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Next Generation iPhone Battery Only Marginally Higher Capacity

Thank you for this important post!

macaddiict said:
Note to Apple designers: it's thin enough. If you can make the phone guts any thinner, then make the battery bigger to keep it the same overall size of the 4S. I have heard no complaints that any of the iPhones are too thick -- ever, really.
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I am really serious: You're so right. It has become a kind of sickness among the designers to make the iPhone unnecessary thin, like being in a plain childish competetion to make the thinnest one in the market.

The real concerns about battery time and also having a phone that is comfortable to hold in the hand (that is: NOT TOO THIN) are far more important than "winning" this kind of "anorectic" and completely silly race towards making the thinnest phone. (So also with the MacBook Airs.)

Apple really needs to get back to a more realistic and reasonable policy on these matters, form and function, and making devices that can be beautiful but that still function in a good enough way - including having long enough battery time. This line of "mis-development" has begun to be a serious problem, and Apple doesn't seems to care, because people still are buying their products, even that the products could - and should! - be much better when it comes to battery time. The iPhone to come will probably confirm this.

Too sad, because very much of the whole point of having a mobile phone is lost, and it is lost because the designers' seemingly endless craving for thinness unfortunately has won over the basic functionality needs of having a reasonable long battery time.
 
AFDoc said:
Stand behind your statement. Why do you say it's only a minor upgrade?
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Because the first four iPhones were something to be excited about. Even the 3gs. While some may argue otherwise, the improved battery and processor was a nice upgrade, along with video recording (even though it was hardly revolutionary). The 4 was revolutionary. Great screen, super fast, great design, incredible camera, etc.

When people criticized the iPhone 4s for being same old, I actually defended Apple in saying that such a great design shouldn't be wasted on just one product cycle. I thought the 4s was an okay release at first but the battery life is horrendous for everyday use.

With the new iPhone this fall, it'll be a lot more of the same but in a longer screen. I know, I know 16:9 and it's supposedly great but we've seen larger (and better aspect ratio) screens in other phones. The screen is still super narrow and super hard to type on for those of us that have anything larger than pre-teen female hands. 4G LTE is obviously a given, but over a year late as per Apple's usual way of doing things. What else is there? What else are they going to talk about other than the screen. The processor will definitely be faster, but that's hardly anything to get excited over. The 4s (and even 4) have more than adequate processors. And let's not pretend that iOS6 will be revolutionary. A handful of new features....and that's it. Nothing to get excited about. Maps? I guess but who REALLY gets excited over a map app?

Honestly, I'd rather Apple stop releasing a "major" release every year (same with OSX), when most features feel like service pack upgrades now. Rather, release meaningful REAL upgrades WHEN THEY'RE DONE. iOS 5 was cool but 6 seems to be going the way of OSX upgrades. Minimal upgrades, with a lot of hype.

Maybe that was Apple's strategy all along? A ton of good stuff in the first five years and hope that for the next few years people are still addicted enough to buy into anything they say. Seems to be working I guess, but this will wear off just like it has for so many others.

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mortenandersen said:
I am really serious: You're so right. It has become a kind of sickness among the designers to make the iPhone unnecessary thin, like being in a plain childish competetion to make the thinnest one in the market.

The real concerns about battery time and also having a phone that is comfortable to hold in the hand (that is: NOT TOO THIN) are far more important than "winning" this kind of "anorectic" and completely silly race towards making the thinnest phone. (So also with the MacBook Airs.)

Apple really needs to get back to a more realistic and reasonable policy on these matters, form and function, and making devices that can be beautiful but that still function in a good enough way - including having long enough battery time. This line of "mis-development" has begun to be a serious problem, and Apple doesn't seems to care, because people still are buying their products, even that the products could - and should! - be much better when it comes to battery time. The iPhone to come will probably confirm this.

Too sad, because very much of the whole point of having a mobile phone is lost, and it is lost because the designers' seemingly endless craving for thinness unfortunately has won over the basic functionality needs of having a reasonable long battery time.
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Exactly. Or narrow. the 4/4s are so much harder to type on than the 3gs.
 
mortenandersen said:
I am really serious: You're so right. It has become a kind of sickness among the designers to make the iPhone unnecessary thin, like being in a plain childish competetion to make the thinnest one in the market.
Click to expand...

Imagine using an iPod touch, without a case, as a phone. Buy an extended warranty now.
/EndThread
 
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1080p said:
Image
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18379871.jpg
 
JLL said:
Maps works fine outside the US.
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I've seen it mentioned that the new 3D maps thing will work for London, Manchester and Birmingham in the UK, that's not that much coverage. I should have been more specific - I'm sure the basic maps will work most places.

What I'm mainly getting at is that these "cool new features" seem to be less and less interesting to those who aren't based in the US/Japan. I will be waiting three more years for 4G, Siri doesn't work anywhere near as well as it does in the US etc. I'm in the UK which isn't exactly the Sahara desert in terms of tech...
 
I remember when people used to wait until a product was actually announced before reacting to it. They even used to actually use the thing before passing judgment. Simpler times.
 
JS82712 said:
aight apple, i don't care about how you change the phone's design, but if the next iPhone's battery is gonna suck more than my current 4S (which, is also horrible), then I will look for other phones. :mad:
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The part shows only a minor increase in capacity from 3.7V/1430mAh/5.3Whr in the iPhone 4S to 3.8V/1440mAh/5.45Whr in the rumored iPhone 5.
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Doesn't look like it's gonna suck more. It'll suck a tiny bit less.
 
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Hmm, looks like I'll be turning the LTE off if I ever get one of these. Oh boy, now I won't be able to use up my 200MB data plan faster and chew my battery!
 
If the rumors are to be believed, then it would have made more sense to keep the iPhone the same thickness. Then having the rumored thinner screen would have enabled a thicker/higher capacity battery to used, especially if LTE is going to be on the next gen iPhone.

But too be honest, all the rumors and leaks are just hearsay until Apple announce otherwise, lets wait and see.
 
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So let me get this straight Apple. Jony Ive and Steve Jobs work on this project for two years so they can seemingly give us a slightly taller (but not wider) version of the iPhone 4/4S, with an oh so slightly bigger screen, a slightly thinner unibody construction and essentially similar battery life as the current phone?

Wow. Very disappointed if this turns out to be the case.
 
There should be substantial improvements in battery life anyway because of the shift to Samsung's 32nm High-K metal gate process.
 
budselectjr said:
A bunch of people including myself have the 4 and skipped the 4s hoping for something better. Clearly this is not.
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All of these leaks are just rumors and hearsay until Apple announce otherwise. The way people are talking on here, its as if Apple have announced the thing already.
 
Dusky600 said:
What if all these leaks are just one big miss direction by apple and the 5 turns out to be actually something really cool ?
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I think some of of the leaks are probably being put out by Apple, but they are not really misdirection. I reckon the phone will be slightly different to what we are seeing, but not much. The 4-inch screen is a definite, and I think Apple wants people to know it.

I believe Cook is playing a rather clever game: managing expectations. A lot of whining and moaning would cast a shadow over the launch. Best to get the bitching out of the way early, so that potential customers (people who don't live in Mac forums) aren't distracted by comments like this:

"No 8-inch screen???? :confused::confused::confused:EPIC FAIL!!!"

There will be one or two small surprises to offset the overflow of bad feeling from MacRumors and AppleInsider (remember that the proportion of Apple's customer base that hangs out here is tiny), but this is pretty much the phone that will be released.
 
I took the plunge from my 3Gs to an android phone when it was time to upgrade (might move back to iPhone, I like them both). Anyway, the phone I have now have 1850mAh, and honestly the battery time is bad. Not awful, but bad. Might be that android is a bit more power hungry, but in my opinion iOS and Android phones seems to be about the same in power consumption. The S3 has something like 2150mAh, and from what I've seen that's bordering on "good enough". Someone mentioned the MAXX that has 3300mAh, that's a really good battery. But 1440? Come on, that won't last you until lunch with a bigger screen, LTE and such..

I also agree wholeheartedly with phone makers having the wrong priorities when aiming for thin phones when they should be focusing on better battery. If I could double the thickness of my current phone (which would make it about as thick as a 3Gs) with double battery life, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Please make a twice as thick iPhone 5 XL and you have a new customer :)
 
For me it's the internal parts that seem the best indicators of the actual next iPhone. This battery pretty much convinces me that the iPhone long is indeed the next iPhone.

I'd like to be wrong, but it seems too unlikely now
 
Choices

I'm using voice input on my new MacBook Pro right now. I like Apple products. I had an Iphone 4 and my wife has an Iphone 4S. When I upgraded my Ip4, I looked around and the best choice for me was a Galaxy S3. It has a 2100Mah battery and virtually all the apps I had on my Ip4 are now on the S3, plus a lot of better features than the current Apple phones. I like Apple, but I am not married to them. I go for the best product. Period.
 
I am confident that the next iPhone will have better battery life than the 4S, despite not increasing the battery capacity.

Reasons:
  • IGZO display. These are 30-40% more efficient than traditional TFTs as they require less backlighting for the same level of brightness. Despite being larger, the screen should use less power.

  • New A5 processor. The new iPhone will likely feature an improved version of the 32nm A5 found in the Apple TV (3rd gen) and iPad 2 (rev B). I don't think we'll see a quad-core GPU (A5X) in this revision as it increases the power draw significantly.

  • More efficient, next generation baseband? Likely to save power for things like location services and 3G.
 
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