Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

But it's still a black screen

J

johnhansen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 13, 2014
3
0
Apple says the battery life is 18 hours, but, according to the description of the battery test, this include 90 time checks.

So, as many suspected, the watch is not always on. Which means
A) you have to do something active to your "watch" to see the time.
B) you walk around with rather big, black monitor on your wrist. Like Cook says a watch is a fashion statement and a big, black monitor, which you have to switch on to see the time, says "I'm a nerd".

I hope time will prove me wrong, because I really looked forward to this watch.
 
johnhansen said:
Apple says the battery life is 18 hours, but, according to the description of the battery test, this include 90 time checks.

So, as many suspected, the watch is not always on. Which means
A) you have to do something active to your "watch" to see the time.
B) you walk around with rather big, black monitor on your wrist. Like Cook says a watch is a fashion statement and a big, black monitor, which you have to switch on to see the time, says "I'm a nerd".

I hope time will prove me wrong, because I really looked forward to this watch.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why Apple is working so hard to get the Watch adopted into fashion circles. There has to be a bit of a mindset change about it. My uncle wore a Asus Zen watch to an even we were recently at, and I must admit that it looked a little silly, especially when turned off. It's one of the reasons I prefer the smaller 38mm Watch size.
 
johnhansen said:
Apple says the battery life is 18 hours, but, according to the description of the battery test, this include 90 time checks.

So, as many suspected, the watch is not always on. Which means
A) you have to do something active to your "watch" to see the time.
B) you walk around with rather big, black monitor on your wrist. Like Cook says a watch is a fashion statement and a big, black monitor, which you have to switch on to see the time, says "I'm a nerd".

I hope time will prove me wrong, because I really looked forward to this watch.
Click to expand...

The worst part is the black bezel. It makes it look cheap.
 
That's a LOT of usage for a watch (and it was tested on the smaller of the two watches, while Apple's site states that the larger watch does better).

From what I've seen, Apple has played the battery life issue VERY carefully and I believe real-life tests by reviewers will show much better typical life than that.

Apple is smart enough to make certain that their battery life quotes are, if anything, lower than reality. Especially for a new product category like this. They want customers to be pleasantly surprised.

I personally don't care of my screen is black when I'm not using it. The trade off is that I can make purchases, view notifications, unlock hotel doors, turn off my house alarm, and countless other things on my watch. Your Rolex can't do any of that.
 
redman042 said:
That's a LOT of usage for a watch (and it was tested on the smaller of the two watches, while Apple's site states that the larger watch does better).

From what I've seen, Apple has played the battery life issue VERY carefully and I believe real-life tests by reviewers will show much better typical life than that.

Apple is smart enough to make certain that their battery life quotes are, if anything, lower than reality. Especially for a new product category like this. They want customers to be pleasantly surprised.

I personally don't care of my screen is black when I'm not using it. The trade off is that I can make purchases, view notifications, unlock hotel doors, turn off my house alarm, and countless other things on my watch. Your Rolex can't do any of that.
Click to expand...

I agree. It doesn't bother me either. I don't get why people have a fixation on the display being blank/black when not in use.
 
redman042 said:
Apple is smart enough to make certain that their battery life quotes are, if anything, lower than reality. Especially for a new product category like this. They want customers to be pleasantly surprised.
Click to expand...

That semi-hidden battery specs page notes that all testing was done on a 38mm, so if the 42mm has a larger battery the specs might be even better.
 
I love the always on ambient display on my LG G Watch R. Since it's a P-OLED it only has to light up the pixels of the ambient clock face so it really doesn't run down the battery. When you raise your arm to look at the display it fully lights up. You would think Apple would do something like this so you don't just have a boring black screen.
 
DakotaGuy said:
I love the always on ambient display on my LG G Watch R. Since it's a P-OLED it only has to light up the pixels of the ambient clock face so it really doesn't run down the battery. When you raise your arm to look at the display it fully lights up. You would think Apple would do something like this so you don't just have a boring black screen.
Click to expand...

:apple:Watch also uses an OLED display so they could easily do it later...
 
Mr.C said:
I agree. It doesn't bother me either. I don't get why people have a fixation on the display being blank/black when not in use.
Click to expand...

Because it is a little silly to market it as a fashion item that looks like it is broken/dead the vast majority of the time.
 
TommyA6 said:
:apple:Watch also uses an OLED display so they could easily do it later...
Click to expand...
Keeping an OLED "always on" (without a backlight) requires power to show white text and graphics, just far less power than other display technologies. However, Apple is doing everything they possibly can to squeeze up to 18 hours of battery life out of the Watch. With an always-on display for the time, Apple might get 12-15 hours instead of 18 hours, which they may find unacceptable.

I strongly suspect that "always on" time will be one of the key improvements in the 2nd generation Apple Watch that debuts one year from now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back