People might need to buy an extra charger for the office or car. I currently have 4 chargers for my iPhone. Home, office, car, briefcase. It would be nice if the ?Watch could use those chargers.
I wouldn't mind separate cables but it would be nice if the box that plugged into the outlet were compatible. Ditto: home, office, briefcase.
Or perhaps a coin-sized Lightning-compatible magnetic adapter you could keep in your pocket and plug into an existing iPhone cable. The reason I have so many chargers is because they are difficult to unplug. At home the outlet is behind the bed, at the office it is on a power strip behind the monitor and in my car they put the USB inside the center console which is hard to reach when seated, so I just keep them all plugged in with the cable within reach.
Having different cables does not do it for me because I would have to reach behind stuff to swap out the cable that is already plugged in.
People might need to buy an extra charger for the office or car. I currently have 4 chargers for my iPhone. Home, office, car, briefcase. It would be nice if the ?Watch could use those chargers.
I wouldn't mind separate cables but it would be nice if the box that plugged into the outlet were compatible. Ditto: home, office, briefcase.
Or perhaps a coin-sized Lightning-compatible magnetic adapter you could keep in your pocket and plug into an existing iPhone cable. The reason I have so many chargers is because they are difficult to unplug. At home the outlet is behind the bed, at the office it is on a power strip behind the monitor and in my car they put the USB inside the center console which is hard to reach when seated, so I just keep them all plugged in with the cable within reach.
Having different cables does not do it for me because I would have to reach behind stuff to swap out the cable that is already plugged in.
I do the same—keeping them all plugged in with the cables attached sitting ready. I suspect lots are like us.
If it only lasted 4 hours you'd still buy it and insist anyone who didn't find that satisfactory a troll. Just sayin.
If you stare at the active screen on Apple Watch for more than 4 hours a day, you probably have a ridiculous life. Most people don't even use their phone more than 2 hours/day. Mixed use for 19 hrs is considered good enough and it's today standard for wearable devices.
Some people may choose this philosophy. I personally would like to try new tech that works great with my other stuff. I also find Apple Watch appealing. So I don't mind spending ~$400 on it.
"19 hours of mixed usage" sounds about right for how I will use it, and that already gets me through a whole day, which is all I care about. So already with Gen 1, they appear to have nailed all that is needed.
"Nailed all that is needed" for you maybe! Don't get me wrong, I'll be buying one for sure and possibly a second one.
I'm sure they've done the best they can with battery life and that its likely better than any of their "real" competitors - but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement in my eyes. One of the best features of the watch is the taptic feedback instead of vibrating - which makes it ideal for wearing to bed and using as a totally silent alarm that wakes the wearer, but not the spouse that starts work an hour or two later. That feature is useless if I have to charge it at night.
Apple will never do this - but I would love it if there were a way to pop in a new fully charged battery when the first one ran low. Hopefully there will be a quick charger that can charge it sufficiently for the work day during the time it takes to have a shower - that's unlikely too - so for my use case, I guess I'll be charging it in the car on the way to work.
It will be a great product and I can't wait to get one - but I'm not quite sure I'd claim that they "nailed it".
No, the beauty of a high end watch is that it is a precision instrument with a certain amount of timeless aesthetics that make it worth holding onto for decades while developing character and a personal history/sentimental value for the wearer.
More than a consumer-grade watch, a high-end watch is a piece of jewelry.
Whether you have to wind/charge it or not is irrelevant. Note that the mechanical wind Omega Speedmaster (the same one used by NASA astronauts) still requires manual winding since automatic movements do not work properly in a zero gravity environment. This particular model goes for about $3,700 on Amazon.com.
Ah yes - love my manned space mission qualified 1976 speedmaster - plastic crystal and all!
I've had a MacBook, iPhone and iPad from day one. Upgrade them about every other generation. I have NEVER gotten anywhere near close to the advertised battery life on any of them.
If Apple says 19 hours, that's under OPTIMAL conditions based on their previous history of battery life predictions. The reality is people tend to use their devices far more rigorously in the field. What's more, Apple will more than likely push all the nifty power-consuming features in marketing and advertising which only encourages their use in addition to a users normal daily activities.
But good luck to all those people who line up all their Apple devices at night to be recharged -- MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and now ?Watch. Perhaps people will buy TWO ?Watches -- one for daytime, and one for night!! Take the one off you wore to bed, and charge during the day, swapping it out with your day-use watch. Then have additional charges for the car, and office, so if you do happen to be an aggressive user, you can get in your car, take off your watch, put it on the charger, put your iPhone on the charger, then start your car. Then when you stop at the market on your way home, you can take your watch off the charger, unplug your iPhone, re-sync the ?Pay feature, go in, buy your Milk, then do it all over again for the drive home. How did we ever live without this miracle!
Actually, Apple on its IOS device has a tendency to be CONSERVATIVE in its stated battery time. It said 10h for the Air, when in fact it got to almost 12h. So, why do you think they'd BS people now?
How long something lasts is heavily dependent on use. If someone uses the watch only for time keeping it would last 3-4 days, but so what, would you buy it for that.
With certain games I can kill a phone in 5h, does it mean the phone's a failure because of that? That a watch can do intense work for half the time a phone can do intense work is pretty good considering the size of the battery and the fact it drives a screen with as much pixels as the 3GS I still own and has a faster processor!.
"Nailed all that is needed" for you maybe! Don't get me wrong, I'll be buying one for sure and possibly a second one.
I'm sure they've done the best they can with battery life and that its likely better than any of their "real" competitors - but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement in my eyes. One of the best features of the watch is the taptic feedback instead of vibrating - which makes it ideal for wearing to bed and using as a totally silent alarm that wakes the wearer, but not the spouse that starts work an hour or two later. That feature is useless if I have to charge it at night.
Apple will never do this - but I would love it if there were a way to pop in a new fully charged battery when the first one ran low. Hopefully there will be a quick charger that can charge it sufficiently for the work day during the time it takes to have a shower - that's unlikely too - so for my use case, I guess I'll be charging it in the car on the way to work.
It will be a great product and I can't wait to get one - but I'm not quite sure I'd claim that they "nailed it".
Considering the size of the battery, a 30 min charge is the battery isn't fully dead would be possible.
Definitely a tough product to properly state battery life.
There is no defined pattern of usage.
But its definitely not a product you stare at with the screen on for hours or even minutes at a time. Like every watch that came before it, you glance at it when you need to. Even adding the actionable notifications into the mix, your interaction with it will still be minuscule compared to an iPhone.
The problem I'd see with having such low battery life with prolonged usage is that whenever people buy the device, they're going to use it more than usual so it might leave a poor first impression. You could imagine someone buying one in the morning or early afternoon, getting it home, either fully charging it or using it out of the box and it'll be dead before late afternoon because they'll be playing with all the features. It'll charge fairly quickly but they'll start using it again and it'll run out in the evening. The Moto 360 takes about 2 hours to charge from a flat battery according to Motorola.
People who bought the 360 had similar problems when they first bought the watch where it didn't last the whole day but Motorola must have done some usage profiling and pushed out optimizations so users are getting more than a day now:
All I know is... 2.5 hr between charges is bullcrap. Maybe someone should qualify/quantify "heavy use." I'll happily eat my words if they make this work well... Initially, I was pretty excited about the Apple Watch. Now, I can't imagine having a watch that last somewhere between 2.5hrs to 19 hrs before requiring a charge. For those in my group/profession who work 30-hour shifts, it won't fly! I also occasionally travel abroad (Philippines, mostly). There, recharging isn't so easy depending on where you are.
Excitement is shifting to disappointment. I'm sure they will eventually get it right, but I'm not very hopeful that the Generation 1 Apple Watch will do so.
Maybe they will prove me wrong and I won't be able to live without it. I would LOVE that!
The problem I'd see with having such low battery life with prolonged usage is that whenever people buy the device, they're going to use it more than usual so it might leave a poor first impression.
I don't think people are that stupid. Even kids know when they get a new battery-powered toy that they tend to use it excessively when it's new.
Isn't the beauty of a high end watch supposed to be NOT having to wind(charge) it?
No, the beauty of a high end watch is that it is a precision instrument with a certain amount of timeless aesthetics that make it worth holding onto for decades while developing character and a personal history/sentimental value for the wearer.
More than a consumer-grade watch, a high-end watch is a piece of jewelry.
Whether you have to wind/charge it or not is irrelevant. Note that the mechanical wind Omega Speedmaster (the same one used by NASA astronauts) still requires manual winding since automatic movements do not work properly in a zero gravity environment. This particular model goes for about $3,700 on Amazon.com.
The vast majority of mass-market watches have quartz movements. It is highly unusual to find a manual winding watch under $200, at least the ones marketed here in the USA.
I can't recall any astronauts that have experienced zero-gravity. But why would a spring-driven watch not work in zero-gravity anyway?
Sounds like a bogus rumor to me. May even be one floated by Apple so that when the real thing comes out the actual battery time will look outstanding. ????
Comments
People might need to buy an extra charger for the office or car. I currently have 4 chargers for my iPhone. Home, office, car, briefcase. It would be nice if the ?Watch could use those chargers.
I wouldn't mind separate cables but it would be nice if the box that plugged into the outlet were compatible. Ditto: home, office, briefcase.
Or perhaps a coin-sized Lightning-compatible magnetic adapter you could keep in your pocket and plug into an existing iPhone cable. The reason I have so many chargers is because they are difficult to unplug. At home the outlet is behind the bed, at the office it is on a power strip behind the monitor and in my car they put the USB inside the center console which is hard to reach when seated, so I just keep them all plugged in with the cable within reach.
Having different cables does not do it for me because I would have to reach behind stuff to swap out the cable that is already plugged in.
Why couldn't it mean January? Sounds like early 2015 to me.
I do the same—keeping them all plugged in with the cables attached sitting ready. I suspect lots are like us.
It good but it could also mean February or even March IMO.
If it only lasted 4 hours you'd still buy it and insist anyone who didn't find that satisfactory a troll. Just sayin.
If you stare at the active screen on Apple Watch for more than 4 hours a day, you probably have a ridiculous life. Most people don't even use their phone more than 2 hours/day. Mixed use for 19 hrs is considered good enough and it's today standard for wearable devices.
Yikes. 2.5 hrs is unacceptable under any conditions (other than holding down the "emergency battery drain" button).
People will look like idiots walking around with dead devices strapped to their wrists (or worse; rolled-up inside their coat pocket).
And people still look like idiots walking around with eyes staring on the live devices strapped on their wrists the whole time.
Apple's biggest failure in the making - right up there with the Lisa and the iPod Hi-Fi:
- fugly;
- bulky;
- ridiculous battery life for a timepiece.
And Moto360: More fugly, more bulky and same ridiculous battery life for a time piece.
They could use the built in accelerometer to generate power.
Would give a new meaning to 'one off the wrist'!
Dobby
Some people may choose this philosophy. I personally would like to try new tech that works great with my other stuff. I also find Apple Watch appealing. So I don't mind spending ~$400 on it.
"Nailed all that is needed" for you maybe! Don't get me wrong, I'll be buying one for sure and possibly a second one.
I'm sure they've done the best they can with battery life and that its likely better than any of their "real" competitors - but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement in my eyes. One of the best features of the watch is the taptic feedback instead of vibrating - which makes it ideal for wearing to bed and using as a totally silent alarm that wakes the wearer, but not the spouse that starts work an hour or two later. That feature is useless if I have to charge it at night.
Apple will never do this - but I would love it if there were a way to pop in a new fully charged battery when the first one ran low. Hopefully there will be a quick charger that can charge it sufficiently for the work day during the time it takes to have a shower - that's unlikely too - so for my use case, I guess I'll be charging it in the car on the way to work.
It will be a great product and I can't wait to get one - but I'm not quite sure I'd claim that they "nailed it".
When is Apple ever going to get that a bad idea is a bad idea.
Walk away.
Right up there with the genius behind the backup power supply at Fukushima.
I've had a MacBook, iPhone and iPad from day one. Upgrade them about every other generation. I have NEVER gotten anywhere near close to the advertised battery life on any of them.
If Apple says 19 hours, that's under OPTIMAL conditions based on their previous history of battery life predictions. The reality is people tend to use their devices far more rigorously in the field. What's more, Apple will more than likely push all the nifty power-consuming features in marketing and advertising which only encourages their use in addition to a users normal daily activities.
But good luck to all those people who line up all their Apple devices at night to be recharged -- MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and now ?Watch. Perhaps people will buy TWO ?Watches -- one for daytime, and one for night!! Take the one off you wore to bed, and charge during the day, swapping it out with your day-use watch. Then have additional charges for the car, and office, so if you do happen to be an aggressive user, you can get in your car, take off your watch, put it on the charger, put your iPhone on the charger, then start your car. Then when you stop at the market on your way home, you can take your watch off the charger, unplug your iPhone, re-sync the ?Pay feature, go in, buy your Milk, then do it all over again for the drive home. How did we ever live without this miracle!
Actually, Apple on its IOS device has a tendency to be CONSERVATIVE in its stated battery time. It said 10h for the Air, when in fact it got to almost 12h. So, why do you think they'd BS people now?
How long something lasts is heavily dependent on use. If someone uses the watch only for time keeping it would last 3-4 days, but so what, would you buy it for that.
With certain games I can kill a phone in 5h, does it mean the phone's a failure because of that? That a watch can do intense work for half the time a phone can do intense work is pretty good considering the size of the battery and the fact it drives a screen with as much pixels as the 3GS I still own and has a faster processor!.
"Nailed all that is needed" for you maybe! Don't get me wrong, I'll be buying one for sure and possibly a second one.
I'm sure they've done the best they can with battery life and that its likely better than any of their "real" competitors - but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement in my eyes. One of the best features of the watch is the taptic feedback instead of vibrating - which makes it ideal for wearing to bed and using as a totally silent alarm that wakes the wearer, but not the spouse that starts work an hour or two later. That feature is useless if I have to charge it at night.
Apple will never do this - but I would love it if there were a way to pop in a new fully charged battery when the first one ran low. Hopefully there will be a quick charger that can charge it sufficiently for the work day during the time it takes to have a shower - that's unlikely too - so for my use case, I guess I'll be charging it in the car on the way to work.
It will be a great product and I can't wait to get one - but I'm not quite sure I'd claim that they "nailed it".
Considering the size of the battery, a 30 min charge is the battery isn't fully dead would be possible.
The problem I'd see with having such low battery life with prolonged usage is that whenever people buy the device, they're going to use it more than usual so it might leave a poor first impression. You could imagine someone buying one in the morning or early afternoon, getting it home, either fully charging it or using it out of the box and it'll be dead before late afternoon because they'll be playing with all the features. It'll charge fairly quickly but they'll start using it again and it'll run out in the evening. The Moto 360 takes about 2 hours to charge from a flat battery according to Motorola.
People who bought the 360 had similar problems when they first bought the watch where it didn't last the whole day but Motorola must have done some usage profiling and pushed out optimizations so users are getting more than a day now:
https://gigaom.com/2014/09/29/users-report-vastly-improved-moto-360-battery-life-after-latest-update/
It will also be down to them using the watch as it was intended to be used after owning it for a while.
All I know is... 2.5 hr between charges is bullcrap. Maybe someone should qualify/quantify "heavy use." I'll happily eat my words if they make this work well... Initially, I was pretty excited about the Apple Watch. Now, I can't imagine having a watch that last somewhere between 2.5hrs to 19 hrs before requiring a charge. For those in my group/profession who work 30-hour shifts, it won't fly! I also occasionally travel abroad (Philippines, mostly). There, recharging isn't so easy depending on where you are.
Excitement is shifting to disappointment. I'm sure they will eventually get it right, but I'm not very hopeful that the Generation 1 Apple Watch will do so.
Maybe they will prove me wrong and I won't be able to live without it. I would LOVE that!
Roake
I don't think people are that stupid. Even kids know when they get a new battery-powered toy that they tend to use it excessively when it's new.
Isn't the beauty of a high end watch supposed to be NOT having to wind(charge) it?
No, the beauty of a high end watch is that it is a precision instrument with a certain amount of timeless aesthetics that make it worth holding onto for decades while developing character and a personal history/sentimental value for the wearer.
More than a consumer-grade watch, a high-end watch is a piece of jewelry.
Whether you have to wind/charge it or not is irrelevant. Note that the mechanical wind Omega Speedmaster (the same one used by NASA astronauts) still requires manual winding since automatic movements do not work properly in a zero gravity environment. This particular model goes for about $3,700 on Amazon.com.
The vast majority of mass-market watches have quartz movements. It is highly unusual to find a manual winding watch under $200, at least the ones marketed here in the USA.
I can't recall any astronauts that have experienced zero-gravity. But why would a spring-driven watch not work in zero-gravity anyway?