Apple Watch Battery to Support Five Hours of Heavy Usage, Will Last All Day With Mixed Use

[GuitarDTO]

So now people that want to use their watch for more than 5 hours a day have no life?

Wow, the excuses people come up with here for substandard battery life is amazing. Anything for Apple.

I am not a blind defender of all things Apple. But in a 16 hour day of being awake, if you spend 5 of them fiddling with your Apple watch you have bigger concerns than the battery life.....it won't be "substandard" for any normal human being with the slightest hint of a normal life.

 

[dampfnudel]

If the 5 hours of heavy use rumor pans out, it would be a decent start for the Apple Watch. I was thinking of waiting for the 2nd gen. Apple Watch, but if the battery life is decent, I'll get one by the summer. Maybe I'll get a iPad mini 4 and/or retina MBA as well in addition to upgrading to a iPhone 6s later in the year. I can hear my wallet groaning.

 

[alexkywalker]

Better buy two

Well, for 5 hours of use, we might have to get 2... think of the possibilities:

1. WATCH + WATCH SPORT
2. WATCH 38mm + WATCH 42mm
3. WATCH + WATCH EDITION
4. WATCH SPORT + WATCH EDITION
5. ...
6. <iModel> <iSize> + <iModel> <iSize>

 

[rjlawrencejr]

Alright, look everyone.

I'm a fan of most Apple products. I own an iPhone 6 and a MacBook Pro and am very happy with both devices.

But I honestly cannot comprehend spending $350 on a device that only allows 5 hours of heavy usage per day without a recharge. Even if that figure eventually gets better with daily usage, and a few weeks of charging and discharging, as batteries tend to do, it still doesn't look like it will get me through a full day.

And say what you will about people who choose to use their devices more often than others, but as a tech professional, I'm constantly getting text messages and emails. I'd have to say that in the course of a 10 hour work day, I could easily spend 5 hours total using my watch in a heavy usage manner.

That doesn't mean I have no life, or that there's something wrong with me. It just means I'm a busy guy, and I'm probably the kind of person who would use the watch a lot and deplete the battery.

I get that Apple is going for a premium smartwatch with a great screen and all these features, but if I have to keep worrying about being close to a charger all the time, it's not going to be worth it for me personally, and I'll probably wait for the second gen of Apple watches.

Don't forget, this isn't replacing your phone, it is a companion device. I'm quite confident for heavier interactions you'll defer to that iphone 6 in your pocket or briefcase.

 

[kas23]

thats not 5 hours of battery life.

thats 5 hours of heavy onscreen usage. not typical everyday usage.

Seriously, who's going to be fiddling with their watch for 5 straight hours? What could you possibly be doing on a wrist watch for 5 hours that would constitute "heavy usage", watching a movie? I won't be buying one, but people need to get a grip.

 

[ZCT]

Heavy

This seems okay to me.

I imagine using this device to tell the time, seeing if any important messages are coming my way.

I can't imagine in what universe someone would have the time to engage in 5 hours of 'heavy usage.'

To me it makes sense that the device collects data, alerts me to limited things. But if I need to do anything real that would happen on the phone, tablet or computer.

So I guess it comes down to what constitutes heavy usage. If it can last the day without dying, I'm okay with that. I got to plug my laptop, phone and tablet in anyway. What's one more device?

We all know the obvious reality that batteries just are not that great at this time. Hopefully eventually science will make a breakthrough on that.

 

[technosix]

I think it's as easy as identifying battery life of one's watch, then compensating by checking time and notifications right from ones iPhone. Until these are out under real world conditions, there's only so much that can be done in the lab. In many cases simply being an Apple product will be enough for some buyers.

 

[WaxedJacket]

Fine, but just give us good wireless charging tech Apple before you release a product that gets 5 hours of battery life with heavy use.

 

[Artofilm]

For anyone asking what you'd do with 5 hours on a watch. I plan to use an Apple Watch to track my bike rides, which sometimes can go up to about 4 hours. It would be nice if the watch didn't die on me in that time.

I would call that heavy usage. It would be checked pretty regularily throughout the bike ride and GPS would be used as well.

I'm hoping the Apple Watch can handle something like that, I would like to get one.

 

[ZCT]

Alright, look everyone.

I'm a fan of most Apple products. I own an iPhone 6 and a MacBook Pro and am very happy with both devices.

But I honestly cannot comprehend spending $350 on a device that only allows 5 hours of heavy usage per day without a recharge. Even if that figure eventually gets better with daily usage, and a few weeks of charging and discharging, as batteries tend to do, it still doesn't look like it will get me through a full day.

And say what you will about people who choose to use their devices more often than others, but as a tech professional, I'm constantly getting text messages and emails. I'd have to say that in the course of a 10 hour work day, I could easily spend 5 hours total using my watch in a heavy usage manner.

That doesn't mean I have no life, or that there's something wrong with me. It just means I'm a busy guy, and I'm probably the kind of person who would use the watch a lot and deplete the battery.

I get that Apple is going for a premium smartwatch with a great screen and all these features, but if I have to keep worrying about being close to a charger all the time, it's not going to be worth it for me personally, and I'll probably wait for the second gen of Apple watches.

But I don't think that the device is for that. Look at how they sold it to us at the last keynote. They talk about features like 'glances.' Conveniently having information right there in front of you. Plus helping you with health goals.

Anything you need to spend more than 30 seconds doing, should be done on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

So if you imagine that you look at the time for 10 seconds for times every hour, and use the device 20 times for 30 seconds every hour. That's still less than three hours of 'heavy' usage based on a 16 hour day.

You really believe that you're going to need to use it that often?

And $349 isn't a lot of money for a watch with this much tech in it. Any decent regular watch would cost far more than that.

I'm trying not to be an Apple fanboy here, but really, I don't get what people like you were expecting it to do? Cost $99 and last for a week? What in Apple's history would lead you to expect that?

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5 hours ? I recently got a fitbit charge hr that lasts 5 days between charges and constantly monitors heart rate using leds. Not changing for something 3 times the price and a tenth the battery life

My mechanical watch tells me the date and time. And provided I wear it, it will tell relatively accurate time for about 10 years before it needs a service.

But my watch is not an Apple Watch, and your Fitbit is not an Apple Watch.

You seem to be comparing Oranges to Turnips.

----------

Oh the struggle.

Yeah. I think that falls under the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems

 

[Michael Scrip]

For anyone asking what you'd do with 5 hours on a watch. I plan to use an Apple Watch to track my bike rides, which sometimes can go up to about 4 hours. It would be nice if the watch didn't die on me in that time.

I would call that heavy usage. It would be checked pretty regularily throughout the bike ride and GPS would be used as well.

I'm hoping the Apple Watch can handle something like that, I would like to get one.

The GPS is on your iPhone which has a much larger battery than the watch.

And even if you check the Apple Watch regularly... that still doesn't translate into 4 hours of screen-on time. (I would imagine the screen uses up most of the battery)

But I guess we'll have to wait for reviews next month.

 

[ZCT]

I think anyone who believes charging your watch daily is acceptable must be delusional. Get back to me when the Apple Watch lasts at least 3+ days with moderate use.

You're acting like Apple are being evil for not bending the laws of physics.

A watch can only be a certain size if people are to wear it. And modern rechargeable batteries only have a finite amount of charge they can hold.

So Apple would have to find a new battery type that doesn't exist, or reduce the functionality or quality of display to drain less power.

Frankly though it seems unnecessary to get angry about the specs when we've not even had a chance to use it yet.

 

[greytmom]

there are many reasons why you would want a watch to have multi-day or longer power reserves, above and beyond a smartphone. (though, we'd love those to be longer powered too).


its hard to explain in less than a thousand words, but if you don't wear a watch, it might be hard to conceptualize.

a post i made elsewhere:



this is just one situation where having less than a day battery life would suck. there are many others, including people stuck in airports, travelling, going out to the woods.

not necessarily places you need, or expect a phone to constantly be on and working, but you might want or need to at least be able to tell the time.

I think if I lived somewhere that experienced power outages on a regular basis, I'd have an alarm clock that didn't depend on electricity.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I am not a blind defender of all things Apple. But in a 16 hour day of being awake, if you spend 5 of them fiddling with your Apple watch you have bigger concerns than the battery life.....it won't be "substandard" for any normal human being with the slightest hint of a normal life.

It will be interesting to see how many will be complaining about only 5 hours of use. I'm willing to bet there will be some here.

 

[tresmith]

Then why is Apple advertising all of these other apps that will be available for the Apple Watch, if its only supposed to be used for quick bites of info?

This makes no sense. Why not just get a Pebble that will last you a week on a charge?

even with all those apps on the smart watch, it's not meant for you to do a whole lot of real/heavy work. why would you do anything remotely intensive on the watch when your smart phone (which you have to have on you anyways for the watch to work) is so much more productive.

what the watch will do is allow you to better sift through all the information that you receive through out the course of the day. you can quickly check what's coming into your phone and pick and choose what you want to address. if something important comes through you can then go to your phone and take care of it. if you get a spam email or spam text you can ignore it. keeping you from having to take out your phone so often and wasting time.

by far, notification is going to be the watches most important function. no one is going to be taken phone calls and typing out emails, etc. that's a tech fantasy that will probably never be a reality. lol

I predict that unless you're really into the health features, the watch is going to be most useful to the most busy of people. most other people will see at it as a really cool but expensive accessory.

 

[mateytate]

BTW, thank you early adopters for beta-testing the first version of Watch for us, so we can buy improved second version next year.

No problem, I'll just buy another one next year and eBay the first gen, or give it to my son, he has all my old stuff.

 

[greytmom]

I wonder if people realise how little we really use our devices in a 'heavy use' mode. For instance I just looked at my iPhone 6+ and in 24 hours since last charge have only racked up 3 hours of use. For a watch with a small screen what, exactly, are folks going to do that'll chew through 5 hours of screen time?

Thank you, voice of reason. It's after 9pm and I am at 3 hours, 38 minutes on my phone.

 

[Artofilm]

The GPS is on your iPhone which has a much larger battery than the watch.

And even if you check the Apple Watch regularly... that still doesn't translate into 4 hours of screen-on time. (I would imagine the screen uses up most of the battery)

But I guess we'll have to wait for reviews next month.

Ya that's what I would hope for. I got a 6 Plus for the huge battery to handle long GPS use.
Although it would have been nice to keep the screen on for an entire ride to get instant stats. It's not a huge deal

 

[OneMike]

Something I haven't seen anyone talk about is the charger. Of course we don't have details but many week want more then one. Likely another $40 there alone

 

[Michael Scrip]

Ya that's what I would hope for. I got a 6 Plus for the huge battery to handle long GPS use.

Although it would have been nice to keep the screen on for an entire ride to get instant stats. It's not a huge deal

How often do you check your stats?

A quick glance every 30 seconds? Every minute?

Whatever it is... I would guess you spend more time not looking at it. I hope so anyway.

You don't wanna run anyone over

 

[Che Castro]

For anyone asking what you'd do with 5 hours on a watch. I plan to use an Apple Watch to track my bike rides, which sometimes can go up to about 4 hours. It would be nice if the watch didn't die on me in that time.

I would call that heavy usage. It would be checked pretty regularily throughout the bike ride and GPS would be used as well.

I'm hoping the Apple Watch can handle something like that, I would like to get one.

When they say heavy usage it means the screen being on
For tracking your bike ride I would imagine the screen will be off for that ?

 

[Artofilm]

When they say heavy usage it means the screen being on
For tracking your bike ride I would imagine the screen will be off for that ?

I would have preferred to have the screen on the entire time to get up to the second stats like the gps bike computers from garmin, cateye, polar, but it's not an absolute requirement. Easy enough to turn my wrist to see the stats.

Hopefully that's how it can work. It would suck to have to "unlock" the watch every time I want to see stats.

 

[diegogaja]

How much do you use your current watch daily? Personally, I glance at my watch for about 2 seconds maybe 100 times a day. That's literally 3.33 miutes of use a day. Lets throw in Ntofications. Assuming we glance at half but don't respond (emails or reminders which takes about 5 seconds. That's under 5 minutes of usage. Lets say the other 50 are messages and we respond...about 15 seconds? That's well under 25 minutes of usage. All in all, that comes to about 25 minutes of usage a day. Triple or quadruple that amount for the people sho think they are important, and you still got under 2 hours of ussage...for a watch that can handle 5 hours of heavy usage.

Apple never inteded for anyone to sit and stare at the damn thing every second of every hour. It's designed for quick momentary interactions rather than extended experiences like a smartphone or and ipad. notification>response. bam. done. not like how you interact with a smartphone or other mobile device.

Your attemp to spin this as anything but that just makes you seem dramatic.

Hey, Apple is the one telling us how awesome the device will be to use with all of the applications that will be available for it. They demonstrated a device with tons of apps.

So now you're saying Apple doesn't want us using the watch as intended?

Justify it all you want, 5 hours of heavy usage is not good. Especially with other options out there that will easily last the whole day with heavy usage.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

I'm not surprised. it took Apple until the iPhone 6 Plus to upgrade the battery to a decent 2,915 mAh which still is horrible compared to the 3,200mAh on the Galaxy Note 4 and 3,000mAh on LG G3...etc. Android wear smartwatches come with 300-400 mAh and last up to 2-3 days depending on usage. My ASUS Zenwatch lasts 3 days. My Michael Bastian Cronowing smartwatch lasts up a week and a half long of battery life. 5 hours of battery life on heavy usage is what 80% of users will using. With the newly announced LG Watch Urbane with 300 mAh and Huawei Watch with 400 mAh, they will truly outshine Apple watch as Android smartphones have performed circles on iPhones since 2010 and will continue to do so unless Apple wakes up and actually innovates.

This.

This is why I keep coming here; posts like this just make me laugh! "Outshine"... "Performed circles"... "Actually innovates". One wonders if Apple could even find its collective rear with 2 hands behind its back. Oh silly Apple with your silly half-rate tech trinkets. When are you going to wake up and start taking innovation seriously, like Samsung, LG, Asus.... RIM even?

 

[Keirasplace]

For anyone asking what you'd do with 5 hours on a watch. I plan to use an Apple Watch to track my bike rides, which sometimes can go up to about 4 hours. It would be nice if the watch didn't die on me in that time.

I would call that heavy usage. It would be checked pretty regularily throughout the bike ride and GPS would be used as well.

I'm hoping the Apple Watch can handle something like that, I would like to get one.

Unless you watching the screen all the time with GPS mapping on it (if the phone is in you bag), it will last your whole bike ride easily (glancing once in a while). Usually when I ride fast, my wrists are not routinely facing up.

I think it is probably possible to get an app to control the screen and not shut down. But, then you'll have to recharge the watch after the ride.

Your health info is still collected even when you're not looking at it and that doesn't really count as heavy use.

----------

Maybe my previous experience with a smart watch, Pebble Steel, has my expectations in the right place, but I didn't intend to use it for more than notifications. I do think Apple has greater goals for the watch, but they have also informed the devs that their apps should be used for glancing.

If someone tweets me and my Apple watch allows me to favorite or retweet it, that process wouldn't take me any more than 10 seconds. I have been informed and I was the informant in that scenario, and it only took me .055% of battery to do so. I can do 1799 more 10 second actions before it dies (if the rumors are true)

They informed them of that, pre-launch. Because dev didn't have access to the real watch; important to determine actual power usage. Apple doesn't want apps to kill the watch and then they get blamed. They need a perfect launch with very efficient apps.