Apple Watch Series 4 Buyers and Owners thread (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Ok Ron, rules that out then.

 

[Carlo_M]

Not only do you have to pay for the cellular plan, you actually have to buy the watch version with the cellular antenna in it (which is like $50 more IIRC).

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Carlo had no idea. I thought it became standard with AWS4, but I guess I was wrong. Apologies.

 

[dpippel]

Yeah, there are two models of the Series 4: GPS only and GPS + Cellular.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Doug,

Thanks for the clarification. So, cellular is not an issue Nelson's watch. Hopefully, the reboot worked.

Keep us posted, Nelson!

 

[Sam Posten]

Still sold out everywhere.

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, my watch is the cellular model. It’s the stainless steel model which I believe comes with WiFi and cellular. But I did check my orders in the Apple Store app and the watch is a cellular.

I’ve had the watch on for two hours and it is showing 98% battery level. Mostly it’s been pinging me when texts arrive and other alerts.

 

[Carlo_M]

Steels do seem to only come in the GPS+Cell flavor, Aluminums can come in either/or. No need to apologize, Ron, was just trying to clarify for Nelson. Seems he did have the Cell version after all!

My money is on the hung process. All of my iPhones have done something similar over the 10 years I've owned them. Most of the time battery life is as expected. Then for some reason it drains 2-3X as fast as it should (this only happens maybe one day a month or less frequently). Either hard-restarting it, or manually killing a bunch of apps that have built up over time to run in the background, usually restores battery usage to expected levels.

 

[Sam Posten]

Either hard-restarting it, or manually killing a bunch of apps that have built up over time to run in the background, usually restores battery usage to expected levels.

Right, but try telling people that manually killing apps every few days or weeks is a good thing and they will freak out on you.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m thinking Carlo’s explanation makes a lot of sense still. A hung app makes sense and I believe one of my iPhones did that too once. I’ve been lucky to not experience this battery hemorrhage too often. I do practice running as few apps as possible, they do pile on and over time I forget and I do a manual quit of those apps not in use.

I remember a few years ago there was news that at night the iPhone would or could contact Apple’s servers to send data as to how the system is functioning. That was a battery drain. I could be remembering that story wrong.

It’s been 6 hours now and my watch battery is currently 89% charged, so it’s getting much better fuel economy. I’ve only had this watch a week. So I’ll see how the battery usage falls out over the next few weeks.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Steels do seem to only come in the GPS+Cell flavor, Aluminums can come in either/or. No need to apologize, Ron, was just trying to clarify for Nelson. Seems he did have the Cell version after all!

My money is on the hung process. All of my iPhones have done something similar over the 10 years I've owned them. Most of the time battery life is as expected. Then for some reason it drains 2-3X as fast as it should (this only happens maybe one day a month or less frequently). Either hard-restarting it, or manually killing a bunch of apps that have built up over time to run in the background, usually restores battery usage to expected levels.

Aaah, that's why I thought all models come with cellular. Mine is also a steel.

Nelson, 89% for 6 hours is EXCELLENT. The reboot worked. Your watch is functioning normally.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys- it’s been a little over 12 hours with a full charge. The battery is now at 73%. So yes Ron, the watch appears to be functioning well. Thanks again Carlo for the suggestion that it could be a hung app and to restart.

 

[Carlo_M]

No worries Nelson. I routinely end my day with about 60% battery life and that’s wearing it straight for 18 hours. So you’re within the normal margins of battery usage.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am very happy to hear that this issue got fixed. This will sound odd, but I take this stuff personally....kind of. I think the Apple Watch is the best thing the company has ever manufactured. It is my favorite device. When I hear people having problems with it, I get concerned because I don't want to see this product get a bad rap.

While I am here...

Since we have newbies in this thread....

Download every news app you can find. Many of them are listed in the Apple Watch app store. Apps from CNN, Fox News, ABC News, USA Today, Washington Post, etc. My favorite is BREAKING NEWS. CNN, WASHINGTON POST and USA TODAY have the best alerts.

Open each news app on your phone and make sure notifications are turned on.

Now whenever there is breaking news, your watch will come alive, most often with photos.


If you like weather alerts...

Get CARROT WEATHER and DARK SKY. Well worth the inexpensive subscription cost. You will get weather alerts and daily summaries to your watch.

Of course, Google "Best Apple Watch apps" for more great ideas.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Ron, I used to have several of those news apps do alerts on my Series 0 Watch. It was cool to get breaking news. But I decided to stop all alerts. It was getting too much! I still get alerts from the news sites that I have in Apple News. That seems enough for now.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hey Ron, I used to have several of those news apps do alerts on my Series 0 Watch. It was cool to get breaking news. But I decided to stop all alerts. It was getting too much! I still get alerts from the news sites that I have in Apple News. That seems enough for now.

Very good.

I guess I am a news junkie so I don't mind the onslaught of alerts

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Sam, I forgot to mention. If you’re still looking to buy a Series 4 watch at a local store, don’t give up. I got lucky with mine and kept an eye open by checking the Apple Store app for local availability.

 

[JQuintana]

Still sold out everywhere.

Strange. All of our local Best Buys have stock on pretty much all Series 4 watches.

I'd love to get one for my elderly mo (lives alone) but she just isn't a big watch wearer.

 

[Carlo_M]

Still sold out everywhere.

Strange. All of our local Best Buys have stock on pretty much all Series 4 watches.

I'd love to get one for my elderly mo (lives alone) but she just isn't a big watch wearer.

Based on Sam's comment, and then Johnny's followup, I decided to check online inventory at my local Best Buy and 11 variants of the Apple Watch Series 4 are in stock. All aluminum, no stainless steel, but in GPS and non-GPS variants, colors, and even a Nike build.

@Sam Posten are you holding out for a Stainless Steel version? If not, try a BB as they seem to have stock.

 

[Sam Posten]

Based on Sam's comment, and then Johnny's followup, I decided to check online inventory at my local Best Buy and 11 variants of the Apple Watch Series 4 are in stock. All aluminum, no stainless steel, but in GPS and non-GPS variants, colors, and even a Nike build.

@Sam Posten are you holding out for a Stainless Steel version? If not, try a BB as they seem to have stock.

I have checked there every weekend. Will see on my way to NJ tomorrow thanks!

Edit: Looking now

Unavailable within 250 miles of Christiana Update Location[/uote]