I’ve been testing my smartwatch for the past month in “Essentials Mode”. This is a low-power mode that only uses the LCD screen, which contains the date & time, my daily step count, battery level, and pulse rate (pulse check available with a button push, not constant). With this mode enabled, I’m supposed to get about a month of battery life out of my watch before I need to charge it again.

I started the test on 07/06/2020 and it just died at some point overnight last night. I attempted this test a couple other times before this one, and the first time my wife found my watch with a low battery so she threw it on my charger (nice favor, but it blew my test) and the second time I tried it I was working on something at home in a tight spot, and accidentally long-pressed the top button, which turns the watch on and takes it out of Essentials Mode. So it lasted for exactly 36 days on a single charge. Ironically, the same number of days I’m into my 365-day blog post challenge. I think that’s great for a smartwatch! And there’s even a newer version of the TicWatch available that has a faster processor and provides even better battery life. When this one breaks or dies, I might just stick with this brand. I haven’t seen any other smartwatch with a two-layered screen that provides the regular smartwatch WearOS features as well as the awesome Essentials Mode that also looks great in sunlight, and it’s very reasonably-priced compared to other WearOS-based smartwatches.

I’ll let this test keep going and I’ll post again when it finally completely dies on me.