Will you buy an Apple Watch?

[rvvaquero]

What do the telcos charge, $10/mo extra for Watch connection?

Depends on the carrier. Verizon postpaid is $10 month plus taxes/fees. Others offer it for $10 including taxes/fees. I've seen $5 month also, can't remember who with.

Does your bank/credit union grant you rewards points for running thru Apple Pay like that?

Yes, you just attach a credit card to Apple Pay. The actual charge goes on your cc bill, just like any other charge.

 

[TheForce]

The problem with people who have no training in BP measuring is that they often do it wrong just because they don't know.

If you take any medication, and then take a BP the medication will influence the BP result in either direction. You are correct on those do's and don'ts. I generally take mine once every other week and follow the trend over months. Take it on an empty stomach, after I relax. My wife suffers "white coat hypertension" meaning that her BP will jump even from just putting on the cuff on our Qardio. So what I had her do is to put the cuff on and don't do a BP for 15 minutes. then activate it with the phone and bingo her BP was much lower.

If you use an older BP system that requires you to manually pump up the cuff it will cause a higher reading so buy one that has auto inflating. The manual pump is for when someone else pumps the cuff.

Being old school I had to learn on a mercury manometer and stethoscope. No two nurses will ever get the same reading. That old method was an art, not science.
When I go in for my checkup every 4 months the doctor's office used one of those old manual BP's. The readings were all over the map depending on which nurse I got. Two years ago they switched to a modern medical grade auto pump and meter. Now my readings match my home testing and are consistent.

 

[harshness]

BP can vary depending on when you do it and several other factors like hypertension and anxiety, breathing, etc.

It can also vary depending on whether or not your posture is appropriate for measurement. BP reference numbers are only defined for when your arm is at heart level and not when your wrist is hanging in the region of your trouser pockets. The American Heart Association also recommends resting for five minutes before measuring so it isn't something that you can do on a whim. There really needs to be a consistent process, not just random samplings.

 

[Foxbat]

The topic of getting an Apple Watch for my Mother-in-Law came up in regards to fall detection and being able to summon assistance if she was unresponsive. My big issue has been keeping it charged and needing to wear it 24-7. While researching the differences in the Watch SE and Series 8, I saw that the Apple Refurbished Store had the Series 8 for $60-80 off list.

Refurbished Apple Watch Deals - Apple

All refurbished Apple Watch models are Apple-certified, including a 1-year warranty. Shop now to save up to 15% with free delivery and returns.

www.apple.com

 

[rvvaquero]

The topic of getting an Apple Watch for my Mother-in-Law came up in regards to fall detection and being able to summon assistance if she was unresponsive. My big issue has been keeping it charged and needing to wear it 24-7. While researching the differences in the Watch SE and Series 8, I saw that the Apple Refurbished Store had the Series 8 for $60-80 off list.

Refurbished Apple Watch Deals - Apple

All refurbished Apple Watch models are Apple-certified, including a 1-year warranty. Shop now to save up to 15% with free delivery and returns.

www.apple.com

Walmart has the Apple Watch SE on sale for $149 at this time. It'll need to be charged every couple of days, but is good for your stated purpose. Apple Watch SE

 

[klang]

The topic of getting an Apple Watch for my Mother-in-Law came up in regards to fall detection and being able to summon assistance if she was unresponsive. My big issue has been keeping it charged and needing to wear it 24-7. While researching the differences in the Watch SE and Series 8, I saw that the Apple Refurbished Store had the Series 8 for $60-80 off list.

Refurbished Apple Watch Deals - Apple

All refurbished Apple Watch models are Apple-certified, including a 1-year warranty. Shop now to save up to 15% with free delivery and returns.

www.apple.com

Unfortunately you can’t wear one 24-7. Battery life has always been a challenge. Later models charge faster but still need to be charged daily in my experience. I wear the smaller model.

 

[navychop]

I wonder what, if anything, might be brought to the version 9 of the “iWatch.”

I haven’t worn a watch in a decade plus. I might try wearing an old dead watch for a while to see if I can tolerate it. I’d need the largest available, given my eyesight.

The BP features are tempting. Little else.

 

[rvvaquero]

Unfortunately you can’t wear one 24-7. Battery life has always been a challenge. Later models charge faster but still need to be charged daily in my experience.

I guess it depends on how much you use it. I have an SE which is 2 years old and battery life down to 85%. I wear it for 2 full days then charge overnight. I don't talk on it, but I do monitor calls and read several texts per day on it, responding to some of them on the watch.

I bought it so I wouldn't have to carry my phone on my person all the time when at home. It fulfills that purpose nicely and has on a few occasions detected a fall. It gives me several seconds to respond and indicate that I am okay, otherwise it would call 911.

I've not actually fallen, but slamming my hand down or swinging a hammer or such will sometime set it off. It's the sudden stop that does it.

The BP features are tempting.

I wouldn't expect Apple watches to have BP capability any time soon.

 

[TheForce]

Yesterday I went to the Apple Store to try on a Watch Ultra. It's big but after 5 minutes, I didn't seem to mind the weight and length.

I like the features it offers and the 36hour battery life. I don't Scuba dive anymore and not into action extreme sports but the navigation and GPS features are also interesting. Plus the option series 8 SS is a build that while smaller and more like my series 6, is nearly as expensive as the Ultra. So why not just go for the Ultra if I can get used to the size?

I have no plans to buy one now and will wait until the new stuff is out in September. I also need a new iphone and had planned on getting that in September first.

I really would like to hold out for a new Apple watch that has a camera built in for Face time and taking a quick photo as opposed to needing my iphone. I have the wrist band camera that was released a couple years ago but it is awkward to use, big and clumsy and does not do Facetime. So it was a waste of money IMO.

 

[navychop]

What do your eyes tell you about the 8 versus the Ultra? I haven’t considered an Apple Watch very seriously because of tiny displays.

And this is NOT a snarky question: Why do you “need” a new iPhone? I ask because my XS Max is working ok, save for possibly needing a new battery later this year or so. Perhaps I should be considering something else. BTW, I don’t use the capabilities of the current camera, so those improvements are of no interest.

 

[TheForce]

What do your eyes tell you about the 8 versus the Ultra? I haven’t considered an Apple Watch very seriously because of tiny displays.

And this is NOT a snarky question: Why do you “need” a new iPhone? I ask because my XS Max is working ok, save for possibly needing a new battery later this year or so. Perhaps I should be considering something else. BTW, I don’t use the capabilities of the current camera, so those improvements are of no interest.

Need vs want...

Good questions!

8 vs Ultra. I really just wanted to see if I could wear the Ultra since it is considerably larger.

There were a couple observations that gave it a + over the top standard SS 8- GPS for hiking navigation, the battery is rated at twice the number of hours, the screen resolution appeared sharper and had a really nice response on the small video clips. BUT I really want a built in camera so I will probably wait.

Upgrade from iphone 11Max Pro to the 14 Max Pro:
Current 11 is suffering battery life less than what I am used to. I am doing more now with monitoring 2 Teslas and 4 solar battery charging / discharging so where my iphone used to last 3 days I now have to charge it up daily. The camera is adequate for my non-pro needs but the newer camera in the 14 Pro Max has more zoom Image stabilization, and higher quality after compression. It also offers 5G and that is the way of the future. But the big PLUS in the 14 is the screen brightness in bright sunlight. To read my 11 I have to find shade. The 14 is just really bright in the sun and no problem reading the screen. While I will wait on the watch for another year unless the new Ultra is a secret surprise like a built in camera or some health monitor, it's time now for a new iphone.

BTW- the new iphone 14 does not use hardware simm, only e simm. So that will be an issue for some travelers I think. I don't swap around with different simm cards so not really concerned about that.

Frankly, I don't need either and depending on other priorities I may push it off for another year and get both in 2024.
.

 

[klang]

BTW- the new iphone 14 does not use hardware simm, only e simm. So that will be an issue for some travelers I think. I don't swap around with different simm cards so not really concerned about that.

I have the 14. Traveled to Cayman Islands last month and experimented with a local eSIM I bought through Airalo. Installed quite easily from their app and worked quite well. Was about $9 for a gig of data.

 

[TheForce]

I have several screens on my Apple Watch which is a series 6. Each one has a number of data information buttons I can access at a glance. Shrink this screen down to about 1x1 inch and then see if you can read at arms length. I have weather prediction real time stock price of all in my portfolio with Tesla on the display, the 207 is the miles range on my Model Y at this time. I can quickly switch it to the Model S and also have full app like control. Exercise rings, watch battery SoC. SMS alerts as well as i message and email. a stop watch timer and alarm clock. Lots of info at a glance. I can even track when the Tesla is moving and see how fast. Pretty much if I can do it on the iphone I can do it on the Apple Watch, except Face Time which my grandkids love to do.

 

[Foxbat]

Well, we took advantage of the Amazon Prime Day and upgraded Mrs. Foxbat to a Series 8 for $120 off. So I now have the old 40mm Series 4 to see if I’m ready to return to wearing a watch.

So far, it has bugged me about getting up a couple of times, but I learned about the finger gestures (double tap to dismiss). But I will probably just trade it in (worth $60 off) on a new Series 8 in Midnight since Rose Gold isn’t the shade of gold I want to wear.

 

[dfergie]

Still on series 2, 40mm's are just too big imho... (2nd gen SE for same reason)

 

[Foxbat]

Still on series 2, 40mm's are just too big imho... (2nd gen SE for same reason)

How’s your Series 2’s battery life? So far I’m lucky to finish the day without running out of charge.

 

[dfergie]

Starting to die at end of day, but doing PT w/treadmill and walking may be the culprit.

 

[Foxbat]

Today was my first day of use at work (forgot it Monday) and I’m sitting at 20% right now, so not too bad for a Series 4 that its Battery Health reports is at 65%. One nice feature is my Company’s Multi-Factor Authentication pops up on my wrist now, so I can leave my iPhone in my pocket.

 

[TheForce]

Starting to die at end of day, but doing PT w/treadmill and walking may be the culprit.

You can open up what is draining your battery in the settings. For me its the Tesla app polling the charging which is 40 % of the discharging.

 

[navychop]

Gonna havta look now.


Looking forward to facts about the upcoming watch and iPhone. Maybe medical monitoring will be up to the point where I jump.