Use as a standalone by pairing with PC emulated Android device?

[StimulatorCam]

I've read a fair number of posts where people have mentioned that they'd like to use the watch as a complete standalone without requiring a phone to pair it to for full functionality (OK Google, etc..). Yes, I'm aware you can just buy a cheap phone and leave it at home attached to your wifi and problem solved. But what about setting up an emulated device on your laptop and using that as your base device? I've done some brief searching and came across a few posts where others have tried this with different watches, but none of them had cell connectivity so not a lot of use for them other than playing around, but wouldn't this be a great alternative for the WU2?

 

[json405]

I don't see the point personally. I agree it's an alternative but a great one I disagree. It might be fun to try out but that's it. A lot of standalone apps need to be created for this to even be useful.

 

[StimulatorCam]

Well my point is that if you want to use the watch as your main device and don't want to have a second device sitting at home (and not bring it with you either), just to run your apps that require it. You are just tethered to the emulator via wifi.

And you would use the same apps that you'd already be using on your phone, only instead of using a dedicated hardware device to run them, you use the emulator, so nothing new would be required.

 

[json405]

But don't you technically still need a second device (a computer in this case) but instead of a full fledged android phone you would need a computer that emulates an android phone?

I mean I understand what you are saying since most everyone have a computer handy but I still don't see why anyone would go through that trouble just so they won't have to buy an android phone. This is my opinion only so please don't take it personally but I don't think anyone should buy an Android Wear device if they do not have an Android phone or device. IMO, Android wear as a main device is not very efficient since it was made to be a secondary device to an Android smartphone.

In order for an Android Wear device to be a primary or main device, google needs to make it not need a smartphone at all. I believe and hope it will get there soon.

 

[StimulatorCam]

Oh I agree that Android Wear isn't at that point yet, but also hope it gets there soon.

And yes I know pretty much everybody already has a phone anyways, but if you didn't even have to worry about that at all, especially if you're the sort of person that upgrades phones regularly and doesn't want to have to reconfigure each time, or is looking to ditch the phone altogether, it seems like an interesting concept to try out.