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Re: Smart watches

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Theo wrote:

> Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>>>> I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them,
>>> a couple of questions ...
>>>
>>> Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
>>> phone around?  Similarly for phone calls?
>>
>> I doubt it. Mine can control the music, but it comes from the phone.
> 
> If the watch can store the music itself, then it must be able to do
> bluetooth to headphones.

I think that's right, the watches I've looked at have e.g. 32GB of 
flash, I presume music is the main thing you'd want to store?  I can't 
see collected fitbit type data being huge.

> It's not like the watch has its own hifi speakers
> or a headphone jack!  I know some Garmins do.

It does have *a* speaker, if not HiFi.

>>> I know there are wifi-only and wifi+4G models, do the 4G models
>>> a) require their own SIM
>>> b) incorporate an eSIM
>>> c) share the phone's SIM using rSAP like some cars do
>>> d) something else
>>
>> Wifi? No, Bluetooth. 

Within the Pixel watch range, they all have Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC and 
UWB, the LTE is optional.

>> I don't know about SIMs. Doing that would require
>> much bigger battery, same as in a phone.

Apparently the LTE models all use eSIMS, and by a special pairing 
process they share the same number as the mobile.

> Some do wifi, eg to get weather updates without having the phone present.
> It's not full time wifi, it's just for occasional sync.
> 
> Some Android and Apple watches do their own 4G via a eSIM.  I don't think
> any big brands use physical SIMs - maybe some Amazon specials do.
> 
> The watches can display texts from the phone SIM, I think some can answer
> calls via the phone too.
> 
> There's a quite some variation between the 'phone OS' platforms like Apple
> Watch and Android watches, as against other platforms like Garmin or Fitbit.

Given that I pay around £11/m for 20GB on my phone plan,
and O₂ want £7/m for a 1GB smartwatch plan, I think I'll confine my 
interest to the non-LTE models.

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Smart watches Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-08-01 22:11 +0100
  Re: Smart watches "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-08-02 14:16 +0200
    Re: Smart watches Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2025-08-02 18:44 +0100
      Re: Smart watches Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-08-06 13:46 +0100
        Re: Smart watches Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2025-08-20 15:43 +0200
    Re: Smart watches Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2025-08-20 15:41 +0200
  Re: Smart watches Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2025-08-20 15:38 +0200

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