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

[EugW]

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.

Note that they won’t do the swap until it drops below 80% anyway. But yeah I may do the swap in a year or two, both for mine and for my wife’s.

PS. I paid CA$499 plus tax for my stainless steel cellular 40 mm Series 5 with Milanese loop. For the same price I also got the same model but with the regular sport strap, for the wife. However that was in late 2020, after the Series 6 came out. So, occasionally here in Canada there can be some deals to be had, if you don’t buy at launch. Hope some deals like this show up again in a couple of years. If so I will pick up a couple for the wife and me, and pass these down to the kids (with updated batteries).

 

[Rychiar]

When will Apple make this design round like a normal watch? The Apple Watch's square design doesn't appeal to me. At all. Which is why I haven't bought one yet

And I hate round watches 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[jav6454]

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.

That is one of the reasons the whole AOD is a bad idea. Even at a 1Hz frequency, the battery is still being negatively affected.

 

[EugW]

That is one of the reasons the whole AOD is a bad idea. Even at a 1Hz frequency, the battery is still being negatively affected.

AoD one of my favourite features of my Series 5.

FWIW, with 86% battery health, I still get a full day's use out of it, but perhaps I don't interact with it quite as much as some people here.

 

[jmgregory1]

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.

Between the Epix and the AW, comparing a previous year’s low-end AW what is effectively one of Garmin’s top end models doesn’t take into account the fact that the AW has less water resistance (important for me given my sailing and swimming), doesn’t include sapphire lens, which again I value given the conditions I put it through, and the titanium front and rear casings add to the abuse the thing can take. I owned a AW 5 (Nike) for two+ years and loved it, but wanted more out of it for fitness measurements and battery life.

Now I don’t have to think about charging for two weeks and when I do need to charge it takes very little time. Adding to things I like is the more traditional round watch form. It might not be meaningful to everyone, but I used to wear a Seiko automatic 24/7 for 15+ years and loved the form and similarly didn’t have to think about a battery running out. I actually passed the watch down to one of my sons and he’s now wearing it daily.

 

[jav6454]

AoD one of my favourite features of my Series 5.

FWIW, with 86% battery health, I still get a full day's use out of it, but perhaps I don't interact with it quite as much as some people here.

To each their own. I got one intend to have the feature off when I get my S8.

 

[bobcomer]

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.

I have a round Galaxy android watch, it really doesn't display email and txts well at all. It's basically just a tiny bit smarter plain watch in functionality. It's also MUCH less intuitive on how it works. I haven't charged it in about a year.

Now my Apple watch, that's truly useful.

 

[svish]

Will be disappointing if it is hardware exclusive. But still looking forward to seeing how much battery life improvement this mode can bring.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Has anybody else lost interest in the Apple Watch and WatchOS upgrades like I have? I own a Series 6 and love it for a number of reasons but have seen nothing in the Series 6.1 or Series 6.2 (marketed by Apple as the Series 7 and Series 8) that make for a compelling reason to spend money to upgrade.

When mine goes, I break it by accident, I lose it or it gets stolen then I’ll upgrade to the latest in the 6.x Series but I’ve seen nothing in the existing hardware nor heard any rumors about the hardware yet to ship nor in rumors about newer versions of WatchOS that would make for a compelling reason to spend the money to upgrade.

I’m afraid that nothing shy of a blood pressure monitor or a blood sugar / glucose monitor would compel me to upgrade at this point. I can see how something that monitored for sleep apnea might be compelling for others but since I’ve already been diagnosed and use a C-PAP machine that alone wouldn’t be compelling for me unless they work with leading C-PAP manufacturers to allow them to communicate with the Watch or the iPhone directly to report and track my numbers in the Health app. Right now I’ve got a ResMed 10 with a built in cellular chip and their app which I can use to check my numbers and my recent history from anywhere once they are uploaded from my machine which happens automatically in the background when I’m done using it but it doesn’t automatically populate anything in the Health app so that would be nice.

Oh, that would be a pretty cool use of the O2 sensor. Like if the cpap detects an event, it communicates with the Apple Watch to run an O2 check.

 

[JED POLAND]

What amazes me is that people are still listening to those "insiders" who can't guess a sh*t recently. 🤷‍♂️

 

[azentropy]

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.

Yes, round display. Anything else would be silly. Developers can figure it out as I'm sure Apple would provide adaptive APIs. Other platforms have.

 

[murdoc2k]

Note that they won’t do the swap until it drops below 80% anyway. But yeah I may do the swap in a year or two, both for mine and for my wife’s.

PS. I paid CA$499 plus tax for my stainless steel cellular 40 mm Series 5 with Milanese loop. For the same price I also got the same model but with the regular sport strap, for the wife. However that was in late 2020, after the Series 6 came out. So, occasionally here in Canada there can be some deals to be had, if you don’t buy at launch. Hope some deals like this show up again in a couple of years. If so I will pick up a couple for the wife and me, and pass these down to the kids (with updated batteries).

Wow! That's a great deal! How were you able to get it for that price? Would you have the option to pay additional for apple care+?

I'm weary of small shops and private sellers, even the ones that are listed on bestbuy.ca as I've seen people get burned by it on CBC marketplace.

 

[EugW]

Wow! That's a great deal! How were you able to get it for that price? Would you have the option to pay additional for apple care+?

I'm weary of small shops and private sellers, even the ones that are listed on bestbuy.ca as I've seen people get burned by it on CBC marketplace.

Staples clearance. Occasionally if they have stock left after the new model comes out, a while later they may sell them at blow out prices. However, the prices decrease with time. Pricing in December may be cheaper than in November, if there is still stock that is. The problem with Staples is their inventory and ordering system sucks. IIRC I ended up having to ordering 3 to get two since 1 order was cancelled for no apparent reason.

Another option is Sport Chek. If you have a Canadian Tire credit card you can often get a bazillion points on flash sales on wearables, which may work out to around a 15-20% discount IIRC. The problem there is you have to pay attention to the sales, as they are often only a couple of days, and you need that Canadian Tire credit card. There are also discounts if you just have a points card, but the deal isn't as good. And of course, the points are only redeemable at Canadian Tire owned stores (Canadian Tire, Mark's Work Wearhouse, Sport Check, Party City, etc.).

And yes, you can buy AppleCare+ if you want, since these are new sealed boxes, and of course Staples and Sport Chek are both authorized Apple Watch retailers.

 

[Vjosullivan]

That is one of the reasons the whole AOD is a bad idea. Even at a 1Hz frequency, the battery is still being negatively affected.

Only Apple could come up with a watch without a face and persuade people that it's a good idea.

Well, that's not strictly true. Let's rephrase it:

Anyone could come up with a watch without a face but only Apple could persuade people that it's a good idea.

 

[jav6454]

Only Apple could come up with a watch without a face and persuade people that it's a good idea.

Well, that's not strictly true. Let's rephrase it:

Anyone could come up with a watch without a face but only Apple could persuade people that it's a good idea.

Considering the face is driving by a battery with limited capacity, I'd say it is a great idea.