Sad panda: HTC will favor thinness over battery life

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  • April 23, 2012 at 4:12 am

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Sad panda HTC

We were truly hoping that 2012 would be the year of all-day battery life for our gadgets. There was even good indication for that following Samsung’s commitment to the same goal and the improved efficiency of the latest generation mobile SoCs, like the NVIDIA Tegra 3, with up to 61 percent lower power consumption than Tegra 2.

As we’ve said before, manufacturers have to strike a good balance between battery life and portability, avoiding to get into the extreme thinness wars. Unfortunately however HTC seems to have been hanging out with the wrong crowd.
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No, Apple didn’t make a battery tech breakthrough in the iPad 3; it just stuck more of it inside

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  • March 16, 2012 at 4:03 am

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3rd generation iPad teardown pulling out the battery

Some of the initial coverage on the new 3rd generation iPad suggested that Apple somehow increased the power density of the Lithium-ion battery cells inside the new iPad in order to achieve the jump from 25Whr, in the iPad 2, to 43Whr — that’s more than a 70% increase in battery capacity. The reasoning behind this was that while there was this huge increase in battery capacity the new iPad is only very slightly thicker (just 0.6mm) and heavier than the iPad 2.

Now, the iPad 2 was practically all battery already, so somehow it made sense that Apple had magically created a new battery technology without anyone catching wind on it.

That would be some awesome news for the entire consumer electronics industry and you know how much we deplore mobile devices that don’t offer full-day battery life and how we are always on the lookout on ways to keep us powered on the go. However, if you knew anything about the evolution of battery technology you’d know how slowly and incrementally power density has improved.
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PSA: Yes the Droid Razr Maxx is still confirmed for January 26th and $299 on Verizon

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  • January 24, 2012 at 1:04 pm

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx Android smartphone

We first saw the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx during this year’s CES in Las Vegas. The updated version of the skinny Droid Rarz has a bumped up the battery of 3,300mAh battery from 1,780mAh, while staying just 8.9mm thick from the original’s 7.1mm.

You can check out our initial coverage here and here. To recap, it’s a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD (960 x 540) screened device with a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear and 1.3-megapixel front cameras. It has some rugged credentials, bearing to a Kevlar back and splashproof coating.
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Samsung promises full day battery life for 2012 smartphones; hallelujah!

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  • January 17, 2012 at 1:56 pm

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 battery indicator close-up

We’re glad that Samsung is finally on the same page as us. The Korean giant has committed to improving the battery of its handsets during 2012 and has set a goal that smartphones released during 2012 should last at least a whole day under moderate use — though that can be interpreted in many ways.

Battery life is an issue we’ve covered again and again here at Stuff-Review. The short version is that devices now pack big screens and fast processors which quickly eat up battery, while the opposing trend of making devices super-thin means that the included battery is always too small. It’s sort of sadistic to create devices with big beautiful screens and then force people to keep use to a minimum and brightness down to save on battery.
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The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx is a smartphone with staying power, coming January 26

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  • January 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx - all views

We like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, no, we really like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for one specific reason, it comes with an immense 3,300mAh battery and it remains ‘razr’ thin. As we saw when we initially covered the Razr Maxx, the smartphone is pretty much the same as the standard Droid Razr, with a bigger battery.

Thanks to Motorola, we now know that it’s coming on January 26th on Verizon for $299 with a two-year contract. To recap, you get a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD (540 x 960) display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 16 GB internal storage with an additional 16 GB microSD card pre-installed, it has Kevlar backing and splash-proof coating. The 3,300mAh battery give the Razr Maxx over 21 hours of talk time, and makes us grin in bliss. The extra battery adds a bit of girth to the device, the original Razr measures 7mm thick, the Razr Maxx is still just 8.9mm.
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Verizon Galaxy Nexus offered a 2100mAh extended battery

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  • December 7, 2011 at 12:57 pm

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Verizon Galaxy Nexus 2,100mAh extended battery and cover

We’ve been reviewing the Galaxy Nexus and we’ve found battery life to be quite decent for an Android device. However, if you want to squeeze every last minute possible out of your new favorite gadget, then Verizon is offering an extended battery for the LTE version of the smartphone. The Verizon-bound 4G LTE Galaxy Nexus comes with a 1,850mAh battery as standard but for $49.99 you can get the 2,100mAh extended battery, which you see above. That’s only a 13.5% increase in capacity but that could mean the difference between getting through a whole day with one charge or not, depending on your usage.

During our tests with the GSM HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, we could consistently get by for around 15 hours and 30 minutes until battery went below 15%, and that was with the screen on for 2h 30m, not bad at all. A 13.5% increase in capacity could mean around 2 more hours of usage. The GSM Galaxy Nexus only comes with a 1,750mAh battery as standard but the LTE version, because of its radio, presumably consumes more battery.
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HTC Rezound 2,750mAh extended battery, worth it if you can live with the thickness

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  • November 16, 2011 at 3:57 am

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HTC Rezound extended battery and back cover

We’ve covered all these before, you get a brand new shiny smartphone with a large gorgeous display, like the HTC Rezound’s 4.3-inch 1280×720 retina display, and of course you don’t want to put it down. You browse the net and your social networks, you play a quick game, and by mid-day you realize that the battery is down. You then have to choose between being tethered to a wall outlet all the time, stop using your device as much, or get an extended or external battery.

Marchello from Htcpedia chose the latter for his HTC Rezound, and we would too. The Rezound comes with a ridiculously small 1,620mAh battery for such a large device. Thankfully HTC offers a 2,750mAh extended battery, but that comes with two caveats. First, you have to shell out around $50 for the extended battery and second, it’s so large that the battery comes with an extended cover to accommodate the larger battery. The extended battery makes the Rezound quite thick, at around 3/4 of an inch, but also lets you go through a whole day of use without having to worry about recharging your phone.
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iOS 5.0.1 update released: promises to fix your iPhone battery woes, includes new iPad multitasking gestures

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  • November 10, 2011 at 4:48 pm

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iPhone low battery level

A lot of iOS 5 users have complained of poor battery life, and we’ve reported that Apple has been working hard to fix the issue. Devices that could be affected include the iPhone 4S and any iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS that has been updated to iOS 5.

iOS 5.0.1 has been released today and promises to fix any battery woes that you’ve been facing. The update, also available for both iPads and the iPod Touch, includes security patches and various other fixes, while the original iPad also gets some new multitasking gestures.

If the update hasn’t reached your device yet, check Settings > General > Software Update on your device or connect it to a computer and launch iTunes.
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Is your iPhone 4S or iOS 5 updated iPhone suffering from short battery life? Apple is looking into it

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  • October 28, 2011 at 5:41 pm

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iPhone low battery level

Although not yet up to ‘battery-gate’ status, a lot of antagonized iPhone 4S owners are complaining of very poor battery lives. You only need to take a look over at Apple’s Support Communities and you will find a host of threads with issues related to fast battery drain under standby and short battery lives. There are also some iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners who have upgraded to iOS 5 and are also facing similar issues, so this might not be an issue with the iPhone 4S hardware but rather an issue with the new iOS 5 operating system.
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