Now that the Apple Watch is truly out from under its covers, details about software and performance are starting to emerge.
To answer the question of how long the battery lasts, Apple today posted a page setting power life expectation. They’re saying the Watch will last 18 hours, assuming you check the time about five times an hour, get around five notifications an hour, use 45 minutes of apps, and workout to music for about 45 minutes. We expect that early adopters in early days will get significantly less battery life because they’ll mess around with their watches a bunch more than that. We sure will.
The charging cycle is pretty quick, though: 1.5 hours to 80 percent and 2.5 hours to 100 percent — way less than overnight.
Although the watches come in pre-configured models, it’s possible to buy additional standalone watchbands ranging in prices from $49 from a black elastomer band to $449 for link bracelets. Presumably, something more deluxe will be available for the $10,000 Edition.
As for apps, TechCrunch has a long list describing the watch applications that have been announced or demonstrated. At today’s launch, the only new third-party app that was shown — and only for a glance — was Salesforce. A Salesforce exec told WTI that Analytics Cloud and Salesforce would be available at launch, and that the Salesforce Wear SDK for the Apple Watch is available immediately.
There were some posts over the weekend predicting some security features. Speculation had it that security, once set on the watch with a password or Touch ID on the phone, would be reset when the watch was removed from the wearer’s wrist. There was no talk today of security or authentication.