Review of pure standalone android wear 2.0 on LG watch Urbane 2 LTE. (AT&T smartphone account sim installed)
My requirements: email, text messages, phone calls, step count calendar, and always on display. Watch only, NO phone.
Initial setup: LG urbane with no sim and paired to Galaxy s7
After initial setup I removed my AT&T sim from the phone and put it into the watch. Turned phone off, turned wifi and cell radios on and bluetooth off on the watch.
I downloaded Mail for android wear (standalone version) and google messages for my text messages. I also loaded some misc. apps like calculator, photos, calendar etc. All were loaded from the Play store app on the watch.
The good: All the apps worked great. I was able to read and reply to emails, texts, and answer/make phone calls. The google voice assistant dictation worked like a champ. I could quickly reply and send text messages easier than typing on the phone. Phone worked great, no one could tell I was talking on a watch.
The bad: Battery life. When at home I was connected primarily to WIFI and Cell seemed to be only partially active, just receiving texts and calls. Email and data functions seemed to be using WIFI. In this configuration I could get 10 to 12 hours of life. (few phone calls, email and texts)
When away from home I turned WIFI off and just left the cell radio on. I don’t live in a real strong LTE area and noticed several times it switched to HSPA and sometimes no signal (like in a store). When this happens the battery life tanks. Like 50% in two hours. The battery recharges quickly if you have access to the charger, but thats not convenient.
Yes, I understand the watch was supposed to be used as a paired setup with a phone relaying data and calls through the cloud. This was my experiment to use it standalone. Not complaining, just reporting my experience.
Anyway, thought this might help someone. I would like to hear from someone using the watch like me, but in a strong LTE area to see if it is practical to use the watch as a daily driver.
My requirements: email, text messages, phone calls, step count calendar, and always on display. Watch only, NO phone.
Initial setup: LG urbane with no sim and paired to Galaxy s7
After initial setup I removed my AT&T sim from the phone and put it into the watch. Turned phone off, turned wifi and cell radios on and bluetooth off on the watch.
I downloaded Mail for android wear (standalone version) and google messages for my text messages. I also loaded some misc. apps like calculator, photos, calendar etc. All were loaded from the Play store app on the watch.
The good: All the apps worked great. I was able to read and reply to emails, texts, and answer/make phone calls. The google voice assistant dictation worked like a champ. I could quickly reply and send text messages easier than typing on the phone. Phone worked great, no one could tell I was talking on a watch.
The bad: Battery life. When at home I was connected primarily to WIFI and Cell seemed to be only partially active, just receiving texts and calls. Email and data functions seemed to be using WIFI. In this configuration I could get 10 to 12 hours of life. (few phone calls, email and texts)
When away from home I turned WIFI off and just left the cell radio on. I don’t live in a real strong LTE area and noticed several times it switched to HSPA and sometimes no signal (like in a store). When this happens the battery life tanks. Like 50% in two hours. The battery recharges quickly if you have access to the charger, but thats not convenient.
Yes, I understand the watch was supposed to be used as a paired setup with a phone relaying data and calls through the cloud. This was my experiment to use it standalone. Not complaining, just reporting my experience.
Anyway, thought this might help someone. I would like to hear from someone using the watch like me, but in a strong LTE area to see if it is practical to use the watch as a daily driver.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram