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> It seems Apple believes reports of bad battery life are largely based on the faulty indicator So to use a car analogy, it sounds like Apple means one of two

by cjslep 10y ago

> It seems Apple believes reports of bad battery life are largely based on the faulty indicator So to use a car analogy, it sounds like Apple means one of two things: If I remove the MPG indicator from my car I can get more MPG out of my car, or If I remove the MPG indicator from my car I won't complain about its poor MPG. Either way sounds stupid to me.

simonh 10y ago
remaining battery isn't like MPG though, it's more like remaining range. The trouble is computer use patterns can be way more bursty than car fuel usage in normal conditions. The nearest equivalent to spot MPG (how does what I am doing now affect endurance) would be the battery used by individual applications, and I believe that's still there.
- jmanderley 10y ago
  Doesn't everyone know this? It's still a useful gauge to have.
  - benjaminjackman 10y ago
    exactly, rather than remove it, if they must tinker, just add something like "At current usage levels you have approximately xxx hours of battery life remaining."
bluejekyll 10y ago
This makes sense though. Your MPG will drop significantly if you go up a hill or slam the accelerator down. Similarly, Apple can't say for certain how much time is left, but it can say that the battery is low.
- alistairSH 10y ago
  And my car adjusts the mile-remaining indicator appropriately. If I drive with a lead foot, the mileage remaining drops faster than if I drive like a granny.
  - braythwayt 10y ago
    I think the trouble is where a computer’s power use differs from a car’s fuel use. Almost everything affecting fuel use in a car is observable by the driver. Terrain, speed, load, &c. But while many things that affect battery use are observable by the user (streaming a movie, compiling, &c.), some are not (background tasks). Also, there’s a much broader distribution in the expertise of users in judging battery life, than in the distribution of expertise in drivers judging what will and will not affect vehicle range. I would not want to use the expertise of anybody on Hacker News as a proxy for the expertise of Apple’s median customers.

by cjslep 10y ago

simonh 10y ago

remaining battery isn't like MPG though, it's more like remaining range. The trouble is computer use patterns can be way more bursty than car fuel usage in normal conditions. The nearest equivalent to spot MPG (how does what I am doing now affect endurance) would be the battery used by individual applications, and I believe that's still there.

jmanderley 10y ago
Doesn't everyone know this? It's still a useful gauge to have.
- benjaminjackman 10y ago
  exactly, rather than remove it, if they must tinker, just add something like "At current usage levels you have approximately xxx hours of battery life remaining."

bluejekyll 10y ago

This makes sense though. Your MPG will drop significantly if you go up a hill or slam the accelerator down. Similarly, Apple can't say for certain how much time is left, but it can say that the battery is low.

alistairSH 10y ago
And my car adjusts the mile-remaining indicator appropriately. If I drive with a lead foot, the mileage remaining drops faster than if I drive like a granny.
- braythwayt 10y ago
  I think the trouble is where a computer’s power use differs from a car’s fuel use. Almost everything affecting fuel use in a car is observable by the driver. Terrain, speed, load, &c. But while many things that affect battery use are observable by the user (streaming a movie, compiling, &c.), some are not (background tasks). Also, there’s a much broader distribution in the expertise of users in judging battery life, than in the distribution of expertise in drivers judging what will and will not affect vehicle range. I would not want to use the expertise of anybody on Hacker News as a proxy for the expertise of Apple’s median customers.