I understand that Apple Watch does many things in the background. But when you’re comparing something like an Apple Watch vs Garmin Epix.
If they’re both turned on for hiking they are in theory using the same processing power, measurements. Apple Watch isn’t doing anything different. So why is it so poor? What else is it doing…
I don’t have a garmin to test it on, but according to their website, if GPS mode is on, you only get 42 hours of battery life. I can pretty easily get better that kind of life on my ultra. But specifically while in a workout, I can’t say as I don’t have both to compare. One possible reason they’re not working on it is because for the bulk of people it doesn’t matter much. The battery life is good enough. Say you charge your watch once a day (as an average AW user would do). Why would it matter if the battery lasted 30 hours instead of 24? Many people charge on a schedule rather than just when the thing is dead. So unless you’re getting a lot more time out of it, it’s really not going to be hugely beneficial to many users.