Bluetooth class of Apple Watch?

[Unido]

Hi,

I am struggling to find the bluetooth classes of the most recent models of the Apple Watch. Does anyone know the class? 1, 2 or 3?

Thanks,
Tom.

 

[Significant1]

Series
<3 = BT 4.0
3 = BT 4.2
>3 = BT 5.0

 

[Unido]

Thanks for the response but I would like to know the class of bluetooth, not the version.

Bluetooth devices : There are three levels of Bluetooth power, described as Class 1, 2 and 3. Class 3, with the shortest range, has the lowest power – 1 mW. Class 2 is 2.5 mW. Class 1 is 100 mW.

AirPods are class 1 and Bose headphones are class 2. People sensitive to radiation have suffered with headaches etc whilst using AirPods as they are pretty much emitting the same radiation as having your wifi router strapped to your head. I'm not sensitive but its just interesting to know they are 50 times more powerful than Bose, hence why I am intrigued what the watch is.

 

[Julien]

....AirPods as they are pretty much emitting the same radiation as having your wifi router strapped to your head....

....or about the same amount of radiation as as a small night-light incandescent light strapped to your head.

 

[Unido]

Possibly, but I think the router would look better though.

 

[Significant1]

Ok, you find measurement reports of the actual power output here:
https://fccid.io/BCG-A1978

https://fccid.io/BCG-A1978/Test-Report/Bluetooth-LE-Test-Report-3998360.pdf
https://fccid.io/BCG-A1978/Test-Report/Bluetooth-Test-Report-3998358.pdf
https://fccid.io/BCG-A1978/Test-Report/Bluetooth-HDR-Test-Report-3998345.pdf

With power output of up to 67mW I guess it must be Class 1 with max permitted power of 100mW

 

[Unido]

That is great, thank you for that!

 

[matrix07]

I'm not sensitive but its just interesting to know they are 50 times more powerful than Bose, hence why I am intrigued what the watch is.

They should be, since my Bose QC is much easier to lose connection than my AirPods. (I’d say AirPods has like 2X distance of Bose (roughly) from my real world experience.

 

[Unido]

It is all very interesting because for Bose to offer the same range as the AirPods, the price difference is negligible, there could be a health reason as to why they have decided to remain with Class 2 the same as all other manufacturers. I think Apple are the only ones to use Class 1 in headphones. Plus the AirPods are the only device Apple don't publicly publish the radiation values on their website, the last time I looked anyway.

I am not preaching it is something to worry about, I just find it all very interesting, we are all just guinea pigs but with cool tech

 

[Coltaine]

There is one thing to keep in mind though: even if the Bluetooth connection reaches power output levels of 67 mW and could potentially go up to 100 mW, it will rarely operate at those peak levels.

The Apple Watch Series 5 44 mm battery is rated at 1130 mWh. If all the energy of the battery was pumped into the Bluetooth connection, the battery would be completely drained in roughly 17 hours at a power output of 67 mW and in roughly 11 hours at a power output of 100 mW - JUST sustaining the Bluetooth connection and NOT doing anything else.
Since the watch has a display, various other components like a noise meter, a compass, apps running etc. power management dictates that Bluetooth must operate at far lower power levels than the peak levels measured or the highest levels theoretically possible.

In my use case I usually wear my Apple Watch 18 hours per day (mixed use of Bluetooth, WiFi and sometimes Cellular) and put it back on its charging stand with about 20% battery remaining.
80% of 1130 mWh are 904 mWh, distributed over 18 hours gives me a power consumption of the complete Apple Watch system of about 50 mW (or 0,05 W) per hour - and this energy is NOT used to only maintain Bluetooth (or any of the other wireless connections for that part), but to keep the complete system with all its components going. So the power output of the wireless connections during regular use ON AVERAGE should be well below 50 mW. Pretty unconcerning, even if worn on your wrist with zero distance.
Of course, the power output is always depending on your use case.
But even on peak levels, the power output of your wireless connections will not likely reach critical levels. There is just not enough power in the whole system.

 

[Alameda]

It is all very interesting because for Bose to offer the same range as the AirPods, the price difference is negligible, there could be a health reason as to why they have decided to remain with Class 2 the same as all other manufacturers. I think Apple are the only ones to use Class 1 in headphones. Plus the AirPods are the only device Apple don't publicly publish the radiation values on their website, the last time I looked anyway.

I am not preaching it is something to worry about, I just find it all very interesting, we are all just guinea pigs but with cool tech

Lower power consumption enables longer battery life.
My Bose QC phones have phenomenal battery life. I frequently fly to Asia and back without recharging them, and I keep them powered on the entire time — about 20 hours or more.

 

[Alameda]

There is one thing to keep in mind though: even if the Bluetooth connection reaches power output levels of 67 mW and could potentially go up to 100 mW, it will rarely operate at those peak levels.

The Apple Watch Series 5 44 mm battery is rated at 1130 mWh. If all the energy of the battery was pumped into the Bluetooth connection, the battery would be completely drained in roughly 17 hours at a power output of 67 mW and in roughly 11 hours at a power output of 100 mW - JUST sustaining the Bluetooth connection and NOT doing anything else.
Since the watch has a display, various other components like a noise meter, a compass, apps running etc. power management dictates that Bluetooth must operate at far lower power levels than the peak levels measured or the highest levels theoretically possible.

In my use case I usually wear my Apple Watch 18 hours per day (mixed use of Bluetooth, WiFi and sometimes Cellular) and put it back on its charging stand with about 20% battery remaining.
80% of 1130 mWh are 904 mWh, distributed over 18 hours gives me a power consumption of the complete Apple Watch system of about 50 mW (or 0,05 W) per hour - and this energy is NOT used to only maintain Bluetooth (or any of the other wireless connections for that part), but to keep the complete system with all its components going. So the power output of the wireless connections during regular use ON AVERAGE should be well below 50 mW. Pretty unconcerning, even if worn on your wrist with zero distance.
Of course, the power output is always depending on your use case.
But even on peak levels, the power output of your wireless connections will not likely reach critical levels. There is just not enough power in the whole system.

The Bluetooth doesn’t continually draw that much power. It sends beacon signals at regular intervals to look for devices, and probably doesn’t do so at full power. The full power is used when connected, such as transferring data or playing music to headphones. If you continually play music to headphones, your watch probably won’t last 18 hours.