One of the biggest questions I get regarding my iPhone 4 is that of its’ battery life, and how it compares to other models and other phones. Too often, cell phone users have complained that by the middle of the day their phone’s battery is drained, often times followed by comments that they “hate this #^*!$&@ phone!” With a convenient percentage located in the top right corner, iPhone users are able to know just exactly how much juice they’ve got left, but some still complain that it’s not enough.
(It ain't that easy anymore, folks)
Perhaps the best way to improve battery life is simple, yet often overlooked or ignored: Don’t use your phone so much. If constant texting, calls, and utilization of apps like YouTube or FaceBook are what keep you occupied for most of the day, then maybe you ought to dial it back (pun intended). Keeping the screen’s brightness to a minimum is also extremely helpful, which I found out after realizing that for the first few months I had kept my phone almost at 100%. In reality, less than 50% brightness is more than enough, and a lot easier on the eyes as it turns out.
However, Apple is still looking to “sweeten” their products’ battery life, including the iPad and portable Mac computers in addition to the iPhone, by utilizing “jelly rolls” in the future. Also knows as Swiss rolls, they are usually found in rechargeable AA, AAA and D batteries , with Apple now looking to include them in lithium batteries according to a new patent application from the company.
The proposed idea, which would include a set of jelly rolls in a foil pouch as opposed to just one, would still include a divided cathode and anode as found in a rechargeable AA, with an emphasis on conductive tabs found inside the battery that would connect them. This, according to the application, could potentially “allow the creation of a custom battery cell that maximizes the use of free space within a portable electronic device and provides greater capacity, packing efficiency, and/or voltage than battery cells that contain only one jelly roll per pouch”.
The idea certainly seems plausible, as Apple has always looked to improve their products without giving up their continuous decreases in size. Though perhaps less explored than the battery life of the iPhone, laptop battery life is also a factor I’ve seen many have issues with, though not regularly with Macbooks. I personally used a Dell during my four years undergraduate and have been amazed at how much better the overall life of the Macbook is compared to any PC’s, including my own. Bringing my computer to an hour long class used to be a stretch due to it’s propensity to die in the middle of my note-taking, but with my current Macbook, graduate courses approaching three hours in length do not even drain my battery entirely.
The idea is good, but seeing it carried out will be even better.
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