Linus and his Apple Watch

[FlyingMonkeyMen]

Has Linus ever explained how he uses an Apple watch even though he doesn't daily an iPhone? Heard him mention it in the latest WAN Show and would like to know how feasible it is for me to do the same. 

[SansVarnic]

22 minutes ago, FlyingMonkeyMen said:

Has Linus ever explained how he uses an Apple watch even though he doesn't daily an iPhone? Heard him mention it in the latest WAN Show and would like to know how feasible it is for me to do the same. 

There are apple watch apps you can download on Android phones. Cant say if this is what he uses but I hope that helps answer question.

[Liquiditi]

IIRC he's mentioned that it's (please correct me if I'm mistaken) like his silent protest against the state of Android wearables and how bad they are in comparison. 

[titan384]

But how exactly does he use it. I have been looking at buying a LTE apple watch and use it for calls and such, but i do not own an iPhone. I want to sort of remove a phone from my everyday carry. If someone can educate me and help me/us here it would be just amazing.

 

If someone owns an apple watch LTE can you tell me that if i can use it as sort of a standalone device to listen to music, receive calls and text messages. Focus on receiving.

[titan384]

3 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

There are apple watch apps you can download on Android phones. Cant say if this is what he uses but I hope that helps answer question.

How exactly do you set up the apple watch using android devices? I heard that its only possible to do using iPhones. Not even iPad/Mac can be used to set up an Apple Watch.

[Lord Vile]

4 hours ago, FlyingMonkeyMen said:

Has Linus ever explained how he uses an Apple watch even though he doesn't daily an iPhone? Heard him mention it in the latest WAN Show and would like to know how feasible it is for me to do the same. 

Doesn’t he carry and iPhone too? A lot of tech you tubers do because iOS is more reliable 

[RejZoR]

4 hours ago, FlyingMonkeyMen said:

Has Linus ever explained how he uses an Apple watch even though he doesn't daily an iPhone? Heard him mention it in the latest WAN Show and would like to know how feasible it is for me to do the same. 

Iirc Linus once said he's just wearing it to tell time as he's not using an iPhone. Sort of to protest terrible Android Wear devices and mock Apple for just using it as a regular watch. Though not usre why one would bother dealing with regular charging just for time.

[SansVarnic]

1 hour ago, titan384 said:

How exactly do you set up the apple watch using android devices? I heard that its only possible to do using iPhones. Not even iPad/Mac can be used to set up an Apple Watch.

41 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Doesn’t he carry and iPhone too? A lot of tech you tubers do because iOS is more reliable 

Linus' daily driver is a Samsung Note 9. 

I dont know how the watch works with the phone, I dont use one myself. I do have a Note 9 myself so looked up the Apple watch apps in the play store. I would assume that the application has the proper handshakes to make it work proper other wise they wouldn't be getting used.

 

29 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Iirc Linus once said he's just wearing it to tell time as he's not using an iPhone. Sort of to protest terrible Android Wear devices and mock Apple for just using it as a regular watch. Though not usre why one would bother dealing with regular charging just for time.

This is the most likely case and I think I do recall him saying the same thing but I do not remember in what video he said it in.

[RejZoR]

I think it was in a video soon after his Apple Watch 5 review iirc (but wasn't related to Apple Watch, he sort of mentioned it as "by the way" because people were asking about it). Not sure which video tho as they make a lot of them lol

[Lord Vile]

52 minutes ago, SansVarnic said:

Linus' daily driver is a Samsung Note 9. 

I dont know how the watch works with the phone, I dont use one myself. I do have a Note 9 myself so looked up the Apple watch apps in the play store. I would assume that the application has the proper handshakes to make it work proper other wise they wouldn't be getting used.

 

This is the most likely case and I think I do recall him saying the same thing but I do not remember in what video he said it in.

Nah you can’t pair an Apple Watch with an android device. I though he’s carried and iPhone and android at the same time for ages 

[pm128]

Can apple watch be activated with iPod? Like iPod touch

[titan384]

1 hour ago, pm128 said:

Can apple watch be activated with iPod? Like iPod touch

it cant. it can be set up only using an iPhone.

[SansVarnic]

10 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

Nah you can’t pair an Apple Watch with an android device. I though he’s carried and iPhone and android at the same time for ages 

Thanks for clearing that up, I assumed it worked by the comments in the apps, I cannot go off experience on this one unfortunately. 

[Warin]

I have an LTE Series 4, and I use it to make calls all the time when I am not in range of my watch.  I havent loaded any podcasts or music onto it, but you totally can.

[zeusthemoose]

You can not use an Apple Watch without an iPhone. From my experience with it, it is unusable until you connect it to an iPhone to set it up. Once it is setup, it syncs with the phone and if it’s lte, can make calls and do some stuff alone. My guess is that he either has an old iPhone somewhere that it is connected to to or used an iPhone to set it up then put it back in storage once the face was up.

[saltycaramel]

Well with the new “Family Setup” thing announced at the recent event, only one iPhone in the household would be required.

Pair that with the fact that since last year the watch can access its appstore and download new apps right from the watch itself..

Like a family of 4 could have 1 cheap iPhone SE at home just for “watch management”, 4 android phones and 4 LTE watches (Family setup requires the watches to have cellular). 

The cell carrier needs to support Family Setup.

[Lord Vile]

12 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

Thanks for clearing that up, I assumed it worked by the comments in the apps, I cannot go off experience on this one unfortunately. 

They’re decent bits of kit, had a series 3 for a few months this year to test if a 5/6 would be useful for me and just wasn’t in the end so back to normal ones for me. 

[RejZoR]

2 hours ago, zeusthemoose said:

You can not use an Apple Watch without an iPhone. From my experience with it, it is unusable until you connect it to an iPhone to set it up. Once it is setup, it syncs with the phone and if it’s lte, can make calls and do some stuff alone. My guess is that he either has an old iPhone somewhere that it is connected to to or used an iPhone to set it up then put it back in storage once the face was up.

Even if it's not LTE, for as long as both iPhone and Apple Watch are on the same WiFi network, they can communicate fully. I find this feature quite useful at home where I have my phone somewhere else and someone calls me and I can answer even though I'm 20m away from my phone. So I don't need to carry it with me when I'm waiting for an important call or something.

[pm128]

On 9/19/2020 at 1:52 PM, titan384 said:

it cant. it can be set up only using an iPhone.

Frick

[SeraphicWings]

On 9/19/2020 at 10:37 AM, FlyingMonkeyMen said:

Has Linus ever explained how he uses an Apple watch even though he doesn't daily an iPhone? Heard him mention it in the latest WAN Show and would like to know how feasible it is for me to do the same. 

He doesn't use the iPhone daily, but I bet he use his iPhone review sample to set up the AW

Because the AW can't be setup without an iPhone

[zeusthemoose]

6 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Even if it's not LTE, for as long as both iPhone and Apple Watch are on the same WiFi network, they can communicate fully. I find this feature quite useful at home where I have my phone somewhere else and someone calls me and I can answer even though I'm 20m away from my phone. So I don't need to carry it with me when I'm waiting for an important call or something.

True. What Watch version do you have? I have a series 2 and the range is so bad I basically have to be in the same room.

[RejZoR]

2 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

True. What Watch version do you have? I have a series 2 and the range is so bad I basically have to be in the same room.

Series 5. It works basically anywhere in my house as well as around it. I have to go really far away from router to lose signal.

[soldier_ph]

Yeah and do you guys think that they will ever bring out the feature where you can setup the Apple Watch with an iPad ? Because the Apple Watch SE would honestly be a really attractive watch for me but I wouldn't have a need for an iPhone since my Android phone is my only and primary phone. But I would also be interested in a Tablet specifically the iPad (cause again the iPad and the Apple Watch are best products of their category) not just for normal YouTube and Netflix consumption but also for casual drawing. Or I guess I could just get a cheapo iPhone 6S or 7 for setup. Or will also have to see if any good Android Watches come out with the new Qualcomm 4100 Chipset.

 

 

Yeah I'm considering buying Apple Products, what has this year done with me ?

[zeusthemoose]

12 minutes ago, soldier_ph said:

Yeah and do you guys think that they will ever bring out the feature where you can setup the Apple Watch with an iPad ?

I really doubt it. For my experience, the majority of people with iPads (and their family) are fully stuck in the Apple ecosystem and either have iPhones or are too young to have a phone at all. Very few are able to go with some mobile Apple products and not all of them (I wish I was one of them...). By adding the family feature, they made it so young kids without phones can still get the watches. For those people like you who have an iPad but not an iPhone, they are hoping the ability to use an Apple Watch will encourage you to switch to iOS.

[Commodus]

21 minutes ago, soldier_ph said:

Yeah and do you guys think that they will ever bring out the feature where you can setup the Apple Watch with an iPad ? Because the Apple Watch SE would honestly be a really attractive watch for me but I wouldn't have a need for an iPhone since my Android phone is my only and primary phone. But I would also be interested in a Tablet specifically the iPad (cause again the iPad and the Apple Watch are best products of their category) not just for normal YouTube and Netflix consumption but also for casual drawing. Or I guess I could just get a cheapo iPhone 6S or 7 for setup. Or will also have to see if any good Android Watches come out with the new Qualcomm 4100 Chipset.

 

 

Yeah I'm considering buying Apple Products, what has this year done with me ?

Not counting on it. You might see Apple offer device-independent setup, although you'd probably need a cellular plan (since you'd lose all internet access the moment you step away from WiFi). The tricky bit is that your app notifications, calls, and messages would be tied to that watch; clearly general app notifications would appear on both the watch and other devices, but you couldn't have calls and texts routed from your Android phone.

 

There hasn't been much news on Snapdragon Wear 4100 watches. Mobvoi has one, but the next big hope is a likely Fossil Gen 6. Mind you, the issue isn't so much the chip as it is Wear OS. As I like to put it: Google doesn't know how to support Android on anything that isn't a phone. Wear OS is decent and ideal if you want Google Assistant on your wrist, but it feels like Apple is running further and further ahead in smartwatches.

 

If your Android phone is old enough and you're open to it, you could always go all-in and get an iPhone you'd be happy with (presumably one of the upcoming iPhone 12 models). I'm sure there would be some quirks you wouldn't be thrilled with, but iOS 14 opens the door to home screen widgets and might feel more welcoming than you think. It depends on how important the smartwatch is to you -- I consider the Apple Watch one of the important reasons why I choose an iPhone, but I know that isn't true for everyone.