Please explain why you need more battery, I beg you

[yalag]

PLEASE explain why you need more battery, I beg you. Did you forget that you have to take off your watch to go to sleep anyway?!

Are you saying you don't sleep I guess? If you are putting it down, it will be charged. How hard is it to understand? What am I missing?

 

[Patriot24]

People are reacting as if they have intentionally crippled the device in some way. In reality, they are just operating within the limits of current technology.

Many of the people complaining about the battery life are also complaining about the design and size of the unit. Do you want a bigger battery or a smaller watch? These two concepts are at odds with each other.

Time and advances in technology tend to solve these problems. If the life of the battery is a deal breaker, then simply do not purchase it.

tl;dr - Don't shoot the messenger (Apple). Batteries cannot currently do what you want them to do.

 

[yalag]

People are reacting as if they have intentionally crippled the device in some way. In reality, they are just operating within the limits of current technology.

Many of the people complaining about the battery life are also complaining about the design and size of the unit. Do you want a bigger battery or a smaller watch? These two concepts are at odds with each other.

Time and advances in technology tend to solve these problems. If the life of the battery is a deal breaker, then simply do not purchase it.

tl;dr - Don't shoot the messenger (Apple). Batteries cannot currently do what you want them to do.

Why do they even want it? I don't understand. The phones were designed with 1 day battery also because YOU DONT SLEEP WITH YOUR PHONE.

 

[bandrews]

PLEASE explain why you need more battery, I beg you. Did you forget that you have to take off your watch to go to sleep anyway?!

Are you saying you don't sleep I guess? If you are putting it down, it will be charged. How hard is it to understand? What am I missing?

You don't HAVE to take off your watch to go to sleep.

 

[Julien]

We will need a TRUE all day life since you can't just plug it in as easily during the day as an iPhone. By all day that means 7am to 11pm (16+ hours) of actual heavy use.

 

[s15119]

My concern is that it won't really last all day. Say I have a day where I go for a long bike ride, I frequently start at 6AM and don't get back home till 7 or 8 PM, will my watch last that whole day with all the use it will be getting. I am also concerned with what the real world affect will be on the battery life of my phone. If my watch is using the GPS and Wifi from my phone, will my phone make it thru the day. I think that with the experience many of us have with our phones, these are legitimate concerns.

 

[Velin]

PLEASE explain why you need more battery, I beg you. Did you forget that you have to take off your watch to go to sleep anyway?!

Are you saying you don't sleep I guess? If you are putting it down, it will be charged. How hard is it to understand? What am I missing?

Because having a wristwatch that can't run continuously for even one day is stupid. And pointless. Quartz battery watches will run three to five years, continuously, on a single battery. Mechanical watches can be self-winding and go many many years; my gf has a mechanical that hasn't needed winding or service in a decade. A freaking decade.

Apple Watch isn't a wristwatch -- it's a gimped communication device sporting a wristband, with horrible battery life -- and an inability to communicate unless near a smartphone. What is the point? Just use the iPhone.

 

[Patriot24]

...Apple Watch isn't a wristwatch...

Right. So stop comparing it to one?

I think the concerns around battery life are legitimate. I just don't understand why we're comparing it to devices with far less capability and power requirements.

Want a watch that never needs to be recharged? Get a sundial.

 

[isoft7]

I think a more valid conversation to have is "why are so many trying to make apologies for the battery life of the apple watch?"

What I mean is, "about a day" is their official stance. Well, lets say it gets 16 hours with little use. Okay, that works for me. But, lets say with slightly heavy use it gets 10 hours.

Now that's not okay with me. It means I'd have to charge at work, or be left with a dead watch in the afternoon.

Simply put, Apple is not supposed to put form over function, Steve Jobs made certain that trends and public pressure was not to influence his design philosophy.

Tim Cook however is showing that he will run this company in a position of forced "catch-up" going forward. The increased screen size, the new apple watch, etc. none of these things play into their succesful mission statement that has gotten them to where they are today.

Instead, Apple is bowing to public pressure and putting form over function.

I refuse to make an apology for that.

 

[willmtaylor]

My concern is that it won't really last all day. Say I have a day where I go for a long bike ride, I frequently start at 6AM and don't get back home till 7 or 8 PM, will my watch last that whole day with all the use it will be getting. I am also concerned with what the real world affect will be on the battery life of my phone. If my watch is using the GPS and Wifi from my phone, will my phone make it thru the day. I think that with the experience many of us have with our phones, these are legitimate concerns.

Yup, and then you add putting credit cards into it with Apple pay...dealing with a dead phone at the end of the day is one thing (communication, GPS, etc.), but also not having a way to pay for things. That would be something else entirely.

 

[ditzy]

As a person who really wants the watch. I would be happier if it had longer battery life. Three or four days would be ideal. But as long as it does get at least 18 hours of battery life it's not a deal breaker.

 

[Yr Blues]

I think Apple is shooting for a day.

It seems all of their products have a sweet spot that they don't care much for improving.

The iPad will always be around 10 hours because they believe every generation should be thinner.

The Watch will always be a day, because newer generations will be thinner.

How about 24 hour + 48 standby?

 

[Velin]

Right. So stop comparing it to one?

Don't compare the Apple Watch to current watches. Got it.

I think the concerns around battery life are legitimate. I just don't understand why we're comparing it to devices with far less capability and power requirements.

What capability would that be? If you're away from an iPhone, a whole big chunk of that "capability" goes out the window.

Want a watch that never needs to be recharged? Get a sundial.

There already are solar-driven wristwatches. Citizen Eco-Drives are excellent, they recharge off sunlight or indoor light, never needs a battery or purposeful recharging. Just wear it. Or mechanicals with self-winding mechanisms, also widely available.

 

[sand_man]

I don't think we will ever see the day were a modern piece of tech gets 3-4 days battery life off a single charge.

But I do believe we only a couple of years away from seeing a drastic reduction in charging times IE 3 to 4 minutes to charge your average iPhone from 0% to 100%.

I hanker for the day when I can charge my iPad Air from empty to full in about 15 minutes.

 

[lunch]

Here's the problem.

You have to remove the watch and attach a charger to the back of it while it's charging. And you have to do this for some period of time every day.

This makes the watch unusable for those periods of time. Whether you remove it overnight or at some point during the day, it's then useless.

This is not the case for the iPhone. You can charge an iPhone in a car charger, wall charger or connected to a computer and still use it.

And many people do want to wear their watch 24-7.

I understand the limitations of battery life, but I'd rather have a smaller watch or less functionality or perhaps wireless charging and be able to wear my Apple Watch for longer periods of time.

 

[thefredelement]

I think standby is a big issue, what if you only use it here and there, put it on the night table, forget to plug it in, wake up, etc.

Maybe they'll come with some lighting to magnetic charging adapter things so you can charge where you'd normally charge your other stuff (home, work, car) - that'd be cool enough for now I think.

The Nike+ Running app seems to be a decent drain on the phone with just the phone itself (a 5 and 5s) - I wonder how the health app will do with the watch connected to it all day.

 

[Patriks7]

Apple Watch isn't a wristwatch -- it's a gimped communication device sporting a wristband, with horrible battery life -- and an inability to communicate unless near a smartphone. What is the point? Just use the iPhone.

Maybe, just maybe, there are times when taking out your iPhone isn't an option or it would be rude to? For example, you have your iPhone in your backpack or suitcase and want to check the weather or someone calls you, you just look at your wrist and don't have to take out your phone. Or, for example, you're at work or in school, same thing, incoming call or message? Just look at your wrist. Or you're driving and holy **** you left your phone in your bag in the trunk or on the back seat and someone's calling you?! Just look at your wrist. Or maybe if you do some kind of sports, like cycling, just leave your iPhone in your pack and just look at your wrist when you need some information.

Just because there's no point in the watch for you, doesn't mean there is no point in it for countless other people. If I'd have the money right now, I'd buy it day 1 just for the examples I stated above and I could think of countless more scenarios when it would be helpful. I like to have gadgets that can make my life easier, and the Watch is definitely one of them.

 

[douglasf13]

Because having a wristwatch that can't run continuously for even one day is stupid. And pointless. Quartz battery watches will run three to five years, continuously, on a single battery. Mechanical watches can be self-winding and go many many years; my gf has a mechanical that hasn't needed winding or service in a decade. A freaking decade.

Apple Watch isn't a wristwatch -- it's a gimped communication device sporting a wristband, with horrible battery life -- and an inability to communicate unless near a smartphone. What is the point? Just use the iPhone.

Why do you wear a Rolex on your wrist, when you could just have a pocket watch in your pocket, opposite your phone in the other pocket? It's because having info on the wrist is convenient. That's the whole point of wrist watches in the first place. Convenience.

As I've mentioned before, running a business in TV keeps me bombarded with texts, emails and phone calls all day. Being able to screen that stuff from my wrist will be very convenient, especially when I'm not in the office.

If you don't deal with emails, texts and phone calls all day, then I can understand the confusion of a device like this, but many are interested in this kind of thing. I wear a "dumb watch" currently, so that I can see the time without getting my phone out of my pocket. Having all the other options from the Apple Watch will be a great addition.

 

[Velin]

Maybe, just maybe, there are times when taking out your iPhone isn't an option or it would be rude to?

Smartphones are ubiquitous. They are everywhere, and people are on them all the time. The number of times per month when you can't look at a smartphone are nil. Other than personnel interviews and a movie theater, I can't think of a single time in the past six months when I couldn't look at a smartphone. Your factual predicate is false.

Further, all the things you mentioned are done by iPhone, as a standalone device with good battery life.

None of the things you mentioned can be done by Apple Watch as a standalone device, with horrible battery life.

As currently constituted, the entire thing is pointless. Until it can contain its own cellular radios and transmit/receive independently of iPhone, the device is a brick sans tether. And paying for and carrying around two devices, only one of which is necessary, is stupid.

 

[mattopotamus]

Why do you wear a Rolex on your wrist, when you could just have a pocket watch in your pocket, opposite your phone in the other pocket? It's because having info on the wrist is convenient. That's the whole point of wrist watches in the first place. Convenience.

As I've mentioned before, running a business in TV keeps me bombarded with texts, emails and phone calls all day. Being able to screen that stuff from my wrist will be very convenient, especially when I'm not in the office.

If you don't deal with emails, texts and phone calls all day, then I can understand the confusion of a device like this, but many are interested in this kind of thing. I wear a "dumb watch" currently, so that I can see the time without getting my phone out of my pocket. Having all the other options from the Apple Watch will be a great addition.

Agreed. Until you try a smart watch, you shouldn't knock it. The ability to see notifications without pulling out your phone is a massive plus. In my case I get around 30 hangout messages a day that I need to see, but I do not need to respond to.

 

[douglasf13]

Agreed. Until you try a smart watch, you shouldn't knock it. The ability to see notifications without pulling out your phone is a massive plus. In my case I get around 30 hangout messages a day that I need to see, but I do not need to respond to.

Yeah, my company's clients call me all day, my employees email me all day, and sometimes it is urgent, sometimes it isn't. Since I'm the owner, I don't need to spend a lot of time in the office, so, when I'm out and about, being able to deal with things from my wrist is great. I liked the concept when I briefly used a Pebble last year, but it didn't work quite well enough. I'm hoping the Apple Watch will be more polished.

 

[Mikael H]

PLEASE explain why you need more battery, I beg you. Did you forget that you have to take off your watch to go to sleep anyway?!

Are you saying you don't sleep I guess? If you are putting it down, it will be charged. How hard is it to understand? What am I missing?

Uhm.. Take off.. my watch?
It comes off when I shower. Not when I sleep. I like being able to tell the time without my entire bedroom shining up, and having it on the wrist means I don't have to look for it - it's right there.

 

[lunch]

Other than personnel interviews and a movie theater, I can't think of a single time in the past six months when I couldn't look at a smartphone.

There's still a need for a lot of people to have a time display on their wrist. It's simply more convenient than getting out a handheld device.

You also forget about women who often don't have all the pockets in their clothes that men have from which to discreetly pull out a phone.

 

[douglasf13]

Uhm.. Take off.. my watch?
It comes off when I shower. Not when I sleep. I like being able to tell the time without my entire bedroom shining up, and having it on the wrist means I don't have to look for it - it's right there.

I had no idea that sleeping with a watch on was common. If so, this obviously isn't the watch for you.

 

[robgendreau]

Don't see it.

You can get an incredibly sophisticated watch with all kinds of health data, navigation data, and um, a clock that even under the most strenuous conditions can do over 24 hours without a charge. And if you don't need continuous data logging and nav that whole time much much more. Check your local sporting goods stores; there are tons of them. There's a need for that so they've been in the market for a long long time.

Lots of people (including many Apple are targeting) work outside for long hours, or travel, or don't have time for the hassle of using their little charger dingus for this. There are solutions for iPhones (although a removable battery would be nice), but what about the A Watch? A line running up your arm?

And a $350 dongle for notifying you that you have an alert? seriously? Got news for you: You look just as much the tool glancing at your big ol' A Watch during a conversation as feeling a vibration and checking your phone. Or wait, maybe your boss just thinks you're bored and checking the time....

This is hardly innovation; it's a remote control for an iPhone.