Apple Watch Battery Life Currently 'About a Day', but May Improve for 2015 Launch

[rdlink]

It's a cool tech device, looks nice. Bravo to the engineering and design teams and everyone involved that brought this to life.

But it's still not my cup of tea, I may purchase one in the far future but I probably won't be wearing one in the coming years.

I think your statement brings home a very big point. This device, while showing potential to be a game changer someday is probably just a "hobby" item for now. Hurdles for widespread adoption in this generation seem very high.

I have an iPhone, and it will be able to do most of what I would be able to do with the watch, and then some. The things my phone doesn't do, that the watch does are pretty niche, at least for now. I have a watch that I like a lot. It has a sapphire crystal, beautiful styling and is pretty much maintenance free. I don't have to think about it, and it generally just works.

My phone already gets put into the charger every night, and my current watch gets put on the dresser when I get home from work. I don't want to be without my watch because I forgot to charge it the night before, or have to remember to charge it every night.

I'm not saying I wouldn't buy this, but I would need to see it in person, and try it out in the store before I did. And there is at least a decent chance that even if I bought it I might return it.

 

[raindog308]

Think about the potential of that technology. Monitoring the elderly. Monitoring a baby. Eventually becoming a sleep monitor. Just because that one advertised use may seem cheesy to you doesn't mean the technology itself is cheesy.

No, I stand by the cheesiness because that's how Apple presented it.

- as a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife sort of "awww, we're in touch" sort of thing

- apparently, also when you want to ask your colleague where he'd like to go for lunch, sharing your heartbeat can be part of the experience

Monitoring heartbeat and transmitting has been around since the 1970s. Apple is just going for the "awww" factor and it's, well, cheesy.

 

[paulsdenton]

I'll stick with my Omega.

I'll miss my Rolex.

 

[Alith]

It's an always-on bluetooth accessory for your phone with a backlit retina display. I think 24 hours is pretty reasonable considering the battery size. I'm sure it will get lighter, thinner and have more efficient components over the years.

Either the watch has a very long battery life, like a week, or it has 24 hours. Anything in between and people are still going to charge it whilst they sleep, as part of their daily routine, so it will always start the day with 100% charge, the same as everyone's phones. I don't see the problem/drama.

 

[coolfactor]

Had my MOTOACTV for a few YEARS now. LOVE IT. GPS, MP3 Player, Social Media calendars (Wifi only), bluetooth, HRM etc. The only thing it doesn't have is a phone and a camera.
How did Apple not set themselves apart? Am I going to carry a brick on my 12k run.... UMMMM NO! hahaha

https://motoactv.com/

Bear in mind, this is Apple's first foray into wearables, and they've done an amazing job balancing industrial design with software features with usability. Future watches will get better. Are you expecting them to outdo every single competitor in every single way? That would be unrealistic. Your comparison is poor with that logic in mind.

 

[flat five]

If you think about it, the whole idea of a wristwatch that needs to be recharged daily is complete and utter madness. Fortunately for Apple, we won't think. Take my money please!

i think the idea may be that this is a wristwatch as much as an iphone is a phone..

i'm not saying short battery life isn't an issue with devices.. just saying that if apple were to make a 'wristwatch' in the sense you're talking about, i'm pretty sure the battery would last for months per charge.

 

[newdeal]

if it only lasted a few days people would charge it every day anyway so they didn't forget to do it every third day. Its a non issue. The real issue is that its going to be hard to convince people to buy a gold version at $1199 or however much it costs every single year to upgrade to the next best watch before they just get tired of it. No carrier subsidies to help fool people into thinking the price is cheaper than it really is.

Also it was pretty clear that there was a mic symbol beside the friends so you can send voice messages with the phone over iMessage which is likely the best feature of the watch in regards to communications and they never talked about it at all (likely because the software is extremely early which is also why only Apple employees were demoing them and they weren't allowing others to do anything other than wear it)

 

[billystlyes]

You would think being that fat it would have a month's worth of battery life.

 

[2010mini]

Some of the expectations here of a device that small and is constantly running software is ridiculous.

Battery tech is just not there yet folks.

 

[littyboy]

Do you guys know if we have to have our iphones on us for tracking let's say on a run or biking? The keynote kept saying it has to sync with the iphone in order for the watch to work but not sure if the watch itself has a standalone GPS function.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Miniaturized radioisotope generators (atomic batteries) are the answer.

I think they should start to train microbes or bacteria to pedal little stationary bikes and activate little generators.

Or, make the crown rechargeable fuel cells. Take a few with you on the road while others are charging at home.
Battery empty , pop in another fuel cell.

Thinking differently.

 

[bbeagle]

If you're camping, have a thermal or solar charger with you. How would you be charging your phone or tablet in such situations? Or maybe you leave those behind and just want to take the watch?

My iPhone will last a weekend. I'm not using my iPhone every waking second when I'm out camping - I'll check it occasionally, text a few times and read a few emails.....

But a watch would be used constantly to check the time... so I don't know if it would last or not.

 

[6836838]

Heck, MobileMe happened on Jobs' watch.

Seriously though, "about a day" needs to mean "even if you use the crap out of it, a charge will last a day, minimum". You can't have a goddamn watch that goes beddy-bye at, like, 6 PM because you happened to use it a little too liberally in the morning.

As did iTunes Ping

 

[bbeagle]

If you are camping, there are things you can get to charge your phones/watches, etc.

Maybe that might be necessary with an Apple Watch.

 

[coolfactor]

No, I stand by the cheesiness because that's how Apple presented it.

I don't disagree with you.

A parallel for me is this - I've never really seen Apple as purely a marketing master, but this latest presentation changed my perspective on that. There was nothing available TODAY. It was orchestrated solely to build media presence. Kinda tarnishes my respect for Apple a bit. And that live stream... ugh! Could they have messed it up any worse?

 

[azentropy]

Yeah, not a watch fan anyway. But even if I was ~1 day battery life seems way to constrictive. Bad enough when I take day or weekend trips that to have to bring a phone charger but to have to bring a watch charger too??

 

[Keirasplace]

The battery life of the watch is kind of irrelevant no? Since it only really works with the iPhone so once your iPhone battery dies which will be long before the watch does, your watch will be relatively useless and also your wallet because useless since you won't be able to pay for anything unless your carry your cards with you. Meaning it will never really be a replacement for carrying your wallet as the website suggests.

So it doesn't really matter if it's a full work day or 24 hours unless you have a backup battery for your iPhone which the average user does not. Each year the only feature I want more than anything is a battery increase. Yes the batterys are getting better but they add bigger screens so the net increase is close to nothing.

Also Apple has talked about all the sleep app integrations but if you have to take it off to charge it every night, how will it ever monitor your sleeping habits?

Also you need touch id to pay with your phone but since there is no touch id on the watch how do you pay with your watch? Do you have to take out your phone and press your thumb? Wouldnt that defeat the purpose of using your watch. Or if you don't have to use touch id with your watch, isn't defeating the purpose of the extra touted security of touch id?

Not quite sure people think the watch can't do much without the phone, it can still run non network apps (calendar, games, etc.), including those that collect data from its sensors and shows you this data; all this data can then be synced automatically when the iphone comes in range.

It can also play music, take audio notes, look at photos, probably video (though not advisable for battery life). I wouldn't be surprised if eventually it connect through blue tooth to its own set of independent devices from third parties and of course the Ipads, Apple TV, Airport, Beats headphone without any assisstance from the Iphone.

One thing people don'T seem to realize is how short it would take to recharge such a small battery; I'd estimate 10-12 minutes max.

 

[spinedoc77]

I'll miss my Rolex.

You are not allowed to say MY Rolex on this forum, lol.

 

[6836838]

They will probably do both. Remember, this has a custom SoC. Apple will probably optimize version 2 of the processor for maximum efficiency.

I think you'll find it's the screen being the primary energy sucker.

 

[gbc204]

Think about the potential of that technology. Monitoring the elderly. Monitoring a baby. Eventually becoming a sleep monitor. Just because that one advertised use may seem cheesy to you doesn't mean the technology itself is cheesy.

Agreed. I think this has great potential, especially with the eldery/infirm. An app that sends an alert when someone's heartbeat dips below or excedes a specific BPM would be great. I also have an alcoholic friend who disappears from time to time, so this would a great way to monitor her health/alive-ness. Hell, I'D wear it and have it send an alert to my wife. Why not?

 

[gugy]

The battery issue I can live with but:

Not being waterproof and the need to have an iPhone it kills for me the idea to have one for now.
I am a swimmer and runner and I can't use it on water and it seems I have to carry the iPhone for a run. That's crazy.
I'll guess this will eventually be correct on V.2 or V.3.

 

[Alith]

Had my MOTOACTV for a few YEARS now. LOVE IT. GPS, MP3 Player, Social Media calendars (Wifi only), bluetooth, HRM etc. The only thing it doesn't have is a phone and a camera.
How did Apple not set themselves apart? Am I going to carry a brick on my 12k run.... UMMMM NO! hahaha

https://motoactv.com/

Why would it brick within an hour? We have no idea how long the usage time is on the HRM and accelerometer. GPS watches generally have poor battery life because of the GPS, which is in the phone.

 

[Keirasplace]

if it only lasted a few days people would charge it every day anyway so they didn't forget to do it every third day. Its a non issue. The real issue is that its going to be hard to convince people to buy a gold version at $1199 or however much it costs every single year to upgrade to the next best watch before they just get tired of it. No carrier subsidies to help fool people into thinking the price is cheaper than it really is.

Also it was pretty clear that there was a mic symbol beside the friends so you can send voice messages with the phone over iMessage which is likely the best feature of the watch in regards to communications and they never talked about it at all (likely because the software is extremely early which is also why only Apple employees were demoing them and they weren't allowing others to do anything other than wear it)

Someone who is spending $900 dollars on a tech gadget is not worrying too muchc about the upgrade costs. You're probably not the target for those watches . But, even tough, they'd be obselete after 2 years, they'd still look good and be usefull for probably 4-5 years. Not bad as gadget go.

 

[avonord]

I think expectations of battery life beyond a day with technology at its current stage is unreasonable. battery in the strap? really, think how think the strap would become, be realistic.

Charging it each night I don't see a problem with. I do that with my phone already, and I take my watch off each night too and place it beside the phone ... so its hardly a great chore to place it on a magsafe style charger beside the phone.

In fact, the clever solution should have been to have the iPhone use a similar charging method, so you can place them both beside each other.

I largely agree, except that the iPhone's lightning cable is used for data as well as charging. Having the MagSafe charging port on the iPhone is bit redundant...

Unless you want to remove the lightning cable from the iPhone altogether; which, I think, will not happen for another 3 years at the very least.

 

[Verita]

Battery life is not the biggest problem with the Apple Watch.

The biggest issue I see is that, for most functions, it must be tethered to your iPhone to work. Whats the point of being able to use Maps, Messages, etc when you could just pull your phone out of your pocket and get a better experience on a bigger screen? It has no GPS chip so you can't even use it to track your hiking/running route like most GPS watches.

Clearly, it's been designed with untethered use in mind. But current GPS chips and cellular radios couldn't fit in to the Watch without unacceptable battery drain.

Buying this version of the Apple Watch will be a bit like buying the first generation iPad: There's some cool technology there, and a lot of potential - but you know that in a year or so there'll be a second generation that's thinner, has better battery life, and has built-in cellular data and GPS.

The reality is first adopters are subsidizing new technology, and the second or third generation coming out with better technology and lower costs. That's how it is for every company in every market.

Many people bought the first iPad and thought it was worth the investment. I didn't, Because it was truly a consumption device in its first year or two. I bought the first iPhone and loved it, but a phone will always be a higher priority investment for those in business.

Value proposition with the watch-as opposed to something like an early iPad where you basically play games, watch movies, and surf the web-is the fitness tracking and potential health improvements. There's a well-known saying that you don't improve what you don't measure. I'm looking at it in that light, and it's probably worth the investment. I'm already an athlete, so it's more scratching my quantified self itch, but I'm sure many will lead better lives because of this device.