Nelson Au
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 1999
- Messages
- 18,640
Guys, I just came back from Taiwan on a last minute trip for work. I went to visit a vendor my company is using and to brief them on the work we are doing that they are helping us with. It was time sensitive, so I had to go.
Because it was last minute, I didn't have time to do anything to prepare, such as international plans to use on my iPhone 6 for cell and data. I was able to borrow a company issued Moto Android phone. ( shivers with bad taste in my mouth. It was OK actually, I was able to use it for get and send company emails. ) But I brought my iPhone 6 and Apple Watch along anyway. It was able to get work emails via the hotel wifi. And my own emails.
Here's the thing, I was so unprepared, and I was also left with a scar from a friend to never trust public wifi in foreign countries from spyware and viruses. So when I got on the plane, I put the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch on airplane mode and left it on airplane mode during my whole trip. Three days. I did turn on wifi so could get my email on my iPhone in the hotel using the hotel wifi. The Apple Watch for some reason was not reconnecting to the iPhone 6 as it's still in Airplane mode, I set it to mirror the iPhone airplane setting. I just left it, it was telling me California time anyway and the iPhone was doing local time.
What was i pleasantly surprised by was once I came home, and I turned off airplane mode, the Apple Watch downloaded, or I think it downloaded all the motion and activity it recorded while I was overseas. Like the walk I took through Taipei 101. That's a huge shopping center, and they had an Apple Store, but it's called Studio A. Looks like an Apple Store.
So next time, I might use one of AT&T's international plans, I did check before I left as I wasn't sure I'd get a company phone. For $40 I could get a plan with some data and talk times at $1 a minute. And $60 and $100 plans gave you more data and cost less for talk time, they did advise I could make calls via wifi. I didn't need to do that, but good to know. I was mainly afraid my iPhone would connect to the local cell service which it why I left it on airplane mode. I know I probably have to do something before it connects, but I was playing it overly safe.
What do you guys do? On the plane, I saw a guy, an Amercan, on our return flight yacking on his iPhone two seats over right as we are boarding and he kept talking right up to when the engines were running and we were taxing out to the runway. So he must have some international plan. I was going to take the SIM card from the work phone and use it in mine, but they frown on that.
Despite the last minute nature of the trip, it was successful and kind of fun. I had my iPad Pro and pencil and was able to try it on the plane to sketch with. Didn't get much sketching done as we took off at 1:20am California time and I was really tired. Tried to sleep and I read a little with an iBook book. That's one of the things I really like about the iPad, the eBook usage on a plane.
By the way guys, you know I post often about my iPad Pro and somewhat about the iPhone 6. I never posted about the Apple Watch. I've had it since October of 2015. It's the Apple Watch Edition, I just got the Milanese loop for it for the trip. Looks great, so much better then with the white sport band it came with. I never talk about it here because I wasn't sure about it. Its an experiment to see what I think of it. It's pretty cool for recording my activity and I like it best as a work out tool. I do use it to remind me of meetings. But I wear a fancy Swiss watch and I will never give that up. Though I left it at home as I didn't want it damaged or lost overseas. So the Apple Watch was a nice experiment to see how I can use it overseas. It still reminded me of appointments despite not being connected to the iPhone! I like the moon phases. I like how it tells me the temperature. I like how it tells me my pulse rate. I like that it reminds me to stand or encourages me to move. And I don't mind people see me wearing two watches, as goofy as it looks, I just think of it as my Fitbit.
Because it was last minute, I didn't have time to do anything to prepare, such as international plans to use on my iPhone 6 for cell and data. I was able to borrow a company issued Moto Android phone. ( shivers with bad taste in my mouth. It was OK actually, I was able to use it for get and send company emails. ) But I brought my iPhone 6 and Apple Watch along anyway. It was able to get work emails via the hotel wifi. And my own emails.
Here's the thing, I was so unprepared, and I was also left with a scar from a friend to never trust public wifi in foreign countries from spyware and viruses. So when I got on the plane, I put the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch on airplane mode and left it on airplane mode during my whole trip. Three days. I did turn on wifi so could get my email on my iPhone in the hotel using the hotel wifi. The Apple Watch for some reason was not reconnecting to the iPhone 6 as it's still in Airplane mode, I set it to mirror the iPhone airplane setting. I just left it, it was telling me California time anyway and the iPhone was doing local time.
What was i pleasantly surprised by was once I came home, and I turned off airplane mode, the Apple Watch downloaded, or I think it downloaded all the motion and activity it recorded while I was overseas. Like the walk I took through Taipei 101. That's a huge shopping center, and they had an Apple Store, but it's called Studio A. Looks like an Apple Store.
So next time, I might use one of AT&T's international plans, I did check before I left as I wasn't sure I'd get a company phone. For $40 I could get a plan with some data and talk times at $1 a minute. And $60 and $100 plans gave you more data and cost less for talk time, they did advise I could make calls via wifi. I didn't need to do that, but good to know. I was mainly afraid my iPhone would connect to the local cell service which it why I left it on airplane mode. I know I probably have to do something before it connects, but I was playing it overly safe.
What do you guys do? On the plane, I saw a guy, an Amercan, on our return flight yacking on his iPhone two seats over right as we are boarding and he kept talking right up to when the engines were running and we were taxing out to the runway. So he must have some international plan. I was going to take the SIM card from the work phone and use it in mine, but they frown on that.
Despite the last minute nature of the trip, it was successful and kind of fun. I had my iPad Pro and pencil and was able to try it on the plane to sketch with. Didn't get much sketching done as we took off at 1:20am California time and I was really tired. Tried to sleep and I read a little with an iBook book. That's one of the things I really like about the iPad, the eBook usage on a plane.
By the way guys, you know I post often about my iPad Pro and somewhat about the iPhone 6. I never posted about the Apple Watch. I've had it since October of 2015. It's the Apple Watch Edition, I just got the Milanese loop for it for the trip. Looks great, so much better then with the white sport band it came with. I never talk about it here because I wasn't sure about it. Its an experiment to see what I think of it. It's pretty cool for recording my activity and I like it best as a work out tool. I do use it to remind me of meetings. But I wear a fancy Swiss watch and I will never give that up. Though I left it at home as I didn't want it damaged or lost overseas. So the Apple Watch was a nice experiment to see how I can use it overseas. It still reminded me of appointments despite not being connected to the iPhone! I like the moon phases. I like how it tells me the temperature. I like how it tells me my pulse rate. I like that it reminds me to stand or encourages me to move. And I don't mind people see me wearing two watches, as goofy as it looks, I just think of it as my Fitbit.
