US Watch S5 in UK

[mrbleary]

Hi there

I know there were issues with previous watches bought in the US working in the UK, but is that now resolved with the S5?

Looking at the frequencies for Vodafone and EE, they use:

EE: 1, 3, 7, 20*
Vodafone: 1, 3, 7, 8*, 20*

Those with * are not on the US model of the watch, but the other bands are. Should this give enough coverage for them to work?

 

[2Xtreme21]

Should be fine.

 

[mrbleary]

Does seem like it will to be honest, as most bands are covered.

Worst case, after looking closer the ceramic is only. available in Cellular models anyway so suppose it's not like I could have saved and bought the wifi only!

 

[jclmavg]

Or you could get one from amazon.de (germany) instead?

 

[mrbleary]

Or you could get one from amazon.de (germany) instead?

Would work out almost €100 more doing it that way.

€849 on amazon.de (Example 44mm stainless steel gold with Milanese loop - as they don't have ceramic)
$799 on apple.com (with tax $846)

So that's €758 in the US, or €849 on amazon.de

 

[jclmavg]

Would work out almost €100 more doing it that way.

€849 on amazon.de (Example 44mm stainless steel gold with Milanese loop - as they don't have ceramic)
$799 on apple.com (with tax $846)

So that's €758 in the US, or €849 on amazon.de

if there are no import or tax fees, sure. I'm not sure how it works in the UK, but here in Holland ordering from the US would definitely be more expensive than getting it from Amazon in Germany.

 

[mrbleary]

if there are no import or tax fees, sure. I'm not sure how it works in the UK, but here in Holland ordering from the US would definitely be more expensive than getting it from Amazon in Germany.

Sorry I should have been clear, I will be in the US to physically buy one, for sure there would be import taxes if ordering online.

 

[jclmavg]

Sorry I should have been clear, I will be in the US to physically buy one, for sure there would be import taxes if ordering online.

Ah I see that changes things. That said, I'm not sure if there are no problems using the US model in Europe. I hope not. When you Google this issue I find that the older Watch 3 would have issues, I'm not certain this is not also an issue with the 4 and 5: https://www.pcmag.com/news/356526/us-apple-watch-series-3-lte-wont-work-in-europe

See also this one on the Watch 4: https://www.pcmag.com/news/363824/dont-import-apple-watch-series-4

 

[mrbleary]

Ah I see that changes things. That said, I'm not sure if there are no problems using the US model in Europe. I hope not. When you Google this issue I find that the older Watch 3 would have issues, I'm not certain this is not also an issue with the 4 and 5: https://www.pcmag.com/news/356526/us-apple-watch-series-3-lte-wont-work-in-europe

See also this one on the Watch 4: https://www.pcmag.com/news/363824/dont-import-apple-watch-series-4

Yeah there were certainly. issues on the older ones, seems the newer supports more frequencies so may be ok. If not, the ceramic is only available in cellular anyway so I would just use as Wifi only if I really needed to.

 

[mk313]

Their cellular bands page doesn’t explicitly say that the US version won’t work on UK bands, but it does strongly hint at it. https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/
If you don’t plan to use the cellular part, and just want a ceramic version as inexpensively as possible, then getting one while you are in the us makes sense. If you plan to use the cellular aspect of the watch, I’d buy it from somewhere outside the US (personally).

Unless you are able to return us purchases at uk Apple stores. I’m not sure if that would work, but it would be nice if you could.

 

[danmart]

Unless you are able to return us purchases at uk Apple stores. I’m not sure if that would work, but it would be nice if you could.

They are separate legal entities, so no obligation on them to replace purchases bought in other countries. I have had a US purchase exchanged once, but it was just a faulty iPad case costing around £30. I’m not so sure they would be happy to swap a £1,300 device.

 

[Newjackboy]

Amazon UK now also have them! For delivery this Saturday!
https://amzn.to/2QghMT7

 

[M.Rizk]

I pre-ordered the US model and planning to use it in Qatar. We also use the same 3 bands EE uses in the UK for LTE.

The US model supports two out of the 3 (1800 MHz and 2600 MHz) so hopefully it works fine.

 

[BillGates1969]

Their cellular bands page doesn’t explicitly say that the US version won’t work on UK bands, but it does strongly hint at it. https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/
If you don’t plan to use the cellular part, and just want a ceramic version as inexpensively as possible, then getting one while you are in the us makes sense. If you plan to use the cellular aspect of the watch, I’d buy it from somewhere outside the US (personally).

Unless you are able to return us purchases at uk Apple stores. I’m not sure if that would work, but it would be nice if you could.

I have a US MacBook that has been repaired under warranty in the UK. However, the repair needed a new keyboard (swollen battery) but Apple store could only replace it with a US keyboard as well - I did ask if we could have a UK one and they said no.

 

[M.Rizk]

I have a US MacBook that has been repaired under warranty in the UK. However, the repair needed a new keyboard (swollen battery) but Apple store could only replace it with a US keyboard as well - I did ask if we could have a UK one and they said no.

Weird. My MBP has an English (International)/Arabic layout yet Apple Store in the US was ok with using the English (US) layout (no Arabic) when I asked for it. I was unlucky as the parts were temporarily out of stock though.