Gadgetory

this episode of Android Q&A is brought to you by HipChat so this is question that comes up many many times what is going on with battery life innovation or lack thereof we got great innovation when it comes to system and the chips when it comes to displays but battery life lagging behind and they're important no in fact there's a recent survey that suggests that battery life is the number one determining factor when users decide on which phone goodbye so what's the dilly according to an IDC survey called top 10 smartphone purchase drivers battery life is the top consideration by a distance way ahead of ease of use operating system and camera resolution battery life topped the list in a similar UK survey by GM i which found that eighty-nine percent of respondents felt that long-lasting batteries were important compared to sixty-eight percent of brand in second place and sixty percent for a fast processor in third so i know what you're thinking why oh why is there so little innovation when it comes to battery life and it really comes down to moving goalposts the lithium-ion batteries that power our smartphones have been improving but the processors and screens that they're powering have also been improving much faster as we jump to qhd displays and octo-core processors we need more power just to maintain the same level of usage as we pack more and more features our expectations for performance grows and battery life suffers our smartphones are also getting prone to overheating which has a knock-on negative impact on our batteries but why aren't they improving faster it's becoming increasingly difficult for engineers to squeeze more power out of the existing technology new breakthroughs require expensive and time-consuming testing at a much larger scale safety concerns are paramount with batteries because they can literally explode if the manufacturer gets it wrong there's no substitute for long-term testing exciting findings in the lab can always be scaled up for mass production how do you balance output capacity longevity and charging speed even if something has been extensively tested and it can be scaled it's going to be prohibitively expensive compared to older technology which is already being manufactured for the mass market it comes down to the fact that batteries are just much more difficult to innovate on and there's also much more safety concerns to consider so in the short term you may want to consider a workaround some people are already working around the problem by using extended battery cases external chargers and extra batteries but there are always obvious downsides there's no getting away from the extra expense and added bulk of a battery case or an external charger many manufacturers are also embedding batteries now and making it harder to replace them ostensibly because that enables slimmer unibody designs it can also help with water resistance and potentially tougher phones of course it doesn't hurt from the OEM perspective if you decide to switch your phone every year or two because the battery is dying now the next best thing is simply to charge your device faster let's talk about that something like wat up from energy switch uses RF and Bluetooth technology to charge a device within 15 feet of a transmitter could be a game-changer if truly wireless solutions like that are proven safe and they hit the market with the right level of support then perhaps wireless charging can still be the answer you also want to remember Qualcomm's quick charge 2.0 technology that offers 75 percent faster charging there's also store dot that wants to take it much further and promised a 30 second recharge but the technology is yet to be perfected and it cannot be retrofitted now I would venture a guess that many of you would give up your sexy slim devices for some that's a little bit thicker for a removable battery so you could add on extra batteries and solve that problem that way that's kind of the low-tech solution to it let me know in the comments below how many of you be willing to do that I know I would so how is your team that you work with collaborating and communicating if you're a team like ours here at Android Authority email alone just ain't cutting it but hit chat is an instant messaging video chat document sharing screen sharing system and updates and code sharing integrated into one simple platform emails too slow and meetings get sidetracked and regular IM doesn't work well for groups but HipChat keeps your team in sync no matter where you are on any device and the best part is that HipChat integrates with all the top developer tools like github JIRA Zendesk and check out the 57 services that hip-hop plays nice with hipchat brings your entire project team together get your team on the same page in seconds I want you to try HipChat for free no credit card required if you go to hipchat com forward slash android authority sign up by clicking start chatting and then invite a few team members and try it out free for 30 days and for the first 100 signups hipchat is going to extend their 30-day free trial to 90 days hipchat your team your project in sync instantly thanks for watching android army my name is Jace love to connect with you right here on google+ or twitter i really do read them and i respond to as many as i can i like talking you guys so let's keep it up you know what forget about these guys over here that work really hard to deliver the very best content on the web to be your source for all things android i should see you later