NPR: American's #1 want for gadgetry, improved battery life

[Zaap]

Lol you make it sound like carrying around a 2nd battery is so hard. It takes like what? 30 seconds to swap out the batteries.

I rarely have to swap out batteries on my S4 by the way.

Yeah man but.... MINUTES of downtime!!! As in... maybe half of one. Vs. However long tethering a phone to charge it takes. Mere SECONDS I'm sure!

Too funny.

Anyway, yeah an easily swapped battery makes all of this moot for me. I've simply never cared about battery life since I've always had models with swappable batteries.

Also a removable battery makes adding wireless charging a simple $6 no-freaking-brainer. Since I've gone wireless on my Note 3 its just always charged. Battery life has become a total non-issue.

Only things I want is better hardware, but so far the Note 4 has that covered as I'll have one soon. I also want more polished sofware with more function to take full advantage of mobile devices increasing power.

 

[Bateluer]

I'd like to have both. A thicker phone that has exceptional life, and a replaceable battery that I can use in case of unusual circumstances, or to simply replace since it's an expendable part.

Normally, I'd agree with this statement. But my Z3 has a solid 2 days worth of battery life with its 3000mah battery, and its thinner than all my previous phones. Designing a phone with a large internal battery and a thin profile isn't impossible, multiple companies have done it.

Not particular pleased when I see companies brag about their 5-6mm thick devices with itty bitty batteries myself.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'd like to have both. A thicker phone that has exceptional life, and a replaceable battery that I can use in case of unusual circumstances, or to simply replace since it's an expendable part.

Buy two of these?

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/official...h-extended-battery-and-cover-black-p50726.htm

I've got one and they really are great. 3500mah and you get to keep the waterproofing. Don't know if it fits in the standard Samsung charger, you might have to charge both in the phone.

 

[WelshBloke]

Having to carry around a 2nd battery and having minutes of downtime while you swap a battery and wait for your phone to reboot is a grand feature? Sounds awesome

How cack handed are you that it takes you that long to swap a battery over?

What's the alternative?
Having your device die? Being tethered to a wall power outlet for an hour or so? Having a USB power pack dangling from the bottom of your phone for a few hours?

Sorry but if you're out and about and your battery is low then just swapping the battery is way better than any other solution.

 

[Blanky]

I never quite understand why we keep hearing about breakthroughs in battery tech that don't seem to reach shipping products. I'm not even joking! They're perpetually stuck in the lab.

And we don't need more open software... we need good software, and openness when it's relevant.

Quite right. Since lithium has become ubiquitous the gains have been gradual. Energy density continues to be awful.

Want to know how much energy the Nissan leaf's 600 pound battery holds? About 2/3rd of a gallon of gasoline. That is 600 pounds of battery to hold the energy in 2.5 pounds of gasoline. Google it, it sounds incredible but is true (yes of course the car uses the energy far more efficiently than an ICE).

The good news is one day one of these bogus battery tech articles we read about won't be hot air.

We can't be too hard on this stuff though. Batteries may suck in many ways but they are good enough to give us all kinds of devices that were impossible 20 years ago because high density batteries were not available. They are now good enough to power airplanes.

 

[ClockHound]

I want them to develop a simple charging system powered by posting on internet forums.

The higher quality the post, the higher the power density. Or more conveniently, the lower quality and sarcastic the post...the faster the device charges and I can get back to correcting people I know, not just strangers.

There's so much energy spent on the internet, isn't it time it gave a little back? :biggrin:

 

[lxskllr]

Buy two of these?

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/official...h-extended-battery-and-cover-black-p50726.htm

I've got one and they really are great. 3500mah and you get to keep the waterproofing. Don't know if it fits in the standard Samsung charger, you might have to charge both in the phone.

I'm pretty good with my stock battery for now, but if I need a second, or a replacement, I'll certainly consider one of those. How much thicker is it? Will third party cases still fit, or do they make rugged cases that'll accommodate it?

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm pretty good with my stock battery for now, but if I need a second, or a replacement, I'll certainly consider one of those. How much thicker is it? Will third party cases still fit, or do they make rugged cases that'll accommodate it?

I haven't got a ruler to hand but it's thicker, just enough to make the camera lens slightly indented (as it should be) . The back is the same slightly rubbery texture as the original and the back cover curves in nicely to the sides. It actually feels nicer in the hand than the original. If you want I'll post some photos when I'm off work.

You'll struggle to find a case to fit, there's a thread at XDA about cases but I don't like using them so I didn't pay much attention.

 

[lxskllr]

You'll struggle to find a case to fit, there's a thread at XDA about cases but I don't like using them so I didn't pay much attention.

That might be a deal breaker. I use my phone in fairly harsh environments, and like have some extra plastic and rubber around it. Having a case also makes it easier to hold with cold and/or wet hands.

Oh well, it isn't a big deal. I haven't come close to running out my stock battery yet, and I keep chargers all over the place. Even the battery I use for my instrument has a 12V lighter port, so I could take a charger in the sticks with me at work. Either that, or buy another regular battery. and stick it in my pocket. It's nice having options, and no one's decided for me what my current, or future needs are :^)

 

[WelshBloke]

That might be a deal breaker. I use my phone in fairly harsh environments, and like have some extra plastic and rubber around it. Having a case also makes it easier to hold with cold and/or wet hands.

I suppose that a bumper case and glass screen protector would do the trick. The back of the phone is fairly indestructible and you'd have a spare anyway.

But if the stock battery gives you enough run time you may as well just get another one of those (they come in a little locking plastic case), they are cheaper as well.

 

[QueBert]

How cack handed are you that it takes you that long to swap a battery over?

What's the alternative?
Having your device die? Being tethered to a wall power outlet for an hour or so? Having a USB power pack dangling from the bottom of your phone for a few hours?

Sorry but if you're out and about and your battery is low then just swapping the battery is way better than any other solution.

My HTC One took about a minute and a half to boot up and get to the point it was usable. I suppose if I worked like a Nascar pit crew member I could have it switched and up and running in 2 minutes. That's assuming my 2nd battery was even charged. Unless I bought a cradle that could charge a 2nd battery I would have to remember to put it in the phone and charge it. If I needed a 2nd battery I would go with battery case so I wouldn't have to deal with all the extra steps and nonsense. But that's just me, I like to make things simple not harder.

 

[WelshBloke]

My HTC One took about a minute and a half to boot up and get to the point it was usable.

My S5 takes 35 seconds from hitting ok for it to shut down and restart.

 

[Bateluer]

My S5 takes 35 seconds from hitting ok for it to shut down and restart.

The One m7's boot time is notoriously long.

 

[QueBert]

The One m7's boot time is notoriously long.

Wouldn't say notoriously long, I've had about 7 Android phones and none of them booted anywhere close to as fast as his 35 second claim. Not calling him a liar, but that's definitely not the normal from the phones I've used. And even the ones that were faster than my M7 I still had to wait for it to acquire a signal and do whatever it does to initialize the SIM card every time I booted. His 35 scenario is the optimum situation but would only apply to people with S5 and similar phones. I would imagine the very low end phones that a lot of people own (never used one myself) have even slower boot times that my M7.

 

[Commodus]

The quality of software is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is how free it is. An ermine lined jail is still jail, and only a fool will sit in it.

No, it's very much relevant. Openness is only useful if the software can do good things and gets the support it needs to adapt to real life needs over time. Otherwise, it's just well-meaning theory that never translates to practice. In fact, the absolutist everything-must-be-open ideology often seems to get in the way -- that refusal to use proprietary software prevents you from getting things done, because the most powerful tools are off-limits.

I like to joke that if Richard Stallman were in Tunisia during the Arab Spring, he wouldn't be out on the street securing real freedom (because that would involve using "evil" proprietary Facebook and Twitter)... he'd be too busy writing emails urging the regime to switch to Linux.

 

[WelshBloke]

The One m7's boot time is notoriously long.

It's also totally irrelevant when you're talking about battery swaps.

Unless you have an angle grinder to hand.

 

[Zaap]

If I needed a 2nd battery I would go with battery case...

LOL!

You're always good for a laugh.

"If I needed something not-clunky (which you of course wouldn't necessarily, it's called an OPTION) then I'd go with something 5x as clunky just to pretend that making things difficult for no reason is making them simpler because I hate choice..."

Too funny!

 

[WelshBloke]

LOL!

You're always good for a laugh.

"If I needed something not-clunky (which you of course wouldn't necessarily, it's called an OPTION) then I'd go with something 5x as clunky just to pretend that making things difficult for no reason is making them simpler because I hate choice..."

Too funny!

No really, sticking a fugly case on it that makes it hugely bigger in all dimensions is way less clunky that taking the few seconds out of your day to swap batteries.

 

[ultimatebob]

Galaxy S5, and I expect 12 hours of doing everything I want. What I want is a little bit of calls, a large amount of web surfing/data transfer, a little bit of gps navigation, and various programs being used throughout.

I can do all of that, and far exceed 12 hours run time. I start the day with ~90% and if I don't charge, I'd go to bed at ~30%.

I prefer slowcharging via usb, so I spend the evening at the computer with the phone connected. All charge percentages are approximate, and variable depending on what I expect from my day. If I plan on especially heavy use, I'll charge to 100%, or if I'm faced with unexpected heavy use, I'll fast charge it, but in general, I aim for slow and easy.

I used to think that 12 hours of battery life was "good enough" until I got my new iPhone 6 and noticed that it can go for 48 hours between charges. I don't even bother charging it every night now.

Seriously, it's pretty awesome to get home and notice that I still have 70% battery left. On my old Galaxy S3, I had to worry about the battery dying around 3 PM if I didn't leave it plugged in at work.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Batteries are getting bigger, of course this is helped by phones getting bigger as well

I went from a 4.3" screen HTC One S to a 5.5" screen LG G3, the batteries being 1650mAh and 3000mAh respectively. Granted, with ~64% more screen area and 7x more pixels to push, that 3000mAh battery doesn't last long when the screen is on.

That being said, even though the battery is nearly twice the capacity, the practical charge times have been *much* faster when topping off from 50-80%.

at any rate, the only time I would ever have to worry about not having enough battery to last me through the day is if I plan to just have the screen be on and in use for hours on end, and for the rare occasions where I'm not at a desk or in a car and can't use a charger, an external battery easily fits in my bag and can charge the phone several times over and/or any of my other USB devices

battery life quickly became a secondary concern of mine ever since USB power standards took over and quality external batteries started showing up for affordable prices

 

[blankslate]

No really, sticking a fugly case on it that makes it hugely bigger in all dimensions is way less clunky that taking the few seconds out of your day to swap batteries.

It doesn't bother me to swap batteries... as I don't have to before 5 p.m. unless I have been intensively using my phone (streaming and browsing the web at the same time) during the day. I'm happy the option is there.


....

 

[Strk]

Normally, I'd agree with this statement. But my Z3 has a solid 2 days worth of battery life with its 3000mah battery, and its thinner than all my previous phones. Designing a phone with a large internal battery and a thin profile isn't impossible, multiple companies have done it.

Not particular pleased when I see companies brag about their 5-6mm thick devices with itty bitty batteries myself.

I think that is the part that annoys me the most. There are a few companies, essentially using the same or very similar hardware, that are able to accomplish some very impressive battery life.

I mean, if Sony can actually live up to the claim of a two-day battery life, why do others have such difficulty doing that?

 

[StrangerGuy]

"But I still herd u liek thinner phones for worse battery life and build quality" -Every manufacturer.

 

[Midwayman]

"But I still herd u liek thinner phones for worse battery life and build quality" -Every manufacturer.

They're getting too thin for me actually. To the point that they're more difficult to hold when they're out of case.