Apple Watch to Feature Time-Only 'Power Reserve' Mode, Prototypes Disguised as Samsung Watches

[MacRumors]

With Apple's media event just a week away and the company expected to offer final details there on the Apple Watch ahead of its April debut, The New York Times has a new report out sharing a few new tidbits on the device.

Among the interesting details is the existence of an unannounced "Power Reserve" mode for the watch that will display only the time and cut off all other functions as the battery begins to run critically low, preserving the most basic functionality of the watch. The report also notes that while the Apple Watch has been widely tested by Apple employees, the company did work to conceal many of those prototypes by disguising them to resemble Samsung smartwatches.

Sources have also provided more context to a Wall Street Journal article from last month that discussed how many of the originally planned health features for Apple Watch were dropped due to consistency issues. According to The New York Times' sources, the decision to drop many of those features came more than 18 months ago, refuting off-target reports in recent weeks claiming the cuts have come at the last minute.

Nearly two years ago, the company experimented with advanced health monitoring sensors that tracked blood pressure and stress, among other variables. Many of those experiments were abandoned more than 18 months ago after the sensors proved unreliable and cumbersome, these people said.

Apple long ago decided that for the first version of the product, it would include a heart rate sensor and a sensor for tracking movement, to market the device as a fitness-tracking companion to the iPhone.

Previous reports have indicated Apple is still working on those technologies, and they could appear in future versions of the Apple Watch.

Today's report reveals some additional insight into the development process, noting that the Apple Watch is coming a bit later than originally hoped due to technical challenges that were likely exacerbated by the loss of several engineers working on the project. Google's Nest Labs, headed by iPod pioneer Tony Fadell, was responsible for poaching several of the key Apple Watch employees.

Apple's media event will take place at 10:00 AM Pacific Time on Monday, March 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The company will offer a live video stream of the event, and MacRumors will provide full coverage of the event.

Article Link: Apple Watch to Feature Time-Only 'Power Reserve' Mode, Prototypes Disguised as Samsung Watches

 

[TouchMint.com]

I'm hoping you can turn on the power save mode at anytime and it's not just for when the battery is at low.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

the company did work to conceal many of those prototypes by disguising them to resemble Samsung smartwatches.

That's absolutely brilliant! None would suspect them doing that lol.

 

[adrianlealmtz]

The date is wrong

It will be on March 9!! Not the 8!

 

[levitynyc]

I own a version of just about every Apple product made the past 10 years.

I fail to see a reason to own an Apple Watch. Hopefully they can convince me.

 

[Dargoth]

the company did work to conceal many of those prototypes by disguising them to resemble Samsung smartwatches.

That's absolutely brilliant! None would suspect them doing that lol.

I wonder if that's wise though... Generating free mindshare for Samsung.

 

[wolfshades]

That feature might make it more palatable to some of the on-the-fence buyers.

I was never on the fence…I plan to totally indulge my old "first-out-the-gate" geekness.

 

[PJL500]

Ugly "clock" design

'Hope it is not that clock in the pic. Those hands are awful.

 

[kpkp]

That's absolutely brilliant! None would suspect them doing that lol.

An Apple employee wearing a Samsung watch? That is the definition of suspicious.

 

[lincolntran]

Apple copied Samsung!

/s

 

[bushido]

we are looking at 2nd Gen features

 

[PowerBook-G5]

That's absolutely brilliant! None would suspect them doing that lol.

Well this way, if an employee lost his/her pre-production model in a bar, it would just be thrown away because nobody wants a Samsung watch. Trying to prevent bar-gate/gizmodo-gate from happening again

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I would hope that Power Reserve mode can be used all the time, or be switched on whenever needed, instead of when the battery is at a critical level.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Ooh, I like that power reserve mode. Wonder if it works like DND does on the phone?

I love that they disguised them as Samsung watches. Classic.

 

[Cayden]

Seems like they couldn't get the desired battery life and this is their last ditch attempt to keep the watch on all day

 

[Dargoth]

Seems like they couldn't get the desired battery life and this is their last ditch attempt to keep the watch on all day

Most likely this. All those sensors must have destroyed battery life.

 

[WildCowboy]

It will be on March 9!! Not the 8!

Thanks...fixed.

 

[al256]

Apple Watch is coming a bit later than originally hoped due to technical challenges that were likely exacerbated by the loss of several engineers working on the project. Google's Nest Labs, headed by iPod pioneer Tony Fadell, was responsible for poaching several of the key Apple Watch employees.

How do you let employees like that go? What was Google offering that Apple couldn't?

 

[stridemat]

I own a version of just about every Apple product made the past 10 years.

I fail to see a reason to own an Apple Watch. Hopefully they can convince me.

I'm in the same boat, however willing to be persuaded...

 

[thefourthpope]

I'm so torn. I definitely want one but can't figure if I'll go for first gen. The battery life doesn't strike meas that much of an issue, as long as it can make it through a waking day, say 12-14 hours of use. And this power save mode makes sense. Hopefully it's as easy to activate as "airplane mode" on the iPhone.

 

[the8thark]

That's absolutely brilliant! None would suspect them doing that lol.

Only Samsung's lawyers.

 

[topmounter]

Is "Power Reserve" mode the same mode that it defaults to when you just want a watch and don't have an iPhone?

 

[doelcm82]

Seems like they couldn't get the desired battery life and this is their last ditch attempt to keep the watch on all day

You forgot the image that goes with that comment:

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I wonder how much it can do in the power reserve mode.

Time only seems like such an arbitrary limit. Time only still involves running the screen, which, if I had to guess, is by far the biggest power consumer within the Apple Watch.

As I recall, 80% of power on the iPhone is powered by the screen. After that, GPS is the next biggest consumer at 16%. Then cellular at 3%. Everything else is a rounding error (but of those rounding errors, Wifi is highest.)

So after running the screen, the next most power intensive tasks are related to using radios, and the longer distance the signal has to travel, the more power it requires. Since the Apple Watch only uses NFC and Bluetooth for radios, I don't think either of those will be a major power draw. I feel like the Apple Watch will devote 95% of power to the screen, ~2% to each of those radios, and everything else will be a rounding error.

Which means a power reserve mode, while making some slight sense on a phone (stretch the battery by 25% by turning off radios), it makes little sense on the Apple Watch (stretch the battery by 6% by turning off radios.)

Maybe my memory of how much different components consume on the iPhone is wrong and someone can correct me. I seem to recall it being in the Stanford iOS Programming course, when talking about how to make your app consume as little power as possible (it boiled down to not having frivolous radio communication.)

 

[FelixAng]

...well, this explains the surge in Samsung watch sales from a couple months ago. #

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

An Apple employee wearing a Samsung watch? That is the definition of suspicious.

If you see an Apple employee leaving behind a Samsung-looking watch in a bar, grab it and run!