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Ha, that still doesn't answer my question. The quote in the article says:

Currently, Apple still does not charge for satellite connectivity, and there is no word yet on what the company might charge. All iPhones come with two years of connectivity for free, and that will also likely be the case for the Apple Watch Ultra.

To me, "currently, Apple still does not charge..." and "two years of connectivity for free" seems to contradict each other.

If Apple offers something for free for the first two years, then what happens after the first two years? How does that jive with a statement of "currently, Apple...does not charge?"

Jibe. Not jive.

But I think they are saying that Apple has said it will not charge for two years, but no one knows what happens thereafter. They may continue to not charge, but only that they say they won't for at least 2 years.

My guess is that there will be an additional charge or it will be included with one of the iCloud+ plans in order to give more people reasons to sign up.
 
I saw some battery life comparisons and it seems garmin devices don’t do a lot of the work the Apple watch is doing.
They do blood oxygen, so there’s that. Not sure what you’re referring to that people genuinely use on their watches? Apple have a bunch of stuff most folks don’t care about, but this discussion shows most would prefer better battery life. Given how huge the AWU is compared to Fenix 8 I’d expect it to last at least as long.
 
If you actually used a Garmin, which I seriously doubt you have, you would know that their battery estimates are comically overinflated. Use it as it’s actually meant for, like a daily GPS workout while playing music, basic smartwatch features, that crazy bright flashlight once a day, etc., that battery life evaporates. Still better than an Apple Watch Ultra, but not the ridiculous battery life that is claimed.
I’ve used them extensively. My Fenix 7 solar lasted 45 days on average with regular activity. The Fenix 8 averages 10 days or so due to the bigger brighter screen. Even my ancient Fenix 3 lasted a week or so. Garmin are one of the few companies who underestimate battery and their numbers are quoted with all features enabled.
Contrast that with Apple Watches which often don’t make it to bedtime. Garmin can also charge during activity while being worn which is handy for ultra runners and the like (niche though they are).
 
What do you guys want to do with the blood oxygen level? I have AUW1 and I never cared about the oxygen level.
Fitness algorithms. I’ve not looked at it once on Garmin but it measures it 24x7 and it makes various other features incredibly accurate. The body battery and training guides for instance are able to understand when to push you harder and when you need to rest due to overtraining. Garmin, Polar etc. have a bunch of white papers on the subject. It’s not just a number on a screen, some watches are training tools as well. Apple is getting there but if they can’t use blood oxygen (and are too tight to licence it properly from those who developed and patented it, despite being the richest company on the planet) then the Apple Watch will never have those more advanced features.
 
Jibe. Not jive.

That doesn't jive with this article. :)

But I think they are saying that Apple has said it will not charge for two years, but no one knows what happens thereafter. They may continue to not charge, but only that they say they won't for at least 2 years.

My guess is that there will be an additional charge or it will be included with one of the iCloud+ plans in order to give more people reasons to sign up.

Thanks, after some quick googling it does appear iPhones come with 2 years of free satellite access, but if there's currently no option for that service other than to buy a new iPhone after 2 years (if that feature is important to someone) that seems really nutty to me. Talk about forced obsolescence (granted, in a very pigeon-holed specialized area) of a perfectly fine phone after just 24 months.
 
They do blood oxygen, so there’s that. Not sure what you’re referring to that people genuinely use on their watches? Apple have a bunch of stuff most folks don’t care about, but this discussion shows most would prefer better battery life. Given how huge the AWU is compared to Fenix 8 I’d expect it to last at least as long.
My battery lasts a day although I dont have an ultra. I don’t need more than that. I don’t know what people genuinely use on their watch, but I like the ability to answer texts, track my sleep and exercise, turn in the climate control in my car, etc. my use case is not one of a hardcore trainer and then everything else after. I exercise and happily take all that comes with the AW.
 
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My battery lasts a day although I dont have an ultra. I don’t need more than that. I don’t know what people genuinely use on their watch, but I like the ability to answer texts, track my sleep and exercise, turn in the climate control in my car, etc. my use case is not one of a hardcore trainer and then everything else after. I exercise and happily take all that comes with the AW.

For fun I turned off the always on aspect of my AW8 and the battery lasts noticeably longer. Even before changing that setting, the battery lasted all day and even a night often, more than enough for me. "Always on" was a bit overkill for me given that I look at my watch what, 2-3 times an hour for this or that reason?
 
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but I like the ability to answer texts
I like that too. Sadly on Garmin it only works on Android because Apple are anticompetitive and lock out the functionality to anyone but themselves. The rest of that stuff works fine (and in many casss better) on Garmin.
New watches last a day, but two years in you’ll be lucky to make it to bed before it’s dead. I recently tested a Fenix 5 (2017 vintage) before selling and it lasted a week before I gave up at 50% battery.
I don’t need more than that
Intel laptop owners say that too, as a tear rolls down their cheek;)
For fun I turned off the always on aspect of my AW8 and the battery lasts noticeably longer.
if I turn of AOD on the Fenix it lasts longer too but a couple of weeks is good. When I had the Fenix 7 solar I often forgot it needed charging by the time it came around a month and a half later 🤣
 
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THEY NEED IT TO "SHOW OFF" THAT THE OWNER HAS AN EXPENSIVE WATCH...
The AWU is hardly an “expensive watch” by watch standards.

Apple should create a special line of Watches to try to capture this part of the market

I guess the question is the market large enough to be worth the investment?

In addition, if they came out with a long battery life version that left out many battery draining features people would likely whine about that.

I suspect most buyers are like conventional “sport watch” buyers that never use them beyond wearing tehm on their wrist.

It's not great to be making only devices that "do everything" at the expense of a feature a lot of people want/need (battery life).

I suspect for many people, myself included, the battery life is long enough for the feature set. For example, I have friends who boiught one beacue it would last for 18 holes iwhile using golf apps where the AW would not.

More battery life is nice, but not at the expense of existing features of making it even larger.
 
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I like that too. Sadly on Garmin it only works on Android because Apple are anticompetitive and lock out the functionality to anyone but themselves. The rest of that stuff works fine (and in many casss better) on Garmin.
New watches last a day, but two years in you’ll be lucky to make it to bed before it’s dead. I recently tested a Fenix 5 (2017 vintage) before selling and it lasted a week before I gave up at 50% battery.
My son had its Apple Watch for over 5 years before getting a new one. Not worried about battery life on AW.
Intel laptop owners say that too, as a tear rolls down their cheek;)

if I turn of AOD on the Fenix it lasts longer too but a couple of weeks is good. When I had the Fenix 7 solar I often forgot it needed charging by the time it came around a month and a half later 🤣
You should use your garmin. You obviously like it. I like my AW.
 
FWIW I prefer my $100 Garmin golf watch with simple black & grey pixels over any app I've found for the AW.

Same for my Garmin bike computer (which I know isn't a watch but still...)

I don't know what it is, something about Garmin devices targeted for a specific sport seem to work so much better for that sport than any app I've tried on the AW. My AW8 is the unbeaten overall best choice for an all-around smart watch but far from the best option for biking and golfing so far. That'd be true even if the battery life on the Garmin devices matched that of my AW8.
 
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With 2 maybe 3 days of lite use, how’s that an ultra watch? Just take my bloody money and give me what I want. I don’t care if they double the price and make it bigger, heavier or remove the cellular or some other crap I won’t use but please give me the same health tracking capabilities and at least 7 days of battery life.
 
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I’ve used them extensively. My Fenix 7 solar lasted 45 days on average with regular activity. The Fenix 8 averages 10 days or so due to the bigger brighter screen. Even my ancient Fenix 3 lasted a week or so. Garmin are one of the few companies who underestimate battery and their numbers are quoted with all features enabled.
Contrast that with Apple Watches which often don’t make it to bedtime. Garmin can also charge during activity while being worn which is handy for ultra runners and the like (niche though they are).
The poster you're replying to just can't stand for any other company to have a good product. But yes. Can confirm, there's Garmin and then there is rest. I have an Edge computer for my bike, their dual HRM, and a Fenix. I also use my watch to record rides (sometimes I leave the cycling computer at home) and workouts in addition to trail hiking. I easily get over a week with heavy GPS usage (and unlike an Apple watch my Fenix can connect to all my cycling gear). I could get over two weeks if I disabled some stuff like constant VO2 and pulse ox. But I keep looking at how Apple has a broad but shallow approach to fitness and it's really more casual in nature which is fine. No one in my cycling club uses an Apple watch because Apple doesn't have the deep metrics and insights about fitness level, race readiness, body battery etc. For athletes it's a must and Apple still can't approach what's on offer from Garmin and that's before mentioning how awful Apple watch is if you want to seriously cycle. No Ant+ which means limits to device connectivity like power meters, cadence shifters etc. It's a shame really that Apple is advertising the Ultra as this amazing multi sport watch when really it's just an aspirational step counter.
 
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The poster you're replying to just can't stand for any other company to have a good product. But yes. Can confirm, there's Garmin and then there is rest. I have an Edge computer for my bike, their dual HRM, and a Fenix. I also use my watch to record rides (sometimes I leave the cycling computer at home) and workouts in addition to trail hiking. I easily get over a week with heavy GPS usage (and unlike an Apple watch my Fenix can connect to all my cycling gear). I could get over two weeks if I disabled some stuff like constant VO2 and pulse ox. But I keep looking at how Apple has a broad but shallow approach to fitness and it's really more casual in nature which is fine. No one in my cycling club uses an Apple watch because Apple doesn't have the deep metrics and insights about fitness level, race readiness, body battery etc. For athletes it's a must and Apple still can't approach what's on offer from Garmin and that's before mentioning how awful Apple watch is if you want to seriously cycle. No Ant+ which means limits to device connectivity like power meters, cadence shifters etc. It's a shame really that Apple is advertising the Ultra as this amazing multi sport watch when really it's just an aspirational step counter.
These watches are meant for different markets. Apple Watches are the overall champion in the smartwatch category. If you are interested in specific watches to support specialized training competition is great and pick your watch. I personally don't care about deep metrics. I want my watch to be able to pay for things, reply to messages, turn the climate control of my car on. The AW Ultra has it's audience, it's just not garmin crowd. The hypertension detection seems like an awesome feature.
 
I saw some battery life comparisons and it seems garmin devices don’t do a lot of the work the Apple watch is doing.
Garmin devices can't do much because of restrictions of Apple's APIs. It's not Garmin's fault - it works just fine with Android. The main difference though is lack of cellular network support on Garmin. I'm pretty sure battery life would be much shorter if they added it.
 
Apple Watches are the overall champion in the smartwatch category
People keep saying this but seem unable to provide any actual examples of what’s better. I’ve never seen anyone use a feature on an Apple Watch that a Garmin doesn’t have. Cellular is an exception, but since every Apple Watch user always has an iPhone in their pocket it’s not really a useful addition.
 
I'm pretty sure battery life would be much shorter if they added it
Forerunner 945 LTE was 2 weeks and 20 hours gps + lte mode. 10 hours with GPS, LTE and music all used in activity. So no, Garmin still crushed it when they added cellular but it just wasn’t popular because most people have their phone next to them the whole time.
 
People keep saying this but seem unable to provide any actual examples of what’s better. I’ve never seen anyone use a feature on an Apple Watch that a Garmin doesn’t have. Cellular is an exception, but since every Apple Watch user always has an iPhone in their pocket it’s not really a useful addition.

It actually is. AWU, like Garmin devices, is designed for people who do sports. I’d love to leave my phone behind on long runs, but with Garmin I can’t since there’s no way to call for help in an emergency.
 
It actually is. AWU, like Garmin devices, is designed for people who do sports. I’d love to leave my phone behind on long runs, but with Garmin I can’t since there’s no way to call for help in an emergency.
I’m certain there are people who use it, but there’s a reason Garmin didn’t roll it out more broadly as they clearly have the capability to do so. Low sales figures suggest that most people had a preference for other things. Perhaps they’ll add it back in the future, although given Garmins other ranges like InReach I’d imagine sat comms would come first to the adventure line, they have decades of experience there as well as their own rescue coordination centre so calling for help is far more effective.
 
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I’m certain there are people who use it, but there’s a reason Garmin didn’t roll it out more broadly as they clearly have the capability to do so. Low sales figures suggest that most people had a preference for other things. Perhaps they’ll add it back in the future, although given Garmins other ranges like InReach I’d imagine sat comms would come first to the adventure line, they have decades of experience there as well as their own rescue coordination centre so calling for help is far more effective.
The only Garmin with LTE was released four years ago. At that time, most cellular providers in Europe didn’t support eSIM. Now, the market looks very different - eSIM is accessible to most customers, and in my opinion, it’s time to bring it back, at least for their flagship Fenix lineup.
 
People keep saying this but seem unable to provide any actual examples of what’s better.
I’ve twice provided some examples of what imo, I like the Apple Watch.
I’ve never seen anyone use a feature on an Apple Watch that a Garmin doesn’t have. Cellular is an exception, but since every Apple Watch user always has an iPhone in their pocket it’s not really a useful addition.
So because you don’t deem a feature useful we can just throw it out the door? That seems a bit biased.
 
The only Garmin with LTE was released four years ago. At that time, most cellular providers in Europe didn’t support eSIM. Now, the market looks very different - eSIM is accessible to most customers, and in my opinion, it’s time to bring it back, at least for their flagship Fenix lineup.
Which is fair, but if it’s you and 20 other people it won’t happen. InReach solves the problem for now for those who truly need to summon help when away from civilisation. I’m not opposed to them adding it, but adding diving was definitely a priority for me and the bigger screen is awesome
 
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