Impressive but not all that surprising. It's the only watch able to do what it does based the permissions iOS is able to grant other hardware. Right now nobody could create a watch that links to iOS that had the feature set the apple watch had, except apple. Still, I must give credit where it's due. I honestly didn't expect it to overtake quote so quickly.
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Some will never be happy with battery life. To have the watch be completely independent of the phone, IMHO, will never happen. (OK, maybe never, but not within the next 5-7 years)
GPS, etc, will take, what I would believe a sizable toll on battery life. For my personal use, the watch lives up to my expectations.
It's an accessory at this point. I'm sure it will grow as the iPhone has, but more than likely at a slower pace, once again, due to the current battery restriction. Apple, as always, will make the software more efficient, however that too, will take time. It's a brand new category and we are only within the first version and only the second software upgrade.
I'm one who isn't happy with the battery life but mostly because I see my wife's watch in the 30s after an 8-10 hour day and she is hardly using it for anything other than telling the time. She will end texts I city as well, but chooses to respond 100% on her iPhone. What on earth is draining the battery that fast? I really couldn't say, but from what I read here, results aren't atypical. She doesn't even have apps outside of stock apps.
My friend has the first gen Motorola android watch (the name escapes me right now but that's beside the point) and he can't get through the day. He received dozens of texts and emails throughout the day, and loves the device outside of battery. I bring this up because I'm not picking on Apple here. Most smart watches seems to have this Achilles heel.
Conversely I have a fitbit surge. No. I'm absolutely not calling it a smart watch despite others who do call it that. It can receive (not bot send) texts and notify incoming phone all. The battery lasts seven days on a full charge (if you charge it about ten minutes during your daily shower it's is perpetually full) and five hours on GPS. I think those numbers are more than reasonable (particularly the regular use time). GPS I think is also reasonable for what most would use it for (tracking runs and biking excursions that don't last all day). It does have a monochrome screen, so that's absolutely incomparable to the Apple Watch really. It is somewhat larger, and I guess that's a matter of preference, but I don't find it bothersome.
I guess what I'm saying is I think there may be room for a larger
actually sport oriented device. I think the Apple Watch Sport is more a name for the entry level device than anything anyway. It's simply made of cheaper materials and sounded better than Apple Watch budget edition. It's not more suitable for sports than any of the other Apple watches are. In fact, the screen scratches easier so one might argue it being less suitable.
I've seen some intriguing additional battery straps coming to market that claim to double the life of the watch while not feeling much more bulky or heavier. I think that's also a direction that Apple could go to explore a bigger battery. At the end of the day, $350 for the entry level device that might not even get me through a day of use just isn't appealing. I can see how it be popular and attractive for some with different needs/wants/lifestyles as me.