One of the main complaints Apple Watch naysayers have is that the advertised 18-hour battery life of the wearable is kind of crappy. An expensive, upcoming accessory aims to address that issue, but we’re not sure that the look appeals to us much.
The new band is called the Reserve Strap, and while it definitely sounds useful, its price and appearance leave our pointers well clear of the pre-order button.
Reserve Strap is coming out November 3, and it promises to add an extra 30 hours of battery life to the Apple Watch, giving you over two and a half times the usage per charge. And it charges your smartwatch while you’re wearing it by using its hidden accessory port.
If you take off the part of your Apple Watch band that has the holes in it, you’ll see a tiny, mysterious port tucked up inside the notch in the casing. Reserve Strap taps into that to feed in the power and keep you checking your eBay auctions for days on end. You could also wear your Apple Watch to bed if you’re curious about your heart rate during sleep and then get up in the morning and go about your business without worrying about having to plug in.
Don’t get us wrong — all of this is great. But the design is a bit clunky and bulky. This is tough to avoid considering the function of the thing (it does contain batteries, after all), but it really looks like those belts that Stormtroopers wear in the Star Wars movies. And while that may make some supernerds want one even more, I’m not one of them.
The price is also pretty high: It costs $250. But then again, you can buy a Modern Buckle strap from Apple for the same price or a Link Bracelet for almost twice that, and neither of those will do anything but keep the Apple Watch on. So that’s not as big a hurdle as it seems, I guess.
It just looks so bad.
Evan Killham is a freelance writer who lives in Nebraska and isn’t interested in football, so he has plenty of time to play and think about video games. He has written for Bitmob and GamesBeat and sometimes, he even goes outside. But not too often because he’s heard there are bees out there. Occasionally, companies send free units for review. Evan subscribes to Cult of Mac’s Reviews Policy and also does not keep the items he receives for possible coverage.
10 responses to “Hideous Apple Watch power strap will almost triple battery life”
Thats it isn’t it. Apple (as Apple is fond of doing) decided to make a great product that looks great. Why ugly up a beautiful thing for battery life? Everyone sleeps. Charge it while you do so and be done with it.
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“Hideous Apple Watch power strap will almost triple battery life”
Hideous? Sometimes it seems like this site is going from offering educated opinions, to being highly opinionated. Judging from the photos you attach to the article, and considering the amount of additional charge it delivers, hideous seems a bit harsh. But then you said, “…the design is a bit clunky and bulky.” Which is it, “hideous”, or just “a bit clunky and bulky?”
I’m confused. You want more power for the Apple Watch, but you don’t want a band that delivers that power to be any larger than the original band? It’s like consumers who constantly want their iPhones to be larger and thinner, but complain that they don’t have a lot more battery power. Unfortunately, affordable battery technology just isn’t there yet, at least not for items this small. In any event, I don’t see anything “hideous” in those photos.
Just one man’s… opinion.
It’s hideous; their original design was sleek and sexy. However, their original design ran afoul of Apple’s requirements for band designs, since it sought to incorporate an inductive charger into the band. To be honest, I don’t believe the original ever could have been produced in the way it was rendered in the artwork, anyway.
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This thing is hideous. It was first conceived when many were complaining about the “anticipated” battery life. As it turns out, people are largely satisfied with the battery life as, for many, the watch exceeds 18 hours. Mine has always ended the day with 30% or better battery life remaining. In sum, the need is less that thought and the design is HIDEOUS, thus I expect this product will fail. The price just put the nail in the coffin.
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FUGLY
You know, I just don’t have the battery life issue that is being talked about here. I don’t think my 42mm S/S watch has dropped below 60% since I’ve had it. I use all the normal notifications, weather apps, calendars etc. I charge it every night and seriously believe I could get more than 18 hours out of it. It’s 5pm, UK time now and it has been off charge since about 9am this morning and is at 88%.
Let’s talk when this goes below $100 or it’s DOA. Really, I rather spend an extra $100 to get a second Watch and will always have a watch on wrist.