Some questions?

[ronpfid]

I never thought I'd consider a smart watch, but the series 2 has me actually thinking about it! Can I ask some questons?

1) Screen

• a) Can it stay lit all the time?
• b) Can you set it to not be on like at night?
• c) Does it have 'wrist flick on'?

2) Can you record your voice, like a voice memo, like you can on the phone?

3) Can you set it to just vibrate instead of beeping?

4) How long does it actually take to charge to full from really low?

5) Some reviews say the battery lasts a couple days, so in reality, could you use it for 24 hours, say all day, leave it on while you sleep, then charge it after you get up for however long that takes, then be good to go again till the next morning?

Thanks much!

 

[doogald]

I never thought I'd consider a smart watch, but the series 2 has me actually thinking about it! Can I ask some questons?

I've had a Series 2 for almost a month (though I was traveling a week without it in that time) but I'll answer what I can.

1) Screen

• a) Can it stay lit all the time?
• b) Can you set it to not be on like at night?
• c) Does it have 'wrist flick on'?

a.) No.

b.) Well, you can go into settings/general/wake screen and turn off "wake screen on wrist raise" and then turn it back on again in the morning. There is a "Do not disturb" setting that turns off alerts, but there is no timed setting to turn wake on raise on and off automatically.

c. )Yes, see my answer in (b).

3) Can you set it to just vibrate instead of beeping?

Yes. This is the way my watch is almost all of the time.

5) Some reviews say the battery lasts a couple days, so in reality, could you use it for 24 hours, say all day, leave it on while you sleep, then charge it after you get up for however long that takes, then be good to go again till the next morning?

Yes - at least for me. I'll tell you how I use mine. I leave mine on while I am in bed (so I can track sleep using the third party apps HeartWatch and AutoSleep). While I am washing up for bed, I charge the watch. It almost always gets to full charge when I do this; if not, it's in the high 90% range. I never wake up with the watch under 90%. (I used to put the watch in Airplane Mode while I slept, but the one time that I forgot I learned that it didn't make much difference in battery use.)

I do workout with my watch on, but I do not use the watch's workout app - it's not good enough for what I need, so I use my Garmin Watch to track my run, but the Apple Watch is tracking my activity, vibrating when I get notifications, etc. When I finish exercising, I eat breakfast and then take a shower. While I'm in the shower, I charge the watch, and put it on when I'm fully dressed, made the bed, etc. - when I'm ready for the rest of the day, and then I put the watch back on. It's almost always fully charged when I do this. It's a rare day when I put it on the charger late at night with the watch at under 75% charge.

If you are planning on working out, and especially using the GPS on the watch, and listen to music *on the watch* rather than on your phone while you do so, perhaps this wouldn't work for you. But you can aways steal a few minutes here and there during the day to charge, I'm sure.

 

[ronpfid]

Cool, thanks for the great answers! Sounds really good, thanks!

So just number 4 then... can you record your voice like for a voice note for later, like you can on the phone?

 

[Mac Guy]

So just number 4 then... can you record your voice like for a voice note for later, like you can on the phone?

Not out of the box, as there's no voice memo app in watchOS. There are third-party apps that will allow you to make voice memos. Two examples are:

[URL="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simplemic-audio-recorder-voice/id546037865?mt=8&at=10l3Vy]SimpleMic[/URL] - Free (Get) Has In App Purchases
[URL="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/just-press-record/id1033342465?mt=8&at=10l3Vy]Just Press Record[/URL] - $4.99

I haven't tried SimpleMic. I have Just Press Record but have never used it.

 

[ronpfid]

ah ok, cool, thanks I'll check those out, much appreciated!

 

[jexner325]

I never thought I'd consider a smart watch, but the series 2 has me actually thinking about it! Can I ask some questons?

1) Screen

• a) Can it stay lit all the time?
• b) Can you set it to not be on like at night?
• c) Does it have 'wrist flick on'?

2) Can you record your voice, like a voice memo, like you can on the phone?

3) Can you set it to just vibrate instead of beeping?

4) How long does it actually take to charge to full from really low?

5) Some reviews say the battery lasts a couple days, so in reality, could you use it for 24 hours, say all day, leave it on while you sleep, then charge it after you get up for however long that takes, then be good to go again till the next morning?

Thanks much!

Other posters have correctly addressed your questions (1-4). My experience is that the S2 does pretty well in battery performance but it all depends on your level of workouts. Workouts on the watch trigger the HR sensor and GPS (if not using the phone for GPS) and so if you do say two hours per day of workouts you won't get through a full day. If you dog use it for workouts you can do a full two days. Serenity's review was spot on in terms of battery performance.

 

[Mac Guy]

•b) Can you set it to not be on like at night?

This just in— (lol) a feature of watchOS 3.2 is Theater Mode. This will let you turn quickly turn Off and On the Watch's Raise Wrist to Wake mode. The Watch's display and audio will be off in the theater and in bed, if you chose.

This mode still allows you to receive Haptic responses for alerts and notifications. Should you wish to view either, just press the face. When ready, you'd exit Theater Mode for normal operation.

Right now, my 'theater mode' is just swipe to Modular Watchface (with everything turned off but the time in red), switch the cellphone ringer off, then turn the Watch audio off in Control Center. You could switch the phone to AirPlane mode and it would do so for the Watch. But you have to turn them both on separately.

C'mon wOS3.2!

 

[scruffypig]

This just in— (lol) a feature of watchOS 3 is Theater Mode. This will let you turn quickly turn Off and On the Watch's Raise Wrist to Wake mode. The Watch's display and audio will be off in the theater and in bed, if you chose.

This mode still allows you to receive Haptic responses for alerts and notifications. Should you wish to view either, just press the face. When ready, you'd exit Theater Mode for normal operation.

Right now, my 'theater mode' is just swipe to Modular Watchface (with everything turned off but the time in red), switch the cellphone ringer off, then turn the Watch audio off in Control Center. You could switch the phone to AirPlane mode and it would do so for the Watch. But you have to turn them both on separately.

C'mon wOS3!

Watch OS 3 is already out. We are on Watch OS 3.1.3. Watch OS 3.2, which is in beta, contains the Theatre Mode you speak of.

 

[Mac Guy]

D'oh! You are correct! I'll amend my post.

 

[eyecrispy]

This just in— (lol) a feature of watchOS 3.2 is Theater Mode. This will let you turn quickly turn Off and On the Watch's Raise Wrist to Wake mode. The Watch's display and audio will be off in the theater and in bed, if you chose.

This mode still allows you to receive Haptic responses for alerts and notifications. Should you wish to view either, just press the face. When ready, you'd exit Theater Mode for normal operation.

Right now, my 'theater mode' is just swipe to Modular Watchface (with everything turned off but the time in red), switch the cellphone ringer off, then turn the Watch audio off in Control Center. You could switch the phone to AirPlane mode and it would do so for the Watch. But you have to turn them both on separately.

C'mon wOS3.2!

Looking forward to this feature, too. I don't go to the theater much but I do recall getting irritated by my watch turning on constantly. Didn't want to be THAT person.