Just experimented more with Wifi at work. I'm quite impressed. We've got a VERY large building. 81 resident rooms, spread out in an almost figure-8 layout on one level.
@PereDroid might be interested in my findings, as he was asking about the functionality in another thread.
First of all, I set the watch up to make sure it'd connect to wifi at work. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it actually successfully connected to my public network, which usually won't let you do anything without acknowledging our terms on the splash page. I saw no splash page on the watch or the phone, but the watch said it was connected, so I decided to make my rounds around the building to check on all of my thin clients and gather serial numbers for all of our Xerox machines, because they HAVE to have that when we call and we didn't have a comprehensive list.
I get a ways down the hall and chat with the Ward Clerk for a bit and Find my phone notifies me of the disconnect. So far so good. As we're talking, I glance down because it had vibrated again and see that the disconnect icon isn't showing anymore. I walk the rest of the way down the 120ft hallway and go into the report room to check the fax machine. While there, I drew an emoji and sent it to my fiance. At this point, if you picture a square, you get the idea of the section of building I'm in. I'm straight down one side of that square from my office, most definitely not on bluetooth anymore.
Then, I make my way CLEAR across the whole building to the farthest nurse station from my office. On the way, I send a voice text, "Testing on wifi 925" is how it comes out. (making note of the time to check the timestamp upon my return to my office.) Didn't even make it 1/4 of the way back to my office and she texted me back "huh?", so I fired off another voice text explaining.
There was a bit of a hiccup moving between APs on the open mesh network. I was notified a few more times that my watch had disconnected. Still, it connected again quick enough. I got a like through tapatalk on a post while I was way far away as well.
It did take some time to reconnect via bluetooth once I returned to my office, which I get because I know that the phone waits so much longer each time to retry the connection to the watch when it drops. I setup smart lock last night, so I had to enter my PIN a few times. Obviously, I was checking it all out. In the AW app, it said my watch was connected, but in the smart lock settings, it said it wasn't connected, which makes total sense because it hadn't switched back to bluetooth.
All in all, I can see how the functionality would be handy, especially in my case if I leave my phone in my office or elsewhere in the building. At least I'd still have some access. Kinda makes me wish more apps had info viewed right on the watch vs having to open on the phone.
You can't force the watch to connect and stay connected to wifi. When you first launch into the menu to select a network, it will connect, but it always defaults to a BT connection when it's available and turns wifi completely off. There's also a setting to set "Power Save" for wifi. That can be anywhere from 15-120 minutes. 120 is the default if my memory is right. I don't think I changed it and that's what it's set on. Will be harder to test battery life using wifi for an extended period of time, but I'll work something out. Either I'll hide my phone in my car some time or sit outside and play on my tablet the way I usually do my phone and leave my phone far enough in the house that I can't get a BT connection.
That's part of what sold me on it, aside from the look of the device. I could've done without the wifi, though it should prove useful in certain situations, but I liked the idea of better access to apps and contacts and the ability to draw an emoji. Could never get it to create one with voice and think it'll be easier to quick reply with a face by doodling on the watch than talking to my wrist in certain public situations.
Android Wear version: 1.1.1.1864693
Google Play Services: 7.3.34
Android OS: 5.1.1
I didn't check it on first boot. It got an update after initial setup.
