# Apple Watch's 18 hour battery life is FAIL **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671 "2015-03-10T03:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/21 "2015-03-10T15:57:51Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > Oh boy, a smart phone that straps to your body, with 25% of the features of a normal smart phone, has a 1.5" screen, and an 18 hour battery life. > > Where does the line form!?!? I know!! They just spent 10 years telling us how great it was that they were making screens bigger every year or two, and now we get one so small it’s not worth shit. I just don’t get it. It’s OK to fail every now and then as you push the envelope of progress, so this doesn’t mean doom and gloom, necessarily, for Apple. But… chalk this one up to a learning experience and move on! ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/22 "2015-03-10T16:07:52Z")
Oh hey, I hear Apple launched a new product. Where is the sign up sheet to start the thread to complain about it. I call dibs on “I used to love Apple in XXXX, but they have really gone downhill.” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/23 "2015-03-10T16:22:09Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > Oh boy, a smart phone that straps to your body, with 25% of the features of a normal smart phone, has a 1.5" screen, and an 18 hour battery life. > > Where does the line form!?!? You don’t understand. It’s not just a simple timepiece, it’s also a weakly powered computer that you can break by accidentally banging your wrist on a door jamb! ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/24 "2015-03-10T16:40:15Z")
[From the horse’s mouth](http://apple.com/watch/battery.html): > [@](#): > > All-day battery life is based on 18 hours with the following use: 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 30-minute workout with music playback from Apple Watch via Bluetooth, over the course of 18 hours. You’ll get less if you’re working out longer (using the heart rate sensor) or listening to music more (but you only need to use the watch for music if your iPhone isn’t in Bluetooth range). If you only use it for time checking, or you don’t get a lot of notifications, or use the apps much, you can get 48 hours, or 72 hours on the power reserve mode. Charging to 80% takes about 1.5 hours (2.5 for 100%). All the testing was done on the smaller model–they indicate that the large one will probably get a little more time. To me that doesn’t seem _so_ bad, though I’m not entirely sure I have a use case to justify buying one. If someone _gave_ me one on the other hand, I’d give them a big hug and use the hell out of it. Also, comparing this to the Pebble is a little like comparing an e-ink Kindle to an iPad (or a Kindle Fire). The power requirements are less about the color and touchscreen so much as the fact that the screen emits its own light and requires power to maintain pixel state, whereas e-ink does neither. I don’t think most Android Wear smart watches are much better, in terms of battery life. It’s a category problem, not an Apple Watch problem, per se. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/25 "2015-03-10T16:41:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 18 hours isn’t even enough for “plug it in every night”. If you do a couple of days in a row with 6 hours of sleep (which is how some people operate all the time), you’re already right up against the ragged edge. And the battery life will inevitably degrade as the device ages: What’s it going to be after, say, a year? Probably not _much_ shorter… but when it’s as low as it is to start with, even a little bit less could be a big deal. The flip side to this argument is that it’s a good bet the OS will at some point be updated with better power management features. > [@Chronos](#): > > Plus, everyone has days occasionally when you either can’t recharge your devices overnight, or just forget to: If my power goes out, or I’m out camping, or I’m on a business trip and forgot to toss the charger in my bag, or if I just got home from a really long day and just want to collapse into bed immediately, I don’t want my watch to be dead. So you go a day without your watch, just like the days you forget to charge your phone. > [@Chronos](#): > > I’d say a minimum for viability for a device like a watch would be 40 hours: That’d let you miss a night occasionally, and give you some margin for when the battery weakens. If we can’t yet get that from a battery, then the technology is not yet ripe for a smart watch. I too think that getting to 2 days of use is where everyone wants to be, but almost no one except the Pebble (with its limitations) is really there yet. FWIW, [here is what Apple has to say about battery life](https://www.apple.com/watch/battery.html). Some highlights: the 18 hour figure includes 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minute app use, 30 minute workout including playing music. edit: 1 minute… so close… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/26 "2015-03-10T17:16:59Z")
None of these limitations will stop people from jamming Apple Plaza to buy the first ones. And then the second ones, with most of the (heh, heh) weak links replaced, six months later. Apple makes some very fine products, but they seem to positively delight in yanking their adoring customers’ chains as hard as possible sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/27 "2015-03-10T17:21:22Z")
Do you have to push a button for time checks, like those ancient lcd digital watches? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/28 "2015-03-10T17:30:13Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Do you have to push a button for time checks, like those ancient lcd digital watches? Only if you have the “Time” app installed. And you’re thinking of the even ancienter LED watches. The LCD ones were the marvel that _displayed the time all the time!_ ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/29 "2015-03-10T17:38:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Apple makes some very fine products, but they seem to positively delight in yanking their adoring customers’ chains as hard as possible sometimes. Really? They spend a couple of billion dollars on product development, manufacturing, and marketing just to amuse themselves laughing at the stupid customers? I’ve never gotten the impression that Apple is cynical. Arrogant? Imperious? Fanatical? Sure. Cynical? No, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/30 "2015-03-10T18:51:14Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Do you have to push a button for time checks, like those ancient lcd digital watches? The display is supposed to automatically wake when you raise/twist your wrist as you would when checking the time on a regular watch. I’d assume pressing the crown would also wake the display. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/31 "2015-03-10T19:06:33Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Are they insane?! Have they actually forgotten that absolutely no one pays the retail price for an iPhone? That the only reason they’ve sold hundreds of millions of them is because the high initial cost is subsidized & amortized by the cellphone carrier’s contracts?! The carrier subsidy for cell phones is a US-only phenomenon, but iPhones sell quite well in other countries, too. Apple also manages to sell computers for thousands of dollars, and iPads for hundreds of dollars without subsidies. I have no opinion on whether the Apple Watch will be a hit or not. Too hard to predict. But tons of people spend more than $350 on watches that do significantly less than it does, so I doubt the price is a hard barrier. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/32 "2015-03-10T19:30:09Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > The carrier subsidy for cell phones is a US-only phenomenon, but iPhones sell quite well in other countries, too. Over half of Apple’s revenue (60%?) comes from non-US business. Moreover, US carriers are (slowly) weaning us away from the subsidy model. AT&T is pushing hard on plans that are $25/month less, but require you to either bring your own phone or pay the full-price of the phone over 18-24 months. Verizon has similar plans, and I think all of T-Mobile’s plans are like that. It was a little painful when I paid $900 (including sales tax) for my new iPhone 6 Plus, but my monthly bill is much lower as a result. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/33 "2015-03-10T19:40:57Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I have no opinion on whether the Apple Watch will be a hit or not. Too hard to predict. But tons of people spend more than $350 on watches that do significantly less than it does, so I doubt the price is a hard barrier. Yeah, but those watches don’t say: I’m a geek. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/34 "2015-03-10T19:43:29Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > Really? They spend a couple of billion dollars on product development, manufacturing, and marketing just to amuse themselves laughing at the stupid customers? > > I’ve never gotten the impression that Apple is cynical. Arrogant? Imperious? Fanatical? Sure. Cynical? No, I don’t think so. I didn’t say “cynical.” I’ll take any of the others you list. They seem to have an idea it’s okay to sell fifty million half-cooked version ones to fund the version two the product should have been in the first place… and their market just keeps sucking it up. If they’re so fantabulous, maybe they could do their loving followers the courtesy of getting it right the first time. But it would be cynical to point out the loss of a guaranteed revenue cycle if they did it that way. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/35 "2015-03-10T20:30:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I didn’t say “cynical.” I’ll take any of the others you list. > > They seem to have an idea it’s okay to sell fifty million half-cooked version ones to fund the version two the product should have been in the first place… and their market just keeps sucking it up. If they’re so fantabulous, maybe they could do their loving followers the courtesy of getting it right the first time. > > But it would be cynical to point out the loss of a guaranteed revenue cycle if they did it that way. Define “getting it right the first time”. Can you name a company that put out a version 1 product, ever, that was perfect? Especially in an industry where there are constant new inventions, process improvements (Moore’s Law, anyone?), and software advances, the products are going to change over time. Which makes the idea of a perfect first release nonsensical. At some point, you have to release a product, figure out what works and what doesn’t, and iterate. People who are not early adopters should not buy the first version of a product in a new category. The early adopters of the Apple Watch will provide a lot of feedback, guaranteed. And since Apple has now sold 700 million iOS devices (75 million iPhones last quarter alone), if they sell a couple of million watches, it’ll still be a _tiny_ fraction of their user base. And next year’s model will be better, and sell more of them. Or, they’ll find that people don’t find them sufficiently useful and they can’t improve them enough to meet the need, and they’ll kill the product. That’s business. It’s cynical to think that Apple thinks their customers are stupid. And Apple would be supremely cynical if they did think that. I really don’t think they’re trying to fool people into buying stuff Apple itself thinks is useless or crappy. I think they’re trying to convince people to buy stuff they think is good (though perhaps not perfect). They may not be able to do that, because people decide the stuff inn’t worth buying, but I think they’re being sincere. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/36 "2015-03-10T20:32:12Z")
But… but… it has eight gigs of RAM! ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/37 "2015-03-10T20:35:59Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > The carrier subsidy for cell phones is a US-only phenomenon, but iPhones sell quite well in other countries, too. Apple also manages to sell computers for thousands of dollars, and iPads for hundreds of dollars without subsidies. > > I have no opinion on whether the Apple Watch will be a hit or not. Too hard to predict. But tons of people spend more than $350 on watches that do significantly less than it does, so I doubt the price is a hard barrier. But it isn’t a cellphone, a computer, or a tablet, it’s an übernerd toy\*!\* And given the prevalence of cellphones in general I’d be surprised if the percentage of people who _wear any watch at all_ anymore is all that high. And the only people who spend hundreds of dollars on watches are affluent folk who buy & wear one as a piece of jewelry, which an Apple Watch most definitely is not going to be. Not even the (extra-stupid) $10,000 solid gold version. I think it will launch with a huge fanfare, get rave reviews, and design & UI-wise be a well made piece of technology. But it will not have ‘legs’. When all is said & done it just won’t sell. And no matter their success in the past in this case Apple will fail to ‘create’ a market or demand for something that doesn’t already have an existing one… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/38 "2015-03-10T20:42:16Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > Moreover, US carriers are (slowly) weaning us away from the subsidy model. Are they? I can’t imagine why. The hide-the-salami, “only pennies a day” model is the most successful sales tool in the kit. Yes, yes, all the techno-weens with comfortable paychecks have figured out the advantages of buying a phone and then getting an un-subsidized plan, but I can’t see the other 90% of phone users grasping the issues… much less the 50% that can’t afford $2-300 for a phone up front. That the carriers are openly offering such BYO plans is just a formalization of what’s always been available if you knew to ask. The economics of selling a phone bought at wholesale to anchor a phone plan that’s essentially all profit is not going to go away. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/39 "2015-03-10T20:55:12Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > Define “getting it right the first time”. If Apple can produce a v.2 product that has substantial improvements over v.1, often within a matter of months, either they are far more inept at design and manufacturing or far more cadging on the sales side. Very, very few of their products use bleeding-edge innovations; the original iPhone was actually lauded for using “top of the curve” tech rather than more expensive, fragile, unproven stuff. The flaws are often evident to beta users and early adopters: poor battery life, shortfalls in memory, sludgy processor performance, etc. that are Magically Fixed just months later, using tech that was available at the time V.1 was released. They’ve done this over and over again. Their audience continues to buy every V.1 product they can churn out, even knowing that waiting a few months - maybe six - they can get the unbelievably wonderful improved version. The brand simply short-circuits the bottom third of the gushing reviews, where even the most chauvinistic reviewer notes the product’s flaws. I’m not saying Apple is the only one to do this - hardly. But the unending adoration of their fans and their unparalleled reputation for only the finest design and engineering doesn’t quite square with their practice of beta-testing a half-cooked version of every new product in the marketplace, when they fully know - and their market should know - that a truly acceptable version is already in the pipeline. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/40 "2015-03-10T21:13:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yeah, but those watches don’t say: I’m a geek. Apple, for better or worse, has very consciously positioned the watch as a fashion and health accessory, not a tech gadget. That’s probably why they gave a bunch of fashion magazines like Style, Vogue, Self, and of course a few Chinese ones, early access to splash the watch on their covers and spreads, not tech publications. That’s also why they had a super model as a speaker at the keynote on Monday. That’s probably also why they recently hired Angela Ahrendts away from Burberry as Apple retail chief, because they think she’ll know how to move the watches out of the Apple stores in droves. The geek/nerd factor is, at best, buried deep beneath the fashion/health aspect. About a year ago, Samsung released a [very cool looking ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1fq7gLcyos) for its Galaxy Gear watch which played up how the futuristic techy watches from Dick Tracy, Knight Rider, Star Trek were finally here. THAT was geek. But I’d bet dollars to donuts you won’t be seeing ads like that from Apple, at least not for a while. The [Apple watch ad](http://www.apple.com/watch/) running now features the band styles almost as much as the watch itself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671.md?page=3)