Smartwatches
Smartwatch Runtime
A watch runtime is a display setting wearing a number as a disguise.
No orbit on this page
Only 1 of the 10 listings in this category states a runtime figure. One value is not a comparison, so the orbit is not drawn here.
- Stated range
- 14 days, stated once
- Listings with a figure
- 1 of 10
Every figure on this page is the manufacturer’s own stated number, produced under conditions the manufacturer chose and usually does not describe. Nothing here was measured by this site.
What the figure measures
A smartwatch figure, where one exists, is a mixed-use estimate. The manufacturer assumes some proportion of the day with the screen dark, some with it lit, some fraction of the week with a satellite fix running, and produces one number from all of it.
Because the assumptions are unstated, the number is not comparable across brands even in principle. Two makers can both say a week and mean different weeks.
On this page it is worth noting how few of these listings state anything. Nine of the ten describe features instead, which is a decision about what the number would have cost them.
What shortens it
- An always-on display, which two of the ten listings here state outright.
- A satellite fix, which is the largest sustained draw a wrist device takes and is stated on three of these listings.
- Calling over the wrist, which runs a radio and a speaker at once.
- High brightness, which on an AMOLED panel is a direct function of how much white is on screen.
- Notifications arriving all day, since each one wakes the panel whether you look or not.
What the listing does not say
- The display assumption behind any stated figure.
- Whether the number is a mixed-use estimate or a best case with everything off.
- A separate figure for time with a satellite fix running, which on a running watch is the figure that matters.
- What the always-on setting costs, on the two listings that state that setting exists.
And the fee side
One smartwatch listing in this catalog states a membership, included for a stated three months. Nine state nothing about fees at all, including every listing that names a coaching or readiness feature.