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"Up to a week in battery life"
Aye Up
09-02-2016
Quote:
“The days of charging your iPhone every night could soon be over. British technology company Intelligent Energy has signed a deal with an unnamed smartphone maker to provide fuel cells for batteries - similar to those used in electric cars - that it claims will keep devices powered for more than a week.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/sick-ch...-every-7339428

I have been watching this area of the industry for a little while, they seem to have cracked condensing fuel cell tech into small confines. Some said its chemistry meant making it micro would lose the effiency of a larger battery for instance.

If any of the manufacturers do implement this, it will put the biggest groan to bed. 2-7 day average battery life may become the norm.

There is another out fit I have been following for the last fews only they have stalled in recent years, They essentially worked at packing more cells within a given size, in theory tripling the capacity in one fell swoop.

Another is the opposite of that, basically have more holes as part of the design, they should battery life to be stong 2-3 days but also the battery doesn't lose capacity as fast as standard lithium. In essence lithium ion batteries lose their charge over time, at the 2 yr buy date of handsets they can lose as much as 30% in some instances. Yes this new battery would only lose 1% a year at worst.

I have been saying for a while battery technology is due to flourish and I firmly believe 2016 will see some significant advancedments. It would not surprise me if Apple bought the aforementioned company, its the right fit tech is mature enough to warrant investment.

What are your hopes/expectations for battery tech in 2016?
DevonBloke
09-02-2016
My expectations are the same as Elon Musk's.
Any kind of fuel cell/Hydrogen power/whatever is doomed.
Lithium has already come a long way in just 10 years.
There's going to be a breakthrough any minute.
At the current rate of progress, within 10-15 years everything will be powered by the sun.... for free!
Musk in this brilliant video is just incredulous that anyone would ask about hydrogen.
I think the same applies to any powered device.
The Q&A is awesome (you have to have the volume up as there's no mic on the questioners) but the magic happens at about 10 minutes in.
Man is a genius, plain and simple.
I mean how the bloody hell do they get 90 Kilowatt hours of energy into a battery that fits under a car that will run it at 70Mph for nearly 3 hours??? How??
That battery would power one of those old 1 bar 1KW electric fires for 3 days and 18 hours!!!
Like... WTF???
Simply astounding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_e7rA4fBAo
PrinceGaz
09-02-2016
In terms of expectations, certainly nothing like the claims in that article. If Apple buys it, they'll probably use it not to provide longer runtime, but to make the phone even thinner and lighter than it already could be.

Announcements about battery breakthroughs come every few months, but its been a long time since any major improvements have been made in that area. The main improvements have been more efficient screens and the SoC which drives the phone.

If you want "up to a week in battery life" on your smartphone, then your only real hope is buying one of those which comes with an extra high capacity battery. Normal sized phones with a 6000mAh or even 10000mAh battery are available from some lesser-known manufacturers. They aren't as thick or heavy as you might imagine either, given that a larger battery can be accommodated within a handset more efficiently, but they aren't as pretty as ultra-thin designs.
gomezz
09-02-2016
As long as the mass-market for phones is predicated on a lifestyle where people need to recharge themselves at least once a day then there is no real demand for the devices they use to do other than the same.
tdenson
10-02-2016
Originally Posted by gomezz:
“As long as the mass-market for phones is predicated on a lifestyle where people need to recharge themselves at least once a day then there is no real demand for the devices they use to do other than the same.”

I quite agree. In fact there is a counter argument agains longer battery life along the lines of if you haven't got a daily routine for charging then you are more likely to get caught short. I know when I used to use a Kindle, I would just totally ignore charging and then suddenly find myself in a situation with a flat battery and no way to charge it.
jonmorris
10-02-2016
If manufacturers worked to reduce the internals, use more energy efficient SoCs and screens etc - but kept the same size battery (around the 3500-4500mAh range) then I think you could have a device that would inspire confidence to work for a day or two, whereby you'd likely have the chance to recharge.

Indeed, I'd be happy with something that could work for me travelling to an event, leaving in the early hours of the day and returning as late as the early hours the next. Then when I hit the pillow, I can charge it.

I am not really needing a week. That's nice for my Pebble watch, but one FULL day would be great. Full day meaning long hours AND allowing me to use it as much as I want/need - not holding back.
gomezz
10-02-2016
TBH on heavy days usage that is where my portable power-pack comes into play for a mid-day top-up.
beans0ntoast
10-02-2016
I don't think a week would really be necessary for most people, but a phone that has a battery that can comfortably last 2 days, even on high intensity usage (i.e. gaming, browsing the Internet, streaming media, tethering etc) would be ideal.

With my Galaxy S4, I can only get a day's worth of battery life, and that is on relatively low usage. (Before I factory reset it late last week, it would barely last half a day, due to Google Play Services being crazy.)
beans0ntoast
10-02-2016
Originally Posted by gomezz:
“TBH on heavy days usage that is where my portable power-pack comes into play for a mid-day top-up.”

Likewise, on heavy usage days where I know battery life may struggle, I have to use a 10,000mAh external battery pack. I also have a 3000mAh battery pack that will be fine for if battery life might be iffy.
blueisthecolour
11-02-2016
Originally Posted by beans0ntoast:
“I don't think a week would really be necessary for most people, but a phone that has a battery that can comfortably last 2 days, even on high intensity usage (i.e. gaming, browsing the Internet, streaming media, tethering etc) would be ideal.

With my Galaxy S4, I can only get a day's worth of battery life, and that is on relatively low usage. (Before I factory reset it late last week, it would barely last half a day, due to Google Play Services being crazy.)”

I agree. My Nexus 6P's battery life seems to be pretty decent but I was still running out of juice after half a day of playing games and using google maps.

These larger capacity batteries need to be combined with a more extensive system of wireless charging. Ideally there would be a universal set up for this and it would become common for sitting areas to have pads which you leave your phone on to recharge.

Another idea - what about if in addition to the built in battery you had a slot in which a universal external battery could be plugged in. It would then become natural to just swap out your external battery whenever you're getting low and only fully recharge the phone when needed. If they were universal you could have stations at work/train/cinema where you could swap your pack with a fully charged one.
Cloudane
11-02-2016
We'll probably just end up with more power hungry phones...

fingers crossed though. Battery life is always the worst aspect of owning a smartphone.
jonmorris
11-02-2016
LG has always done things quite nicely with regards to spare batteries.. including separate holders that let you charge the battery outside of the phone (which means you could swap battery and then use a portable battery pack to charge the spare battery, not the phone, which is obviously more convenient than trying to use a phone while connected to a charger on a train, plane etc).. not least the fact that charging generates heat and that can impact on the performance of the device as thermal throttling kicks in.

The rumours of a new design for the G5 allowing a changeable battery but still in a metal unibody case is intriguing, if true.

Wireless charging seemed to be gaining traction and now seems to have died off again. It can't help that Apple didn't get in on things, and now there are rumours that it will develop a different system. As a result, many places that might have invested in embedding wireless charging plates within tables/desks have probably held off - and trials in some coffee shops probably suspended.

I am not sure about the idea of swapping out batteries at locations, given the potential issues with lithium ion batteries. You may not know how the battery has been treated, and this is perhaps where some of the risk came with EE's Power Bar - with the free swap out service. In the end, all of them have been recalled. I hear EE might do something again in the future, but there's still a potential problem there.. not least if your swapped out battery turns out not have been charged properly or has been damaged.
binary
11-02-2016
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“...
I am not sure about the idea of swapping out batteries at locations, given the potential issues with lithium ion batteries. You may not know how the battery has been treated, and this is perhaps where some of the risk came with EE's Power Bar - with the free swap out service. ...”

People sometimes talk about swappable batteries as a possibility for electric cars, but I see similar problems in terms of knowing how a battery unit might have been treated.
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