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I wonder if that was the real trick of the iPhone: slightly less than a day is enough battery; work on that basis. It was dropped into a world where battery lif

I wonder if that was the real trick of the iPhone: slightly less than a day is enough battery; work on that basis. It was dropped into a world where battery life was measured in days.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
There were multiple advantages, but one is that 3G mobile broadband rolled out around 2007/2008, and it was unlimited on iPhone. Before mobile broadband, there would not have been as much reason and application, but with mobile broadband, the entire game changed, and Apple smartly had ATT give it unlimited so people did not have to worry about using it.
- corbezzoli 3y ago
  > 3G mobile broadband rolled out around 2007/2008, and it was unlimited on iPhone. Slight correction, I had to go look: AT&T started rolling out UMTS (3G) in 2002. I already had a 3G smartphone in 2004 in Europe that could do video calls. Fun fact: UMTS was announced in 1999 with a mind-bending 384kbps downlink speed.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Interesting, maybe it wasn’t ready for unlimited usage? I distinctly recall, pre iPhone, using data racked up huge charges.
    - corbezzoli 3y ago
      Carriers always want to charge as much as possible. In most of the world you can still pay data in gold coins. Just this summer I was screwed by Vodafone charging me €6/day on the first network connection without a plan. This in the same country where I can get 200GB for €10/month
sethhochberg 3y ago
Same general approach they took with the watches. Sure, the battery life is miniscule compared to dumb or even semi-smart watches. But that doesn’t really matter if it’s easy enough to throw it on a charger while you shower and get dressed every day. Anything less would be a burden, for most people roughly a day is good enough.
jdechko 3y ago
True. Also the consumer tradeoff of being able to do way more with your phone for the slight inconvenience of having to charge your phone everyday. And with the advances in technology, most people can get slightly more than a day which means the phone gets charged overnight. And that’s not really an inconvenience at all.

I wonder if that was the real trick of the iPhone: slightly less than a day is enough battery; work on that basis. It was dropped into a world where battery life was measured in days.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

There were multiple advantages, but one is that 3G mobile broadband rolled out around 2007/2008, and it was unlimited on iPhone. Before mobile broadband, there would not have been as much reason and application, but with mobile broadband, the entire game changed, and Apple smartly had ATT give it unlimited so people did not have to worry about using it.

corbezzoli 3y ago
> 3G mobile broadband rolled out around 2007/2008, and it was unlimited on iPhone. Slight correction, I had to go look: AT&T started rolling out UMTS (3G) in 2002. I already had a 3G smartphone in 2004 in Europe that could do video calls. Fun fact: UMTS was announced in 1999 with a mind-bending 384kbps downlink speed.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Interesting, maybe it wasn’t ready for unlimited usage? I distinctly recall, pre iPhone, using data racked up huge charges.
  - corbezzoli 3y ago
    Carriers always want to charge as much as possible. In most of the world you can still pay data in gold coins. Just this summer I was screwed by Vodafone charging me €6/day on the first network connection without a plan. This in the same country where I can get 200GB for €10/month

sethhochberg 3y ago

Same general approach they took with the watches. Sure, the battery life is miniscule compared to dumb or even semi-smart watches. But that doesn’t really matter if it’s easy enough to throw it on a charger while you shower and get dressed every day. Anything less would be a burden, for most people roughly a day is good enough.

jdechko 3y ago

True. Also the consumer tradeoff of being able to do way more with your phone for the slight inconvenience of having to charge your phone everyday. And with the advances in technology, most people can get slightly more than a day which means the phone gets charged overnight. And that’s not really an inconvenience at all.