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I never saw captain Kirk recharging his, nor fiddling with it when he was bored. Space1999 commlocks were also way better than an ipotato. http://catacombs.spac

I never saw captain Kirk recharging his, nor fiddling with it when he was bored. Space1999 commlocks were also way better than an ipotato. http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/cguide/umcomlock.html http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/cguide/umcomlock.html

oblio 7y ago
> I never saw captain Kirk recharging his Well, if the current trend of battery improvements holds, and considering the unfathomable amounts of money and time thrown at the problem, we're hopefully about 10 years away from devices that can last 1 week on a single charge. Not quite Captain Kirk material, but we have about 240 years to get there. > nor fiddling with it when he was bored Do you consider this a minus? Most people consider it a huge plus :-)
- ggreer 7y ago
  The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 15 watt-hour battery. If it lasted a week on a single charge, it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT.
  - oblio 7y ago
    Hmmmm: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11-pro-max-review-battery-camera-screen https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11... "The iPhone 11 Pro Max beats that estimate by some margin, lasting just minutes shy of a full 48 hours between charges." For 1 full week we need 3.5x capacity. Plus, at a certain point, the gap between (weak) explosives and batteries becomes really small. After all, the main difference is how they release that energy :-)
    - lostmsu 7y ago
      Meh, my Mi Max 3 usually lasts 72 hours under moderate use (RSS, browsing, periodic navigation), and closer to 90 when I spend most of the time at home, only reading from it in the morning or late night.
  - scottlocklin 7y ago
    >it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT. It's the same amount of energy as 11 milliliters of gasoline or a third of an ounce of fat on a piece of steak. Batteries (and explosives) are shitty at storing energy compared to hydrocarbons.
    - ggreer 7y ago
      Danger comes from energy density and ability to release that energy quickly. Fat doesn't explode. Neither does gasoline, though I wouldn't be comfortable carrying 11ml of gasoline in my pocket. Existing batteries sometimes do explode and cause injury. The problem would be far worse if they had 7x more energy in them.
      - scottlocklin 7y ago
        I did use the example of gasoline, but I don't know why you'd be uncomfortable carrying 11ml of it in your pocket. Let's change it to 11ml of ethanol which is basically the same energy density. In principle you should be able to extract the energy using a fuel cell or even a heat engine. Since we're talking about futuristic cell phones, it seems more than possible to squeeze more energy into Captain Kirk's federationphone.
wutbrodo 7y ago
You don't see that with smartphones in fiction set contemporarily either (or for that matter, fiction set during the dumbphone Era)
- hindsightbias 7y ago
  The most scify thing about the future is that people actually talk to each other. The Trek franchise should have some reference to the Texting Ban of some stardate.

oblio 7y ago

> I never saw captain Kirk recharging his Well, if the current trend of battery improvements holds, and considering the unfathomable amounts of money and time thrown at the problem, we're hopefully about 10 years away from devices that can last 1 week on a single charge. Not quite Captain Kirk material, but we have about 240 years to get there. > nor fiddling with it when he was bored Do you consider this a minus? Most people consider it a huge plus :-)

ggreer 7y ago
The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 15 watt-hour battery. If it lasted a week on a single charge, it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT.
- oblio 7y ago
  Hmmmm: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11-pro-max-review-battery-camera-screen https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/iphone-11... "The iPhone 11 Pro Max beats that estimate by some margin, lasting just minutes shy of a full 48 hours between charges." For 1 full week we need 3.5x capacity. Plus, at a certain point, the gap between (weak) explosives and batteries becomes really small. After all, the main difference is how they release that energy :-)
  - lostmsu 7y ago
    Meh, my Mi Max 3 usually lasts 72 hours under moderate use (RSS, browsing, periodic navigation), and closer to 90 when I spend most of the time at home, only reading from it in the morning or late night.
- scottlocklin 7y ago
  >it would need a 105 watt-hour battery. That's the same amount of energy in 90 grams of TNT. It's the same amount of energy as 11 milliliters of gasoline or a third of an ounce of fat on a piece of steak. Batteries (and explosives) are shitty at storing energy compared to hydrocarbons.
  - ggreer 7y ago
    Danger comes from energy density and ability to release that energy quickly. Fat doesn't explode. Neither does gasoline, though I wouldn't be comfortable carrying 11ml of gasoline in my pocket. Existing batteries sometimes do explode and cause injury. The problem would be far worse if they had 7x more energy in them.
    - scottlocklin 7y ago
      I did use the example of gasoline, but I don't know why you'd be uncomfortable carrying 11ml of it in your pocket. Let's change it to 11ml of ethanol which is basically the same energy density. In principle you should be able to extract the energy using a fuel cell or even a heat engine. Since we're talking about futuristic cell phones, it seems more than possible to squeeze more energy into Captain Kirk's federationphone.

wutbrodo 7y ago

You don't see that with smartphones in fiction set contemporarily either (or for that matter, fiction set during the dumbphone Era)

hindsightbias 7y ago
The most scify thing about the future is that people actually talk to each other. The Trek franchise should have some reference to the Texting Ban of some stardate.