The battery, or rather the lack of information about the battery or the battery life, was possibly the most-commented-on aspect of yesterday's introduction of the new Apple Watch. With all the hype surrounding the device, and its extensive capabilities, the lack of detail about the battery was surprising and disappointing to most Apple-watchers. Power can make a difference for advanced consumer devices.
It was announced that the Apple Watch has no physical connectors to the outside world, all interconnect (including battery charging) will be wireless. The Apple Watch will charge wirelessly through a new mechanism that combines Apple’s magnetic MagSafe connector with inductive wireless charging. It magnetically snaps right on to the back of the Watch, over the place of the heart-rate sensor. The presentation made it sound like the device will require daily recharging, but that was not specifically spelled out.
It’s possible that concerns with battery life are still being resolved. The Apple Watch will not ship until sometime in early 2015. The device’s screen resolution and display brightness were cited as reasons for concern about battery life. Battery life in previously-introduced smartwatches has ranged from a few days to only a few hours. Longer battery life is associated with black-and-white LCD displays. Smartwatches with color touch screens, like the Apple Watch, generally deliver one day or less of battery life. Improvements in power management and battery life could make a significant competitive difference for the Apple Watch, when it finally begins shipping to users.
