I had just come out of the mall, arms laden with stuff I shouldn’t have bought, when I realised I forgot to call for my car. A few weeks ago, that would have meant setting down all the bags and fishing out my phone. I was about to do just that when I remembered all I had to do is lift my wrist a bit and ask Siri to call my driver. Which she duly did.

You may have taken note, back in September 2017, that Apple launched its Apple Watch Series 3 in a regular and cellular variant. The latter didn’t make it to India, much to the annoyance of many. Using the LTE-connected watch needs cellular providers to partner with Apple and put in place the equipment, plans and management for this additional usage of the E-SIM that is in the watch. Now that this has been worked out and put in place by Airtel and Jio, the cellular variant is an option for anyone thinking of expanding their ecosystem of Apple gadgets.

To look at, the cellular watch is almost identical to the regular, except for a nice red dot on the power button. All this time, you could already receive calls on the regular watch, but you would have needed to have the iPhone nearby somewhere. With the cellular variant, you can leave your phone at home altogether and you will still receive and be able to make calls. The watch doesn’t have a separate phone number and shares the same one on your iPhone. For now, this additional connectivity is at no additional charge in India.

Setting up the watch is easy. Your iPhone will guide you through it and the only other thing you will have to do is make sure you have a registration with your cellular provider and have a user name and password. If not, the setup will lead you there. If you own a previous watch, you can opt to have your data restored.

So far, I found the watch worked just fine for calls, unless I was in a particularly deep basement such as at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi. That was the only place I had trouble. Calls can be made even louder if you twirl the crown a little. Others around can very much hear the whole conversation, which is why the watch pairs very well with Apple’s AirPods. With those in, at least people will only hear your side of the chatter. You can also send SMSes from the watch, again, using Siri if you prefer. All the usual notifications, setting reminders, navigating, and using apps continues.

Another consequence of using the AirPods with the watch is that you can now stream Apple Radio by selecting it from the watch and sending it to the earphones. This is apart from accessing your regular playlists from Apple Music. The combination makes for a great run or trip to the gym for those who like to workout to music or guidance without having to worry about the iPhone just then.

Be mindful however that the cellular connectivity won’t work if you travel abroad. The watch can be a regular for the trip and you can turn off cellular connectivity just to be safe.

The new variant is still waterproof and you can swim with it. The battery isn’t dramatically lower than the regular Apple Watch, but it does call for a charge every 24 hours or less if you use it to the hilt.

However, do remember that cellular connectivity only works with postpaid plans if you are an Airtel customer. Jio does allow for use on prepaid plans as well.

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