alt Hacker NewsSame, I love Pebble and Pebble-like devices precisely because they have long battery life. I don't want or need payments on my watch. I'm also not a fitness junkie, so I don't use GPS tracking either. I mainly enjoy the well-designed UX Pebble provides and its simple functionality like alarms, stopwatch, and notifications.
With watches that need charging every one or two days, I get this Sisyphean feeling that I am owning a constantly dying device with a battery indicator that exists solely to be charged. The amount of functionality a watch can provide me (versus a smartphone) just doesn't justify the amount of charging I need to do.
Maybe I'm not a smartwatch power user like OP. But the Pebble and its ilk are a great fit for the niche audience I belong to.
There are other full featured smart watches like the Garmin Enduro 3 with several weeks of battery life (or even longer with solar charging). Of course it's larger and more expensive.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/851039
No one really needs payments on their watch but I'm surprised that anyone wouldn't want it. It's quite convenient, and gives you a backup option in case you forget your wallet or something.