Apple Watch users will need to recharge nightly, company still working to improve uptime before laun

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  • Reply 121 of 242
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by michaelluong85 View Post



    Apple still needs to solve this energy dilemma. A one day battery life for all these devices is just pathetic considering the technological advancements of the past 20 years.

     

    Not being facetious here but what are the technological advances in batteries the last 20 years?  Seems this is one area of technology that really hasn't kept pace.  It was reported earlier this year that Apple had meetings with Elon Musk and Tesla. Could be about battery technology.  The ?Watch could have been designed much thinner but the battery life would have sucked. Apple appears committed to getting this right and I'm sure that's why they are not ready to release.  I don't know exactly when "early 2015" will be but I hope it's enough time for them to make improvements.

     

    Speaking of "thinner" watch, I've seen a lot of negative comments about the ?Watch being too thick and bulky but have read many reviewers who had early "hands-on" with it remark that it looks much better in person.

  • Reply 122 of 242
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,179member
    mrboba1 wrote: »
    Those talking about the need to charge the Watch each night obviously forgot about the first iPhone:

    Everyone derided the fact that "what? I can't have it usable for 3-4 days on one charge?"
    Now no one even remembers how long the little flip phones could last...

    And to compare it to a fitbit with respect to sleeping with it on: when I wore a watch, I took it off every night. It wasn't good for a watch to stay on all night, it could/would get dinged up, and most (decent) watchmakers recommend that you take it off at night. Again, this is no different (as long as one can definitely make it through the day)
    +1

    Yeah, looking back on the first gen wearables a few years from now most will probably find things about them that sucked. Battery life will probably be one of 'em. Big deal, it's gotta start someplace. Most devices that follow will build on the good stuff from the previous version and then bring new things to the table. First gen's often have issues, big surprise. Wait until follow-up versions before passing judgment.
  • Reply 123 of 242
    For me, the question is whether it can hold the charge long enough for an athlete to get all the way through an endurance race such as a full Ironman(tm) and is it watertight enough for that kind of use?

    I don't wear a watch at night because I find that whatever kind of watch it is, it prevents a portion of my skin from breathing and causes irritation, so I prefer one of the sleep tracking apps that lets me put my iPhone (in airplane mode) under my pillow.
  • Reply 124 of 242
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  • Reply 125 of 242
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    it is a very valid point. People adopt to the technology that is available to them. If you have a plug in electric car you do make a point to charge it up every night.

    In contrast whe I travel I can sometimes have to fill up multiple times in one trip on a single day. I don't fly off at the handle when the gas gage says I need to fill up. Hey it would be great to have a nuclear powered car that I can drive ten years without filling up, but we don't have them yet so I have to live with the tech that we do have.

    Give me a break! You do realize that at one point in time you couldn't even take your phone with you. Cell phones had yet to be invented. When they did arrive they where huge devices with very limited run times. The technology improved and today we have what amounts to a UNIX running computer in our pockets. That is progress and frankly the Apple watch will be subject to the same progress. Like cell phones the early adopters will be those people that can justify the new device. Look at it this way, in my lifetime we went from having no cell phones to pocket computers that frankly are fairly powerful, the Star Trek communicator was only a hint of what was coming. So we have gone from science fiction to well past that in my lifetime. Along the way we have adapted to plenty of new technology, including having to charge our cell phones. With Apple Watch the recharge time is either worth it or not, complaining about it though won't change much this time around. Rev 2 or maybe 3 will likely dramatically improve the device just like cell phones improved dramatically year after year.

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GTR View Post





    If you hate devices that require regular top-ups then you must HATE your car.



    1wink.gif

    My reply to this was it was an odd point, you claim its a valid point. Is that supposed to be contradictory?

    Simply - i dislike having to fill my car with gas, but I don't hate any of my cars. Thats just stupid.

     

    But who flies of a handle when having to fill up - not sure of your point here

     

    Thanks for your help in making me realize at one time we could not take our phones with me. I just checked wikipedia - it turns out there was even civilization before phones were invented. Who would have thought...

     

    anyhow - im not flying of handles, hating on my cars or anything of the sort, and yes people adapt. NO, solar panels and other energy generating mechanism are not yet developed ( as far as commonly known in science and engineering)  to help improve battery life. However, technology, is already with us that ought to be able to get this ?watch to last more than 24 hours, albeit with much of that in standby. Pebble did it - ugly but true - and yes, without an active display - so it depends how long in the 24 hours the display is lit up!

     

    Anyone on these forums (any forums) can claim whatever they like about themselves, I'm the wrong side of 50, but i have designed an awful lot of (industrial) instruments. One of them for Scoliosis patients had to last 3 years. Simply not cleaning the PCB sufficiently would drain enough nA to make it fail.

     

    last I'm not complaining - its my view, and it fits within this topic that having to charge every night will be inconvenient to the point where some potential buyers will not buy, and some buyers will stop wearing it every day.

     

    Apparently, I free to leave my current location - so I may not get back to this thread until this evening 

  • Reply 126 of 242
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EricTheHalfBee View Post

     

    The Moto 360 was torn down, and found to have an outdated TI OMAP processor in it. We know Apple has made a custom SoC for the Apple Watch (called the S1), so you've gotta think that with Apples tight control over the hardware and software that they will have an advantage in this area compared to everyone else using off-the-shelf processors.


     

    This article states it is getting about the same on-time as the other smart watches, so it would appear they don't have the advantage you claim

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     



    Everyone does it with every battery device they own…




    Only if those devices are made by Apple.

  • Reply 127 of 242
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,179member
    mistergsf wrote: »
    Not being facetious here but what are the technological advances in batteries the last 20 years?  Seems this is one area of technology that really hasn't kept pace.  It was reported earlier this year that Apple had meetings with Elon Musk and Tesla. Could be about battery technology.  The ?Watch could have been designed much thinner but the battery life would have sucked. comments about the ?Watch being too thick and bulky but have read many reviewers who had early "hands-on" with it remark that it looks much better in person.

    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/This-Battery-Could-Charge-Your-Smartphone-In-30-Seconds-180951116/?no-ist
    From zero to fully-charged in 30 seconds.

    Even teens are getting in on the battery inventiveness.
    http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/20/tech/whiz-kid/

    or how about charging an electric-car in 12 minutes instead of 4+ hours?
    http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/japanese-researchers-invent-dual-carbon-battery-that-lets-you-charge-laptops-electric-cars-in-minutes

    There's lots of new battery tech on the way.
  • Reply 128 of 242
    TL;DR!

    I posted in another thread prior to the announcement: Apple could/should use the ?Watch bands to contain additional batteries. The area within the band would provide several times the battery capacity as within the watch, itself. Obviously this would not work for mesh or link bands -- they would be fashion or practical statements.

    But, I suspect that ?Watch owners will buy multiple bands, If faced with a low-battery condition, the user could replace the band with a fully-charged band in a few seconds.

    ?Boom!
  • Reply 129 of 242
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    You're going to be smashed by the other Apple fans. I too was disappointed with what I saw. I was more excited by the Mac Cube than this watch.

    In 2013, there wasn't a single Apple product I wouldn't want to buy. In just a few months, Apple manage to acquire three that I wouldn't possibly dream of getting: Beats headphones, Beats pill crap and now the Apple Watch. I want to pull out my phone to check on things. Why in the world people think it's better to default to a watch is just beyond me. I love the health aspect of the watch (I originally thought Apple would simply release a health/fitness wristband that would have a weeks battery life and track sleep), but the other features just doesn't make any sense to me. It's just a duplication of the functionality already present on your phone...

    Maybe we simply lack imagination.

    WWDC had me pumped!! I couldn't wait for yesterday's keynote but I too was disappointed.

    Read my conversation above. This thing seems like a solution in search of a problem. I was telling someone about the watch and she kept referring to her phone, I had a HARD time thinking of features she couldn't get on her crappy android. The only thing I can think of were the fitness features. Apple should have went hard on fitness and showed that off more, because all the other features they showed off are the same you can get on a phone.

    Back when I used to collect watches winding them up was the most tedious thing, that little digital crown thing looks obtrusive, unnecessary and annoying.

    Here's a concept:

    Keep the same face. REMOVE the digital crown and replace it with Touch ID front and center.

    The Touch ID button not only reads your fingerprint but is also a track pad. Swipe up to zoom in and swipe down to zoom out. No need to spin a tiny little wheel.

    Swipe Touch ID left/right/diagonal to navigate home screen.

    Swipe Touch ID in any direction to navigate maps and other apps.

    Now THAT would have been impressive!
  • Reply 130 of 242
    Originally Posted by cali View Post

    The Touch ID button not only reads your fingerprint but is also a track pad. Swipe up to zoom in and swipe down to zoom out. No need to spin a tiny little wheel.



    Swipe Touch ID left/right/diagonal to navigate home screen.



    Swipe Touch ID in any direction to navigate maps and other apps.



    Now THAT would have been impressive!

     

    Yeah, see, it already has a touchscreen.

  • Reply 131 of 242
    You want revolutionary? Place the battery in the watchband. So simple. So elegant. So powerful.
  • Reply 132 of 242
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    mrboba1 wrote: »
    So because you didn't know what it does makes it bad? That seems to be a "you" problem, not a device problem. No one truly knows what it does, because no one out of Apple has actually used one.

    The coolest thing that I remember is that it can tell you when and which way to turn while giving directions based on a directional tap.

    You misread my post. I know as much as everyone else does. I couldn't think of a feature that people can't get on the crappiest of androids.

    Turn by turn navigation? I remember that too.

    iPhone/Androids/Windows phone/iPad/Tablets/GPS systems can do that. NEXT!!
  • Reply 133 of 242
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post





    A) You mean to tell me.... Tim Cooks presentations on market share are just a puppet show?

     

    They report share.  They like more share when they get it.  They don't chase share.  Any long term apple fan is familiar with this.

     

    They DO NOT CARE THEY CAN ONLY REACH 10% OF THE US SMARTPHONE MARKET.  Even if that were a true statement.  Because that 10% is the ones with the most disposable income to buy a luxury item.

     

    Quote:

     B) OH GOD NO!!! Nowhere did I mention Android support! That would be garbage.

    What I said is clear, that People should be able to use AppleWatch regardless of what phone they have. Currently I have an iPod touch and no iPhone. I wanted an AppleWatch next but that plan went out the window yesterday.

     

    Because you were whining about Apple only having 40% share in the US.  Who has the rest?  Android.  So if you don't want Android support because it would be garbage what other phone would they have?

     

    And an iPod touch is not a phone. 

     

    Quote:

     C) So you're telling me, that it's easier to sell nice rims to a man who doesn't own a car? Should I sell a swimming pool to a woman who lives in an apartment?



    ... tell me more about how I can convince my friends who own Android to buy an AppleWatch. Apples watch was the perfect bridge for people who own Android, but they just burned that bridge.

     

    Why the hell would anyone listen to you anyway since you don't own an iPhone either?

     

    Quote:

    You say phones are lost more often than watches? You need an iPhone for AppleWatch to work so that point is moot. And even dismissing that fact AppleWatch lacks touch ID.

     

    The watch doesn't need touch ID to achieve 2 factor safety.  Which you would understand if you had a clue.   

     

    And yes, its more important for the phone to have higher security because folks leave their phones behind all the time.  So requiring a biometric key to pay is useful because the phone might be unlocked.  An object literally attached to your wrist not so much.  Even if that happens (you lose your watch) they cannot use your apple pay unless you are standing so close that it still is connected to your phone.  Which is why touch ID is not required.

     

    Quote:


    and OH LORDY!! that last paragraph!! So NO ONE is an Apple fan unless they're registered to AppleInsider.com *facepalm*


     

    No.  It's just there is no record of what you claim.  From where I sit you're a concern troll.

  • Reply 134 of 242
    TL;DR!

    I posted in another thread prior to the announcement: Apple could/should use the ?Watch bands to contain additional batteries. The area within the band would provide several times the capacity as within the watch, itself. Obviously this would not work for mesh or link bands -- they would be fashion or practical statements.

    But, I suspect that ?Watch owners will buy multiple bands, If faced with a low-battery condition -- in a few seconds, the user could replace the band with a fully-charged one.

    ?Boom!
  • Reply 135 of 242
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kpluck View Post

     

    "Charge nightly" or "about a day" mean absolutely nothing. I know of no agreed upon amount of time ascribed to those terms.

     

    It will get about 12 hours of normal use when it ships, plus or minus an hour. The only question for me is will that include the screen being on all that time? A device like this only makes sense if I can glance down at it and see what it is telling me. If I have to "wake" it first, the watch is garbage.

     

    Personally, any device of this type is a non-starter until it hits 18 hours of use with the screen on the entire time. I am guessing we are 3-4 years away from that.

     

    -kpluck


     

    If I read correctly, it sounds like the watch display is off until you raise your wrist to look at the time. Not sure if a simple turn of the wrist does that, too. You're right. If I need both hands to look at the time, then that's a big problem. That kind of two-handed operation reminds me of the old LED watches from the 1970s!

     

    As for 12 hours, that definitely won't cut it. I feel confident Apple will get at least 24 hours out of the battery.

  • Reply 136 of 242
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Yeah, see, it already has a touchscreen.

    If it already has a touchscreen then WHY OH WHY did apple add the digital crown?

    This has NOTHING to do with the touchscreen. The idea was replacing the obtrusive little wheel for navigation.
  • Reply 137 of 242
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mistergsf View Post

     

     

    Not being facetious here but what are the technological advances in batteries the last 20 years?  Seems this is one area of technology that really hasn't kept pace.  It was reported earlier this year that Apple had meetings with Elon Musk and Tesla. Could be about battery technology.


     

    You are correct. To be fair, batteries have improved at larger sizes (think of NiCd, NiMH, Li-Ion), but we haven't seen the "next major leap" in the technology. There's definite research going on, but as I understand it, getting the right chemistry is challenging! The next major leap in batteries needs to use more abundant/common elements while providing the right power and longevity.

  • Reply 138 of 242
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post





    WHY THE HELL CAN I NOT USE MY MAC to set it up!???



    I'm hoping gen 2 allows standalone play.



    Regarding battery life. I live in HOT a** Arizona. I run at night, I'd hate to be tracking my run only to have my battery die out. What a mess Apple!!

    It's not the setting up that's the issue.  The ?watch is in large part just a proxy display device for the iPhone.  The phone contains the WiFi, Cellular and GPS transceivers.  I doubt much at all except apps is stored on the watch itself.  This thing needs an invisible bluetooth umbilical cord attached to something else otherwise about all it can do on it's own is tell the time and that your heart is still working.

  • Reply 139 of 242
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post





    If it already has a touchscreen then WHY OH WHY did apple add the digital crown?



    This has NOTHING to do with the touchscreen. The idea was replacing the obtrusive little wheel for navigation.

     

    Did you not watch the keynote?

     

    What do you see when you take fat fingers and put them on a tiny display? You don't see crap, because 80% of the display is being hidden and obscured by fat fingers! The Digital Crown eliminates that problem, and users have a choice. When you use the crown, you get to see 100% of what is visible on the display, not just a tiny fraction.

     

    And it's not just a touch screen, but it's also pressure sensitive! Even the iPhone and iPad doesn't have that yet.

  • Reply 140 of 242
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post

     

    The ?watch is in large part just a proxy display device for the iPhone. 


     

    Yep, the ?Watch is not a stand alone device. It's a companion piece for the iPhone.

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