Apple Watch’s Battery Life Could Be Its Achilles Heel

(GNN) Apple proudly proclaims that the Apple Watch has an all-day battery life. But what does that mean? Well, hopefully your workout doesn’t last longer than 30 minutes.

Apple defines the Apple Watch battery life here. According to the page, the “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.”

The page is buried deep in the Apple Watch product page. Apple clearly does not foresee selling the Watch based on its battery life.

For specific usage, the life varies. Apple states that the Watch’s battery can last up to seven hours during a workout when heart rate sensor is turned on. When playing back music, the battery will last up to 6.5 hours and up to 3 hours when the Watch is used for phone calls. However, if the Watch is used as a watch, the battery can last up to 48 hours.

When the Apple Watch’s battery drops to a determined level, it automatically switches into Power Reserve mode, allowing the device to tell the time for up to an additional 72 hours.

Apple also states that it takes 1.5 hours to charge the Watch to 80% and 2.5 hours for a full charge.

According to Apple, these stats were gathered during a March 2015 test using a preproduction Apple watch paired to an iPhone using preproduction software. Apple warns that actual results may vary due to use and configuration.

Battery life could be the Achilles heel for the Apple Watch. It’s unquestionably a beautiful and capable device, but if the battery life falls short even a touch from these advertised claims, it will leave many users wearing a device that can just tell the time and not call an Uber.

You Can Keep Your iPhone In Your Pocket. Don’t Believe Me? Just Watch

(GNN) - This is no sidekick. It’s not merely a companion. The #Apple Watch completely eliminates the need to pull out your phone in many situations. That was the theme of today’s launch event.

This isn’t just another screen for your notifications. Yes, Apple Watch is time, saved. But Apple Watch is also things done. Hail and find your Uber. Browse and Like Instagram photos. Reply to WeChat messages. Take phone calls with its mic and speaker.

Until now, the perception of smartwatches was that they were merely companions to phones. You might get lightweight alerts and take basic actions from a wearable, but would have to pull out your phone to do anything substantial.

But Apple wants what’s on your arm to do the heavy lifting. That could defeat the top criticism I’ve heard of smartwatches: Our lives are complicated enough.

Many people already feel completely overwhelmed by technology. Ever-present screens, mountains of email, tablets and smart TVs crowding our view, and most annoyingly, the non-stop barrage of notifications and other reasons to pull out your phone.

Some tech enthusiasts were eager for a faster way to parse notifications, hence the rise of the Pebble. But having to bobble functionality between a phone and smartwatch made the issue sound worse, not better.

With the Watch apps shown on stage today, Apple made it clear that you won’t have to learn to juggle.

Your iPhone is still the brain, the transmitter, and the App Store portal for your Watch. You can’t ditch it completely. But when the Watch is doing its job right, your phone is firmly lodged in your pants or purse, not your hand. Seconds wasted opening it are now spent experiencing real life. With the help of the Apple Watch, we can wrestle control of our lives back from our phones.

And that aligns this new device with the philosophy Steve Jobs set forth for Apple years ago when he said “Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to them.”