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Why can't Apple, of all manufacturers, produce a watch that can last longer on a charge than one or two days? Garmins easily last a week.
by hu3 1y ago
Why can't Apple, of all manufacturers, produce a watch that can last longer on a charge than one or two days?
Garmins easily last a week.
- bangaladore 1y ago> Garmins easily last a week. I'm getting basically exactly what Garmin claims on my 45mm Venu 3-- 14 days. Wild that nobody else is even close.
- daemonologist 1y agoThe new Pebbles are also claiming two weeks (they're only just now shipping, so we'll see how that pans out): https://ericmigi.com/blog/pebble-2-duo-is-in-mass-production https://ericmigi.com/blog/pebble-2-duo-is-in-mass-production In any case I agree that it's crazy - particularly for Apple which tends to have pretty good power efficiency in its other devices.
- bangaladore 1y agoAnd even crazier about the Garmin is that functionally they seem the same as say a Galaxy watch. Good screen quality, continuous monitoring, same or better refresh rate & overall features. Pebble seems to use e-paper, larger design/battery to get there.
- tandyman 1y agoThe new whoop lasts that long, and delivers. 14 days.
- basisword 1y agoIt has no screen.
- bangaladore 1y agoWhat's impressive about Garmin is its essentially competitor to Apple Watch / Galaxy Watch feature wise but with a 5x+ battery life. No compromise.
- johnbellone 1y agoI still get a little over 24-hours on my first generation Ultra. For a device that I barely "use" I do expect a lot more battery life out of it.
- varispeed 1y agoVery much every one I know bought a smart watch, worn it for a couple of weeks, then forgot to charge yet again and then forgot where it is. None wear smart watches today. People still revert to "dumb" analogue watches or Casio stuff. For me personally smart watch is pointless. For everything it does I have a phone. Other than that, it's just another thing that I have to babysit - want to measure sleep? Oh no I forgot to charge it before bed. There goes my measurement etc. It's a cool gadget, but very much useless still.
- johnbellone 1y agoIf the Vision Pro ever takes off I'd be interested in seeing if all of these sensors on my hands could be used for more accurate gestures. But imagine by that point the sensors and models running on device will be good enough it won't matter.
- lostlogin 1y ago> It's a cool gadget, but very much useless still. For you. The health stuff is compelling and the marketing videos about lives saved are nice and all, but actual doctors are recommending Apple Watches for health monitoring.
- varispeed 1y agoIt is sold as a watch, not health watcher though. If you want to measure health, maybe dedicated device for health measurement would be better. Some doctors love kickbacks, if you know what I mean.
- lostlogin 1y agoThey aren’t paid by Apple, and if cost is no object, they recommend an Apple Watch. Unfortunately I now know this. The standalone devices are interesting, but aren’t as good. Continual monitoring is a powerful tool.
- onlyrealcuzzo 1y agoWhy can't Apple produce a watch that you don't have to use with an iPhone? There's not a shot in hell I'm ever switching from Android to iOS. People rarely do this. Theoretically, I might buy an Apple Watch or Air Pods or Apple TV if they didn't go out of their way to make them either impossible to use without an iPhone or a living nightmare.
- johnbellone 1y agoWhy would you want an Apple Watch without an iPhone? Most of the benefits are because the ecosystem is tightly integrated. I expect that there isn't a large enough market and it so happens to lock people into their other products. I haven't tried using my Air Pods on an Android phone, but they work perfectly fine on my Steam Deck (Linux).
- onlyrealcuzzo 1y ago> Why would you want an Apple Watch without an iPhone? Same reason I have a MacBook without an iPhone.
- lostlogin 1y agoHere is how I’d convert you: Open your phone copy some text, open your MacBook, paste that text. I don’t don’t do it a lot, but it’s the best.
- hu3 1y agoThat works between Android and Windows too. You just need to be signed using the same Microsoft account in both devices, and enable clipboard sync. And yeah, it's kinda useful sometimes.
- buu700 1y agoI discovered that feature by accident while doing some testing with an iOS device, and found it concerning. IIRC it wasn't too difficult to disable, but it really should be opt-in.
- berelig 1y agoSolving for a longer charge may get them some sales from holdouts who went out and bought a Garmin instead. Cramming more features that make existing Apple Watch users feel like their watches are obsolete will get them a lot more.
- beingforthebene 1y agoIsn't longer battery life a feature that makes "existing Apple Watch users feel like their watches are obsolete"?
- burnerthrow008 1y ago> Garmins easily last a week. Oh, really? https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-EECCAC99-90D6-4AB1-9A3A-EC433D3365E2/EN-US/GUID-40B16F18-75A1-4B3E-8F1A-AB4919BC9E51.html https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-EECCAC99-90D6-4... Looks like they last dramatically less than that if you buy an Garmin with comparable display and actually use the advertised features.
- nulld3v 1y agoBut that huge reduction in battery life is when you use GPS activity tracking. GPS usage on any watch will impact battery life, including the Apple Watch Ultra. Comparing both watches in activity tracking mode + AOD off, the Garmin (44h) still has 2x the battery life compared to the Apple Watch Ultra (20h).
- burnerthrow008 1y agoYou’re cherry picking again… You also get a huge reduction when you turn on SpO2 (off by default on Garmin, on by default on iWatch). Same for music, always on display, etc etc etc.
- nulld3v 1y agoMy understanding is that no smartwatch takes SpO2 readings during activity/workout tracking as the sensor is not accurate when you are in motion. The 20h number I mentioned is from the OP: "For continuous outdoor workout tracking, Apple Watch Ultra 3 now gets 20 hours of battery life in Low Power Mode with full GPS and heart rate readings." Low Power mode disables AOD and SpO2 (which is already disabled anyways during workout tracking). I doubt SpO2 is very battery intensive either, certainly it can't be worse than the heart rate sensor. Both sensors work in the same way fundamentally.
- dontlaugh 1y agoIf Apple made a watch with a smaller display and fewer features but 10-30 days of battery, I’d buy it. I always have lots of Apple devices, but won’t deal with multiple that need daily charging.
- infecto 1y agoTwo different consumer groups? I look at a garmin and have no care about a week long battery.
- whycome 1y agoI'm surprised Apple hasn't used the strap to extend the battery life. Is that a thing with an aftermarket strap or for phones from other providers?
- afavour 1y agoThis was a huge concern of mine before I got an Apple Watch but it really doesn't make a big difference to me. If anything charging every night makes it easier to remember to charge it than there being random off-days where I have to remember.
- xur17 1y agoIn normal cases I mostly agree - you can just charge it while taking a shower or something that you do every day. That said, Garmin's battery life shines when you are using it on a non-normal day. Overnight camping, and sleeping in a tent for a few nights is a good example. I'm not "taking a shower" and hence don't really have a great time to charge it. With my garmin I just leave it on, and it keeps working for the entire trip. Same thing with other "adventure" travel, flying overnight, etc.
- dvfjsdhgfv 1y ago> charging every night Funny as I bought it as they advertised sleep measurement features. I quickly realized I need to actively think about charging time and at some point I just stopped using it.
- buu700 1y agoYou could always buy two and swap them out.
- mbirth 1y agoI put it on the charger every evening when watching TV or playing games, i.e. some activities that don’t need any tracking anyways. I go to bed with the watch at 100% and it’s usually at around 30-40% when I put it on the charger again the next evening.
- basisword 1y agoI'm shocked so many people find it this difficult. Particularly to the point you abandon a $500 device. You take off the watch before showering, stick it on the charger. By the time you're dressed it's fully charged. A bit like how you wouldn't jump in the shower every morning with a mechanical watch.
- hombre_fatal 1y agoKnowing very little about the Apple Watch and Garmin, I would assume the goal of being a generic application platform means the watch needs to guarantee a higher level of cpu/gpu/sensor resources than a watch for fitness enthusiasts who only use it for tracking? Or does Garmin have all the same apps as the Apple Watch or just a much better battery?
- jamwil 1y agoYou are correct. The Garmin does less. They are different products.
- ofrzeta 1y agoThere was this discussion recently where owners of an Amazfit watch (including me) said it has great battery life https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44843888 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44843888 I could not stand having to charge my watch every day.
- mbesto 1y agoIts because Apple can't NOT have a beautiful screen and smooth FPS. Garmin uses AMOLED (ForeRunner 965) and focuses on the tradeoffs of battery life.
- cyberpunk 1y agoI only ever charge my Ultra 2 while i’m in the shower and getting ready for bed. It never runs out during the day for me, and run at least an hour a day often more. Doesn’t seem like all that big a problem tbh.
- mikestew 1y agoI’m content to charge every day, but I need the thing to be guaranteed to last the length of a slow mountain 50 miler. Remember the intro of the original Ultra, with Scott Jurek? You know Jurek, won Western States 100 (et al.) a few times? Yeah, well, us mortals sometimes need 12 hours to finish a 50 mile race with lots of elevation or desert heat (or both), and my experience says that I’m not guaranteed to get 12 hours of GPS activity tracking out of the thing without turning down GPS/HR frequency. I love my Ultra, but for big running I had to go back to Garmin. I can leave the house with it half charged and still get a good 12 hours of running out of it before it dies. OTOH, I’ve also had a Garmin 945TLE, with a cell radio in it. Fire up that cell radio, and goodbye battery life. I’ll be curious to see how that new Fenix does in the real world with its LTE radio blazing away.
- maxglute 1y agoI'm surprised they can't do a "fitness" band style watch with 2-3 week battery life... like the itouch nano tier.
- joshjob42 1y agoMy OG Ultra lasts 3 days if I turn off the always on display, which I do because it doesn't serve much of a purpose, I can just tap the watch to wake it. It charges from 0 to full in 1.5 hours, pretty linearly, so dropping it on the charger for half an hour or an hour while I'm on a work call every other day or so keeps it plenty charged. This one will have even more battery life, and gets 12 hours of use in 15 minutes, which I suspect will mean for me without the always on display I may well be able to charge it only while I'm actively in the shower (when I'd take it off anyway as I hate wet bands) and be good for the day.
- mvdtnz 1y agoI'd throw my Garmin in the bin if it lasted a week. I get 18 days from a charge, and that's if I'm not getting much sun. Garmin Instinct 2X Solar.