One area of contention for devices is battery life. While smartphones and tablets have, up to this point, leveled out when it comes to size, which has made the majority of critique taper off as well, the new focus is smartwatches. The smallish wearables on our wrists are now a huge focal point for battery life, as potential owners want to get the most out of their devices, without having to worry about whether or not they’re using it too often.
That’s still a worry for smartphones, though. Screen-on time is something that a lot of users out there have to consider, especially as they use more apps, keep features like Bluetooth and NFC switched on, and whatever else might take up battery life. And let’s not even consider Pokémon GO.
Plus, manufacturers are starting to lean towards more devices connecting to our smartphones, which can drain battery life, too. Smartwatches, for instance. And now that the 3.5mm headphone jack is starting to see an exit via stage left, wireless technologies to improve the listening experience are inevitable. Which just means another device to connect to our smartphones.
Thankfully Bluetooth is getting a lot better, and doesn’t impact a phone’s or tablet’s battery as badly as it used to, but the drain is still there.
Battery technology is improving at a snail’s pace for consumer devices, and it’s felt that way for quite some time now. While everything else about our devices is getting better, like the displays, and software, and features, batteries have been left to stagnate. It is getting better, but for consumers the wait just feels incredibly long.
So I’m curious. If you had a say in the matter, would you be willing to trade some feature, be it software or hardware, that would mean you’d get a noticeable difference in battery life out of your device(s)? Or is there something you wish more manufacturers would embrace that would improve battery life?
On that latter point, I wish more companies would embrace OLED for their smartphone and tablet displays. It’s already seeing quite a bit more attention, and obviously some companies have been using the technology for years now, but I’d love to see even more of it.
What about you, though? What would you change or trade for better battery life? Let me know!