42mm Apple Watch 2 May Have 35% Larger Battery

[x-evil-x]

35% larger battery just means to me that there will be a bigger power drain because of gps or cellular. I have to charge mine every night and sometimes left with no battery if i workout that day and it goes over 2-3 hour workout. Often times I'm around 10% for the day.

 

[A MacBook lover]

What's the big difference? It probably leads to forgetting to charge your Apple Watch every second night instead of making it a habit every night. And also I don't think that many people are wearing their watches while sleeping.. (only use case would be sleep tracking but therefore you will probably need a battery life of about 5-7 days to make it really useful).

As a traveler, it feels like I'm setting up a command center every time I want to charge my devices. I just love searching for 3 different chargers for my MacBook, Watch, and iPhone and spending 10 minutes wiring everything up.

Either up the battery - so it's actually 'okay' to forget to charge it, or maybe unify the charging on all devices.


Huge Apple fan, just being critical here.

 

[hamiltonrwatch]

My wife and I have swam (pools, salt water pools, the intracoastal), showered repeatedly, worn in hot-tubs/spas, both of our Apple Watches, and we've been owners since day 1 (her's literally a first delivery from a pre-order, mine 3 weeks later). No issues.

You've been fortunate. Apple Watch has a water resistance rating of IPX7; "IPX7 is a common rating for small portable electronics that are designed for use outdoors, but are not considered "rugged." My Swiss-trained watchmaker friend has made a lucrative career out of repairing mechanical watches with that same rating

The problem is surfactants; soaps and shampoos can get past the synthetic rubber seals and gaskets. He put me into the habit of removing my watches before I wash my hands or shower.

 

[macduke]

I've never had a problem with Apple Watch battery life. I've only ran out of battery a couple times—and those were times when I forgot to charge the night before and it ran out of battery the next evening. I won't really care about battery life improvements until I can charge it once per week. What the Watch needs most is performance improvements.

 

[profets]

I can only speak for myself, but when I say two day battery life would be good, it's not because I want an actual two days, but because I want to know that it will last me a full day without having to babysit or worry about it.

I don't think you're wrong about getting into a routine. That's effectively what one would have to do with any such Watch. And I think once you get into much longer battery life you run the risk of just forgetting to charge the thing at all and then one day it's dead (has happened more than once with my Fitbit lol; I too try and charge while showering and that seems to be enough to never require an overnight charge).

I mentioned above my wife's battery woes. I have no idea if they're typical, but I also know she isn't doing anything beyond responding to messages. I think a solid 12 hour day without your watching going dead is a reasonable ask, if not from the technology, then from the product. What I mean by that is, if in asking too much from today's tech, this just means what exists currently doesn't yet meet my needs. I feel like $$500+ is a lot of cash to be at the mercy of a plug with yet another device.

Lol, the routine thing I first noticed when I saw friends with fitbits having them die mid way through the 3rd day of use after a charge. They said they had to be more conscious of the battery and when to charge.

 

[rizzo41999]

This isn't going to happen. However, if the upgraded 1st gen rumors are true,
it would be pretty cool if they offered a subsidized "upgrade" price for original owners.

 

[thekeyring]

It's the only Apple product that I feel this way about. I get home after wearing it for 12 hours with casual use and notifications all day as well as 45 minute workouts and I still have between 45% and 50%. Some days I have as much as 65% left.

However, I anticipate Watch OS 3 with its new always active 10 apps to negatively impact battery life.

Are they always active? I thought they now had the ability to refresh data in the background (akin to iOS).
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The rumors tend to point towards Apple giving their Watch actual sport capabilities. I welcome this as the lack of good sport tracking was the reason I skipped generation one. I'm already not a regular watch wearer so I needed much more incentive than wrist notifications to sell me on it.

As an aside, my wife has a 38mm and it's not terribly uncommon for her battery to die before the day is through. She does work gen hour days with nearly an hour commute, so that translates to a good twelve hours on her wrist. If she happens to forget to charge the thing overnight, forget about it. It charges far too slowly to make taking a charger in the car worth the hassle. Overall she likes the product but there are definitely some first gen setbacks. I'm definitely excited for what gen 2 brings and am almost certain to get one based on the few rumors we have already heard.

That's interesting, I would have thought that even if you knocked off 3 hours from Apple's predicted 18 hours you get 15, enough to take you from putting the watch on at 6am and taking it off at 9pm.
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I bet it still won't work in the shower. Get it wet and that's the end of the watch...

That's not the case with the current Watch.

 

[BrodieApple]

I've actually been very impressed with my watch's battery. The watch IS something I would like to see thinness improved on over battery, ironically.

I guess this year they're perfecting the design while next year they change it up and make it thinner.

 

[thekeyring]

I think Gen 1 was for Guinea Pigs, Gen 2 might be useful for some, but Gen 3 might be just right. At least for me anyway.

I would agree usually (certainly the first iPhone seemed to be for hard core fans) but I've seen too many people wearing Apple Watch who just aren't interested in tech for the sake of tech like we on this forum are.

 

[SMIDG3T]

A GPS wouldn't require another 35% battery. The only thing that might is a display that's always on. GPS + always-on display = 1st day buy.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Battery life is fine as-is, it's not a chore to put your devices on charge when you take them off (especially the watch). But it may lead to new features/capabilities while keeping the current life, so I am all for it.

 

[MH01]

personally I'd prefer if the watch remained the same size and a 44 option. Not a than of thin watches, they should have some weight and bulk

 

[littyboy]

I wonder if there will be high demand for this watch?

 

[iMi]

Not sure I'll buy another Apple Watch. Lately the whole ecosystem has been faulty. Keychain doesn't work on the iPhone anymore and notifications no longer appear on the watch. Apple doesn't seem able to fix it, despite both devices being hard reset. We shall see...

 

[Urban Joe]

This is like watching the iPhone. I didn't think it was ready until 3GS. That said, it seems like a product that would create stress so I still avoid. Life is better with less clutter. Keeping the iPhones and iPads charged is enough of a daily pain without adding a wrist beeper/tracker into the mix.


PS. Apple is focusing on design and trying to make technology more of a fashion forward/luxury brand proposition...to help get profitably through the technology innovation lag. Also, Apple is no boutique company anymore so they have to solve the issue of scale with each new innovation they integrate.

 

[BrodieApple]

My wife and I have swam (pools, salt water pools, the intracoastal), showered repeatedly, worn in hot-tubs/spas, both of our Apple Watches, and we've been owners since day 1 (her's literally a first delivery from a pre-order, mine 3 weeks later). No issues.

So your saying there's absolutely nothing that's happened and I can use the Watch in the pool? The speaker still works? Digital crown?

 

[DotCom2]

I bet it still won't work in the shower. Get it wet and that's the end of the watch...

That is just not true all all from many I've heard from.

 

[iTom17]

I've actually been very impressed with my watch's battery. The watch IS something I would like to see thinness improved on over battery, ironically.

This.

I actually don't get why there's still people complaining about the battery life of the Apple Watch. It may not last two full days, but generally mine lasts for a full day with still between 50-75% left (and no, I'm not exaggerating here). Especially since watchOS 2.x I've been very impressed with how long it lasts. And watchOS 3 beta did not make it less.

That's why I do agree as well with your other comment: I'd like to see the Apple Watch become thinner without sacrificing battery life. Clearly Apple knows how to make that happen considering they're talking a 35% difference in a new one. They could be able to have the same battery life as with the current model, but in a thinner form factor.

Curious what Apple will really bring us. It'd be a pretty major thing if they could make it happen.

 

[Grolubao]

Call me when the apple watch can hold 1 week of battery like a fitbit

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Still have 30% battery remaining each night even after 2+ hours of working out and tons of notifications and other use. A bigger battery isn't necessary but I won't turn it down either.

 

[s1m]

Interesting reading the comments from people who work out a fair amount - I haven't ha any issues with the battery life but I do not work out like others. Initially when reading the article I was like others who didnt want increased battery and did want a thinner watch. On reflection I am happy with the size of the watch so would take the extra battery if the GPS is going to be a drain.

I am just wondering about the value of the GPS though. Although tracking with the GPS will be useful - it wont integrate with any maps if you aren't connected to your phone. So yes useful to tell you where you were but not useful to tell you where you are. I am really not seeing the value of the GPS.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

I've actually been very impressed with my watch's battery. The watch IS something I would like to see thinness improved on over battery, ironically.

I'm not sure I'd say I'm impressed. It's just what Apple said it'd be. It was sites like this one that caused countless folks to get up in arms before the watch was released because of made up reports that it wouldn't last an entire day. Threads here blew up with people crying like little kids that it wouldn't last the day even though none of those reports turned out to be true and they were nothing but hearsay from garbage sources.

It's a great example why it makes no sense to buy into the rumors that surround Apple releases as they have a HORRID track record and the vast majority turn out to be nothing more than fabricated claims created in order to drive traffic to these sites for ad dollars.

 

[Moonjumper]

Nice to see a bigger battery rather than a smaller device when battery life is such an issue. Apple haven't been making as many good decisions as usual recently (but still more right than most companies), but hopefully they got it right this time.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I've actually been very impressed with my watch's battery. The watch IS something I would like to see thinness improved on over battery, ironically.

That's good news for those of us yet to purchase one. (no iPhone yet, been back and forth)

I was hoping for this new tech but with a slightly wider screen:
better for maps readout
more data displayed
easier for touch input
larger battery utilized (55% larger)

More than this I'd like to see Apple invest into engineering for a NEW battery technology that advances battery capacity and charging speeds. I'm not talking the silicon on-top of the battery or in the cpu, nor advancements of the OS .. I'm talking strickly about batteries!

Apple develops incredible battery technology that LEAP frogs anything in the industry or even in research and development by ALL players. Apple PATENTS THE SHIZ out of it! Apple licenses the technology to:
Samsung
Sony
Tesla - Apple gets the engineers that couldn't cut it at Tesla? Well your cars are no sucking my BATTERIES! How does it taste Tesla, Musk! Enjoy Apple's Brut 33 sauce!
etc.
utilize tech in ultrabooks, phones, tablets, watches, backup storage power for Apple Campus 2, Space Station, public transit, apple care.

 

[satchmo]

You would imagine it will need it with GPS all but confirmed. Looking forward to seeing what they do with it actually.

I might get one this time round.

I have always said the Watch was a product looking for a problem. There never was a NEED but rather a nice to have. Supporters have argued wait for revision 2. The iPhone didn't take off right away.

Well, I'm willing to give it chance but Apple needs to make a compelling case. A killer app and greater battery life will help. But if it doesn't gain traction this time around, we'll know wearables were over-hyped as the next big thing.