What would you like smartphones manifacturers to focus on?

[Simon Tupper]

I did 8 months of internship at RIM and can say that there is a very specific reason that batteries haven't improved much in the past 5-7 years.

I got the chance to sit through 4 hours of presentations from the battery team seeing how they are tackling the problem. The problem is that we have pretty much reached the limit of what is possible with lithion ion.

There have been successful attempts to use silicon and other inherently non conductive materials in these batteries but they are only squeezing fractions of percents out of it. The capacity chart plateaued years ago and these batteries are ridiculously complex in their design. I wouldn't have believed how much tech goes into those batteries if I didn't see it for myself.

The improvement will come from using less power now, not by increasing the battery capacity per unit of size. Improvements in how the radios and chips conserve power is where they are going with the tech.

Probably the most important points I got out of the presentation that I can actually talk about: Draining the battery almost completely shortens it's lifespan drastically (it's best to charge it whenever you can, I simply charge mine every night regardless of how much or how little power I used during the day), and always use official batteries for your devices. The tech put into those batteries prevents a number of catastrophic reactions that can occur from charging, draining, etc. 3rd party companies cheap out on these protections. Remember; a common smart phone battery, if these protections aren't in place, can explode with the force of a stick of TNT.

I have seen snippets of technology that is being researched at universities including a battery type that uses butane as fuel and has the potential to be charged in seconds with more butane, but last for 5-7 days. So though we have reached the peaks of what we can do with current batteries, there is always research going on for newer, better ideas.

What if Lithium ion is not the solution and there is something better that is yet to be find? I mean, everything is possible, somebody could be working of a way to make cable internet more efficient and make a mistake somewhere a create something that can stock even more energy.

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

Well, if scotch tape can give us a 80K superconductor, there will be a way for batteries.

Problem is, when are those coming.

 

[ImmortalWarrior]

What if Lithium ion is not the solution and there is something better that is yet to be find? I mean, everything is possible, somebody could be working of a way to make cable internet more efficient and make a mistake somewhere a create something that can stock even more energy.

That's definitely the idea. Find an alternative to Lith-ion. The problem currently is that most of these alternatives aren't as mature and, as such, don't exceed the capacity of current generation lith-ions.

 

[anon(5335877)]

That's definitely the idea. Find an alternative to Lith-ion. The problem currently is that most of these alternatives aren't as mature and, as such, don't exceed the capacity of current generation lith-ions.

And if something isn't mature, it probably isn't cost effective either.

 

[ahhk22]

Personally I'm not happy with the current trend of having to go with a massive screen if I want a top-of-the-line phone. The Lumia 800 was a good size for me and I think that 4.3" would be my upper-limit. I really like the 920, but it seems to be about the same size as the Galaxy SIII and a lot heavier.

 

[power5]

Its not the screen size its the device size. S3 has a HUGE display and is only like 10mm bigger in LxW than the iPhone5.

If battery life has plateaued why does the s3 have a 2100mAh battery when the S2 has a 1650mAh battery. Its not THAT much bigger of a phone.

 

[TheHeroFromDOOM]

None of the above, more hand set, with more fetures to chose from. Seems like there are a million android phones out there. Always have a FEW models with top of the line specs to go up against android and iphone, and be better then them. And of cores for me a droid like phone, a high end side keyboard slider. O yea more apps, bc thats the only thing apple and android seem to have on us is saying we dont have as many apps.