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Apple Watch Series 5

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Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#191

Post by bartread »

Someone1234 wrote: post #90
ak217 wrote: post #49

For me, the single biggest problem with Apple Watch is battery life, and they seem to have done nothing to improve it. Garmin has always-on, reflective screen watches that can last for weeks on a single charge. I shouldn't need to babysit my watch.

I'm curious, does anyone with more knowledge know how Garmin are able to get so much more battery life out of their watches? Their official spec definitely lists "2 weeks" in "Smartwatch Mode" (which seems to be GPS disabled, but still heart rate tracking and similar). It is impressive and I'm curious why Apple cannot compete.

> I'm curious, does anyone with more knowledge know how Garmin are able to get so much more battery life out of their watches?

Yes, I can.

I have a Garmin 5 Plus and the reason it can get such great battery life is it's ####ing massive, with most of the volume devoted to battery. It also doesn't do a bunch of the stuff that the Apple Watch does, with all wireless connectivity requiring Bluetooth sync to your phone.

It's fairly rugged and a decent enough watch but, unless you're outdoors all the time, I wouldn't recommend it: it's bulky and somewhat ugly. I've stopped wearing it because I didn't find it that motivating in terms of keeping fit: ironically I did better before I got it, and am doing better again now I've stopped wearing it.

Also, that battery life tanks the moment you switch on GPS: then you'll be down to about 24 hours.

Overall I'd describe Garmin smartwatches as highly overrated.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#192

Post by theshrike79 »

the_watcher wrote: post #16

> all-day 18-hour battery life. Is there a standard for what "all-day" means? I think most would initially assume 24 hours, but thinking about it more, it seems reasonable to consider "can work from wake up to sleep" or "can work from sunup to sundown"/

18 hours is a practical level for smart watch battery. That way users will recharge it every night and never run out during the day.

24 hours means that people will sleep with it and forget to charge in the morning -> annoyed users.

36 hours would require charging every other night, but then you'd miss every other night's sleep tracking -> annoyed users.

There's really no way for Apple to win, unless they jump up to full 7 days or something.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#193

Post by mikecuesta »

the_watcher wrote: post #115
slg wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think all day depends on the specific device. For example, I would accept a 10 hr battery life for a laptop or wireless headphones as "all-day" because that will cover a full work day and people aren't expected to use those devices 24/7. 18 hours for "all-day" on a wearable seems reasonable if the expectation is that it will be used only when the user is awake. A complicating factor is that Watch OS 6 is supposed t…

While sleep tracking is possible the single most useful thing I could get out of a wearable, I just have never been able to sleep with a watch or band on. Until there's something as low profile as a reminder band (think Livestrong), I'm not sure if I'll be able to get sleep tracking (the Oura ring is promising, but the price point is too high for its limited applications to me).

Oura ring is a wonderful sleep tracker. While certainly a tad pricey, its incredibly effective at its given purpose. I didn't realize 1) how much quality sleep impacted my overall health and 2) how consistently quantifying sleep quality impacts daily decisions (working out, drinking, eating, etc). Highly recommended.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#194

Post by theshrike79 »

fudged71 wrote: post #170

While I am looking to upgrade to the Series 5 from a Series 1, I'm disappointed in the lack of native sleep tracking functionality... it's a glaring hole in the concept of overall health tracking. Similarly, I'd hoped they would announce some standardization to weightlifting in HealthKit. The watch and iphone health options are very cardio-centric, and every weightlifting app has implemented their own internal 1RM tr…

Native sleep tracking would mean increasing the guaranteed battery life to multiple days, or make charging a lot faster.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#195

Post by EugeneOZ »

Nextgrid wrote: post #97
selectodude wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can stream Apple Music over WiFi/cellular without the phone. Not sure if that will include Spotify at some point but I do know the new watchOS has opened up a lot of those APIs.

Apple Music is a disaster when it comes to music discovery, and frankly their app is very much behind compared to Spotify. Even on iOS it feels like a web app, something I didn’t think I’d ever say about Apple’s own, built-in app.

I feel strongly opposite - Spotify UI is a reason why I cancelled subscription. Queue management is just awful, other elements are much less intuitive than in Apple Music.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#196

Post by sbuk »

jedberg wrote: post #86
slg wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think all day depends on the specific device. For example, I would accept a 10 hr battery life for a laptop or wireless headphones as "all-day" because that will cover a full work day and people aren't expected to use those devices 24/7. 18 hours for "all-day" on a wearable seems reasonable if the expectation is that it will be used only when the user is awake. A complicating factor is that Watch OS 6 is supposed t…

> Making that functionality native would seem to recommend wearing the watch 24/7 Exactly! At this point, my expectation is that I would wear the watch at all times except when I shower in the morning, and that is when I would charge it. But it won't charge that quickly. :( Which means I either have to give up sleep tracking or activity tracking to charge it. It sounds like they need to make it so that the bands can…

> But it won't charge that quickly. :(

Long time Apple Watch owner, currently using the Series 4 - charging while in the shower is exactly how I charge my watch. It has never run out using this way.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#197

Post by peterwwillis »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #160
peterwwillis wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the software on these supercomputers is used to tell the time and display a calendar.

Also decodes and plays audio, takes ECGs, monitors movement and sleeping patterns in real-time, communicates with people on the other side of the planet using a high-bandwidth global communications network, and receives and decodes positioning signals sent from space.

And all of that requires 2 Cray supercomputers, unlike, say, the Apollo flight computer, a 2mhz cpu w/ 2048 words of ram and 36k of rom, in 1966

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#198

Post by Hamuko »

jedberg wrote: post #86
slg wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think all day depends on the specific device. For example, I would accept a 10 hr battery life for a laptop or wireless headphones as "all-day" because that will cover a full work day and people aren't expected to use those devices 24/7. 18 hours for "all-day" on a wearable seems reasonable if the expectation is that it will be used only when the user is awake. A complicating factor is that Watch OS 6 is supposed t…

> Making that functionality native would seem to recommend wearing the watch 24/7 Exactly! At this point, my expectation is that I would wear the watch at all times except when I shower in the morning, and that is when I would charge it. But it won't charge that quickly. :( Which means I either have to give up sleep tracking or activity tracking to charge it. It sounds like they need to make it so that the bands can…

As Jobs said: you're showering wrong.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#199

Post by geerlingguy »

glhaynes wrote: post #141
piffey wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why I purchased the Apple Watch. I leave my phone at home more often than not. The Watch does just basic comms and I've removed notifications of everything else. It's the essential communication/navigation device that I need and all I really want. For anything else I'd much rather open my laptop. Hoping one day it can be a standalone device.

Hoping one day it can be a standalone device With all the watchOS 6 stuff that makes it more independent (App Store on watch, iPhone-less apps, etc), I was thinking this might be the year. Oh well, bet it happens next year.

I’m optimistic too; remember the iPod and iPhone required a computer to get them set up initially too.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#200

Post by EugeneOZ »

ak217 wrote: post #49

For me, the single biggest problem with Apple Watch is battery life, and they seem to have done nothing to improve it. Garmin has always-on, reflective screen watches that can last for weeks on a single charge. I shouldn't need to babysit my watch.

I charge my Apple Watch 4+lte every 2 days. I use them on bicycle (workout app + music over bluetooth, around 2-3 hours) and take them off before I go into the bed. 35% charge is enough for one day.
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