Why no Solar/Kinetic combo to boost battery life?

qvak

Battery life is a big issue right now.

There are apple patents about solar panels behind LCDs. there is a big bezel area around the display. There are kinetic mechanisms less than 5mm thich nowadays.

Why didn't apple integrate either or both these technologies in the Watch?

My Seiko never needs battery replacement. I take it off, put it on, it charges as I go about my day. Solar would provide a very slow trickle charge that could maybe charge some small capacitors that could then dump some energy into the main battery.

Could this kind of tech be coming in the second Apple Watch?

Marvin

Kinetic energy produces very little power. Traditional watch power consumption is measured in micro-watts:

http://www.pulsar-watches.co.uk/our-story/kinetic

"In 1986, the engineers from SEIKO Watch Corporation succeeded in producing an IC with energy consumption of only 0.9 micro-watts of power, which was just 3% of that needed in the first quartz watch: the Astron."

http://www.seiko-cleanenergy.com/watches/kinetic-1.html

"To generate electricity from Kinetic energy inside a watch is no easy task! To do so, it was necessary to create a rotor that could spin at 100,000 rpm, or 5 times faster than a Formula One engine. And to do that, we had to invent a way to suspend the rotor with magnetic levitation, so that it would rotate friction-free. All in all, it's magic!"

Solar produces more but most of the time, the watch would be under a sleeve or not facing the sun and it's figuring out where to put the panels. They can be integrated into glass but then they have to connect it to the electronics.

One thing they could look into is fast charging batteries:


[VIDEO]


A battery the size of a watch battery would charge very quickly with tech like that. They just need to ensure enough cycles and safe performance.