California – The Apple Watch has been exposed as suffering from the Achilles heel of smart technology – a battery that lasts as little as three hours.
The company has admitted that using the watch’s impressive features will drain its battery far sooner than the 18 hours claimed by chief executive Tim Cook when it was unveiled in California on Monday.
Should you use the watch to listen to music you will get six-and-a-half hours of battery life, while exercising as it monitors your health will give you seven. Using it for phone conversations means it will die after just three hours.
Apple’s admission was seized on by tech commentators who said it could force users to charge their watch several times every day. Writing on Techcrunch.com, Matt Burns said: ‘It’s unquestionably a beautiful and capable device, but if the battery life falls short it will leave many users wearing a device that can just tell the time.’
Apple backed up its figures by giving an example of a typical user’s power consumption over 18 hours.
This is broken down as five time checks per hour, 90 notifications from text messages or emails, 45 minutes of app use, and a 30-minute workout with music. Charging it back up to its full capacity takes two-and-a-half hours.
On its website, Apple says: ‘Battery life varies by use and many other factors.’
Daily Mail