LG's Latest Battery Is Also a Phone (engadget.com) 89
An anonymous reader shares an Engadget report: The problem with having a smartphone that you want to use all the damn time is that you'll spend a big chunk of your day wedded to an outlet. LG believes that nobody should have to suffer such an indignity, and has launched the X power2 as a remedy. The smartphone is designed to operate for an entire weekend on a single charge thanks to the 4,500mAh battery tucked inside. It'll also recharge nice and quick, too, taking just two hours to go from flat all the way back up to 100 percent. Unfortunately, like the first-generation LG X power phone, the capacious battery is the only noteworthy thing about it. The 5.5-inch display has a HD resolution, and is using an off-brand 1.5Ghz octa-core chip that we're guessing is made by MediaTek. In addition, there's either 1.5GB or 2GB RAM paired with 16GB storage, which will hardly pull up any trees when most flagships are packing twice that amount.
Call me crazy... (Score:3, Insightful)
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I did switch from a smaller phone to a larger one. In addition to the battery life and rugged construction I got a larger screen, better built-in audio (don't really need a car-visor bluetooth speakerphone anymore) and all of the modularity (SD, headphone jack, removable battery) that I wanted.
Honestly I would recommend most people consider larger phones.
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A lot of consumers' preferences for more whiz-bang first, and then more battery life would seem to indicate otherwise.
Not quite.
Most whiz-bang draws very little power. A good camera vs a cheap camera is scarcely noticeable. Fingerprint sensors, etc are in the same boat.
The primary consumer of power is the screen on most smartphones, and the only way to run longer is to include larger batteries.
New features and more powerful CPUs are not killing battery life---it's the combination of large screens and thin-and-light form factors.
I would gladly accept a slightly bulky device for double the battery life, but that was not an o
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Actually, the main consumer of power on Android is background applications. Sony has a nice switch to turn those off, and battery lifetime can be quite amazing.
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The primary consumer of power is the screen on most smartphones
One of the most baffling design decisions in Android is the fact that when your battery is low the phone keeps turning the screen on to warn you about it. A simple beep coupled with blinking the LED indicator every so often would be sufficient.
That's like if your car started up a second engine to run a generator to power the low fuel indicator.
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Call me crazy, but isn't the more logical solution to the issue of battery life to make the phone consume less power?
Google did quite a bit of tweaking to make Android more efficient, between 4.0-6.0 things got a lot better. But then they hit the wall---there is only so much the OS alone can offer.
I know people want their apps, but I'm not convinced that people want to carry around a laptop battery in their pocket.
Well, they have to make hard choices. Running apps takes power.
This is especially true for interactive apps, as the largest power draw on modern phones is the screen. About 2/3 of my power goes to the screen on a Nexus 6P, which is typical for 6-inch devices. This drops to maybe 50% for 5-inch devices. There is only so much the
Re: Call me crazy... (Score:1)
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Apparently that's part of the solution here. That's why the specs aren't bigger.
Personally, I could use a bit more storage, but it seems fine as-is. I don't need a phone that can do CFD in the background, I just need it to communicate. Voice, text, email, some light web browsing, and an SSH client. It should be fine for that.
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Well, they're both solutions. But they run afoul of questions. Which users benefit most from each solution? And if someone benefits most from the massive battery with conservative display and processor specs, can you sell it to him?
I'll tell you right here that I'd much prefer LG's approach, but I'm an engineer. I think about my requirements differently than most people.
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Funny, I was about to post that my Samsung Galaxy S7 already has a 3000 mAh battery, and it is rarely enough to go a day and a half without charging. 4500 mAh might give me 2 days. Just in case, I keep a fully charged solar panel 20,000 mAh battery in the car, which should keep me going about a month in normal Oregon weather, and would keep me going indefinitely in a desert.
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My BLU Studio Energy 2 wasn't particularly huge (though a touch heavy), had a 5000 mah battery and lasted for quite a bit.
I got 24 hours of on battery (at 18% left still) with 8.5 hours of screen on time.
It also had a pigtail for USB otg charging, I could revive someone else's phone and still get a solid day of regular heavy use.
On most phones the screen is the highest consuming part, and there's limits to how much that can be reduced (in the end, brightness is energy).
I think you misjudge how big/small a b
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my smartphone usually lasts about 6-7 days on a charge as-is, primarily because it does very little aside from phone stuff. Turn on the WiFi and that drops to around 3 days in normal use (simply being connected, without actually using the internet).
Turning on the WiFi halves your battery life? I find that hard to believe. The WiFi draw should be so low to be basically irrelevant. Looking at the breakdown in my phone (Galaxy S3), WiFi doesn't even show up in the power draw. And turning it on or off makes absolutely no difference to any of the percentages, which are:
Screen 29%
Firefox 17%
Android System 16%
Android OS 12%
Device Idle 7%
Cell Standby 6%
Exchange Services 4%
Google Play Services 3%
Email 3%
I'm guessing the missing 3% is spread among a lot of thin
Re: Call me crazy... (Score:2)
The problem is that all the features are packed in the phone as complete package.
All that is needed is a piece of glass with screen and networking capabilities. Then everything would be streamed in and out from a central server, which would hold the CPU, memory and other features.
Consumer would then buy different 'models' of virtual hardware, and the power reqs would be minimized.
So it has... (Score:2)
Phones that have long battery lives are not a new development, but they've not typically been major priority of the most popular cell phone manufacturers. If Samsung, Apple, and to a lesser extent Motorola don't talk about it, no one cares.
One can buy a durable, long-lasting, reliable smartphone. You just have to ignore the marketing hype around the next 0.0.1 version from Apple or Samsung and actually look at what's available. My Kyocera was pu
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I have a pretty good job, I'm in and out of telecom closets and datacenters on a frequent basis, and even with this reasonably clean work environment I still felt it was a good idea to have a durable phone, as phones can fall off of shelves or ledges, phones can get bumped or have something sat upon them that could crack t
Re:So it has... (Score:5, Insightful)
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The $200 - $300 price range sounds about right, as the original LG Power was "price rank 5.0" (GSMArena), with the LG Power 2 being an iteration step mostly.
The Endgadget review is pretty much garbage, they are comparing a $175 - $250 phone to "flagship devices" ($600 to $1000).
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My Kyrocera DuraPlus only has a 1650 mAh battery and will usually last ~2 weeks on a charge with light use. And the built in flashlight has a dedicated button.
Re:Prior Art (Score:5, Informative)
Samsung Note 7 was a battery which was sold, through clever merchandising, as a phone.
Samsung Note 7 was an incendiary device which was sold, through clever merchandising, as a phone. FTFY
Wedded to an outlet? (Score:2)
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Similar story with my OP3.
At first it was a power hog, but then I battery optimized all of the apps. Now the battery indicator barely budges. I can easily go for 3 days on a single charge. (I might be able to go longer, but I have never tried). It's as good as the iPad now where if it is off (sleeping), the battery level doesn't go down at all.
Of course... I am not your typical phone user. I just use it to listen to podcasts on the way to/from work and while I walk. I occasionally get or make a phone call.
Only LUDDITES use batteries. (Score:1)
Apps!
Makes sense, if the price is right (Score:5, Insightful)
I think there's probably quite a decent niche market for this product. Some people like to use a phone primarily as, you know, a phone. They'll be attracted to the extended battery life, and won't be bothered by a bit less processing power and slightly lower resolution. Some people use smartphones as fairly basic tools, not as gaming platforms / computer substitutes / fashion accessories.
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If you use any modern smartphone as a dumbphone, then the display is hardly ever going to be on, the GPS and data link are going to be dormant, and you'll get fabulous battery life. Just try it.
If you can.
Wow I've just had a crazy Idea!! (Score:5, Insightful)
...they could just make the battery _removeable_ so you could have several, and you also wouldn't have to buy a new phone every 2 years just because the battery's worn out! Wow what a crazy idea!
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There have been numerous phones in the past with this feature. I've owned several. It is not a panacea; carrying around a charged spare battery and swapping it is not convenient to many people (including me). Studies have shown that only a tiny percentage of swappable-battery phone owners actually carried around a spare.
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- It was certainly more expensive (when the special charger is included) than just using an external battery
Not true. I was a bit late to the party, so maybe the off brand charger+battery I got was cheap because it wasn't just released yesterday, but it was cheaper than getting an external USB battery thing at that time.
Rebooting is the only valid issue I see. I wonder if one could plug the phone in during battery hot-swap? Regardless, this is a little annoying.
External batteries are significantly less efficient. Some of the most efficient USB chargers approach 80% efficiency**, but the average is around 70%. Tha
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Now factor in the massive inconvenience and extra cost you face when your phone's built-in battery inevitably wears out so needs replacing.
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Or you know, for when manufacturer's screw up and have combustible batteries that are dangerous--a simple new battery sent out to owners would be a
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because you'd have to throw away your $700 phone every day?
Re:Wow I've just had a crazy Idea!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Carrying a external battery connected via USB is vastly superior to swapping batteries.
- Don't have to reboot to swap.
- Cheaper and easier to find
- Same battery can change any device
- Much larger sizes available.
The main advantage of a removable battery is that it is easier to replace when it is worn out.
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so you could have several
Shit no. Why would I want to carry around batteries? Give me a larger charge and a faster recharge time. USB ports are everywhere. The ability to charge a battery is everywhere. And if you really get stuck just plug a charging device into the USB port since you're clearly not against carrying something around. They have higher capacities than phone batteries anyway.
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The ability to charge at 500mA is everywhere.
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The ability to charge at 500mA is everywhere.
Wow are you living in the dark ages? No the ability to charge at 2A is everywhere. I can't go to a shopping centre without seeing charging points at the mens couches while their wives are shopping. Pretty much every car I get into has a USB socket that puts out 2A. Lots of computers in the past 5 years had a high speed charging options. Hotels have them next to their beds and at the desks, they are starting to show up in new houses, in small shops etc etc.
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So now instead of just popping in a new battery, you have to sit while your fixed-battery phone charges. yeah thats real progress. NOT.
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So you picked up on half of what I said and complained. Maybe you should work on your attention span.
The ability to ubiquitously charge is one of convenience. You don't sit down to charge. You charge when you sit down. If you need a battery on the go then use a charging bank. They are far far larger than any after market battery so you don't need to carry around multiple of them, can come built into phone cases, can be charged while you're using the phone so you don't need another charger, and if you're stu
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>> I for one will not be factoring a removable battery into ANY of my phone buying decisions.
They you're an idiot. Having a removeable battery just gives you more options. It doesn't remove any.
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Guess what? with a removeable battery phone you can still do all you said, and you have extra options too.
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Like....carrying around a lot of extra shit that is 1) expensive and 2) easy to lose. If you want a device with a replaceable battery - then buy what you want that does what you want. But don't pretend your religious fanaticism applies to the rest of the consumer market, who said it simply does. not. give. a. shit. about swappability. Fifteen years ago, with the iPod, long before smartphones became popular.
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What part of "you're not forced to do that just becuase you have a removeable battery" are you not getting?
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What part of "the consumer market doesn't give a shit about battery swapability" do you not understand? The number of people who need to ever be able to swap batteries in their phones because they cannot charge at home, work or school is comparable to the number of people who need a hidden gun in every room of their house for home defense. All that wasted space can be used to make the phone smaller/cheaper/more sturdy/have a larger battery, or some combination thereof.
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>> All that wasted space
What wasted space? A battery is a battery, whether its built in or not.
Besides the REAL benefit is the $700 invisible new phone tax every 2 or 3 years you actually avoid just because your built-in battery inevitably cant hold a charge any more.
http://electronics.howstuffwor... [howstuffworks.com]
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Guess what? with a removeable battery phone you can still do all you said, and you have extra options too.
Except for the engineering problems behind making a phone battery removable.
Thanks but no thanks. I put great value on:
- Smaller device (or larger battery for a given device size)
- Water proofing not being dependent on a tiny little rubber seal in the battery compartment
- Phone not exploding into 3 parts when dropped.
- Not carrying around an incendiary device with exposed "touch these together to start fire" terminals.
It's not a case of one or the other. If it were they never would have abolished them in th
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Your arguements are bullshit.
Phones are no bigger or explode just because the battery is removeable. In fact nearly all the phones that have exploded (various iPhones and most recently the S7) have non-removable batteries.
I'll give you waterproof but thats only recently even become a thing. and since I've never lost a phone by getting it wet or even found it difficult to avoid submersing my phone its not even a feature I really care about.
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The nice thing about a removable battery is that you can pull it out when the phone crashes.
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Absolutely. My stupid Marshall London phone does that a lot.
I have the X power (Score:1, Informative)
I have the X power. It sure does last a long time on one charge. Charges quickly, too. The screen is bright. It has 16 GB of RAM. And a headphone jack. The price was nice. The built in software is far less shitware than my previous Sony phone. Build quality is reasonable.
Now that I'm out of positives, let's focus on what sucks: 1.5 GB of RAM means swapping between two apps is slow as hell. The phone is slow as hell because the CPU sucks. 720p. Headphone jack is on the wrong side, IMHO. Dimming
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I bought a LG X Power to my mother as a gift some months ago. She couldn't be happier. I found it's a great phone for non-techies. All the positive points you mentioned are true.
1.5 GB of RAM means swapping between two apps is slow as hell. The phone is slow as hell because the CPU sucks.
Weird, the model I bought have 2 GB RAM, and has great performance. She uses a reasonable number of apps, and never closes them (just hit home), and everything runs smoothly.
720p.
OK for non-techies.
"too hot"
Never happened.
The only downside I have is about the camera. It has a just-OK quality, worst than most flagship phones, and the camera app ha
Mental health (Score:5, Insightful)
If this is true, the problem isn't with the device.
.. Or.... (Score:2)
I'm not sure battery size is really the problem (Score:3)
The damn thing lasted nearly 60 hours on a charge in safe mode, despite the defective battery. So it would appear modern smartphones (well, modern as of 3 years ago) are more than capable of lasting a weekend on a single charge. They die early because of all those damn apps which insist on waking up every 5 minutes so they can report your position, calls, texts, sites visited, photos taken, etc. back to their mother ship. Makes me wish there was a feature where you could "jail" certain apps to prevent them from running entirely, unless you specifically launch it.
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Makes me wish there was a feature where you could "jail" certain apps to prevent them from running entirely, unless you specifically launch it.
Actually, what you describe would seem to be called "battery optimization" in the "apps" section of your device settings. Just optimize all apps and they will be forced to sleep.
I also go further and specifically don't allow apps to do notifications so that they cannot wake up the device or turn on the screen.
I addition, I use a wifi toggle app that will keep the wifi turned off (or on.. but mostly off) based on GPS and cell tower telemetry.
Doing those things on my Android has skyrocketed my battery life.
Apps solutions (Score:2)
Yup,
I switched to the "Lite" versions of Skype/Facebook/Messenger because they were designed for 2G networks in BRICS coutries.
(Thus they phone back less to the mothership. And subsequently wake up less often).
And as for the jailing : webos powered Pre phones did attempt a bit the jailing idea.
Given that modern kernels have even better isolation features (containers like LXC and Systemd nspan), that should be even easier.
(Having each container's network connected to different types of bridges, some of them
Release the charging tether (Score:2)
Lenovo Vibe P1 has a 4900mAh Battery (Score:2)
up to 3Gigs ram, octacore and two sims +micro SD
http://shopap.lenovo.com/in/en... [lenovo.com]
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http://www.gsmarena.com/asus_z... [gsmarena.com]
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