Apple Watch's Rumored Low Power Mode 'Still in Development' for watchOS 9

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Because a low power mode isn’t an advanced feature? When people bought their watches, the batteries weren’t degraded and would last longer. There’s nothing wrong with hoping they could get the SAME performance from it. In my book, low power mode should not be a shiny new headline feature.

I agree. But Apple has made less important features exclusive to the latest AW:

The S7 exclusive swipe keyboard is a prime example of this: Apple somehow suggested it wouldn’t fit on the smaller dsipla or the older models. But that’s simply incorrect as the 44mm S4-S5-S6 are all larger than the new 41mm S7. And the SoC in S6 and S7 are identical.

I’m putting my money on low-power mode being exclusive to S8. Especially if we get another repeat of the S6 SoC as rumors have suggested.

S7 proved Apple could keep sales high despite minimal (or no?) actual upgrades to hardware. It will do so again for S8, either through strategic software feature gate-keeping or actual new hardware.

 

[Eso]

Maybe that’s all it’s good at for you, but mine is an extension of myself.

This low power mode is exciting news and I could not care less about roundness.

I love upgrading yearly

Apple goes out of their way to engineer the hardware to work with the software. And let’s be honest, if you want Low Power Mode, pay for it?

Or did you buy an already old Series for cheap, were happy with your discount, and are still complaining

As a Stainless Series 7 user, as long as the Series 8 has a better screen, or better battery, it’s an automatic upgrade.

I'm right there with you - these poor people just don't "get" it. My original $15,000 Apple Watch Edition™ in 18K gold is still kicking. It's extremely slow these days and the battery dies after 6 hours. I'm not complaining though. I just buy the latest one every year and wear it on the other wrist. That way I get both a truly timeless design and the latest functionality.

 

[DHagan4755]

One of Apple’s top priorities is to create product designs that have broad appeal across consumer demographics

No, Apple's priority is to themselves first; to make products they themselves want. Everything flows from that. A broad appeal amongst customers would be to include a touch screen on MacBooks since the majority of its competitors have touch screens on their notebooks. Apple doesn't think it would be a good experience so they don't want it. When everyone was clamoring for Apple to make larger iPhones, Apple was sluggish to do so, remember? We couldn't have an iPad mini because Steve thought people would need to sharpen their finger to use it. Now look where we are. Apple finds ways to make stuff happen. Thus a round Apple Watch is completely appropriate expectation. They'll announce a round Apple Watch & include new SwiftUI guides for developers.

The square design of the Apple Watch came from Jony Ive. He insisted it was the best way to go to display information.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Apple doesn’t do designs that consumers might confuse with ones from other big brands.

Apple Watch will never be round. That’s what the competitors are doing. Never happening.

 

[Vjosullivan]

My S7 has "always display on" turned off since new. Most days have 50% power or more remaining. And that is with getting 18-20 hours of stand time and maybe one or two calls bounced to the watch. Even my S6 had whole day battery.

There is really not a battery issue in my normal use.

I'd say that there is a significant battery issue, if you have to have the screen permanently off and use it minimally to get near the advertised battery life.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

No, Apple's priority is to themselves first; to make products they themselves want. Everything flows from that. A broad appeal amongst customers would be to include a touch screen on MacBooks since the majority of its competitors have touch screens on their notebooks. Apple doesn't think it would be a good experience so they don't want it. When everyone was clamoring for Apple to make larger iPhones, Apple was sluggish to do so, remember? We couldn't have an iPad mini because Steve thought people would need to sharpen their finger to use it. Now look where we are. Apple finds ways to make stuff happen. Thus a round Apple Watch is completely appropriate expectation. They'll announce a round Apple Watch & include new SwiftUI guides for developers.

The square design of the Apple Watch came from Jony Ive. He insisted it was the best way to go to display information.

”They themselves want”? So all Apple employees want to ditch their non-M1 iPads, that’s why they’re gate keeping Stage Manager from non-M1 models? There’s some employee(s) who don’t want it?

Please!

Apple makes all its decisions for maximum profits, that’s where everything flows from.

All the competition is doing round smart watches and for that reason alone AW will never go round.

You don’t enter a market with a product that’s aesthetically indistinguishable from competing products.

Google’s next Pixel Watch is literally AW gone round. After it launches there’s 0% of AW going down the same path.

 

[flofixer]

Apple doesn’t do designs that consumers might confuse with ones from other big brands.

Apple Watch will never be round. That’s what the competitors are doing. Never happening.

If they can sell more watches by selling both a round and square option, they might do it.

 

[NT1440]

I know. Apple is a very creative company. Surely they could find a way. If they're working on various dashboards for Apple CarPlay, which pose a # of challenges, they could make a round watch dammit.

Have you considered…they don’t want to?

 

[DHagan4755]

Have you considered…they don’t want to?

Yes & I posted that comment a little earlier in this thread.

 

[t0rqx]

The Apple Watch needs either battery tech to improve or for its processors to become even more power efficient. As it stands now Watch OS imposes too many power-related restrictions to make it useful as an all-day, actively used device.

More than a decade ago they filed for a patent for solar energy powered screens...if it fits that would be a good start for the Extreme Pro Max Apple Watch 8.

 

[DHagan4755]

”They themselves want”? So all Apple employees want to ditch their non-M1 iPads, that’s why they’re gate keeping Stage Manager from non-M1 models? There’s some employee(s) who don’t want it?

Please!

Apple makes all its decisions for maximum profits, that’s where everything flows from.

All the competition is doing round smart watches and for that reason alone AW will never go round.

You don’t enter a market with a product that’s aesthetically indistinguishable from competing products.

Google’s next Pixel Watch is literally AW gone round. After it launches there’s 0% of AW going down the same path.

Yes, Apple execs have stated they make products they themselves want.

Never say never. But I'm out of the Apple Watch market until it goes round. If it never does, oh well.

 

[murdoc2k]

No, Apple's priority is to themselves first; to make products they themselves want. Everything flows from that. A broad appeal amongst customers would be to include a touch screen on MacBooks since the majority of its competitors have touch screens on their notebooks. Apple doesn't think it would be a good experience so they don't want it. When everyone was clamoring for Apple to make larger iPhones, Apple was sluggish to do so, remember? We couldn't have an iPad mini because Steve thought people would need to sharpen their finger to use it. Now look where we are. Apple finds ways to make stuff happen. Thus a round Apple Watch is completely appropriate expectation. They'll announce a round Apple Watch & include new SwiftUI guides for developers.

The square design of the Apple Watch came from Jony Ive. He insisted it was the best way to go to display information.

While round watches do make a great appeal, I agree with Jony Ive's assessment. Traditionally, clocks had 2 arms that spun in a circle to tell time. This made shapes like squares, circles, rectangles popular amongst them.

However, when it comes to a smart watch, the watch must display text and graphical information that a traditional watch will not. Creating a circular watch to fit all of that information will require more physical space. Look no further than that galaxy watches out there. They try to make them look sleek by adding that wrap around effect that Apple has and it helps with the look and feel, but it's just never going to be as sleek as the Apple Watch. Why? Apple watch's squared design is basically a scaled down and iPhone display allow more information to fit in less surface area.

Then they read about folks complaining about the squared design; They wanted a more rounded watch. So what did they do? They made a rounded square which has been the design language since Apple Watch Series 4.

The apple watch is already significantly more bulky than a traditional watch. I would not watch one that takes up even more space than it already does.

 

[I7guy]

With all due respect, please tell me you’re joking.
I pretty much use my phone constantly… but make… probably like maybe three or four actual phone calls per week.
And I know The majority of people are about the same.
And if I do make some sort of phone call, more than likely it’s not an actual phone call and it’s a FaceTime call, or a zoom, or some type of voip Service.
As for the watch, its no better or worse at telling time than any modern phone, tablet, computer, or anything else with a clock function.
People are not purchasing Apple watches for the clock

If one doesn’t need to make phone calls or video call a cheap flip phone for near $0 and a $100 android tablet should be appropriate for those people to check emails and Facebook. Why spend $1,000 for an iPhone then? I’m on my phone for calls a lot through the day and I do use the “smart” aspect of my phone as well.

As far as the apple watch, it’s a hybrid device and in many cases an extension of your iPhone. But how many people would buy it if it didn’t tell the time?

 

[coachgq]

I love the fact that my Garmin Epix lasts two weeks between charges in normal mode, and can last a month in low power mode.

That watch is $1,000 and does it make phone calls? I also think you’re overstating the battery life. Garmin shows 6 days in smart watch mode and 16 days in low power mode. I get they sometimes undersell their capabilities but you’re getting double? But hey, you’re wearing it, not me so I have nothing to go off of except garmin literature.

 

[jmgregory1]

That watch is $1,000 and does it make phone calls? I also think you’re overstating the battery life. Garmin shows 6 days in smart watch mode and 16 days in low power mode. I get they sometimes undersell their capabilities but you’re getting double? But hey, you’re wearing it, not me so I have nothing to go off of except garmin literature.

I own the Epix 2, and realize it costs $1k. Because it doesn’t make or take calls, I also don’t have to pay the added monthly cellular fee, which negates a chunk of the price difference, especially when I figure I’ll keep the Epix for 2-3 years.

I am getting 15 to 16 days between charges, not on low power mode but simply by turning off the always on display. And this includes 45-60 minute daily to every other day hard cardio workouts.

I also turned the AOD off on my old Apple Watch 5, because I don’t need to have the screen on all the time, especially when I am wearing long sleeve shirts.

 

[Gasu E.]

I somewhat disagree. While yes some functions are definitely "better" with a rectangle screen than round it doesn't mean they are "good". After owning 4 different Apple Watches over the years (0,1,4,5) I pretty much determined the only functions it is really good at is fitness tracking, notifications, Apple Pay and some Siri commands - all of which would work perfectly well with a round watch. For anything else I end up picking up my iPhone anyway.

When you all say "round", do you mean a rectangular display embedded in a round face? Or do actually mean a display with varying horizontal width? Because supporting two entirely different displays would be really bad for third parties. It basically splits the target market into two versions, each of which needs to be supported. Or, they could just support one version; but Apple wouldn't tolerate that confusion, and likely would ban such applications from the App Store.

 

[DotCom2]

If they can sell more watches by selling both a round and square option, they might do it.

Think of the band issues though. I don’t see how they could possibly make the current band style fit on a round watch unless they had some kind of a retrofit adapter which would look fugly. IMHO They would have to carry bands for the square style and bands for the round style. This just isn’t going to happen.

 

[Lt.Bananas]

Oh how I hope they come around on this one. While unpairing and repairing my S4 has increased the battery life day to to, I wish it was able to last even a little while longer.

 

[coachgq]

I own the Epix 2, and realize it costs $1k. Because it doesn’t make or take calls, I also don’t have to pay the added monthly cellular fee, which negates a chunk of the price difference, especially when I figure I’ll keep the Epix for 2-3 years.

I am getting 15 to 16 days between charges, not on low power mode but simply by turning off the always on display. And this includes 45-60 minute daily to every other day hard cardio workouts.

I also turned the AOD off on my old Apple Watch 5, because I don’t need to have the screen on all the time, especially when I am wearing long sleeve shirts.

I use the aluminum Nike Apple Watch with cellular. Usually buy last years model, roughly 400. $10/month service for even 3 years puts me at 760. For a Watch with much more convenience when away from the house. I usually charge when I’m in the shower and I’m set for the day. I also don’t use AOD on my watch 6.

 

[The Game 161]

As long it lasts me 5am until say 11pm that’s enough. Mine goes on charge at 11pm.

Sounds like the Apple Watch pro only model which will have better battery life

 

[7149041]

When will Apple make this design round like a normal watch?

Hopefully never IMHO, rectangular screen makes much more sense. Also, "normal" watches also come in all shapes.

I'm more concerned with the thickness. It's one thicc boy.

10-11mm is pretty normal for a watch, AW actually is/feels smaller than some of my mechanical watches. It's definitely bulkier than an Omega Speedmaster, but definitely smaller than a Seiko Presage Automatic.

 

[cocotutch]

Great, this has been about 8 years coming at this point.

Also I hope they start selling the new models without included bands to make upgrading more affordable. Looking at jumping from a Series 4 but won’t hold my breath.

 

[_Spinn_]

Hopefully this isn’t exclusive to the S8

 

[incoherent_1]

I completely understand use cases for having extra long battery life and providing modes that facilitate that.

That said, I think the battery issue is largely overblown. My 3 year old watch routinely goes all day without a charging session and at least 1-2 workouts a day and has no problem getting home with power to spare. Same goes for my wife (different watch model, different iPhone model).

If you have a new watch and are getting poor battery life I strongly recommend contacting Apple as this is not normal device behavior.

 

[murdoc2k]

I'm more concerned with the thickness. It's one thicc boy.


Do you have the display always on?

My Series 5 is 86%, but I bought mine (with a heavy discount) after Series 6 was released, so mine is in a similar ballpark to yours. My AoD stays on.

I'm tempted to get the battery replaced if it drops below 80% (which I understand just means getting a new Watch from Apple).

Yep, my AoD is enabled as well. I think if you plan on keeping your watch for as long as possible, it makes sense to swap out the battery after 2-3 years. The cost is not as great as you believe.

For example, in Canada, the cost of replacing the battery out of warranty is $99 CAD where the watch itself would cost ~$600 after taxes for an 41mm aluminium model without apple care+, so 16%. If you own a higher end model, the cost relative to the watch is even less than that.

I'm probably going to change the battery once it drops below 80%, that should patch me over right to series 10, where I plan on replacing my series 6 at that point.