Does the watch still have a lot of functions that work if I leave my house and leave my smartphone at home?
I am wondering how "tied" the watch is to my android smartphone. For example, what can I do with the watch when I don't have my smartphone nearby and paired to it via bluetooth.
Most of the functions that the watch can perform is via the phone. It's just another dimension to interact with information without having to use your phone in certain cases.
The watch will perform as a watch and have not cloud connectivity without your phone, but you can use other features like HRM and certain standalone games that can be played on the watch (like flappy birds).