Apple Watch as stand-alone cell phone...?

[Boil]

LOVE the idea of not having to have an iPhone on me at all times for making & taking calls...

I do NOT love the fact that I still need to have an active iPhone for this feature...

I would rather have an option for active cell service on a 10.5" iPad Pro & a Series 4 Apple Watch, since the combination of the two can do pretty much everything an iPhone can; but with a larger screen on the iPad Pro & a more compact solution with the Apple Watch...

 

[ReardenMetal]

LOVE the idea of not having to have an iPhone on me at all times for making & taking calls...

I do NOT love the fact that I still need to have an active iPhone for this feature...

I would rather have an option for active cell service on a 10.5" iPad Pro & a Series 4 Apple Watch, since the combination of the two can do pretty much everything an iPhone can; but with a larger screen on the iPad Pro & a more compact solution with the Apple Watch...

Same

 

[musicpenguy]

Agreed - keep around an iPhone SE mainly to act as my watch hub these days

 

[alunjunkinsuk]

I don’t get this ? I have an AW4 LTE and regularly go out with it stand alone . My iPhone is home alone and off . I can make an receive calls. In fact quite a lot works .
iMessage works , outlook works calls work

Is there some wierd way these watches work on some networks? I’m in the UK and on EE

 

[Boil]

I don’t get this ? I have an AW4 LTE and regularly go out with it stand alone . My iPhone is home alone and off . I can make an receive calls. In fact quite a lot works .
iMessage works , outlook works calls work

Is there some wierd way these watches work on some networks? I’m in the UK and on EE

The watch is not interacting with your iPhone at all, if that is what you are thinking it does...

It interacts (syncs) with your Apple ID account, and you HAVE to have an active (meaning continuing monthly service, NOT that the actual cell phone is on) cell service account for the iPhone AND the Apple Watch...

My thing is, why the need to be linked to an iPhone account, why can I not link it to a cellular account for an iPad instead...?

Some of us do not like the smaller screen of an iPhone & would rather have the convenience of an Apple Watch & AirPods for making & taking cell calls...

Apple will gladly sell me the watch & tablets & headset, but then insist I purchase an expensive smartphone & pay for monthly cell service for same, even if I only want to use the tablet & watch & never use the smartphone...

 

[KrisLord]

I don’t get this ? I have an AW4 LTE and regularly go out with it stand alone . My iPhone is home alone and off . I can make an receive calls. In fact quite a lot works .
iMessage works , outlook works calls work

Is there some wierd way these watches work on some networks? I’m in the UK and on EE

I don’t think SMS will be working if your iPhone is off.

 

[OasisNYK]

I was talking with my wife about this for a different reason:

Why not make it so you can add a new line to just a watch and give that to your kids instead of a cell / smart phone?

Our kids are young so we don’t have to worry about this yet but I fear the day they start asking for phones. I don’t want them to get addicted so young and we don’t let them use ours now. I feel like a watch is a good compromise, it would have cellular ability and gps.

Hopefully it becomes a service offering down the road.

 

[Azathoth123]

IIRC, you cannot make or receive calls from a LTE iPad (from the number associated with the SIM).

As far as what you can do and not do with the Watch

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205547

 

[ReardenMetal]

I would gladly beta test an iPhone-free cellular device setup, if the carriers or Apple ever go in that direction.

 

[Boil]

IIRC, you cannot make or receive calls from a LTE iPad (from the number associated with the SIM).

As far as what you can do and not do with the Watch

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205547

Now wanting to make/take calls on an iPad (BTW, the only reason the iPad SIM is assigned a 'phone number' is because that is how the accounts are tracked, it does not mean that is an active cell phone account number), wanting to have the Apple Watch as the SOLE cell phone device, NOT wanting to have to have an active iPhone account to do so...

 

[Azathoth123]

It may well be marketing - an iPad or Watch COULD likely make calls independently, but who would use either independent of a phone given the cost? An iPad and Watch each cost a considerable fraction of an iPhone’s cost. Few people would carry an iPad as a phone, and you would give up tremendous functionality phone vs Watch - which might change in the future. If you want to use only the watch, just get whatever compatible iPhone that you can get cheapest and leave it at home plugged into a charger as suggested above.
[doublepost=1540694886][/doublepost]

Now wanting to make/take calls on an iPad (BTW, the only reason the iPad SIM is assigned a 'phone number' is because that is how the accounts are tracked, it does not mean that is an active cell phone account number), wanting to have the Apple Watch as the SOLE cell phone device, NOT wanting to have to have an active iPhone account to do so...

That’s it, but if it has a cellular radio in it, it would seem straightforward to enable calling

 

[Boil]

It may well be marketing - an iPad or Watch COULD likely make calls independently, but who would use either independent of a phone given the cost? An iPad and Watch each cost a considerable fraction of an iPhone’s cost. Few people would carry an iPad as a phone, and you would give up tremendous functionality phone vs Watch - which might change in the future. If you want to use only the watch, just get whatever compatible iPhone that you can get cheapest and leave it at home plugged into a charger as suggested above.
[doublepost=1540694886][/doublepost]

That’s it, but if it has a cellular radio in it, it would seem straightforward to enable calling

You are missing the point, I do not want to have to pay for an iPhone I do not use, I do not want to have to pay for cell service on the iPhone that I do not use...

I just want to pay for an Apple Watch & the cell service to use it as a cell phone type device...

I want to use the iPod Pro for everything else one would do on an iPhone (just on a larger screen), short of actually making/taking cell phone calls...

As for costs:

Series 4 Stainless Steel Apple Watch w/Sport Loop - US$800

10.5" iPad Pro w/WiFi + Cellular & 512GB - US$1,300

iPhone XS Max w/512GB - US$1,450

So I am paying US$750 more having an iPad Pro & a Series 4 SS Apple Watch rather than an iPhone XS Max...!

 

[musicpenguy]

My iPhone SE is vastly less expensive than my Series 4 Stainless as is my 512GB iPad Pro 12.9”