Ask HN: Why do Apple and Google watches have such bad battery life?

[gnicholas]

Every time Apple or Google introduces a new smartwatch, I'm always hopeful that it will have 5+ days of battery life. Since they never do, I assumed that it's basically just not possible (without sacrificing size, a la Garmin).

But when I looked into replacements for my aging Pebble, I found out that various Chinese companies offer smartwatches that have great screens, svelte profiles, and much better battery life. Huawei, Xiaomi, and Amazfit all have watches that seem to have far superior battery life than Apple/Google. Why is this?

For example, I'm currently trying the Amazfit GTR 4, which is providing 8-9 days of battery life in real-world usage. The watch isn't bulky and the screen seems as good as any Apple/Google watch I've seen.

I know Apple and Google watches offer more functionality, but this doesn't explain why the devices would chew through 2x-3x as much battery as an Amazfit when in standby mode.

[dirtyid]

Chinese smart watches with great battery life are glorified fitness bands with limited set of features i.e. no onbard assistance support. Which is enough personally, loved my mibands, upgraded to a huawei gt2 for the occasional voice call and physical button that can be mapped to activate music controls on a big screen that's easy to tap with gloves on during winter. Plus occasional use of remote camera shutter feature. Which covers about 95% of my use cases. The other 5% which would be nice includes navigation, but there's apps that basically forward Googlemaps turn by turn notifications to watch relatively seemlessly. And implement basic voice Google assistance like in bluetooth headsets as well as mobile wallet, but they seem to be prioritizing mainland market. Regardless, easily worth the trade off of charging every couple weeks for me. Wish Google would replicate with model since they won fitbit, don't even need to strip out features from wearos, just include an extreme power consumption mode that disables most features that would allow multi week use between charges.

[gnicholas → dirtyid]

> physical button that can be mapped to activate music controls

This sounds amazing. It looks like the gt3 pro isn't available in the US, but the gt3 and gt2 pro both are. AFAICT, the pro models have sapphire screens, which would be great, but are also more expensive. Any tips on whether to hold out for a gt3 pro, or to get the gt3 or gt2 pro for now?

[dirtyid → gnicholas]

Note, it's one customizable button that brings up basic bluetooth touch screen controls, not as useful as pebble with multiple customizable buttons but it's very servicable since the screen is large. Also note software drama with the Huawei ban, so you need to install their store and healthsync to get everything working.

I'm in Canada, and the few vendors that sell huawei watches regularly discount to ~180 USD. I got my gt2 pro with points from our local pharmacist for slightly less than that. It was mainly spur of moment purchase for the oxygen monitor for covid, otherwise I would have been satisfied sticking with miband. Personally not into big watches, but got plenty of compliments. Matter of taste, but I would not spend 300+ USD for a smart watch yet, still not sure how battery life will play out.

Other tip I have since you focused on music controls is you can spend $20 to get a bluetooth car control remote with physical buttons to control media easily during winter with gloves on and wear whatever watch you want. I use to keep one in my breast pocket and can control my media through feel alone. It's stupid but it works.

[gnicholas → dirtyid]

Thanks, this is super helpful! I had never thought of a bluetooth car remote, but it does look like it could be a good solution. I'm actually thinking of upgrading my AirPods to the 2nd gen, which offers built-in controls and would reduce my reliance on the watch's controls.

Do you have any concerns about location data or other data being sent off to China? I had thought it would be enough to forbid the mobile app from having my exact GPS location, but I later realized the watch has GPS and can report that to the app, which can then send it anywhere. I don't know how carefully Apple looks after private data that is collected by a peripheral device.

[nullish_signal]

At some point in time Apple, inspired by Android, added "Wi-Fi" and "Bluetooth" On/Off to Quick Settings. It turned these radios On and Off. I loved it.

Then at some point Apple, in their quest to Find My Airpods, gimped this handy-dandy "Wi-Fi/BT off" action into "Turn Wi-Fi off (Limited Time Edition)", a new Grey + White color for the button. You can aaalways turn the radios "On"... :) Same for BT, and I believe both Radios stay connected to existing devices. Which is very useful!!! I love being in Bluetooth "Connected" state without "Advertising New Connections"!

More Radios = More Energy Usage. I only recently discovered how to make a "Radios On"/ "Radios Off" button on my Home Screen (With the included Shortcut App), that turn WiFi/Bluetooth ON/OFF (Cell Data Off), since Apple disabled the Quick-Settings "Off" functionalities. Amusingly, the intermediate "Connected" state is not available in Shortcuts - Only "On" or "Off" (Yes, "OFF", PHEW.)

Finally, I'm glad that "Off" is "OFF" for Cell Data. I know in my heart that some brave sonsabitches over at Apple are, thankfully, staring down the barrel of the "Botnet" gun and standing ground for Sanity and Reason.

[tmpburning]

Because tracking you is their first priority...

[gnicholas → tmpburning]

So I have wondered about this, but it doesn't explain why the battery life would be better — unless the idea is that they're losing money on the devices by using advanced batteries because they want to track you.

Regardless, I don't give the Amazfit (Zepp) app access to my location, and the watch itself doesn't have wifi connectivity. I suppose they can see my IP address when the app phones home, but I don't really care that the company knows my approximate location.

[missedthecue → tmpburning]

??

GPS uses very little battery.

[beardyw → missedthecue]

That's a strange assertion. Devices use WiFi positioning whenever possible to avoid using GPS. Do you have some reason for saying that?

[missedthecue → beardyw]

WiFi position also uses very little battery. And are you under the misconception that offbrand watches don't have location functions?