I‘m currently considering selling my S3 and S4 to get an S5... I don’t care much for the always on display but I would love a better battery life, so.. Did anyone disable the always on option and does it improve battery life? I have like 36 to (sometimes) 48h on my S4 and if this could be extended to 2-3 days it would be awesome.
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How is the battery life on S5 with always on display turned OFF?
- Thread starter PugMaster
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Mhhh. Yeah. I *think* I noticed the battery capacity was DEcreased from Series 3 to Series 4/5? Just ordered a replacement battery for my S3 Cellular and it's 351 mah while the S4 and S5 have a capacity of below 300mah... Why?!
Yep. Battery life on the Series 3 is the best I have noticed from other users so far, myself included.
We would all like better battery life but, we know going in that Apple only rates the battery life at 18 hrs. I don’t get people complaining they don’t get 2 to 3 days on a charge. I wear my watch from 5:00am to 11:00pm with 30 to 50 percent battery remaining with ALL features turned on. That far exceeds Apple‘s stated spec. Turning AOC off defeats the purpose of having a S5.
I believe they lowered the battery capacity because with software tweaks they maintained the advertised 18 hr battery life while adding new features that required fitting more hardware inside the watch.Mhhh. Yeah. I *think* I noticed the battery capacity was DEcreased from Series 3 to Series 4/5? Just ordered a replacement battery for my S3 Cellular and it's 351 mah while the S4 and S5 have a capacity of below 300mah... Why?!
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Yeah, and if you read closely, they also specify that they are basically using the watch heavily in these 18 hours with workout tracking, music playback, telephone calls and whatnot. Which is not my daily use case and so I expect my battery lasting much longer (which it does) - and which should be no surprise here, right?
Look, I honestly don't care much about how YOU use the watch and if you charge that it every night or not. But I hate charging my watch all the time and if I it means not using some features, then be it. My XS Max lasts 3-4 days, I just would love to get 3 days out of my watch, too. I had the Huawei Watch GT which lasted 10-12 days.....
So that's why it's got an option to disable it, right? My watch is hidden under my sleeves anyway, so I'm totally fine with raising my wrist to see the display. I would get the S5 if disabling the AOD would give a better battery life, but if it doesn't, I'll stick to my S3 and S4 for a little longer. Just hoping the damn S6 will have amazing battery life :/
The Apple Watch is clearly not for you. Save yourself the aggravation.
Agree with OP. Needing to charge every night is stupid for a watch. Needing to charge every night is kind of like having to put gas in the car every night you come back home from work. Will it kill you, no but it is very inconvenient. Watch is a personal item that I like to wear all the time and having to spend 2 hours to charge it every day out of 24 hours is just plain stupid. Is it within Apple’s specs of 18 hours? Yes, it is but that doesn’t make it less stupid. Series 3 had same promised 18 hours but could go for 3 days and 3 nights easily. Then Series 4 came and that was cut to 48 hours and now this can’t even make 24 hours with AOD on. All 3 series had same specs of 18 hours but progressively they got worse every year. Really hoping for a miracle in Series 6 next year. Apple are you listening??!!
While not 48 hours, I can get 24+ hours without trouble on my S5 (44mm).
But regardless, it is still something that even Apple says you’ll have to charge daily. Want 3+ days? Go with a FitBit. Not trying to be condescending, but as of today, physics (current battery and chip technology) prevents the Apple Watch and all it‘s designed to do from lasting much longer than 24 hrs. If you need it to last much longer, then something has to give — display tech, speed, functionality, connectivity options... something. Or it needs to be twice the size to hold a bigger battery.
Eventually technology will get to where we have all the above and more. Just not yet. Apple isn’t holding back 3+ day battery life on purpose. The internal volume of the watch is only so big.
I don‘t think so. Take a look around, there are a few chinese manufacturers that make smartwatches that last 3 days to even 3 weeks. Huawei has made a new OS just for he Watch GT which is extremely optimized. WatchOS is the main culprit here with power draw. Surely it can be optioned a bit further. Not saying they should totally reduce it, but with the code base of macOS, iPhone OS, iPad OS and watchOS melting into each other, there surely is a lot of unnecessary bulk for the watch. And decreasing the watch‘s battery capacity is also not a cool move. I completely understand that the space inside the watch is limited, but I also see how my S3 easily outruns my S4. Same usage scenario. It’s a bit sad. I charge my watch every other day but still I think this is pretty annoying. I charged my XS max on Tuesday morning, it will last until tomorrow (friday). That is 3-4 days of battery life. It would be great if my watch could be somewhere near that.
