I’m in the market for my first Apple Watch and a new AppleTV.
Apple Watch:
Should I get cellular? Can I use my Apple Watch while I go running without having my iPhone with me, if I choose to not get a cellular Apple Watch?
What wristband should I get? I am going to be wearing my Apple Watch all the time (also when I sleep and in the shower).
Will the Apple Watch be able to pair with my wireless BeatsX headphones and Bose QuietComfort 35?
AppleTV
should I get 32 or 64 gb? I currently have an AppleTV series 3 and I hardly ever use it. So I’m not too sure about how and for what I will use my new Apple TV. What do you guys use it for?
should I get one of those game controllers made for the AppleTV that resembles an X-Box controller. Are they any good?
Any other thoughts or anything I should be aware of with these new purchases?
I am a very casual user of the Apple Watch. It tells me the time, my calendar and runs a timer for me in the kitchen. I am sure someone here knows a lot more about that than me, and can give some great advice.
I am however a very frequent user of the Apple TV. I am a cable-cutter. I have no antenna signal in my home.
I have a 32 GB Apple TV gen. 4 (1080p, no 4K).
I don’t use my Apple TV for games or any of that sort, so for me 32 GB is more than enough.
I have Viaplay, Netflix, TV2 Play and DR TV (Yup, fellow dane), for watching the shows and films I want to. You can of course also stream your music from Apple Music and bought films from iTunes Store.
And for my ripped DVD collection, I use a Mac app called Beamer to stream content from my NAS to my Apple TV. It is not always flawless function, especially not with subtitles. But with a little tinkering, a way can be found.
I am also so lucky that my TV responds to the turn on/off commands and volume commands from the Apple TV remote. So my living room is a one remote room
I’ve also been weighing up the pros and cons of getting the cellular Apple Watch. A couple of things I came across made me decide to go non-cellular:
The Apple Watch, unlike the iPhone, is region restricted for cellular connectivity. I travel a lot so the idea of not being able to use it when abroad was a negative for me.
The battery consumption when using cellular is pretty heavy. One of the appeals of having the cellular option was to be untethered from my phone, but I felt like the extreme battery consumption would end up making me take the phone ‘just in case’ 90% of the time.
The watch should connect with any bluetooth headphones, but the BeatsX are gonna have Apple’s W1 chip so its gonna have way smoother setup and switching flows.
TV
I’ve been using a Fire TV Stick and its been great so far. Its super cheap to buy (especially compared to the Apple TV) and handles Youtube & Netflix really well. Another bonus for the Fire Stick is it works on hotel (browser login) wifi connections.
I’ve been considering an Apple TV just for the ability to mirror my Macbook screen to the TV. But this doesn’t seem worth the additional money to upgrade from the Fire TV Stick
So just to be clear here. If I want the ability to take the watch and a pair of AirPods alone and go running without my iPhone, then that’s only possible if I have cellular watch or can I do that on the GPS version also?
No, you won’t be able to stream music, or podcasts, without the cellular watch, so you’ll have to make sure you upload them to the watch before you head out. From what I hear that may not be as straight forward as it sounds. The transfer of music and podcasts sounds like it’s dependant on the watch being on charge so you may have to set things up the night before if you only charge over night.
Thanks. Suddenly the cellular watch seems a lot more attractive, if as you say it’s a hassle to get music and podcasts on the watch.
Just to be clear. If I have my iPhone with me, then streaming of music and podcasts from the watch is possible? Although I don’t know why I would do that if I have my iPhone with me.
Another thing I’m looking forward to with a possible Apple Watch that David mentioned on a recent podcast is the ability to be woken up in the morning by a light continuous tap on my wrist from the watch. Is anyone using that feature? Does it work? Is it annoying to sleep with the watch on?
It’s a feature I’m actually really excited because being woken by a loud alarm every morning is just really terrible actually.
Another thing about sleeping with the watch on is the insight into sleep quality each night, which I think would be really beneficial.
With your phone in the pocket, why do you want to stream from your watch?
iPhone -> Watch -> Headphones?
iPhone -> Headphones is better
But loading music and podcasts to the watch is not that big problem. My watch sits on the charger and the music/podcasts get transferred.
Oh, the wake-function is GREAT! Put my regular alarm clock away and just use my watch to be woken up.
For sleep tracking i use AutoSleep and Sleep++ (free). But i don’t know… If i feel great in the morning, the app says i had bad sleep… Don’t know how accurate this data is.
@andreasl just remember that in Denmark it is only the service provider 3 that support eSim and sell the LTE Watch.
And as of now there’s 4-7 weeks of waiting ahead for the watch from any supplier in Denmark (I’m waiting myself, for the Nike+ GPS 44mm).
Regarding Apple TV I’d say go for 32 - I have the 4 (not 4K) 64Gb and I really don’t use all that spce.
Gaming on it isn’t that bad with the Nimbus controller - there’s just too few games for it
I use it every day and it works great for me. I like to sleep with my watch on but I used to sleep with my FitBit on - I use AutoSleep to track my sleep.
For those why sleep with their watch on. Any issues with watch face scratches? I was going to set a SS with the sapphire glass for some peace of mind but perhaps I am being a little OCD?
Fair question! I sleep in a quarry … doesn’t everyone? No, just kidding.
The reason I ask is that I had the series 4 and slept with it a couple of nights and noticed some, what would you call them, highlights, when the sun hit the screen just right. On closer inspection they looked like the smallest of scratches. And, as you know, once you’ve seen them, you can’t un-see them. As I’m pretty careful with the watch and only had it a week and bit, that’s all I could think of…
It certainly was disappointing as when I had my S0, I banged that up a bout bit the screen was never an issue.
iPhone -> Watch -> Headphones?
iPhone -> Headphones is better
Are you saying that the connection between Watch and Headphones is poor?
But loading music and podcasts to the watch is not that big problem. My watch sits on the charger and the music/podcasts get transferred.
Okay, it just seems annoying having to do that every time I want to go without my phone.
Oh, the wake-function is GREAT! Put my regular alarm clock away and just use my watch to be woken up.
Great! I usually don’t want to know what time it is if I wake up during the night. It brings me back to reality to learn the time and it makes more difficult to go back to sleep. Does the Apple Watch have a function where the watch doesn’t light up in the middle of the night if you’re sleeping and you turn your wrist?
