# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/41 "2015-03-10T22:47:36Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > 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. This. Also, plenty of people spent more on the un-subsidized ipad. I think battery life will probably be less of a problem than for a phone, especially if the power reserve mode works well. If your phone dies, you’re unreachable and can’t make calls. If your watch dies (or falls back to a time display only) then you still have your phone. The Apple watch has potential problems, but price and battery life (if it works as they claim) aren’t big ones. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/42 "2015-03-10T22:49:03Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 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. When has Apple ever released a v2 device within six months? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/43 "2015-03-10T23:16:42Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 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!_ Oddly enough, LED watches have come back a bit. You still have to press a button, but they’re rechargeable now, and the LEDs are super bright and colourful. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/44 "2015-03-10T23:39:13Z")
I was thoroughly wrong about the ipad. Could not have been more wrong. In aviation alone it was a huge leap forward in utility value. The charging aspect of it shouldn’t matter. It’s not a watch. It’s a computer that takes up space where people use to wear watches. And damn if it doesn’t also tell time. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/45 "2015-03-11T01:43:37Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > When has Apple ever released a v2 device within six months? In recent years, pretty much the closest examples I can think of is the jump from the 3rd gen iPad to the 4th, which was March to November 2012. So that was still 8 months. There was only a 3 month gap between the last G5 iMac and the first Intel iMac, but that was almost 10 years ago and nobody was expecting it. And anyway neither is an example of a v2 device which is clearly what Amateur Barbarian is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/46 "2015-03-11T02:25:55Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. So now if you want the time you have to dig the phone out of your pocket, open the case (if it’s a flip-top), and then you can read the time. Wow! That’s just like my grandfather used to do it with his wind-up pocket watch. And this is called progress? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/47 "2015-03-11T04:24:06Z")
But using a cellphone for the time means one can dispense with a watch, one less piece of junk to lug around. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/48 "2015-03-11T06:00:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > WTF are you doing to get 48 hours per charge? No wi-fi, no location services, black and white screen, and power-saving mode on 24/7? Do you have wacky Tasker profiles set up to finely tune everything just-so? > > Or do you literally only use your phone as a phone, and all it does is sit there and idle in your pocket until you call someone? > > I probably get somewhere in the ballpark of 30-35 hours of standby time, but actually using the phone eats that fairly fast. That’s 48 hours standby time. I don’t use my phone more than a few minutes every day, so in practice, around 40-42 hours with use. I have WiFi on, but not Bluetooth or anything else. Locations and updates are on demand only. And I have an all-black lockout & background screen. I have colour, but other power saving features turned on. _Very few_ apps running in the background, especially not Google Play, which is\* by far \*the biggest battery hog. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/49 "2015-03-11T06:57:38Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > 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. Bingo. It’s not a tech item. Cell phones tell the time just fine. The Apple Watch is a piece of jewelry, a luxury item, and is being marketed as such. Rolex watches are pointless as well from a certain perspective. Apple is also selling a $1000 and $10,000 model. So $350 (for something of dubious utility) isn’t so bad. Right? Right? Work with me here. > **[How a $10,000 Apple Watch could change how people see smartwatches](https://www.vox.com/2015/3/9/8177185/apple-iwatch-luxury-tesla)** > > Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology,... ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/50 "2015-03-11T11:59:32Z")
> [@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!?!? outside of Apple stores, like usual. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/51 "2015-03-11T12:05:49Z")
There has been some talk that the watch automatically goes into a power save mode where it doesn’t do notifications and such anymore, so “18 hours of battery life” doesn’t mean “turns into a paper weight after 18 hours”. What probably happens is that if you get up at 6, under Apple’s usage level, around 10 the watch reaches 10% charge and then it goes into power save and still tell time for 7 more hours. I do agree that 18 hours isn’t much. What if you have a long flight? Then you can easily be awake for 26 hours straight. But they’re probably being somewhat conservative, like they usually are with battery figures. Also, the big version is supposed to have better battery life. I think in practice you’re going to be ok unless you use demanding applications such as workout tracking or audio playback a lot, or have unusually many notifications. The way I use my iPhone, I can just about make it through a second day if I skip charging it overnight. That’s about the best battery vs size/weight compromise, IMO. But that still means you normally charge the device every night. I have bluetooth headphones that will last a day or three on a charge, but this is actually not ideal, as that allows you to forget to charge them and then they run out of juice at inopportune times. However, it’s very important that all of this works out in practice. With a phone it’s not a big deal to connect it to a charger at some point during the day, but to charge the watch you have to take it off and then you can’t use it as intended. So it _has_ to make it through the day 98% of the time even with relatively heavy use. ---
**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 11, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/52 "2015-03-11T13:11:22Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > But using a cellphone for the time means one can dispense with a watch, one less piece of junk to lug around. > [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Bingo. It’s not a tech item. Cell phones tell the time just fine. The Apple Watch is a piece of jewelry, a luxury item, and is being marketed as such. Rolex watches are pointless as well from a certain perspective. > > Apple is also selling a $1000 and $10,000 model. So $350 (for something of dubious utility) isn’t so bad. Right? Right? Work with me here. [URL=“[How a $10,000 Apple Watch could change how people see smartwatches | Vox](http://www.vox.com/2015/3/9/8177185/apple-iwatch-luxury-tesla/in/7940278)”] Aside from all the straight-up tech issues, I find all this hilariously bizarre. It is almost impossible to cram enough tech into a watch to make it a truly useful “smart thing”; so far, the best of them are just slave elements to a smart phone. They aren’t attractive unless you think those 80mm men’s wrist-shield/third testicles are attractive. Watches have fallen almost completely out of fashion because the younger and fashionista crowd now has a smart phone in their hand every waking minute. (Which makes the arguments about “you have to get your phone out to see what time it is” pretty silly.) And if anyone wants a tech-y device to wear on their wrist to show their exquisite taste, fashion sense and wealth… I think the market’s already glutted. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/53 "2015-03-11T13:40:50Z")
that’s the one thing which strikes me about this; it’s an uncharacteristically “me-too” product from Apple. ---
**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 11, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/54 "2015-03-11T13:49:22Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > that’s the one thing which strikes me about this; it’s an uncharacteristically “me-too” product from Apple. Not really. For every product Apple has produced that’s new and niche-defining, there’s at least one that’s very much “well, ours is second but it’s so, _so_ much better.” Which often creates a kind of selective amnesia, and it’s not long before Big A is widely credited with their sparkling and unto-godlike innovation. ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/55 "2015-03-11T14:24:57Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > But using a cellphone for the time means one can dispense with a watch, one less piece of junk to lug around. Not if your battery is dead, you’re riding a bike, or you’re in any situation where the phone needs to be turned off. I wear a watch for all these reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/56 "2015-03-11T14:46:28Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > When has Apple ever released a v2 device within six months? The only example I can think of was the original release of OS X, way back in 2001. Everyone knew it was so dog-slow it was really just a proof-of-concept. Almost exactly six months later, they released the free upgrade to 10.1, which made it a usable OS (if still not a terribly responsive one). You could argue that Apple simply should have spent the time optimizing it and made 10.1 the official “first” release. But Apple had been struggling for so long to ship a new OS that they evidently felt they couldn’t afford to wait. So the early adopters (like me!) ended up being essentially testers of a second beta release. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/57 "2015-03-11T14:54:47Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Apple, for better or worse, has very consciously positioned the watch as a fashion and health accessory, not a tech gadget. Actually, that’s more or less the direction they’ve been taking for nearly 2 decades now- from the iMac forward. They’ve deliberately concentrated on making the products cool, hip, stylish and “easy”, and making a huge point of those three things. Never mind that it may not be the most technically advanced product on the market- it’s certainly the coolest. They almost never go head-to-head on technical specs or capabilities as a primary strategy. And it works; probably 90% of smartphone users aren’t concerned with whether or not the iPhone has bleeding-edge stuff like the Android phones tend to, but they are concerned with whether the phone is “cool” and looks cool, and works adequately. It’s not that theirs is marketed as “better” necessarily, it’s marketed as “cooler” and “easier” and “it works”. Which may or may not be the case, but that’s the Apple marketing noise. That’s what they’re doing with their watch; but what I haven’t really determined is whether or not the market for a smart watch is as big as they think. I agree with whoever said that most people already have a smartphone, so what’s the big deal with having a watch also? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/58 "2015-03-11T15:32:02Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Aside from all the straight-up tech issues, I find all this hilariously bizarre. It is almost impossible to cram enough tech into a watch to make it a truly useful “smart thing”; so far, the best of them are just slave elements to a smart phone. They aren’t attractive unless you think those 80mm men’s wrist-shield/third testicles are attractive. Watches have fallen almost completely out of fashion because the younger and fashionista crowd now has a smart phone in their hand every waking minute. (Which makes the arguments about “you have to get your phone out to see what time it is” pretty silly.) > > And if anyone wants a tech-y device to wear on their wrist to show their exquisite taste, fashion sense and wealth… I think the market’s already glutted. You know those arm (bicep) bands that runners wear to hold their phone (music) when they run? If you cinch the Velcro a little bit tighter will it stay put on your wrist? Your ‘watch’ would do everything your phone does - because it is your phone, you wouldn’t need to charge a second item, & the best part is they only cost $25-$40! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/59 "2015-03-11T15:50:13Z")
The idea that Apple products are marketed as “cool” is a huge myth. OK, let me dial that back a bit: the iPod was marketed that way, back when it actually was marketed. Ditto the notebooks, because Apple never talks about tech specs in their ads and there’s not much else you can do with a notebook but show it off. But as for the iPhone and the iPad, the advertising almost exclusively focuses on **what you can do with the device**. The explicit message of the ads is not, “Buy this and you’ll be cool”; it’s “Buy this and your life will be easier and better, and here’s why.” (Is there anything remotely cool about [this ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhwhnEe7CjE)?) Android device marketing, by contrast, is almost exclusively empty style, collections of signifiers meant to entice tech geeks. Apple are not the ones trying to sell devices by making people feel cool. And I’m [not the only one to notice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK_M5gRMP1I). (And while I agree with the overall thesis in the last linked video, he’s wrong to say iPhones appeal to people “who don’t do a lot with their phones.” iPhone users [use their phones more](http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2014/08/03/ios-users-seven-times-more-active-than-android-users-suggests-net-applications/) than Android users.) ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671/60 "2015-03-11T17:15:28Z")
Bringing it back to the watch, I came across [a very insightful piece](http://stratechery.com/2015/apple-make-wearable-market/) by Ben Thompson this morning. His basic thesis is that the true utility of wearables has barely begun to be realized, largely because there’s no wearable product that enough people want to wear to give the category critical mass. Relevant excerpt: [Quote=Ben Thompson] It’s on this point specifically that most critics – including myself – have failed to appreciate Apple’s approach. After last fall’s presentation [I compared the Watch’s introduction](http://stratechery.com/2014/apple-watch-asking-saying/) to that of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad and found it lacking for its lack of focus on functionality. What I now appreciate, though, is that this was almost certainly on purpose: there was focus in that keynote, it just happened to be on the Watch’s appearance; since I’m a geek I dismissed it, but normal consumers, especially in the case of a wearable, absolutely will not. […] The number one problem with most wearables is that no one wants to wear them. Apple rightly addressed this problem first, and it’s fascinating how we in the industry all just kind of wrote it off as some sort of dalliance with the fashion world. In fact, anyone seeking success in the category would have no choice but to do the same. [/quote] The true value of Apple Watch, Thompson argues, will be apparent several years from now, when you can use your watch to not only pay for your groceries but unlock your house or start your car; automatically adjust your house’s climate depending on what room you’re in; boot/wake your computer as you’re walking to your desk in the morning; and so on. Interesting stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-watchs-18-hour-battery-life-is-fail/714671.md?page=4)