Tag: battery life

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Mobile Syrup

Google outlines how it got 24-hours of Pixel Watch battery life

There’s a lot to be said about the Pixel Watch, but one thing nearly everyone agrees on is that the battery life isn’t great. Google pushed the line that the Pixel Watch offered 24-hour battery life, but reviewers (including myself) generally found that figure to be off base without some significant concessions.

Now, Google has updated a Pixel Watch support document about battery life with how it came to the 24-hour figure. According to the search giant, the 24-hour battery life is based on the below usage:

  • 240 notifications
  • 280 time checks
  • A five-minute LTE phone call
  • 45 min LTE and GPS workout with downloaded YouTube Music playback
  • 50 minutes of navigation via Google Maps while connected to a phone via Bluetooth
  • The watch configured with the default settings, including the always-on display set to off

There are a few notable things here, particularly the bit about the always-on display being set to off. The Pixel Watch pushes users to enable the always-on display, and it’s arguably a core feature of the smartwatch. However, in my experience, the always-on display made it difficult to hit the 24-hour mark.

Moreover, I’d argue my Pixel Watch use is significantly less than what Google describes. According to the Digital Wellbeing app on my smartphone, I average about 100 notifications per day, most (but not all) of which come across to the Pixel Watch. I’m not sure how often I check the time, but I can say I typically don’t take calls on the Pixel Watch, nor do I use GPS for workouts or navigate via Google Maps. Plus, I keep the always-on display turned off.

With that usage, the Pixel Watch still barely gets past 24 hours of battery life. Although I’ve fallen into a routine of charging the Pixel Watch when I sit down at my desk to start work in the morning, I’d peg its battery life at maybe 26 or 27 hours, which gives a nice little cushion if my morning charge routine gets disrupted.

With all that said, I’d be less bothered by the Pixel Watch’s battery life if it weren’t for sleep tracking, which requires wearing the watch overnight. Those who don’t care about sleep tracking can charge the watch overnight, resolving most battery issues.

Putting battery life in perspective

For all the complaints about the Pixel Watch battery life, it’s worth noting that it stacks up well to the arguable king of smartwatches: the Apple Watch. Per Apple’s own smartwatch battery page, the company targets 18 hours of battery life after an overnight charge, billed as “all-day battery life.” Apple describes it as:

“All-day battery life is based on the following use: 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 60-minute workout with music playback from Apple Watch via Bluetooth, over the course of 18 hours; Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS) usage includes connection to iPhone via Bluetooth during the entire 18-hour test; Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular) usage includes a total of 4 hours of LTE connection and 14 hours of connection to iPhone via Bluetooth over the course of 18 hours.”

As interesting as these numbers are, most people likely don’t use their smartwatches like this. In other words, whatever promises manufacturers make about smartwatch battery life likely won’t match up with actual user experience.

Source: Google Via: 9to5Google

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Pixel Watch to have 24-hour battery life, according to Fitbit app teardown

Back in May, Google announced the Pixel Watch at its I/O developer conference, confirming long-running rumours that the company was working on a smartwatch. We don’t know much about the watch yet, but details continue to emerge — the latest suggests potential Pixel Watch customers should expect the battery to last about one day.

9to5Google performed a teardown of the latest Fitbit app, version 3.65, and uncovered text within the app for battery-related notifications for the Pixel Watch (as a reminder, Google owns Fitbit, and the Pixel Watch is set to feature Fitbit integration). The first bit of text is for a notification that will remind Pixel Watch users to charge up before bed:

“Get a notification before your bedtime goal if your Pixel Watch battery is too low to track a night’s sleep.”

9to5 notes that the above notification will show up shortly before users’ bedtime goal, giving them time to charge up before bed. However, the publication found another battery-related notification with some more interesting details:

“Time to charge your watch

“You’ll need at least 30% charge to track a full night’s sleep”

Now, here’s where things get a little speculative. 9to5 suggests — given it’s recommended people get eight hours of sleep each night — that could mean the Pixel Watch will burn through 30 percent of its battery in about eight hours. If you expand that to 24 hours, that’d be about 90 percent of the Pixel Watch battery, suggesting the Pixel Watch will offer about 24-hour battery life.

24-hour battery could put the Pixel Watch behind competitors

Now, a few important caveats. First, and most important, is that this information comes from an app teardown. 9to5 cracked open the Fitbit app and found these text snippets for notifications related to the Pixel Watch. But since the Pixel Watch isn’t out yet and likely won’t arrive until October or November, there’s still time for Google to refine its software. In other words, these details could change, or may not accurately reflect the final product. So, take this information with a healthy dose of skepticism.

However, as Android Police points out, the 24-hour number does match previous reports about the Pixel Watch’s battery. Other rumours suggest the Pixel Watch will sport a 300mAh battery, which will last all day — Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 sports a 247mAh or 361mAh battery, depending on the watch size. That adds some credibility to the teardown information.

It’s also worth noting that sleep tracking features often use heart rate monitoring, which can have an increased impact on the battery. That could mean the 30 percent in eight hours measure is with the heart rate monitor, and potentially you could squeeze more longevity by disabling heart rate monitoring. But we won’t know that for sure until the Pixel Watch is in reviewers’ hands.

Ultimately, it sounds like the Pixel Watch could have subpar battery life. It’s a bit of a bummer, considering what other watches have on offer. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 lasts 40 hours, while the recently unveiled Galaxy Watch 5 should go even longer thanks to its bigger battery. Fitbit’s own smartwatches last pretty long — the Sense that I wear consistently gets me through two days before I need to charge it. Hopefully the Pixel Watch proves these details wrong when it launches in the fall, but keep your hype in check just in case.

Header image credit: Google

Source: 9to5Google Via: Android Police