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It seems like popping it on the charger as I take a shower after a run is not a unheard of thing, phones are lucky to make it through a day - the watch making it to 8 or 9PM on heavy usage days is pretty amazing.

Agreed. I mostly use a Garmin, but if I opt for the AW for some running days that's likely what I'll need to do.
 
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I've been able to leave my iPhone at home and get around quite nicely with only the watch. I'll walk my dog a couple times a day for an hour and only take my watch and AirPods. I've also gone out to eat a few times and only taken the watch. I've been able to use the watch to look up scores via Siri, iMessage, emails, and even navigation in the car - all without my iPhone.

The battery life isn't good enough on LTE to use the watch by itself all day, but I'd say 3-5 hours a day is fine without a need to recharge before bedtime.
 
I’ve taken my AW instead of my phone on two 10 mile runs this week, but with LTE, GPS and bluetooth (for the AirPods) battery life takes a real hit. My watch died at about 8pm on Friday and I was left with about 10% battery life last night.

I have my weekly long run (16 miles) today and will be curious how long my battery makes it today. I’m deliberately not topping it off during the day so I can determine how much I can rely on it as a proper running watch when I’m traveling and don’t have ready access to the charger.
I’ve made it a point to drop it on the charger when I shower and get ready in the morning. That seems to help a lot and it charges faster (may be placebo) the the s2. 5-7 minutes of charginf got me 12% today.

Idk if that helps. I haven’t recently been running as much as you, only doing half hour runs daily, but starting a run st 100% and topping it off, even if a little bit, while you shower and get ready to head out can’t hurt!
 
The watchcast App allows you to do this. It's slow to load them on the watch and it's a manual process, but it does work until Apple finally provides us with a native app.
How long does it normally take to transfer a podcast because this one is taking forever...

It actually doesn't even transfer properly.
 
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I leave the iPhone at home when playing golf. Watch is there for important calls or messages or notifications plus it doubles as a Golf GPS.


Which app do you use on the aW3 to play a round of golf? My golf app tells me I need to start around on my phone, (golf shot plus).
 
So here is the main reason i bought the AW3 With LTE, i play hockey and we have a shared locker room and some of the rinks we play at our whenever we have drop in sessions. I don't like leaving my phone in my hockey bag when we're doing drop ins as my phone has gotten stolen multiple times and taking it to the bench with me is like a distraction. Having the AW3 lets me leave my phone at home and take emergency calls if needed or check emergency text messages at my liking, also use it for workouts and checking my HR during the skate. I wish there was an app for hockey to track calories burned and what not during a session.
 
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I guess there are issues with watchOS 4 and podcasts right now.

Here are Marco Arment of the Overcast App's thoughts:

https://marco.org/

Really annoying since I always listen to podcasts while running, so I basically can't go without my phone for now.
 
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I guess there are issues with watchOS 4 and podcasts right now.

Here are Marco Arment of the Overcast App's thoughts:

https://marco.org/

Really annoying since I always listen to podcasts while running, so I basically can't go without my phone for now.

Thanks for the link, that was very informative. When I heard Overcast was removing watch functionality due to changes in WatchOS4, I thought that hinted at them needing to make changes to allow Apple to build a native podcast app. But, after reading this, Apple is truly needing to make some underlying OS changes to allow podcasts on the watch.

Still baffles me that Apple couldn't come up with some solution to podcasts on the AW. I think it's an embarrassment, honestly. I mean, yeah there are technical limitations here and there but Apple built a freakin' computer for my wrist that can do all kinds of advanced stuff but it can't play spoken words???

Pre-WatchOS 4, you could control music being played on an iPhone and they didn't even allow you to do the same for podcasts. I mean...come on...

Ugh...
 
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Thanks for the link, that was very informative. When I heard Overcast was removing watch functionality due to changes in WatchOS4, I thought that hinted at them needing to make changes to allow Apple to build a native podcast app. But, after reading this, Apple is truly needing to make some underlying OS changes to allow podcasts on the watch.

Still baffles me that Apple couldn't come up with some solution to podcasts on the AW. I think it's an embarrassment, honestly. I mean, yeah there are technical limitations here and there but Apple built a freakin' computer for my wrist that can do all kinds of advanced stuff but it can't play spoken words???

Pre-WatchOS 4, you could control music being played on an iPhone and they didn't even allow you to do the same for podcasts. I mean...come on...

Ugh...

Yeah, I'm tempted to return the LTE version and just get the regular one, but also too lazy to go through the hassle of setting up the watch again. lol
 
I've used it on a few occasions, but for me the cellular connection is not reliable. I get frequent disconnects and then reconnects. If it continues I may swap it out, but I fear that this is an AW issue and not my specific watch.
 
I have left my phone at home several times while at work. The LTE works well, but for some reason it will not connect to my work Wifi even though the SSD is saved on my phone. There is a user name/password requirement but it does not ask to log in everyday, or have a pop up sign in page. Anyone else have this issue?
 
So let me ask a stupid question as I have a LTE model on order, if you have your ph with you Is the LTE on the watch just not active and only kicks in if your ph isn’t around or do you have to enable and disable as needed?
 
So let me ask a stupid question as I have a LTE model on order, if you have your ph with you Is the LTE on the watch just not active and only kicks in if your ph isn’t around or do you have to enable and disable as needed?

LTE is automatically off when it’s connected to the phone and battery life is pretty much equal to non-LTE model.
 
I have left my phone at home several times while at work. The LTE works well, but for some reason it will not connect to my work Wifi even though the SSD is saved on my phone. There is a user name/password requirement but it does not ask to log in everyday, or have a pop up sign in page. Anyone else have this issue?
Have you verified that your work Wi-Fi support 2.4 GHz? Also the user name/password may be actually hanging up your Watch. Many systems require a Name/Password for a new MAC Address, which your Watch would present as a "First" visit.

Dave
 
I have left my phone at home several times while at work. The LTE works well, but for some reason it will not connect to my work Wifi even though the SSD is saved on my phone. There is a user name/password requirement but it does not ask to log in everyday, or have a pop up sign in page. Anyone else have this issue?

Wifi hotspot has to support 2.4Ghz
And obviously the watch cannot “login”.
 
I am. I leave my iPhone 6 at home and just use the watch at work. It connects to my iMacs WiFi and I also use my iMac for WiFi calling. If I am having a really busy day I will take my iPhone but mostly I am without my phone and just my watch. On 4.1 I am streaming my podcasts from a playlist too!

Battery life is ok, even on WiFi all day and minimal LTE usage I am getting home to about 20%. Could we a beta bug. Will continue to watch.
 
I don't carry my iPhone in my pocket anymore. It's great!

My phone is on my desk at work, in the corner, where I never touch it during the day. It's in my car console on the way home, then on a shelf at home charging when I get home.

I now go to the supermarket, walking around the block, in the backyard - all without my phone.

I work out without my phone too. It's far less distracting. I used to use the 20-30 second downtime between reps to check twitter, email or something. Now, I just keep the music on, and complete my workouts in 10 minutes less time.

Less is more. The less things I can do on my watch help me do more every day. I love it.
 
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I am leaving my phone at home less that I did when I initially got my series 3 with cellular. I need podcasts on my watch! (I've tried the few apps out there that claim to put podcasts on your watch but found the transfer process too cumbersome).
 
I am leaving my phone at home less that I did when I initially got my series 3 with cellular. I need podcasts on my watch! (I've tried the few apps out there that claim to put podcasts on your watch but found the transfer process too cumbersome).
Give WatchPlayer a try!! You can add feeds directly on the watch and the developer implemented a direct download method on the watch that can download episodes as quickly as on the phone (when on Wi-Fi or LTE) (downloaded an episode of Accidental Tech Podcast, a fairly long podcast in 30 to 50 seconds!) - amazing app

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/watch-player/id1170672458?mt=8
 
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