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A Positive note on Battey life

S

stocklen

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2013
994
2,029
Just wanted to share my early experience with battery life.

One of the main worries I had originally was short battery life - having been a pebble owner and used to a weeks worth at least.

Anyway, my 42mm Space Grey Sport arrived yesterday and with a lot of fiddling around by the end of the day it was still about 20% left - it arrived mid-afternoon with about 75% charge.

I am impressed by 2 things. Firstly the time it took to recharge was very fast - I plugged it into the charger about an hour before I went to bed and when I checked it before going to bed it was 100% - so fully charged in about an hour.

Secondly, It is 9.25am at time of writing. I was up at 7am - during which time I have used the watch a bit (not loads) but sent 2 texts using siri dictation and checked glances and noticed overnight a new app automatically installed (bbc news).... the battery is still on 100%.

From one perspective I find it hard to believe that it is still 100% after 2 1/2 hours 'normal' usage (is it faulty!?? :) ) but its looking very good so far. I appreciate that when used for workouts etc the battery will drain but I just wanted to post my observation that its lasting very well so far albeit under relatively light usage...
 
I haven't had as good an experience with my 38mm, which has taken over two hours to charge from 4%. Maybe I let it run down too far?

I have definitely experienced the 100% battery after decent usage issue with my iPhone 6+, though, so I doubt there's anything faulty about your Watch. :)
 
I'm also really impressed with battery on this. I was always convinced the battery wouldn't be an issue. Mine is at 100% brightness and it came yesterday at 8:30 AM on 75% battery. By the end of a 13+ hour heavy use day, it was down to 13%. It's insane!
 
Another update for those who are interested....

I went out today and through the course of the morning I used maps for turn by turn directions for a short 10 minute journey. I received about 20 texts and email notifications and read them all. I also made a short phone call using the watch to demonstrate to a friend.

It is now just after 3pm, and the watch is on 80%. Thats 20% used in about 8 hours. Pretty encouraging and pleasantly surprising so far.

Ill update once more in the evening to see how its lasted.

Im just pointing this for those who, like me before I purchased, are concerned that the battery would struggle to get thorough a normal day. Its fine. I think Apple have done a great job in managing peoples expectations here - it seems to over-achieve so far.
 
Mine has been really good! Using it really heavily for about 12 hours and it's still at 30%. Pretty impressed.
 
I'm surprised with the battery life as well. I like how Apple is taking this new 'low balling' but 'high performance in real life' strategy to the Apple Watch. Hopefully this isn't one of the cases where the battery life is great for the first few days but runs hell for the coming weeks (iPhone 6, anyone?)

My current usage is 4 hours, 13 minutes with standby time if 11 hours, 56 minutes (includes about 40+min of workout session, mail/message checking, playing around with the apps, etc) and still holds 42 minutes. Its great that it lasted this long.
 
I've now worn my watch for 10 1/2 hours and the battery is still at 57%. This includes using it a lot to tell the time and tons of notifications, using Siri etc.

It's going to outlast my iPhone 6 plus, I think #

Well done, Apple! ⌚️⌚️⌚️
 
My penultimate update for the thread...

So its now nearly 6pm - just over 3 hours since my last check - but I have just completed a 45 minute workout. This has made the biggest 'dent' on the battery so far - it is now sitting at 61%.

I still think thats very good - 61% at 6pm... thats 11 hours and still above 60% left.

Im not surprised that the workout session used a fair bit as it seemed to be taking a constant heart rate reading.

.. will see how much is left before bed tonight.
 
Final update.

Its 10.25pm - relatively light usage over the evening although I used the remote app to control my AppleTV.

A few more notifications over the evening.

End of day.. battery is 45%.

So, pretty impressed with that. given that any new toy will be played with a lot over the first few days. Theres no doubt that at the moment the 'all day battery life' is comfortably true.
 
Ok not sure yet on battery life. I am now up to 11.5 hours of usage and battery is at 48% left ... Great. But, it seemed to consume a lot during first 5 hours and has slowed down last couple of ones. I was using it more during those 5 hrs so i will have to test to see if this means I have to manage usage within a day. But at 11.5 hrs and 48% left I should make it to the 18 hrs
 
So I may be a bit of a power user as I'm not seeing quite the results you guys are. I also partially attribute that to this being a new toy.

Judging by the performance from today the battery will last me about 17.5 hours. I do expect this to go up as the newness of the device wears off. I received it at 85% yesterday and had to put it on the charger before the day was up. Today after about 7 hours total it's at 60% (which is how I came up with 17.5 hours). But again, I've used this thing heavily and expect this to slow down.
 
I had 100% yesterday morning at 9am, fell asleep last night wearing it - have been using most functions over this period - heartbeat / drawings / notifications / Siri / HR monitor checks - now 8:30am the next day and I'm still on 26%! Awesome!

Interesting to see heart rate data via health app during sleep - I'm averaging 46 (1:30am this morning) to generally around 67bpm - those 5 days a week exercising for the past 12 months are paying off! Great motivation.
 
The battery is much better than I thought. I've been using it sine 9 this morning. Its now 11.30 pm and I have 43% left.

I was really worried about it but its actually quite good.
 
Overall Apple handles battery life well in my opinion. I'm tracking my watches battery performance but have no intention of judging until it's been one full week. They're too many variables in day to day use.
 
Ok update after my first post 1/2 hr ago . 12 hrs now and in the 1/2 hr usage went from 48% down to 33% big big drop. I had my first call on the watch ... Did not hand off had 15 min call on watch alone ... The good what a totally convenient way to take a call. Sound is great. Bad of course is using the phone function seems to be a power hog. Good to know. We will see how it goes until I hit end of the battery life today.
 
BD1 said:
What brightness level do you have your set on?
Click to expand...

Halfway. I used the watch excessively. I charged it to 100% around 13:00, ran some errands, then went to work all night. I walked 7 or so miles at work and played the game "Lifeline" off and on.

When I went to bed around 8:00 the battery was at 5%. I don't think that is terribly bad. I was worried when I forgot my charger at home before I went to work and then I was surprised when it made it through my entire 12 hour shift and then home.

I have the 42mm version. Really impressed with battery efficiency.
 
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