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Apple Watch Series 5

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Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#321

Post by ip26 »

dmamills wrote: post #280

This is a big let down for me. I love endurance sports and currently use a S3+LTE with bluetooth headphones and it's the perfect running companion. I don't have to carry anything to track to run and listen to my music, podcasts, or audiobooks. But I was really expecting more innovation from the "by innovation only" event. Garmin's flagship watch has a feature that extends the battery life by embedded TWO SOLAR PANELS…

At this point it seems pretty clear that if you are serious about endurance sport, you should get a sport watch, not a smart watch. The sport watches can even play music over bluetooth these days.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#322

Post by dkonofalski »

ctdonath wrote: post #285
gambiting wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean to be sarcastic - but how is sleep tracking useful? What practical benefit do you get out of knowing how long/how you sleep?

When you wake up exhausted (or not) you can see what/when contributed to that. I used such for a couple years. Best part was specifying what time range I wanted to wake up, and it would watch for the best actual time to wake me. Much happier mornings then.

This is what I miss too. Sleep Cycle alarm clock used to do that for me but it stopped working a little while ago and I can't figure out why.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#323

Post by dmamills »

endorphone wrote: post #290
dmamills wrote: post #280

This is a big let down for me. I love endurance sports and currently use a S3+LTE with bluetooth headphones and it's the perfect running companion. I don't have to carry anything to track to run and listen to my music, podcasts, or audiobooks. But I was really expecting more innovation from the "by innovation only" event. Garmin's flagship watch has a feature that extends the battery life by embedded TWO SOLAR PANELS…

You don't have to carry anything to listen to music, podcasts, or audio books with the wifi-only Apple Watch (beyond the bluetooth earphones, presumably), and it tracks your run too. The thing has 16GB of storage and a full ability to exist by itself. I've never used the S3, or the Garmin, so I have no idea how great they are, but I just had to comment on the Apple Watch thing. There are some things that the Apple Wa…

This is true, the only reason I noted the LTE was because this gives me access to my entire Apple Music library on the go. Perfect for the indecisive listener like me! :)

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#324

Post by ses1984 »

sbuk wrote: post #196
jedberg wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Some people are in and out of the shower in less than 5 minutes, others 60 minutes.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#326

Post by ilikehurdles »

Someone wrote: post #300
dmamills wrote: post #280

This is a big let down for me. I love endurance sports and currently use a S3+LTE with bluetooth headphones and it's the perfect running companion. I don't have to carry anything to track to run and listen to my music, podcasts, or audiobooks. But I was really expecting more innovation from the "by innovation only" event. Garmin's flagship watch has a feature that extends the battery life by embedded TWO SOLAR PANELS…

”Garmin's flagship watch has a feature that extends the battery life” By about 15%, according to that page. Anybody know how realistic Garmin’s battery estimates normally are or have a pointer to a real world test? I find it hard to believe that a watch’s face would be facing the sun a lot, even when not wearing a coat or long-sleeved shirt.

I have a Garmin FR 945, keep most sensors on all the time. I used it on a 2-day, 25 mile hike while recording everything and using its navigation and maps to figure out where I was on the trail for a good chunk of it, about 11-12 hours of recording, and it still didnt hit low battery by the end of the next day.

Generally I charge it every night or every other night so I don't know how long it stacks up against its estimates, but with some activities sprinkled in I think it's fair to say that a "1 week" estimate is closer to "4-5 days" if you’re active, depending on how long you're actively recording activities for during that time. As a plain smart-watch without tracking an activity or listening to music, it's down about 10% at the end of the day on those sedentary days, so I think that’s pretty in line with its numbers

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#327

Post by snailmailman »

Mayzie wrote: post #259
theshrike79 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Honestly, all I want is something that I can put on charge once during the day, for 30 minutes while showering, and have it last until the following nights shower. I want it to track sleep, and monitor health. That's it at least. My Fitbit Versa works perfectly for this, and hey, it has a bonus that if I forget to charge it one night or over a weekend, it still lasts! No interrupted heartrate monitoring or sleep trac…

I do this with my Apple Watch S3 and it works just fine. Maybe a bit more than 30 minutes in the morning? I don’t keep track. I leave it off for shower and breakfast.

Granted, there’s no native sleep tracking (yet?) but there are some 3rd party apps.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#328

Post by dkonofalski »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #44
charlesju wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this sentiment. But then I discovered the Fitbit has a 7 day battery life. That's a game changer.

I got a Fitbit for this reason but I've been incredibly dissatisfied with the quality. I'm now on my 3rd device in ~6 months. First one stopped taking a charge, second the screen went out. Hopefully the 3rd time is the charm

I had the same experience with multiple FitBit devices. Every single one of them had to be replaced, after only a few months, within the warranty period. The only device I ever owned that didn't need a warranty replacement was a FitBit Aria scale and that was a return/replace with the store after the first one was DOA.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#329

Post by dkonofalski »

drusepth wrote: post #174
GordonS wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quite like the idea of a smart watch, but having to charge it every day is much less appealing.

This is why I stopped wearing mine. You can have the coolest stand in the world on your nightstand that makes it super easy to plop onto every night, but having yet another device you have to mentally track the battery for just isn't worth it.

>mentally track the battery for

Meaning what? I can't even think of a single time where I actually had to think about what the battery level is and I only charge it while I'm in the shower in the morning.

Re: Apple Watch Series 5

#330

Post by lalaithion »

emptybits wrote: post #137
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"/

Yeah, I was a little sad reading this. But I just dug into the specs for my Series 3 and it's only advertised as "18+ hours" also, yet I get 23+ hours from it even after a year and a half of true "all day" use. I wear it for sleep tracking with the AutoSleep app. It's in its cradle 20 mins twice a day when I shower. So yay for conservative Apple specs? Hopefully this means the Series 5 isn't actually a battery downgr…

I have a Series 1. I don't sleep with it, it usually charges all night, but sometimes I wake up and find I forgot to place it on it's charger the previous night.

I can usually use it until 1 or 2 PM that day before it dies. That's a 29+ hour battery life.

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