Simply Amazing Battery Life

[SR71]

And to think people said this was going to be a problem... This battery life is wonderful! This was with relatively heavy usage too. 42mm Space Gray Sport, for those who are wondering. I just hit 13% battery left on the watch, so I suspect I could easily get 2-4 more hours out of it if I tried. Also, I keep it at 100% brightness at all times so if I lowered it that would just increase battery life even more.

 

[BvizioN]

Same here, have it removed from charger yesterday morning and it's on 27% now, it will easy take me through the day. Light to moderate use, 30 minutes run yesterday and 30 today. 100% brightness. Other stuff just checking notifications and playing with few watch faces. Much better then I expected.

 

[iToph]

Wish i could say the same about the 38mm.

 

[Vundu]

It's ok but pretty far from amazing.

 

[SR71]

It's ok but pretty far from amazing.

It can easily last me a day and a half, maybe even two days on a charge. For me that's pretty amazing considering all the things it does. And it's a far cry from the terrible battery life people were afraid it was going to get.

 

[chfilm]

It can easily last me a day and a half, maybe even two days on a charge. For me that's pretty amazing considering all the things it does. And it's a far cry from the terrible battery life people were afraid it was going to get.

Yup, absolutely agree. I feel it drains at the same or slower pace than does my iPhone 6.

 

[oftheheavens]

so far have had to desperately charge it at the end of the day. I have been using and experiencing all the newness almost non stop, one including a game that I will not be playing again until they update it, so that should give me much more battery.

 

[Piggie]

Don't understand.

You screen shot shows five and a half hours since last charge.

You say you think you can get another 2 to 4 hours usage from it.

And you say amazing battery life?

I'm missing something here, can you please explain?

 

[TallManNY]

Don't understand.

You screen shot shows five and a half hours since last charge.

You say you think you can get another 2 to 4 hours usage from it.

And you say amazing battery life?

I'm missing something here, can you please explain?

Usage means actually being activated and used. Five hours is a lot of time to be futzing around with your watch during the course of the day. Most of the day, one assumes, the watch should be in standby mode just sitting on your wrist.

 

[Piggie]

Usage means actually being activated and used. Five hours is a lot of time to be futzing around with your watch during the course of the day. Most of the day, one assumes, the watch should be in standby mode just sitting on your wrist.

Thanks for explaining this, yes I understand now.

I guess however, this is hard to calculate.
A bit like a laptop sitting there running windows, whilst you edit a document in microsoft word, as opposed to running Crysis the CPU and GPU at 100% and the fans spinning to keep it all cool.

It's a very vague concept at the moment, esp with what's actually on the watch.

I know many hate the idea, but figures that matter would be something like. Running a video for X hours.
Playing an MP3 for X hours.

Quantifiable, testable, repeatable things.

I'm looking forward greatly to the future of this and similar products.
And want to get one, when the time it right.

 

[SR71]

Thanks for explaining this, yes I understand now.

I guess however, this is hard to calculate.
A bit like a laptop sitting there running windows, whilst you edit a document in microsoft word, as opposed to running Crysis the CPU and GPU at 100% and the fans spinning to keep it all cool.

It's a very vague concept at the moment, esp with what's actually on the watch.

I know many hate the idea, but figures that matter would be something like. Running a video for X hours.
Playing an MP3 for X hours.

Quantifiable, testable, repeatable things.

I'm looking forward greatly to the future of this and similar products.
And want to get one, when the time it right.

The problem is that the Watch isn't meant to be used constantly like an iPad, iPhone, or Mac. Those devices' battery life can be tested using the methods you listed, but a Watch has a different type of interaction model.

With an iPhone or iPad using them for hours at a time is what they were designed for, the Watch however doesn't fit that same paradigm. It's meant for seconds long interactions, not hours long. Even if you try and use the Watch in the way you'd use your other devices you're quick to realize that 1.) it's uncomfortable to use for long interactions and 2.) long interactions just don't make sense on a device like the Watch.

So when I said I could get 2-4 hours of usage out of the Watch with 13% left, I really meant 2-4 hours of mostly standby with the occasional quick interaction here and there since that's how the Watch is meant to be used. Hopefully that clears things up a bit.

 

[Twimfy]

The battery life on the watch is pretty amazing and I'm getting to the end of the day with about 30-40% remaining.

My phone however, well the Bluetooth use (this is the first time since the original iPhone I've ever used Bluetooth for anything) is really pushing my phone a fair bit and by the time I get to bed I'm hovering on the 10% mark whereas it'd usually be about 40%.

Fine for day to day but I'm going to have to do some planning if I'm ever on a night out or staying up later than usual.

 

[SR71]

The battery life on the watch is pretty amazing and I'm getting to the end of the day with about 30-40% remaining.

My phone however, well the Bluetooth use (this is the first time since the original iPhone I've ever used Bluetooth for anything) is really pushing my phone a fair bit and by the time I get to bed I'm hovering on the 10% mark whereas it'd usually be about 40%.

Fine for day to day but I'm going to have to do some planning if I'm ever on a night out or staying up later than usual.

Hmm that's interesting, I've noticed no change in battery life on my iPhone 6 since connecting it to my Watch. What kind of iPhone do you have?

 

[iRabbit]

It's pretty funny to me that people think getting through a day means the battery life is amazing. Getting through 24 hours should be the absolute minimum it can do honestly. My pebble easily goes 5 days without needing to be charged.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an Apple fan-girl... and I have a watch on order. But if battery life is so dismal that it barely gets through the 18 hours predicted, I may end up returning. it.

 

[Piggie]

It's pretty funny to me that people think getting through a day means the battery life is amazing. Getting through 24 hours should be the absolute minimum it can do honestly. My pebble easily goes 5 days without needing to be charged.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an Apple fan-girl... and I have a watch on order. But if battery life is so dismal that it barely gets through the 18 hours predicted, I may end up returning. it.

I know.

Battery life is Terrible really, we all know this.

Reality is now distorted to the point where a device that's only used for day 7 hours in a day, and that use is 90% probably as a dumb terminal to a phone doing the work, is not classes as amazing.

You have to giggle a bit at the way viewpoints are now so distorted

 

[Twimfy]

hmm that's interesting, i've noticed no change in battery life on my iphone 6 since connecting it to my watch. What kind of iphone do you have?

6

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It's pretty funny to me that people think getting through a day means the battery life is amazing. Getting through 24 hours should be the absolute minimum it can do honestly. My pebble easily goes 5 days without needing to be charged.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an Apple fan-girl... and I have a watch on order. But if battery life is so dismal that it barely gets through the 18 hours predicted, I may end up returning. it.

From what I've experienced since Friday, it'll easily get through the 18 hours predicted but if it doesn't it is such a big deal? So few people are actually awake for a solid 24 hours on a a regular basis.

 

[leenak]

Yeah Amazing isn't what I'd describe. From light use, I went to bed with 30% battery life left yesterday. So no way I could get through 1.5 days. It might go 24 hours without a charge but that is it and like someone else said, that should be the bare minimum for a smart watch.

 

[Bobajobbob]

How long do you think the battery would last if the watch face was always on? Given the OLED screen would it be possible to have a simple watch face enabled with brightness turned down for the whole day?

 

[quinn222]

I have a 38 and am happy with the battery life. Put it on at 5:30am yesterday. Wore it all day, used the map app to guide me on a one hour drive, played a couple of games, got a lot of notifications etc. basically a busy day but nothing super unusual. When I took it off at 9pm it still had a 44% charge.

I would never sleep with a watch on so that's not an issue for me. I am confident of getting through a long day with this watch and that's all I need.

 

[randy98mtu]

Wow. I wish mine was that good. I was at 4% here.

 

[iRabbit]

6

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From what I've experienced since Friday, it'll easily get through the 18 hours predicted but if it doesn't it is such a big deal? So few people are actually awake for a solid 24 hours on a a regular basis.

Yes, it is a big deal to me. It's not just a matter of being awake. It's the convenience factor of not having yet ANOTHER device that needs constant charging, especially since it's a watch (and who owns a watch that needs constant charging?). From someone who has been using the Pebble since Christmas, it really IS amazing when you don't have to worry about charging your smart watch for upwards of 5 or 6 days.

I realize the Apple Watch does a lot more than the Pebble does, but for it not to manage to get through 2-3 days without needing to be charged is a failing. You would think they would look to the competition to see how they are managing battery life. The Pebble can go 5-7 days (I usually charge it when it's down to 30% on day 5!)... Apple couldn't figure out how to get at least 1/2 of that?? That seems pretty darn surprising from a tech standpoint.

Here's an example of why I'd like better battery life: I have family in Vermont. When we go up there to visit, we might take the scenic route and be on the road for a lot of hours. We could easily be on the road all day. Then we get there and hang out with our loved ones and go out dinner, maybe sit outside, go get coffee or ice-cream, play some board games etc. It could easily be late when we are finally turning in for the night. I'm hoping in that long day I don't have to worry about getting to a charger for my watch. If we left at 8am and that's when I took the watch off the charger and put it on my wrist, that gives me until 2am before 18 hours have passed. For me, no, it's not at all unusually for me to still be awake at 2am. That's not unreasonable for a busy person.

That, to me, is why 24 hours should be the bare minimum. I should NEVER have to think about charging the watch until I go to bed. If I ever have to charge it in the middle of a day, it fails. And honestly, the every night thing? That could prove to be a big enough hassle that I'll go back to the Pebble. We shall see.

 

[ChrisS1081]

I wasn't that impressed with the battery life.

 

[RickInHouston]

I have a 38 and am happy with the battery life. Put it on at 5:30am yesterday. Wore it all day, used the map app to guide me on a one hour drive, played a couple of games, got a lot of notifications etc. basically a busy day but nothing super unusual. When I took it off at 9pm it still had a 44% charge.

I would never sleep with a watch on so that's not an issue for me. I am confident of getting through a long day with this watch and that's all I need.

You forgot to add... Of course I had my phone plugged in to the CIG lighter because the navigation would have drained it rather quickly! The phone is doing the heavy lifting.

 

[jclardy]

How long do you think the battery would last if the watch face was always on? Given the OLED screen would it be possible to have a simple watch face enabled with brightness turned down for the whole day?

I was wondering this...even if it was just a small digital text showing the time, like power reserve mode, but lower brightness and smaller text.

 

[Sport73]

Battery as impressed me as well. I pulled my 42mm off the charger at 9am yesterday, and was hoping to run it to 0 for a full 'cycle'. By 12:30AM, I was TRYING to kill it by launching apps and leaving the screen on...by 2:00AM I gave up with about 15% left and put it back on the charger. Use throughout the day was typical, though with slightly fewer notifications than I'm likely to get on a weekday.

I think trimming down your notifications plays a big role.