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If we can double battery life, hardware makers will double power usage. Phones are designed to last about a day on a full charge, and incremental battery improv

If we can double battery life, hardware makers will double power usage. Phones are designed to last about a day on a full charge, and incremental battery improvement won't change that.

mtgx 10y ago
Good thing we have VR phones and 4k displays right around the corner to "take advantage" of this increase in battery capacity! Oh, and all the Pokemon Go-like games.
- FooBarWidget 10y ago
  If battery life is really what people care about, even over features, then everbody would be using dumbphones instead of smartphones. So as much as people cynically complain about companies, battery life isn't what people value after all.
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    I don't see many people claiming they want battery life over features, generalized like that. There are plenty of people claiming to want battery life over thickness. And I don't even think a 1 cm thick phone will sell - there's a limit in that.
    - TillE 10y ago
      Right. If you look at the sales of battery cases, you have an absolute minimum number of people who are willing to pay more and accept much more thickness for more battery life. I'd be happy to buy a 50% thicker iPhone if it could handle a whole day of hard usage.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    I don't think this is true. I've never been given a true option about batteries. It's not like I get to choose two different versions of the same model of phone, where $a has a bigger battery, and $b has $feature. It's usually a funky mismatch between two different models, with different specs, some of which make it faster, and some of which have a bigger battery. But I've never seen phones with a 1-to-1 comparison for batteries.
    - ihowlatthemoon 10y ago
      You mean like the Moto Z and the Z force? Z has a 2600mAh battery and is thinner. Z force has a 3500mAh battery for a 1.8mm addition of thickness. Motorola has done this before with the Droid Maxx.
      - CaptSpify 10y ago
        Yeah, I'd love to have something like that for every phone. They aren't completely the same, but they are close enough for me. I don't think I've seen any other phone with a choice like that, though.
        Tiksi 10y ago
        You can get extended battery packs for most phones with a removable battery. I had a Galaxy S2 a few years back that would last 4-5 days of moderate use on a charge with one of them, though it made the phone about 1.5cm thicker.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        You are correct, but A) I don't want to buy something to upgrade my phone. I'd rather it come like that in the first place. B) Everyone says "nobody wants a bigger battery", but if everyone just buys them after the fact, how do the manufacturers know? Sounds like they are just passing the buck C) Many phones don't have a removable battery, or it voids warranties to do so.

If we can double battery life, hardware makers will double power usage. Phones are designed to last about a day on a full charge, and incremental battery improvement won't change that.

mtgx 10y ago

Good thing we have VR phones and 4k displays right around the corner to "take advantage" of this increase in battery capacity! Oh, and all the Pokemon Go-like games.

FooBarWidget 10y ago
If battery life is really what people care about, even over features, then everbody would be using dumbphones instead of smartphones. So as much as people cynically complain about companies, battery life isn't what people value after all.
- marcosdumay 10y ago
  I don't see many people claiming they want battery life over features, generalized like that. There are plenty of people claiming to want battery life over thickness. And I don't even think a 1 cm thick phone will sell - there's a limit in that.
  - TillE 10y ago
    Right. If you look at the sales of battery cases, you have an absolute minimum number of people who are willing to pay more and accept much more thickness for more battery life. I'd be happy to buy a 50% thicker iPhone if it could handle a whole day of hard usage.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  I don't think this is true. I've never been given a true option about batteries. It's not like I get to choose two different versions of the same model of phone, where $a has a bigger battery, and $b has $feature. It's usually a funky mismatch between two different models, with different specs, some of which make it faster, and some of which have a bigger battery. But I've never seen phones with a 1-to-1 comparison for batteries.
  - ihowlatthemoon 10y ago
    You mean like the Moto Z and the Z force? Z has a 2600mAh battery and is thinner. Z force has a 3500mAh battery for a 1.8mm addition of thickness. Motorola has done this before with the Droid Maxx.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      Yeah, I'd love to have something like that for every phone. They aren't completely the same, but they are close enough for me. I don't think I've seen any other phone with a choice like that, though.
      - Tiksi 10y ago
        You can get extended battery packs for most phones with a removable battery. I had a Galaxy S2 a few years back that would last 4-5 days of moderate use on a charge with one of them, though it made the phone about 1.5cm thicker.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        You are correct, but A) I don't want to buy something to upgrade my phone. I'd rather it come like that in the first place. B) Everyone says "nobody wants a bigger battery", but if everyone just buys them after the fact, how do the manufacturers know? Sounds like they are just passing the buck C) Many phones don't have a removable battery, or it voids warranties to do so.