Most days, I'm hunkered down behind a computer screen, tapping away at keys that probably want to yell at me more often than not. On those days, I don't pay a lot of attention to my phone. When it notifies me of something, I usually have a way to interact with that notification on the computer I'm hiding behind. iMessages. Email. Even Twitter and other social media services. The occasional text message will force me to pick up the device, but the majority of the time it's just sitting there quietly next to me, waiting.
Waiting. And plotting.
On those days, I can honestly tell you that I don't really care about the battery that's in the handset. I don't even really think about it. If I have a couple of those days back-to-back, my phone'll probably last both days without much of an issue. It's nice, right? It's nice not having to worry about the battery of the device that, when I'm away from the computer, is essentially a lifeline to a lot of different avenues in my life.
Too bad that's not the case when I actually start using the phone. Once that happens, well, it's anyone's guess how long the battery will last on any given (Sunday!) day. I can usually make the device last long enough to get me through a day -- usually, but that's never a guarantee. If it's just me using the phone? Sure, I'll probably be okay. The only real heavy usage I do day-in and day-out is listening to music, but I don't stream it so the battery's usually okay. Checking Twitter and watching a few videos here and there makes an impact, but not enough to worry.
Except I'm not the only one that uses my phone.
As soon as my daughters get their hands on it and start playing their games? Well, to put it bluntly, that's like sticking a knife right into the battery's center mass. It's terrible. Usually after I let the girls play for awhile, I have to plug the device in to make up for the gap in percentage. And I hate doing that.
The truth is, I used to kill my phone's battery in the same way. I know I asked not too long ago which games you are playing on your device lately, and I listed off a few that have grabbed my attention, but I don't play them very often anymore. I can't. Not unless I've got a charger near by. Playing games on a mobile device is ridiculously impactful on a device's battery. From my own experience, it's worse than watching videos.
(My mom used to call me all the time, complaining that playing her games always killed her battery so quickly, and what I could do about it. Unfortunately, I had to tell her that I wasn't gifted with magic.)
We're in the year 2014, and our smartphones (and other mobile devices) are ridiculously impressive. They really are. To see how far they've come over the years, and to look at the features they boast, is amazing. But our batteries have completely skipped the attention of our favorite manufacturers. We shouldn't be hoping to barely eek out a day of battery life. We've been doing that for so long already, why are we not at this point in time trying to eek out a week's worth of battery life? Why are we still grasping at straws when it comes to this?
Yes, there are devices out there that offer plenty of battery life for most people, but most of those --if not all of them-- are huge devices with huge batteries tucked inside. Not everyone wants to use those big devices, even if the battery's longevity is a huge selling point. Even for those "smaller" devices out there, we shouldn't be worrying about battery life. It's ridiculous.
Our newest devices offer up sizable batteries, and for the most part they'll give you plenty of life throughout the day, but I want more. From Samsung's newest flagship, the Galaxy S5, to HTC's One M8, I just want better. We deserve better at this point. I think so, anyway, and I'm sure many of you out there would agree.
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