Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do people want thin phones, or bigger battery ?

D

Darthdingo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 11, 2010
602
0
I never understood the need for super thin smartphones, and giving up space for extra big batteries ? Ok so the new iPhone will be the thinnest smartphone in history at like 7.5mm or so, that is crazy thin if true. And at first looks really cool, and feels great in the hand, but that coolness wears off quickly.

I would rather have a phone slightly thicker, and instead squeeze in an extra sized battery that can last a whole weekend trip camping in the woods. Especially since iPhone's don't offer removable batteries, you are stuck with what Apple gives you.

Just curious, is everyone on this board screaming for a crazy razor thin new iPhone ? Or would they rather have the same thickness as the current iPhone4/4S, but instead now have a 50% larger battery ?

I do like thinner smartphones, I never liked the thick brick EVO 4G at like 11mm or so, but I think a good thickness is the Galaxy S3, at like 8.6mm, that is plenty thin enough, why does Apple feel we want a 7.5mm thin ? I would rather have that space taken up with battery instead.
 
MOAR8.jpg


Battery!!
 
My iPhone 4's battery seems to drain pretty fast (have to charge it every day, even if i haven't done anything :( ) and I would much rather better battery life than thinness. However, thinness is nice.
 
I know the current iPhone4/4S last pretty long, but I would love to see battery tech reach a point where all options could still be running in the background, E-mails...FaceBook...Notifications...etc...all running at like 30min refresh...4G/LTE running...full brightness on...make hours of phone calls...send hundreds of texts...run GPS Navigation...and still have the phone last a couple of days easily.

When will we reach that point ?
 
Last edited:
I'm greedy and want both! But if I had to choose one, I'd go for better battery life. You can make a phone as thin as you want, but if you it's always tied to a charger, then what's the point. I know this from my One X. Once that sucker get's on LTE, there goes my battery life. While the speed is nice, i wish they made it slightly thicker so i could get a bit more life out of my device before it goes back on the charger.
 
I would definitely prefer more battery, the 4/4S is thin enough as it is, actually it's almost pushing too thin.
 
I was having battery issues with my 4 lately, did a restore and set up as new phone and have been slowly importing things back onto the phone. I am amazed by this battery again. 2 years old and easily lasting the entire day on one charge with about 3 hours web browsing, dozens of texts and multiple emails and phone calls throughout the day.

If apple can give me a full day battery so I only have to charge my phone overnight I am happy, if they can do it in the thinnest smartphone ever with LTE I will be VERY impressed. If they can't and the new iPhone has less battery life, they better give me a cool way to charge like inductive or wireless charging.
 
I want a thin phone AND a REMOVEABLE battery. And a bigger screen. And removable storage. Oh wait, that's a Samsung Galaxy S3 and I already own it. :p
 
Well obviously this question is all about balance.

Nobody wants a 2mm iPhone that will last 50 minutes before a recharge.... but then again I doubt anybody really wants a 25mm iPhone that will last a week.

I think most people can agree we all want 1 day charge out of our smartphones, because it's very easy to just charge nightly. Any extra battery simply sacrifices thinness and any less battery sacrifices usability. But of course different people use their iPhone's different amounts.

Personally, the battery life on my iPhone 4 is perfect. I say get the iPhone as thin as possible* while maintaining that battery life

*well ok that's not entirely true... I'm sure you start to reduce usability once it becomes thinner than 7mm or so.
 
If I had to choose it would be thin. I've never found myself unable to charge my phones if they need it.
 
Thin is fine for me so long as I get the same battery life that my iPhone 4 gives me.

One thing I did like moving from a 3GS to a 4 is the thinner casing. I'm looking forward to an even thinner casing though keeping the same rigidity.

This means that even in a case the phone will still be slim.
 
As long as the thin form factor gets me through an average day (at least 95% of the time), I'd prefer it over a bigger phone with a bigger battery. For the days where I'm traveling (or whatever) and need more battery life, I have external battery chargers.
 
nuckinfutz said:
Thin is fine for me so long as I get the same battery life that my iPhone 4 gives me.

One thing I did like moving from a 3GS to a 4 is the thinner casing. I'm looking forward to an even thinner casing though keeping the same rigidity.

This means that even in a case the phone will still be slim.
Click to expand...

Good point, with the new iPhone being very thin, now with a case it won't look nearly as bulky. I am sure even with a thin case on the iPhone5, that might still be thinner than the iPhone4/4S without a case :)
 
Hang around Apple long enough and you'll find it's not what "people want", it's what Apple says they are going to do, like it or not :)

See how well that works?
 
nuckinfutz said:
Thin is fine for me so long as I get the same battery life that my iPhone 4 gives me.

One thing I did like moving from a 3GS to a 4 is the thinner casing. I'm looking forward to an even thinner casing though keeping the same rigidity.

This means that even in a case the phone will still be slim.
Click to expand...
And yet that 2008 iPhone 3G (and 2009 iPhone 3GS) design feels so much better in your hands, because it's, well, rounded.
 
I want a 4.3" 3:2 iPhone with the current thickness of the 4S. The larger screen will result in a bit bigger phone. By not shrinking the phone as in thinness and the additional area of the larger screen will allow a bigger battery. The reason the GS3 and the like can have such large batteries are the large screen. With Apple increasing the screen and adding LTE while keeping essentially the same battery is going to lead to some battery life pains.
 
Honestly, the Droid Razer Maxx is the perfect marriage of a massive battery and thin form factor, for me, and I am not even really considering screen size here. If we get something similar with the next iPhone I will be happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back