If you’ve already made your house into a smart home, wouldn’t it be nice to upgrade your style to something smarter too? Not only by dressing smart, but also by upgrading the gadgets you wear and carry! A smartwatch is a clear and easy addition to any lifestyle. Not only are they stylish, but they’re functional, too!
Smartwatches can make calls if they have built-in cellular or LTE/4G connectivity and a SIM card or eSIM. If you’re thinking about buying one a smartwatch to use for calls, make sure that it has a strong battery life and has a good LTE/4G signal strength.
Buying a smartwatch can truly increase the convenience and productivity in your life with its extra features and synchronization with your smartphone. But first, how is it even possible to have a smartwatch that can make phone calls? Continue reading to find out.
Can A Smartwatch Make Phone Calls?
Most people tend to believe that smartwatches can only make phone calls through phones, but that’s not true. Smartwatches that can use a SIM card perform most of the functions that a phone can. You will also find that these sim card-enabled smartwatches have other features as well.
A smartwatch that can connect to a cellular network can send and receive messages, app notifications, and calls. A mini-SIM card or a Nano-SIM card are the two types available for smartwatches. The SIM card’s chip contains all of the technological information that your watch needs and assists you in connecting to the correct network.
However, many of today’s smartwatches use a virtual SIM (e-SIM) to connect instead. The virtual sim means you don’t have to worry about inserting a sim card into your smartwatch.
Pro Tip: We’ll discuss this more later, but if you’re planning to really use your smartwatch as a phone, we suggest considering pairing noise cancelling headphones with the watch as well, for better call quality on both sides of the conversation.
How can You Tell if Your Smartwatch can Make Phone Calls?
It’s worth noting that not all smartwatches have the ability to make phone calls. You’ll need a smartwatch with cellular or LTE/4G connectivity. So, before you buy a smartwatch to use as a phone, look out for the product information from the watch’s manufacturer. The information must state that the smartwatch has cellular or LTE/4G connectivity.
Let’s take a look at two smartwatches with phone connection capabilities.
1. Apple Watch Ultra
The Apple Watch Ultra (on Amazon) is our recommendation if you’re in iOS ahd have the budget for it. Pictured throughout the article, the Apple Watch Ultra has a cell ship built in, so, you’ll just need to add a cell connection with your provider to allow calls both to and from the watch when out of range of your phone. It allows you to access all your watch-enabled apps like any other Apple watch too!
2. Samsung Electronics Galaxy Watch 5
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 (on Amazon) is available in a range of colors and faces. It’s also quite slim and light. Its features include a fitness tracker, a heart rate monitor, a sleep tracker, and live coaching sessions.
It lets you access Google apps, make calls, send texts, receive notifications, and listen to music. You can also use Google Assistant to get directions and even ask for help.
What To Look For in a Smartwatch that Makes Phone Calls
So, you’ve convinced yourself that you need a smartwatch that can make phone calls, whether you require a stand-alone or one that connects to a phone. However, you now find yourself stranded. You have no idea what type to look for!
Not to fear–here are some of the traits and qualities you should research for your smartwatch of choice:
- Make sure that the smartwatch you are buying is compatible with your smartphone.
- You need to look at the rated battery life of the phone. Most of the hybrid analog pieces have better batteries, but they don’t have touch screens.
- Check whether it has a good LTE (Long term evaluation); this is your smartwatch’s ability to download music, websites, and videos quickly. Due to LTE technology, you will find that the two smartwatches we recommended in the earlier section have excellent call quality.
- Another feature you need to consider is whether the watchband’s buckle or clasp is easy to use and to replace if needed. Also, check how easy it is to find those replacement bands for your watch.
- It would also be a plus to find a smartwatch that lets you download your apps independently.
How do You Send and Receive Calls on a Smartwatch?
Sending or receiving calls from your smartwatch may sound like rocket science, but that isn’t the case. To receive or send calls, here’s what you need to do:
Answering a call
When there is an incoming call, the smartwatch will display the caller’s name and notify you. You can choose to answer or reject the call. These instructions are slightly different for Android (on WearOS) and iOS, but the steps are pretty simple no matter which platform you’re on:
Making a call
- To open the app list, press the up button on your smartwatch.
- Touch contacts, and select the contact you want to call.
- You can then touch call to make the call.
If you are using a voice assistant
- Wake up the voice assistant by pressing and holding down the button on your watch.
- With your voice, tell your smartwatch to call the person you want by saying their name or tellling it to dial a specific number.
If you are using your phone
Open the app list by pressing the up button on your smartwatch and selecting your phone. From here, you can do any of the following;
- If the person’s number has been saved on your smartwatch, touch Contacts and select the named contact.
- If you’ve called this contact before, the smartwatch will have a call record. Go to your call history and select call records, then call back.
- If you don’t have the person’s number saved in your contact list, then touch the keypad and enter the number you want to call. Then press the dial icon.
Does a Smartwatch Have its Own Phone Number?
The majority of smartwatches will have their unique phone number. Calls, texts, and notifications will come from your phone if you keep it close by. People will be able to see your usual phone number here.
When you don’t have access to your phone, calls, texts, and notifications will come from your smartwatch’s number. People will be able to see your smartwatch number in that case.
Different carriers handle it different ways, with Verizon offering “Number Share” as their solution while other providers simply ask you to add an additional data plan. For whatever reason, most pre-paid phone plans do not support Apple watches unfortunately.
How To Get The Best Experience Using Your Watch As A Phone
Call quality is going to vary depending on the model of your watch and the strength of your cellular signal. If you’re experiencing poor call quality on your watch, try moving to an area with better reception.
And if you’re having a longer conversation, using headphones can be more comfortable and provide better sound quality. This is especially important if you’re in a noisy environment or need to take notes during the call.
Here are a few tips to get the best experience when using your watch as a phone:
- Check your cellular signal strength before making a call to ensure you have a strong connection.
- If you’re having a longer conversation, use headphones for better comfort and sound quality.
- Adjust the volume and audio settings on your watch to find the best sound quality.
- If you’re in a noisy environment, consider using a noise-cancelling headset to block out background noise.
Can You Hear Me Now?
Now that you’ve learned that a smartwatch can make phone calls, feel free to check out our other articles on smartwatches. You’ll find out how you can track a smartwatch, take pictures with one, and whether they can be hacked or used to spy on you. If you want to use your smartwatch as a phone, you may have a few kinks along the way, but as you can see it’s pretty straight forward, and a great way to get more out of your smartwatch!