$120+ Billion in Cash and No Innovation in Battery Technology?

[NewbieCanada]

Originally Posted by meistervu

Don't be ridiculous: what would a caveman do with money

Probably use it to help get the fire going.

[tann]

I agree with a poster above that battery tech innovation will come from the automotive industry most probably. Currently they will be pushing for smaller, faster charging batteries for future cars that last much longer and the tech will eventually be able to trickle down to phones.

But the iP5 I think has a staggeringly good battery life! At the moment I've just been at home on wifi (cell data off) and it's at 1 day 20 hours standby, 5hours usage (with gaming for about 30 mins) with 45% left!

I also did leave for about 2 hours with 3g and wifi on last night.

I tell you this my 4S would never have lasted this long!

[zbarvian]

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAsking

Why is it such a hard concept to accept that the iPhone 5 does not have enough battery life and Apple should spend some R&D money on better batteries instead of reusing the same one over and over with each iPhone?

The iPhone 5 battery life is superb, and better than nearly all of its competitors. You're cherry-picking one phone that is notable for its behemoth battery (well over twice as large as the 5's). The iPhone 5 battery is great, a couple of users on here complaining doesn't change the general rule. Anandtech did several benchmarks illustrating this.

And for everyone's information...the next innovation in battery has already been discovered and should arrive in the market within the next few years. If Apple can expedite that process, then good. It's called silicon nanowire, by the way.

[meistervu]

Originally Posted by NewbieCanada

Probably use it to help get the fire going.

Well, yes.

But seriously, it is like giving a truck of ice cream to a group of kindergarten and ask them to come up with the next #1 hit. You end up with 12 variations of "twinkle twinkle little star."

[harcosparky]

My son is constantly having to find an outlet to charge his phone battery.

I asked him why it runs down so quickly and he said ....

" Because I use mine more that most people do. "

Oh I forgot to mention it is a Samsung Android phone of some variant.

[throAU]

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAsking

With all that money just sitting around collecting dust, why doesn't Apple use it to bring to market new battery technology that is more advanced than lithium ion?

Apple have fuel cell patents.

Just because they haven't released new battery tech, doesn't mean they aren't working on it. It just perhaps isn't ready yet.

Throwing money at a problem doesn't guarantee instant results, you know. That isn't how research and development works.

[iAlphard]

Originally Posted by bma

The percentage of people who take battery life into account when buying a phone is practically 0. I supported iPhones for over 2 years, and I never heard any of the sales guys EVER talking about battery life to a customer. It just doesn't happen.

Although, tbh going by the Op's other posts on this forum, this whole thread is just another bash at Apple (he's never had anything positive to say about them).

Are you being serious? These days phones look the same, has touch screen with frames around of it, be it apple or another. Not everybody has sentimental value when they buy something.
For average joe, when they see a phone on a display, there is a display sheet beside of it. I am sure they will see and check the stats about the battery, no need explanation from a sales guy.
For a user who like to research first. When they surfing the internet, they will look for a tech specs and they will easily find how much mAh the battery on that phone has.
Why do you think samsung could sell a lot of their devices? They are not that a lot cheaper than apple devices, even often more expensive than another android devices. It's that simple.
Apple still use the same battery technology as another, which is lithium-ion. Still use dual core processor. The most efficient thing that make their hardware looks so great and perform well is the simple yet effective iOS. And their Apps numbers vary so much, the most thing i love from iOS is that they have a lot of Apps for those who work on oil field like me.
I don't choose my gadget because of a sentimental value, meh i'm not a teenager and it's just a phone. Unless if it's a car.

[abhinav7333]

Originally Posted by zhenya

On what basis do you call it crappy? Who is doing it better?

Most people realize that once you can make it through the day, improvements beyond that are nice, but not a high priority. Better batteries will come, and it will be great, but I'd rather see improvements to laptop power efficiency first so that a light laptop can go 10-20 hours. That's a way bigger deal right now than extending my phones battery life further.

And you think a day is ok? It lasts a day when you pretty much don't do anything. Who is doing better? Maxx battery can last couple of days easily. Also, apple is no ordinary company. It takes a company like apple to make a difference. For example NFC. It's a great technology. But unless apple hops on it, it's not going anywhere. Batteries can be improved, and there is technology out there. All we need is some capital investment that can kickstart it.

[Kissaragi]

Yes, because theres no one pouring billions into battery technology or anything.... Oh wait....

[Brian Y]

Originally Posted by iAlphard

Are you being serious? These days phones look the same, has touch screen with frames around of it, be it apple or another. Not everybody has sentimental value when they buy something.
For average joe, when they see a phone on a display, there is a display sheet beside of it. I am sure they will see and check the stats about the battery, no need explanation from a sales guy.
For a user who like to research first. When they surfing the internet, they will look for a tech specs and they will easily find how much mAh the battery on that phone has.
Why do you think samsung could sell a lot of their devices? They are not that a lot cheaper than apple devices, even often more expensive than another android devices. It's that simple.
Apple still use the same battery technology as another, which is lithium-ion. Still use dual core processor. The most efficient thing that make their hardware looks so great and perform well is the simple yet effective iOS. And their Apps numbers vary so much, the most thing i love from iOS is that they have a lot of Apps for those who work on oil field like me.
I don't choose my gadget because of a sentimental value, meh i'm not a teenager and it's just a phone. Unless if it's a car.

Yes I'm being serious. Ask the average consumer (who are the group that buy phones by the millions) whether they took battery life into consideration when buying a phone. I'd be willing to bet hardly anybody (other than hardcore geeks) did.

Heck, the average person doesn't know (or care) what a mAh is - and the vast majority (again, not the tech population, I'm talking about your average joe consumer) probably doesn't even look at the tech specs.

[Jordan921]

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAsking

OMG, of course they have bigger batteries. Don't tell me, you are going to use the Apple loyalist excuse that because it is not exactly the same as an iPhone, the iPhone is better.

Yea and with the smaller battery its able to last me a day and I'm happy with that because unlike other people I charge my phone at night so I don't need it to last me for days.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by tann

I agree with a poster above that battery tech innovation will come from the automotive industry most probably. Currently they will be pushing for smaller, faster charging batteries for future cars that last much longer and the tech will eventually be able to trickle down to phones.

Well said, and I completely agree.

[smithrh]

I for one am happily noting that the OP is in time out.

Pretty tired of the passive-aggressive trolling that's been going on here. It lowers the overall tone of the board.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by abhinav7333

And you think a day is ok? It lasts a day when you pretty much don't do anything. Who is doing better? Maxx battery can last couple of days easily. Also, apple is no ordinary company. It takes a company like apple to make a difference. For example NFC. It's a great technology. But unless apple hops on it, it's not going anywhere. Batteries can be improved, and there is technology out there. All we need is some capital investment that can kickstart it.

Yes, for most people a day is fine. If you can charge overnight, there is little incentive to spend much effort making it better.

Again, the Maxx gets better life because its a much larger device. If you want that battery life in a phone, use a battery case.

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Originally Posted by smithrh

I for one am happily noting that the OP is in time out.

Pretty tired of the passive-aggressive trolling that's been going on here. It lowers the overall tone of the board.

I agree. The tolerance level here for trolling and personal attacks is unusually high for a mainstream board.

[vastoholic]

Originally Posted by zhenya

I agree. The tolerance level here for trolling and personal attacks is unusually high for a mainstream board.

He's like this extreme religious nut (same views as Westboro Baptist) that would come up to our college campus and stand out on open areas between between buildings preaching. His main hope (and the same as the WBC) is to get someone to cause physical harm in order to file a lawsuit against who ever they can. That sounds like SDA's goal in a way. He comes here as someone who is has an outspoken grudge against apple and posts things (usually false or has no grounds to back up his claim) just to get people riled up and upset. Maybe he's hoping they'll lash out him with personal attacks and get other users banned, or maybe he feels like he always has to be the last word in an argument. I can't tell.

If I was mod (and I'm not bashing the moderators) I would have banned him long ago because his intentions are clear to me.

[smithrh]

Perhaps the mods (and/or Arn) should look into the concept of "addition by subtraction."

Or, as the business world calls it, the "no a**-[orifice]" policy.

Plus, throw in some "tragedy of the commons" in there to boot, and perhaps we'd see a bit more enlightened moderation. It's certainly possible to abide by most or even all of the forum posting rules and still be a d***.

(note, I'm censoring myself here! )

There are ways of fairly identifying such posters and getting rid of them. It doesn't even have to be hard - they have significant "tells" and patterns.

In any case, this thread isn't about moderation, so I'll shut up now.

[jimbo1mcm]

Don't believe for a second that battery technology is not right up there in the Apple R&D world. It would be a huge advantage to have a superior battery. Look at the HTC DNA Droid, a great phone, super screen, bells and whistles, and can't get through a day on a charge. People just will not buy it if you can't get a full day out of it. The form is limiting. You can make the next Iphone a little wider, maybe a little taller, get rid of the home button etc, to make space for a slightly bigger battery, but we do need better battery technology for the next generation of super retina and 3D technology.

[Jimmy James]

The battery in my phone 10 years ago was the size of the iPhone itself. Talk time was less than half as long. The 5 is also a more powerful computer than the old desktop I used until 5 years ago. I recognize the achievement.

On the other hand I have many uses for the phone. One use is as a back country GPS. It can sit in my pocket, screen off, monitoring my progress and the battery will drain about 6 hours into a day hike. More is always nice.

[gmanist1000]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Since when is it only Apple's responsibility to create a new battery? What about Dell, Samsung, Sony, etc.?

Because that's how innovation works.

[abhinav7333]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Yes, for most people a day is fine. If you can charge overnight, there is little incentive to spend much effort making it better.

Again, the Maxx gets better life because its a much larger device. If you want that battery life in a phone, use a battery case.

----------



I agree. The tolerance level here for trolling and personal attacks is unusually high for a mainstream board.

You are ready to defend Apple no matter what. Never mind. There are people who actually use their phones. These phones need to be more power efficient.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by abhinav7333

You are ready to defend Apple no matter what. Never mind. There are people who actually use their phones. These phones need to be more power efficient.

It's not that I'm ready to defend Apple at any cost, it's that I'm realistic enough to understand that they necessarily target the center of the bell curve, not the ends. You need more battery life? That's a bummer so buy a charger case.

I bet there are people who also really wish their cars could go 1000 miles on a tank of fuel but you don't see the automakers catering to them either.

[AutoUnion39]

Who knows maybe theyre working on it.

Apple is quite fantastic with their batteries. My retina Macbook's battery life embarasses most ultra books on the market.

[thekev]

Originally Posted by itjw

Because your definition of "innovation" is a pathetically gray area that will never be satisfied.

They could radically change battery tech and you would just complain that 3 days isn't enough... why not 5? Or 7?

The value of further improvements to me diminish severely if I can just charge it each night. Years ago a car charger seemed like a normal purchase. That was annoying. Past that point it's generally not an issue to simply charge the phone prior to resting. If you're really far from populated areas, I wouldn't count on reliable mobile service anyway.

[swervinsuburban]

Originally Posted by abhinav7333

It's amazing how people can just agree with this crappy battery life. When I was in engendering school, they were talking about carbon nanotubes batteries. That can last 10 times as long. Apple needs to do a lot of things. Battery, UI change, storage etc.

Endangering school huh? Talking about something and getting it to work are two different things, why do you think electric cars still use the same old battery technology.

[thewitt]

Originally Posted by abhinav7333

It's amazing how people can just agree with this crappy battery life. When I was in engendering school, they were talking about carbon nanotubes batteries. That can last 10 times as long. Apple needs to do a lot of things. Battery, UI change, storage etc.

Concentric carbon nanotube catalysts are 15-20 years away from being viable, if ever, in lithium-air batteries.