Why does the Sony Smartwatch 3 have a 2 day battery life?

[Wiesenlooser]

Ok ok - I know the Sony Smartwatch 3 literally looks like ****.

But otherwise - it is technically better than the Apple Watch. It packs GPS tracking AND it has two days of battery life.

Battery life, however, is where the SmartWatch 3 really shines. It packs in a 420mAh battery, which is the biggest battery we've seen yet in an Android Wear watch. The rated longevity is somewhere around two days. In practice, I found this to be mostly accurate. I left notifications on for Twitter, Facebook and my calendar appointments; used GPS to track the occasional walking route; listened to a few songs on repeat (which I loaded onto the watch via Play Music); and used voice commands extensively throughout the day. The watch kept trucking along for about a day and half before it started begging to be plugged in. When I switched over to Airport Mode and kept the display off for the rest of the day, it lasted almost a full 48 hours. Under what I'd consider moderate to heavy use, that's quite impressive.

Not needing a backlight all the time also means the Smartwatch 3 has the longest battery life of any Android Wear watch. Sony rates it for up to two days usage, but I regularly see three days on a single charge.

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It will change with usage, but with notifications constantly pinging the watch, voice searches and step monitoring, the Smartwatch 3 lasted from 7am till 11pm on three consecutive days before needing a charge. The best of the rest only last just two days under similar conditions.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/28/sony-smartwatch-3-review-screen-battery-android-wear

It also packs a transflective lcd display, meaning the screen can be always on on one hand it is kind of worrisome that a sony watch performs better , on the other hand it also means that it is technically feasable to get 2 - 3 days of battery life.

 

[Tsuchiya]

Who knows?

Sony could have implemented a bigger battery (no idea what mAh battery Apple Watch has), more energy efficient parts, better optimised software etc etc.

*shrug*

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

My eyes!

 

[douglasf13]

It does have around 10% more volume than the 42mm Apple Watch, so extra battery could be part of it.

 

[k3ith]

Because it's friggin HUGE

 

[Michael CM1]

Screen resolution, processor power, size of battery, etc. many factors involved in battery life.

On another note, LOLs at the bragging about a micro USB port. With the number of iPhones and iPads sold, Lightning is about as standard in stores. And a MagSafe adapter seems a lot less annoying than plugging in a USB cable. Finding the end of my iPhone and iPad cables on the floor is tricky since I have those and my MBA charger all plugged into the same outlet. A MagSafe dock sounds awesome.

 

[jsmith189]

Because it's an iPad Mini sitting on your wrist.

 

[iPad Air]

Naturally, when a device has LESS features, it draws LESS power.

This is a jab on the Samsung device.

 

[Rachel Faith]

18 hours max is going to KILL this battery in a few weeks of 100% discharging. No Solar? No winding in motion charging? Shhhheeeesh !