Apple Watch Bluetooth Headphone Module and Geek Apps

[edy]

I recently became an Apple Watch user and have 2 questions which I was hoping some of you have had some experience with. The first is about Bluetooth. The watch does very limited playback through the internal speakers, but I don't have any Bluetooth capable headphones (at least not anything of any quality).

Is there an inexpensive but good "module" or pack that is a rechargeable Bluetooth receiver that I can plug my standard wired headphones into? Or is this just a dumb idea? It is better just to buy some over the head quality Bluetooth rechargeable headphones? I guess the main issue is wiring and battery life. If I'm being active it's probably not worth having a Bluetooth module in my pocket and wires coming out to my headset. I just thought such a thing would be cheaper and more universal as I could plug any of my existing wired headsets/earbuds into it to make them Bluetooth capable.

The second question is, what is the best way to "geek out" the watch. Apps? Settings? Watch faces? Something that would appeal to engineering math computer science folks. I see plenty of fitness and meditation apps and such, calculator and calendar, various music and podcast stuff, but not too many really scientific technical engineering apps. Obviously they would all be gimmicky as it would be impractical on such a small screen.

[Bassman59]

I recently became an Apple Watch user and have 2 questions which I was hoping some of you have had some experience with. The first is about Bluetooth. The watch does very limited playback through the internal speakers, but I don't have any Bluetooth capable headphones (at least not anything of any quality).

Is there an inexpensive but good "module" or pack that is a rechargeable Bluetooth receiver that I can plug my standard wired headphones into? Or is this just a dumb idea? It is better just to buy some over the head quality Bluetooth rechargeable headphones? I guess the main issue is wiring and battery life. If I'm being active it's probably not worth having a Bluetooth module in my pocket and wires coming out to my headset. I just thought such a thing would be cheaper and more universal as I could plug any of my existing wired headsets/earbuds into it to make them Bluetooth capable.

The Rain Forest Online Bazaar has a lot of Bluetooth receivers with headphone outputs. An example, please note I have no experience with this product so this is neither an endorsement nor an indictment.

The second question is, what is the best way to "geek out" the watch. Apps? Settings? Watch faces? Something that would appeal to engineering math computer science folks. I see plenty of fitness and meditation apps and such, calculator and calendar, various music and podcast stuff, but not too many really scientific technical engineering apps. Obviously they would all be gimmicky as it would be impractical on such a small screen.

I had an Apple Watch -- literally Generation 0. I say "had" because I lost the thing! The idea of "apps" is rather limited. I used it primarily for Apple Pay and for boarding passes at the airport. It was also useful with Maps. Instead of walking through a city with your phone in your face, you can just glance at your watch every so often and keep your phone in your pocket. I also used it for mapping and monitoring bicycle rides. And notifications for messages, mail and calendar reminders silently buzzing your wrist are less distracting in a meeting than your phone buzzing.

My wife had the same watch and she managed to bash the face. She replaced it with the Apple Watch SE. There's no reason for cellular service to the watch and the extra "health" features on the 6 didn't seem to be interesting enough to spend the extra coin on it. I suppose I'll get an SE at some point, maybe once I start traveling again.

To answer your question: there's not much to geek out with on the Watch.

[edy]

Thanks, I’ll check out those Bluetooth modules. I’m expecting basically something like a portable lithium battery pack that people get to recharge their phones, except that it would have a USB input to charge the batteries and a 1/8” audio output to drive headphones. That’s it. With a good sized set of batteries it should be able to run any headphones for many hours. Some of the online options look like they can barely last an hour or have not enough power to drive anything more than tiny earbuds.

With respect to apps, I wonder if it’s an Apple limitation or just developers not bothering. There may be restrictions or very narrow parameters on what they want to allow on the watch, and any apps not deemed to fit in the Apple Watch philosophy may not be allowed in? Wouldn’t  a small reference tool for equations, resistor value calculator, converting scientific units, etc. be useful? Seems like an easy app to make on the watch. Or have an app that pulls in certain interesting scientific data (not just weather) and let you display it on a watch face. Or an app that gives you the ability to script or do “cron” like tasks, or a network analyzer, etc. Or even a Star Trek Next Gen inspired watch interface (LCARS). [EDIT: Apparently there is an app that lets you do that… I have to look into it further]. There have to be lots if ideas!

[NiHaoMike]

Thanks, I’ll check out those Bluetooth modules. I’m expecting basically something like a portable lithium battery pack that people get to recharge their phones, except that it would have a USB input to charge the batteries and a 1/8” audio output to drive headphones. That’s it. With a good sized set of batteries it should be able to run any headphones for many hours. Some of the online options look like they can barely last an hour or have not enough power to drive anything more than tiny earbuds.

It takes very little power to run headphones, 1mW (0dBm) gives about 90-100dBA, more than the safe limit for prolonged listening.

[edy]

Ok thanks everybody. I managed to order a small Bluetooth receiver similar to the one in the link above from Amazon. It charges via USB and has a 1/8” phono jack and it will also work while charging. I’ll give it a try with my various headphones and earbuds… that may solve the problem easily and inexpensively.

As far as “Geeking” out the Apple Watch, seems like there is a 3rd party faces app called Clockology with quite an active geek community. Apple has some policy about design of Watch faces apparently to avoid tarnishing their brand reputation. To get around this, the app has a *beta feature that is enabled by downloading some file that acts like an activation key (it seems to be some workaround to avert Apple policy) that lets anyone design faces and sync it to the Apple Watch companion app (otherwise the watch app acts as a “remote” only to appear inconspicuous). This is all a ploy to avert Apple App Store rules. Anyways once you get it working there are tons of Watch faces that appeal to science geeks and engineers… All free, and you can design your own.

Still not too many geek apps though but at least lots of Watch faces.

[edy]

[BLUETOOTH UPDATE:]

I purchased the J22 Bluetooth receiver, about $20, and attached it with velcro strips to my Sony MDR-DX200's (see attached first photo). Works great! Microphone on the J22's sucks, but reception ok. Bit of a lag noticed watching video but I usually listen to music.

My Sony headphones have a very lengthy cord. I prefer headphones that have a jack you can then plug any length cord you want. Then I'd use a very short patch cord from the J22 to the headphone. For now, I just took the long cable, folded it up and stuck it up under the head band (that's why it looks so thick on the photo).

By the way, the Sony's were cheap as dirt... I think I picked them up for under $30 years ago. Add the J22 bluetooth and I have a set of bluetooth capable Sony's for less than half the price of what over-the-ear headphones cost today. Although this one seems to be a good deal:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/sennheiser-hd-350bt-over-ear-sound-isolating-bluetooth-headphones-black/14454611


Anyways, I can easily remove the J22 bluetooth receiver module from the Sony's and plug in my ear-buds and use those when needed. Having it lets me repurpose all my old but still functional earphones without having to buy new ones or having to charge a million devices. 



On another note... anyone have any experience with the HEART RATE MONITOR on the Apple Watch Series 3? Are they accurate? Do they really properly measure RESTING HEART RATE? I understand that perhaps exercise rate may be hard to pick up (or is it easier?). Anyone able to verify their watch is actually properly measuring the heart rate?

See the attached second photo. What am I supposed to make of this? Here is what Google says:

What should my resting heart rate be at 45?
The normal range is between 50 and 100 beats per minute. If your resting heart rate is above 100, it's called tachycardia; below 60, and it's called bradycardia. Increasingly, experts pin an ideal resting heart rate at between 50 to 70 beats per minute.

Assuming that's true, then I should be ok, it's not too low. I'm not sure how much to trust this gadget.