (yet), but having other lifestyle diseases I guess that day is not far away. If not for the ECG, I’d rather save some money and get an SE. I don’t need the temp and spo2 features, I feel.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The only (naughty) question that I had was- suppose I go abroad and leave my iPhone at home. And wear only my Cellular enabled watch which is paired with that iPhone which I left at home. In this case, since the phone is at home, does it still classify as International Roaming and will I be charged accordingly or not?

Shankar, I know you won’t leave your phone behind when you travel because it’s not practical. Hypothetically what you are saying can’t work because your watch is only a receiver of sorts. It’s paired to your phone on the same number, so if your phone is in India on the local network and you are abroad, the cellular function on your watch won’t work because you are not on a participating international carrier.

Cheers

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Hypothetically what you are saying can’t work because your watch is only a receiver of sorts. It’s paired to your phone on the same number, so if your phone is in India on the local network and you are abroad, the cellular function on your watch won’t work because you are not on a participating international carrier.

Cheers

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Another question, how useful is the ECG feature? The first thing we did after setting up the watch was check our ECG. I don’t have heart problems (yet), but having other lifestyle diseases I guess that day is not far away. If not for the ECG, I’d rather save some money and get an SE. I don’t need the temp and spo2 features, I feel.

Thanks Cyborg. I know that question was a silly one. The watch after all is merely paired with the phone and uses the phones e sim as its source of signal so you’re bang on.

Drsgonfire. Yes the ECG is pretty accurate. It wont tell you that you’re having a heart attack but it will definitely indicate aberrations and other signs. Atleast it will give you warnings which will prompt you to take fast action as it is did in my case 3 years ago. Ive described the whole episode on this thread a few pages back.

The various monitors and sensors are very good. And the readings from the Apple Watch are accurate. One can trust Apple thats for sure.

As Ive said earlier Im waiting for them to introduce blood pressure and blood sugar monitors. Then the apple watch can potentially become more or less the one stop shop for ‘first level responses’ on one’s general health monitoring.

Some pics are placed here for your viewing. Also, the battery is at present about 36 hours into the game post the last charge, with one round of golf and all normal activities done - all on normal power mode. Im going to leave it as is till this evening and see where we stand.

Frankly if I need to charge it once every two or two and a half days, I am more than happy. I don’t really envisage a scenario hiking up the Appalachian Trail for example where I ain't got no access to a power juice point for days on end. And for such remote eventualities there are other lovely watches I can wear, such as various solar powered or hand-wound or automatic timepieces.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Hypothetically what you are saying can’t work because your watch is only a receiver of sorts. It’s paired to your phone on the same number, so if your phone is in India on the local network and you are abroad, the cellular function on your watch won’t work because you are not on a participating international carrier.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Thanks Cyborg. I know that question was a silly one. The watch after all is merely paired with the phone and uses the phones e sim as its source of signal so you’re bang on.

A cellular-equipped watch can independently work on the network without the need for a phone, you can try switching off the phone, and you will still be able to make and receive calls. It gets registered on the network as a clone of the iPhone number.

It will indeed be interesting to know what happens if both are in different areas- in a city or another state and definitely how it handles if the phone is in India and watch overseas or vice versa. I am assuming only one of the devices will get registered on the network depending on....?

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

It will indeed be interesting to know what happens if both are in different areas- in a city or another state and definitely how it handles if the phone is in India and watch overseas or vice versa. I am assuming only one of the devices will get registered on the network depending on....?

This is indeed an interesting insight. I know that my watch works beautifully even when the phone is approx 8-10kms away, as I have recently tested this by leaving the phone at home and buzzing off for golf with just my Apple watch Ultra - cellular accompanying me.
But it would not be normal to leave the phone behind when going to another city or state or country.
However, it is possible to try this (partially) by switching the phone completely off when travelling in some other city or state or country.
But then, if the above holds true, then for the most part the phones are switched off or onto flight mode when one is in an aircraft. But the watch most probably and quite typically isn’t. So will the watch still ‘ring’ and be able to receive a phone call when the phone is in flight mode?

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

But the watch most probably and quite typically isn’t. So will the watch still ‘ring’ and be able to receive a phone call when the phone is in flight mode?

You can set up the watch to mirror your actions on the iPhone. So, if you are in flight mode, the watch will also get into flight mode and so on. If not, and the plane is still on the tarmac and the watch can get a mobile signal, Yes, your watch will ring the same way it will do at home if you switch off your mobile and keep the watch on

What I mentioned before is that it will be interesting to know how these things handle when the watch and phone are both connected to networks but not under the same tower. Who gets priority? From your question - the iPhone in India or the watch in overseas roaming? Or do both get connected respectively to available networks? Which I doubt is possible.

You can try next time by keeping your phone at home - but switched on and then going to a different part and see where does your number ring

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

You can set up the watch to mirror your actions on the iPhone.

how these things handle when the watch and phone are both connected to networks but not under the same tower. Who gets priority? From your question - the iPhone in India or the watch in overseas roaming? Or do both get connected respectively to available networks? Which I doubt is possible.

You can try next time by keeping your phone at home - but switched on and then going to a different part and see where does your number ring

1. Yes typically the ‘mirror’ setting will be the one most people use.
2. Yes it will be interesting as to who gets priority but I believe that the phone will and indeed should.
3. I very much doubt that the watch will act independently of the phone considering the watch is kind of ‘tethered’ to the phone and the phone indeed is the main ‘base unit’ for that e sim and number.
4. I dont think I ll be able to ever leave the primary phone at home and go travelling. But what I can do, sometime when the inclination overtakes me, is to set up my old series 6 Apple watch cellular with my other iPhone, the 13 mini and leave that phone at home in switched on mode if going travelling to another city, thus testing if this functionality works on the watch. I will try it first in India and see what happens. (But cutting a long story short, since my watch carries the same number as the phone, and indeed is merely a mirror of the said phone,whoever calls my phone will still be able to get through because it is at home and my watch, which is on the same number as a clone of the phone, ought still to ring. Basically the logic being that distance is going to be immaterial as long as some tower or other is within range of the watch and will simply relay the signal.)

Its fun to discuss all this and try all these oddball experiments. The perfect activity for the jobless on a holiday.

[Selective]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This is indeed an interesting insight. I know that my watch works beautifully even when the phone is approx 8-10kms away, as I have recently tested this by leaving the phone at home and buzzing off for golf with just my Apple watch Ultra - cellular accompanying me.
But it would not be normal to leave the phone behind when going to another city or state or country.
However, it is possible to try this (partially) by switching the phone completely off when travelling in some other city or state or country.
But then, if the above holds true, then for the most part the phones are switched off or onto flight mode when one is in an aircraft. But the watch most probably and quite typically isn’t. So will the watch still ‘ring’ and be able to receive a phone call when the phone is in flight mode?

As you already know, for Apple Watch, cellular roaming isn’t supported outside your carrier network. But still, it will be interesting to see the outcome of your experiment.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

It will indeed be interesting to know what happens if both are in different areas- in a city or another state and definitely how it handles if the phone is in India and watch overseas or vice versa. I am assuming only one of the devices will get registered on the network depending on?

Originally Posted by Turbanator

You can try next time by keeping your phone at home - but switched on and then going to a different part and see where does your number ring

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Its fun to discuss all this and try all these oddball experiments. The perfect activity for the jobless on a holiday.

Turbanator and Shankar, zero knowledge about these watches, don’t even know how to operate one at the moment, but logically speaking I don’t think the watch can work on roaming abroad if the host device (your iPhone) is in India. It could theoretically work on domestic roaming because the same operator could have service in another state as well.

International roaming changes the ball game completely because a partner operator is involved. With the host device (the one mirrored) in a different country and on another network, I don’t see how it could be possible.

Shankar, it’s always fun to discuss and learn new things. Thank you for documenting all aspects of your journey with the Ultra, it makes interesting reading.

Cheers

[Silverfire]

Inspired by this thread, got myself a Series 8 45mm. My previous try with activity trackers was the Series 1 42mm watch, which I stopped using in a few months and a couple of Mi bands which are also eating dust in some drawer.

The series 8 is a big leap forward - both from the software and the hardware points of views, and I am enjoying it a lot. The best way to put it would be that the watch helps out and delights in multiple smaller interactions, which make the overall experience of being in the Apple Ecosystem very nice. Some of these are:

1. The watch automatically unlocks my Mac and my iPhone. So I don't even have to go through the very minor friction that is Touch ID on the Mac or Face ID on the iPhone.
2. The watch has a full viewfinder from the iPhone camera. Great for shooting selfies with your family and friends, while keeping the phone away at a distance to get everyone in the frame.
3. Alarm - Waking up with the gentle taps of the watch is such a delight vs the loud alarm blaring from the phone.
4. Beautiful Watchfaces - From Series 1 to now, Apple has added many more watch faces. I realised one of the reasons I stopped using my series 1 was that I never really loved any of the watch faces. Also, without an Always On display it was always a pain to lift up your wrist and activate the watch to get the time. With Series 8, there I many watch face that I absolutely love e.g. California, Metropolitan, Modular, Astronomy etc. This combined with the watch face being always on and the screen being bigger at 45 mm vs the previous 42mm, really makes it a much better "Watch".
5. Health - With the sensors working in the background for heart rate, body temp, blood oxygen etc, I feel some sense of comfort that I may get an early signal if I develop any health issues (especially with a family history of heart attacks). Additionally the activity rings, do have very prescient notifications, which help me stay motivated to complete my exercise. I wish Apple would launch Fitness+ in India soon, so we can start doing workouts with Watch tracking.
6. Battery life: the battery life on the watch is pretty great., I charge it for around 1/2 an hour a day when I go for my bath, and it lasts me through the day.
7. Calls: The call quality on the watch is pretty great. For most short phone calls I no longer feel like getting the phone out of the pocket.

Overall - Series 8 is a nice upgrade, and the plethora of bands available for it make sure you can get a nice personalised look for yourself. Before buying it though, I would encourage you to try out the 41 mm vs the 45 mm options in the store. The 41 mm may be plenty big for you.

Other points:
1. Tried out the Ultra in the Store. It looks and feels HOT! That titanium case with the orange highlights is so nice. But it is pretty large and thick, and may not be super comfortable in day to day life for me, so skipped it.
2. Bought my Series 8 in Silver, on Amazon on a Deal and got additional cashback on my credit card. Net damage to the pocket ~Rs 42.5k vs Rs 48.9k on the Apple website. This compares to ~36.5k if you buy it from the US. Not a huge difference. As Apple moves more manufacturing to India, I hope the price difference keeps falling.
3. The US Apple site sells you the Watch with the option of a Nylon Sport loop (which I feel is the most comfortable band). The India models, all come only with the silicone band. My Silver watch came with the White band, which I don't like much. Hope Apple, gives options of more bands on the purchase SKU in the future.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Silverfire

Inspired by this thread, got myself a Series 8 45mm. My previous try with activity trackers was the Series 1 42mm watch, which I stopped using in a few months and a couple of Mi bands which are also eating dust in some drawer.

The series 8 is a big leap forward - both from the software and the hardware points of views, and I am enjoying it a lot.

Nice review and glad to know you are enjoying the Apple Watch. I have the Apple Watch 6, apart from a few additional sensors there is not much difference in these watches and everything that you highlighted is available even in 6.

Honestly, they should not keep releasing 6, 7, 8 etc..every. year adding very minor updates just to fill in the gaps for their annual releases. The ULTRA is the real upgrade to the regular Apple Watch this year but, the price is difficult to fathom.

But, on the contrary they don't increase the price so it makes it easier to upgrade, if one wishes too.

On a separate note, weather here is started to get gloomy. So to cheer things up, got a few colorful band for my watch.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Honestly, they should not keep releasing 6, 7, 8 etc..every. year adding very minor updates just to fill in the gaps for their annual releases. The ULTRA is the real upgrade to the regular Apple Watch this year but, the price is difficult to fathom.

But, on the contrary they don't increase the price so it makes it easier to upgrade, if one wishes too.

I believe the key difference from Series 6 to 8 are on screen bezels and brightness.

Apple is like VAG in this aspect – generation changes happen more like a ‘spot the difference contest’. This applies to iPhone as well. Apple can easily continue with iPhone 13 series for two years and then release the next iteration; consumers won’t lose much as the updates are so minimal (so much that the existence of 13 makes the regular 14 almost redundant). But the company very well knows that a bunch of consumers change the device every other year (read – the VB household) and will create a sales blockbuster year after year.

And when the sales chart settles a bit, expect Apple to launch a new iPhone color (at around the 6 months mark), and that will take a bit of sheen away from the next generation Galaxy S series launch.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vb-san

I believe the key difference from Series 6 to 8 are on screen bezels and brightness.

Those are super minor and inconsequential to a naked eye.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Apple is like VAG in this aspect – generation changes happen more like a ‘spot the difference contest’. This applies to iPhone as well. Apple can easily continue with iPhone 13 series for two years and then release the next iteration; consumers won’t lose much as the updates are so minimal (so much that the existence of 13 makes the regular 14 almost redundant). But the company very well knows that a bunch of consumers change the device every other year (read – the VB household) and will create a sales blockbuster year after year.

Agree. I never deny that the whole annual ritual of releasing their products in sequence (6,7,8 or 13,14 or 15) is to create an excitement in their consumers.

Suckers like me and you (not 100% sure if you are one like me ) enjoy purchasing them each year because of their marketing strategies.

Jokes aside, iPhones still get substantial improvements compared to the watch as it's an expensive product and most of those improvement is focused on their cameras and faster chip.

Originally Posted by vb-san

And when the sales chart settles a bit, expect Apple to launch a new iPhone color (at around the 6 months mark), and that will take a bit of sheen away from the next generation Galaxy S series launch.

That's the brilliance of their marketing strategy. When things lose steam, just releasing one color will get the excitement back on track for Apple Users.

I am ashamed to say it but, it's just so much fun and excitement in buying an Apple product vis.a viz an android one.

[Silverfire]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Nice review and glad to know you are enjoying the Apple Watch. I have the Apple Watch 6, apart from a few additional sensors there is not much difference in these watches and everything that you highlighted is available even in 6.
Attachment 2374164

Agree. The Series 8 will be a good upgrade for anyone who is coming from the Series 5 or before, since you get an always on display and a faster processor both of which are noticeable changes.

For folks moving from 6 to 7/8 the only tangible difference (outside the health sensors of blood oxygen and temperature) will be the slightly bigger screen. Even the processor used in Series 6/7/8 remains the same (the system on chip has moved up in version due to addition of new sensors, but the cpu/gpu remain the same)

If you are buying from outside India, the Series 7 is available with mouth watering discounts, and could make a lot of sense if you are not interested in ovulation reminders or crash detection which are the only 2 noticeable additions that series 8 has over the 7.