LTE Strength and Battery Life 38mm vs 42mm

[sorka]

For anyone who's bought both the 38mm and 42 mm, what's the difference on battery life on LTE between the two sizes?

Any difference in signal strength? Since the screen is the antenna, the 42mm has a larger antenna.

I've pre-ordred the 38mm for my daughter but would change it to 42 if there was an advantage in either of these two with the larger size.

 

[sorka]

bump

 

[SamGabbay]

Hey Sorka,

I have both the 38mm and 42mm. I can tell you that the 38mm holds up surprisingly well. I can’t give you exact numbers but I have LTE on both and can confirm that I did get at least a full day out of both watches.

Sam

 

[sorka]

Hey Sorka,

I have both the 38mm and 42mm. I can tell you that the 38mm holds up surprisingly well. I can’t give you exact numbers but I have LTE on both and can confirm that I did get at least a full day out of both watches.

Sam

Thank you for that

Question, did you run both watches on LTE most of the day or were they connected to your iPhone most of the time.

What I'm really interested in is how long the 38 and 42 will last on LTE only when not used.

My scenario is this: my daughter's schools makes the students turn off their phones and then they are locked in a box until the end of the day. In a last ditch effort to keep me from pulling her out this particular private school, I bought her an AW2 and I put a MiFi in her backpack so it can stay on wifi all day long but this has turned out to be unreliable. Plus, if she needed to use the SOS, it wouldn't work if she wasn't near her backpack. Also, I found the wifi calling to not work 80%+ of the time even when connected to wifi. Additionally, find my iPhone doesn't work on the AW2 if it's connected to a mifi because it won't activate the GPS. Given this, I returned the AW2 and bought the AW3 + LTE.

What I'm really interested in is how long each of these will go on LTE only when not used. i.e. it's there during the school day only for safety(being able to hit SOS or for me being able to locate it).

Have you tried a "find my iPhone" on the AW3 when it's on LTE only? Does it work?

 

[SamGabbay]

Sorka,

I’ll try to answer as best as I possibly can!

In regards to the 38mm Apple Watch, it’s currently at 60%. It was taken off the charger at 9:00am this morning. It was connected to the iPhone most of the day so I can’t say for certain how it would hold up in your case. I did take it off the connection of the phone for roughly about an hour total. If she’s not using it constantly throughout the day and not actively making phone calls, I believe she should be okay.

Find my iPhone works as advertised even when the phone is off!

Sam

 

[Agothian12]

Sorka,

I’ll try to answer as best as I possibly can!

In regards to the 38mm Apple Watch, it’s currently at 60%. It was taken off the charger at 9:00am this morning. It was connected to the iPhone most of the day so I can’t say for certain how it would hold up in your case. I did take it off the connection of the phone for roughly about an hour total. If she’s not using it constantly throughout the day and not actively making phone calls, I believe she should be okay.

Find my iPhone works as advertised even when the phone is off!

Sam

Hey! Can you get more than a day of battery out of either the 42 or 38?

 

[SamGabbay]

Hey! Can you get more than a day of battery out of either the 42 or 38?

I repeatedly get 1+ days battery life on my 42mm. I once went an entire day without my phone and made it to 8:00pm with 23% remaining.

Sam

 

[Leica Dad]

I didn’t find any huge difference on the LTE signal strength between 38mm and 42mm.
However WiFi signal strength is a different story, I found 42mm has stronger strength than 38mm. That’s not too big of a deal in most use case, I usually have my phone with my in a place that has WiFi too.

 

[Agothian12]

I didn’t find any huge difference on the LTE signal strength between 38mm and 42mm.
However WiFi signal strength is a different story, I found 42mm has stronger strength than 38mm. That’s not too big of a deal in most use case, I usually have my phone with my in a place that has WiFi too.

gotcha! I've tried both and from my experience i think I'm going to keep the 42 and return the 38. I just really like being able to get more than one days use out of the watch

 

[Leica Dad]

gotcha! I've tried both and from my experience i think I'm going to keep the 42 and return the 38. I just really like being able to get more than one days use out of the watch

That’s what I did too. I found I start getting a little anxious and make sure all my watch faces has a battery complication on the 38mm. With 42mm I have no worries at all, that makes a better user experience in my case. The sacrifice is he Watch is a little heavier and less comfortable, hopefully there will be an improvement on the 38mm next year.