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Any thoughts about the new Apple Watch 11 and Oticon Intent 1s

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I’m on the cusp of diving into the Apple Watch pool — AW11 for its extra health features and emergency calling as a present to myself now that Springsteen and I turn 76 the same day. I use an IPhone 13 mini, have Oticon Intent 1s and find the Companion App sort of useless. Apple referenced using the Companion App on my phone though I can’t remember exactly why but I think it was if you were in your the house and the phone in another room was relaying a call via wifi or to a phone without the cell feature.

I’m just curious what experience others have had receiving and making calls on an Apple Watch. Can your aids be paired to two things at once (Watch and Iphone), I guess if you have the cell feature on your watch it doesn’t matter if your phone is out of range since you’re still paired with the watch.

Any observations on the communications utility of the watches appreciated.

Eliot

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Yes and no.
You can control the from both the iPhone and the Apple Watch.
(1) The Oticon Companion app on your Apple Watch requires the app to be running or in the background on your connected iPhone.
(2) Both the Apple Watch and the iPhone must be within Bluetooth range for the connection to work
(3) No, you cannot stream directly from the Apple Watch to your HAs: Only Phonaks can do that AFAIK.

Thanks for the quick response. In using the term “stream” as in no streaming directly from watch to , would that lack of a streaming feature apply to a cellular-enable phone, or to both the GPS and CPS-Cellular units. This stuff gets a little confusing to put it mildly. I’m trying to figure which type of watch would be most useful to me irrespective of cost.

I think I am less interested in the utility to take/make calls from the watch than I am in the health monitoring features, but having the emergency call capability at my age does have an attraction.

Thanks again for taking time to help me navigate this thicket.

@eliotb said:

both the GPS and CPS-Cellular units

Both as far as I know unless the 11 has a new feature (My comments are based on the 10). That’s because there is no direct bluetooth pairing between the hearing aids and the watch.

I don’t think the watch supports the LE pairings needed for communication with the . The watch can remote control the HAs through the phone. Streaming from the phone can be controlled by the watch. Your phone could be in a pack or out of the way place in range of both watch and HAs. It isn’t really working the way you’d think intuitively.

WH

Edited

WH: not working out intuitively? No kidding. This stuff is to hearing aids what British cars are to engineering excellence (or at least all the Jags I’ve had!)

I talked with an Apple accessibility person who thought the could be paired with the cellular-enabled watch as a headset. I talked with an Oticon person who said no way. Per Oticon I would have to rely on the watch speaker and microphone for calls in the absence of my Iphone, and I could probably live with that, but the calls are not private in any fashion. However, were I to spring for the cellular function, it would still just be for emergencies or the rare time I’ve left my cell at home and need to consult on a shopping list …. Or fall down and bang my head, or am in a wreck.

Best I can figure the extra cost of the cell option ($100) plus monthly cell fees ($60 a year with my provider) plus maybe the AppleCare stuff for protection ($50 a year) would turn the $539-plus-tax cell-based watch into an extra roughly $540 expense over four years beyond the cost of the watch itself. I wonder which phone an insurance actuary would go for? $539 + $540 …. Or $429 for the plain GPS model. Drop the AppleCare on the cell version and it’s down to an extra $340.

The primary reason I’m looking at the wearable tech leap is for the health information it will generate, especially some evidence I can offer my docs regarding my suspicion I have hypertension. So …

There is probably some clip thing you could buy to be an intermediary device between the and the watch. Carry a candy bar sized gizmo to access your 50 cent piece sized watch.

WH

It’s not complicated: Oticon can only connect to iPhones, Android devices and a very limited number of PCs. For everything else, you need Oticon’s accessories.

In reply to @eliotb

My experience with the Apple Watch S10 without cellular and iPhone 14 PRO has been excellent. The fall protection however may be questionable. I have had the watch attempting to call emergency service when I simply bumped my wrist against my dog and other light occurrences. My understanding of the BP feature in the S11 is that it looks at a 30 day window. Having hypertension, I find it more useful to monitor with a portable home BP monitor. This allows tracking day to day and throughout the day. Other health tracking features of the watch might be more valuable.

Thanks for responding. I’ve started checking my BP at home pretty regularly and it comes up high, then drops with repeat checks and deep breathing. I’ve always attributed it to “white coat syndrome” but the checks I’ve been making suggest otherwise. The watch’s read after 30 days will be more evidence to lay out for the medicos. And I think the other health stuff will serve me well, too. I may go ahead and spring for the cellular unit just ‘cause I’ve got nothing else of consequence other than an old Jag to spend my child’s inheritance on.

Looks like I’ll be sticking to my iPhone 13 mini + Apple Watch Series 5 + Oticon OPN S2 for another year till September next year when the Apple Watch Series 12 and the iPhone 18 will probably come out. And hopefully they will have Bluetooth on them by then.

My son/d-i-l & their kids are off on a trip to the Apple Store right now. He got a watch & new phone last year. Im sure he’s getting the new phone. Now sure what else they’ll get. I paid for a new phone for one of my daughters last year. Her husband has and she wants pix/vids to remember. I couldn’t fight that one. Wondering if I’ll inherit the pass-me-down phone like last year?

WH

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