Help with what to buy!

[zabrinski]

So I'm completely confused as to what exactly would be the best thing to buy and could seriously do with some input from you guys.

I am a keen runner and go running 3-4 times a week running mostly 10k runs. I'm looking to buy an Apple Watch series 3 but I'm a Spotify premium member. The whole point of buying an Apple Watch is so that I can leave my phone at home and use the on board apple fitness apps along with the ability to play my music as I run. I'm aware of a lack of Spotify app though and since I am part of a group of us that subscribe to a family Spotify account don't really want to move over to Apple Music. What are my options? Help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Do you own any music? You can always copy your library over to the watch and have something to listen to that way.

 

[a.y.n]

Spotify (family) user as well, but Snowy is taking forever. I ended up getting Apple Music just for the watch. You can get a year of Apple Music for $85 by getting a $100 iTunes gift card for $85 when they pop up, and applying the $100 credit to Apple Music.

 

[Resqu2]

Do you own any music? You can always copy your library over to the watch and have something to listen to that way.

This is what I do, loaded up my watch with enough of my fav running songs to get me through a 1/2 marathon even though I don’t usually run quite that far.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

This is what I do, loaded up my watch with enough of my fav running songs to get me through a 1/2 marathon even though I don’t usually run quite that far.

This approach would also put less strain on battery life. I imagine running a 10K with heart rate and GPS going, plus LTE streaming could present a challenge.

 

[zabrinski]

Really? So the watch wouldn't cope with 40-50 mins of running while streaming music and using the gps? That's insane! What's the point of the watch then?
[doublepost=1508399273][/doublepost]Seems that Spotify have missed a huge opportunity with this. I've literally held off buying an Apple Watch because of the lack of Spotify and refuse to pay again for Apple Music, which I think is inferior. So you guys just load your music up on the phone then? Pain in the ass if you want to switch your playlist up regularly like I do. I'll have to have a good think before I buy. Thanks for your input guys.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Really? So the watch wouldn't cope with 40-50 mins of running while streaming music and using the gps? That's insane! What's the point of the watch then?
[doublepost=1508399273][/doublepost]Seems that Spotify have missed a huge opportunity with this. I've literally held off buying an Apple Watch because of the lack of Spotify and refuse to pay again for Apple Music, which I think is inferior. So you guys just load your music up on the phone then? Pain in the ass if you want to switch your playlist up regularly like I do. I'll have to have a good think before I buy. Thanks for your input guys.

From reviews, I heard the LTE is the biggest connection drain, as opposed to the traditional Bluetooth or WiFi connections. I do a 30 min workout everyday, and my Series 0 battery is usually at 50% by day’s end, but I’m not streaming anything. Once you depend heavily on the LTE connection, you end up seeing quite a drop in battery life.

 

[bbeagle]

Really? So the watch wouldn't cope with 40-50 mins of running while streaming music and using the gps? That's insane! What's the point of the watch then?

It will definitely work.

The LTE Apple watch will last all day including a 2 hour run while streaming LTE music and using GPS - if paired with an iPhone the rest of the day.

On my Series 2, I'd do a 2 hour workout streaming music every day, and end up with 50-60% of battery by the end of the day. If I do that same workout on my Series 3 without my iPhone, I'll end up with 30-40% battery by the end of the day.

Note that I'm now without my phone about 6 hours a day using LTE. I still end up with about 30% battery by the end of the day.

 

[deeddawg]

This approach would also put less strain on battery life. I imagine running a 10K with heart rate and GPS going, plus LTE streaming could present a challenge.

I guess it depends on how fast you're running your 10K...

Yesterday for instance, I did a 50 minute run with GPS, HR, and playing music (stored on the watch) over bluetooth. LTE on but not streaming music. Also used the watch the rest of the day for Plus all my other usual daily stuff. When I went to bed at 11pm my watch was at ~50% battery and had been off the charger since 5am.

I'm unsure how much more juice LTE would consume, but would expect it should work okay for most 10K runs.

 

[zabrinski]

So are you all Apple Music subscribers or do some of you just sync music to your Apple Watch?

 

[musicpenguy]

This approach would also put less strain on battery life. I imagine running a 10K with heart rate and GPS going, plus LTE streaming could present a challenge.

A 10k? You’d have more than ample battery life for that, I’d start with a fully charged watch, but I think 4-6 hour races are where things will get more dicey (for longer races I’d say the best approach would be to use a dedicated running watch for the race tracking and have the Apple Watch for music, ambient fitness tracking (not active workout tracking), and staying in touch over LTE).
[doublepost=1508426743][/doublepost]

So are you all Apple Music subscribers or do some of you just sync music to your Apple Watch?

I’m pretty happy with Apple Music and the integration with the watch and Siri is killer.

 

[deeddawg]

So are you all Apple Music subscribers or do some of you just sync music to your Apple Watch?

Not a subscriber. I sync playlists and podcasts (Watchcast) over to the watch.

 

[a.y.n]

So are you all Apple Music subscribers or do some of you just sync music to your Apple Watch?

I actually sync AM playlists to my watch, I'm too lazy to put the 4.1 beta on the watch so can't stream yet either. I think it automatically syncs the "Heavy Rotation" playlist. streaming over LTE is gonna use quite a bit of battery like others mentioned.