What is stand-alone vs. tethered?

[crams1111]

Hi, just starting to use my new LG Watch Sport and having a hard time figuring out what should be working stand-alone vs. what requires BT connection to a phone. My use case is I'm trying to just go with the watch as my phone/txt and do away with carrying an actual phone around. So ideally, everything on this thing would be working stand-alone via the LTE connection. Doesn't seem to be the case though.

Is there a good list or description of what should be truly stand-alone vs requires BT tether to phone?

One example: i'd like to add a contact on the watch. can't figure out how. does that have to be done on the phone and synched to the watch? So I added the contact to my gmail contacts. That synched quickly to my phone. I have BT turned OFF on the phone. Watch is logged into the same google account but he new contact will not synch directly to the watch. Feeling like A) can't add the contact directly on the watch, and B) if I add it into my google contacts it will not synch via LTE to the watch, the watch seems to be waiting for a BT connection to get updates from the phone.

That's just one small example. Hoping someone out there has a really good description of how all of the stand-alone vs/ tethered functionality should be working.

Thanks,
CR

 

[05GT]

As a standalone LTE model you'd likely get about 4-5 hrs of battery life if you're lucky.

 

[afblangley]

Since there's been a derth of response to your query, I'll chime in ever though I don't own an LG Sport. My use case is the same as yours. We are a very small minority and we're pressing against the boundaries of what smartwatches are capable of.

With my Gear S3 in standalone mode I can make and receive phone calls and texts, display time/date/weather, run convenience apps (ie. calendar, stopwatch, reminder, calculator), monitor fitness and sleep metrics, stream audio, GPS and make mobile payments. Instead of carrying a phone, I keep it docked on my home wifi where it "remotely connects" to the watch. This is necessary in order for notifications (ie. Hangouts, email) to be passed through. I usually connect via BT 2 or 3 times a week to sync and perform tasks that can only be done via BT. This includes adding contacts, as you mentioned.

My battery life under this use case, with always on display and an energy efficient watchface, is 12-18 hours. I typically have a 2-3 dozen notifications and 15-30 minutes of talking per day. I charge it nightly.

I am watching the development of Android Wear watches and may switch when a model as well executed as the Gear is released.