I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them,
a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around? Similarly for phone calls?

I know there are wifi-only and wifi+4G models, do the 4G models
a) require their own SIM
b) incorporate an eSIM
c) share the phone's SIM using rSAP like some cars do
d) something else

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On 2025-08-01 23:11, Andy Burns wrote:

I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them,
a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around?  Similarly for phone calls?

I doubt it. Mine can control the music, but it comes from the phone.

I know there are wifi-only and wifi+4G models, do the 4G models
a) require their own SIM
b) incorporate an eSIM
c) share the phone's SIM using rSAP like some cars do
d) something else

Wifi? No, Bluetooth. I don't know about SIMs. Doing that would require
much bigger battery, same as in a phone.


--
Cheers, Carlos.

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Carlos E.R. <[email protected]d> wrote:

On 2025-08-01 23:11, Andy Burns wrote:

I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them,
a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around?  Similarly for phone calls?

I doubt it. Mine can control the music, but it comes from the phone.

If the watch can store the music itself, then it must be able to do
bluetooth to headphones. It's not like the watch has its own hifi speakers
or a headphone jack! I know some Garmins do.

I know there are wifi-only and wifi+4G models, do the 4G models
a) require their own SIM
b) incorporate an eSIM
c) share the phone's SIM using rSAP like some cars do
d) something else

Wifi? No, Bluetooth. I don't know about SIMs. Doing that would require
much bigger battery, same as in a phone.

Some do wifi, eg to get weather updates without having the phone present.
It's not full time wifi, it's just for occasional sync.

Some Android and Apple watches do their own 4G via a eSIM. I don't think
any big brands use physical SIMs - maybe some Amazon specials do.

The watches can display texts from the phone SIM, I think some can answer
calls via the phone too.

There's a quite some variation between the 'phone OS' platforms like Apple Watch and Android watches, as against other platforms like Garmin or Fitbit.

Theo

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Theo wrote:

Carlos E.R. wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them, >>> a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around?  Similarly for phone calls?

I doubt it. Mine can control the music, but it comes from the phone.

If the watch can store the music itself, then it must be able to do
bluetooth to headphones.

I think that's right, the watches I've looked at have e.g. 32GB of
flash, I presume music is the main thing you'd want to store? I can't
see collected fitbit type data being huge.

It's not like the watch has its own hifi speakers
or a headphone jack! I know some Garmins do.

It does have *a* speaker, if not HiFi.

I know there are wifi-only and wifi+4G models, do the 4G models
a) require their own SIM
b) incorporate an eSIM
c) share the phone's SIM using rSAP like some cars do
d) something else

Wifi? No, Bluetooth.

Within the Pixel watch range, they all have Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC and
UWB, the LTE is optional.

I don't know about SIMs. Doing that would require
much bigger battery, same as in a phone.

Apparently the LTE models all use eSIMS, and by a special pairing
process they share the same number as the mobile.

Some do wifi, eg to get weather updates without having the phone present. It's not full time wifi, it's just for occasional sync.

Some Android and Apple watches do their own 4G via a eSIM. I don't think
any big brands use physical SIMs - maybe some Amazon specials do.

The watches can display texts from the phone SIM, I think some can answer calls via the phone too.

There's a quite some variation between the 'phone OS' platforms like Apple Watch and Android watches, as against other platforms like Garmin or Fitbit.

Given that I pay around £11/m for 20GB on my phone plan,
and O₂ want £7/m for a 1GB smartwatch plan, I think I'll confine my
interest to the non-LTE models.

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Andy Burns, 2025-08-06 14:46:

Theo wrote:

Carlos E.R. wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them, >>>> a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around?  Similarly for phone calls?

I doubt it. Mine can control the music, but it comes from the phone.

If the watch can store the music itself, then it must be able to do
bluetooth to headphones.

I think that's right, the watches I've looked at have e.g. 32GB of
flash, I presume music is the main thing you'd want to store? I can't
see collected fitbit type data being huge.

There are plenty of apps for WearOS which also need storage. A
smartwatch is nowadays just a small smartphone.


--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

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Andy Burns, 2025-08-01 23:11:

I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them,
a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around? Similarly for phone calls?

It depends on the model.

I know there are wifi-only and wifi+4G models, do the 4G models
a) require their own SIM

Usually - no. But there may be a few strange models which even managed
to implement a nano SIM slot.

b) incorporate an eSIM

Yes, that's the usual way to implement it.

c) share the phone's SIM using rSAP like some cars do

No, that's usually not done. A smartwatch with integrated mobile radio
can be used completely without a phone.



--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

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Carlos E.R., 2025-08-02 14:16:

On 2025-08-01 23:11, Andy Burns wrote:

I've disregarded smartwatches up to now, but starting to consider them,
a couple of questions ...

Can the watch stream music to bluetooth earbuds when not carrying the
phone around?  Similarly for phone calls?

I doubt it. Mine can control the music, but it comes from the phone.

My nearly 8(!) year old Samsung Galaxy S3 can store music and play it
without a smartphone. There is even a function "Add content to your
watch" in the Samsung Gear app for this.



--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

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