- A new Pixel Watch feature has been found in an APK teardown
- Adaptive Charging will use AI to charge your watch more efficiently, extending its lifespan
- The feature is already used on Pixel phones
Google Pixel Watches are consistently among our list of the best Android smartwatches and score highly in reviews, but we’re always a little let down by the battery life. Compared to watches that last a couple of days, even the Google Pixel Watch 3’s 24 hours with always-on display enabled seems a little lackluster.
A new feature could be added to the Pixel Watch 3 which will improve the battery’s health and overall lifespan, although it probably won’t change how long your watch will last between charges directly. During an APK teardown, a process in which an app's code is examined to predict new features that could arrive in the future, Android Authority discovered a hidden chunk of code referring to an Adaptive Charging feature.
Adaptive Charging is a machine learning-powered feature used on Pixel phones, which learns your charging habits and charges the phone at different rates depending on your usage. If you plug it in overnight, the phone will eventually charge slowly at these times, while if you tend to top it up at regular intervals, the battery will charge quickly.
This is done to extend the device’s overall lifespan, reducing both energy consumption and e-waste. It also stops the battery from deteriorating as quickly.
It’s not confirmed that the feature will arrive on Pixel Watches, but it would be a welcome addition. We would like the feature to come hand-in-hand with Adaptive Battery, another Pixel feature that uses similar machine learning to put little-used apps to sleep to avoid battery drainage. This would extend the watch’s life between charges, possibly aiding Google to reach the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s 36-hour figure.
Tackling e-waste in wearables
Adaptive Charging will prevent battery degradation and reduce e-waste – both very important issues plaguing the wearables world at the moment. We live in a time in which smartwatches do not have replaceable batteries, new products are brought out each year, and old ones deteriorate quickly.
Similar problems occur with the best earbuds and best smart rings: if smartwatch manufacturers are unwilling to create their watches with easily replaceable batteries, extending their lifespan is going to be key. And who doesn’t want their gadgets to last longer, meaning they’re better value for money?
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