It’s no longer news that in Nigeria without a sustainable source of power, it’s pointless to own a smartphone. These days, most people have more than one phone. Usually, the least expensive one is for staying connected to mobile service and is used as the main service provider of calls and text messages. The smarter or more expensive phone operates majorly for internet and social media purposes. This is usually because social media, running applications and other functions of smartphones have increased over time, while their battery potentials are way less than functionally expected. Especially in a country where power outages are experienced on a daily basis, this puts forth a big problem.
[quote_box_right]When we compare the life span of the smart phone to that of its less digital predecessors, which could last nearly a week without charging, it is quite fair to say ‘in relation to their smart capabilities, their batteries are quite dumb’. [/quote_box_right]Most smart phones have batteries that mostly provide an average of five hours of talk time on 3G network (maybe two or three times as much on 2G), and let’s say 90-100 hours on standby mode. This battery capacity is even reduced when media and web applications are run. Considering the increasing need made on these gismos, a serious need for constant power supply or better still, a longer lifespan, for these batteries arises. In cases where some phones only allow for built in batteries, users are at a standstill because they can’t use a spare battery. Even in cases where batteries could be replaced, the continuous switching of batteries increases the chances of creating problems on the phone, as this could wear the battery connector out. This battery problem is further increased by the fact that all batteries, irrespective of their usage, have a life-span. No matter how much it’s used, its functionality gradually diminishes over time.
Now, put this up against an already poor battery performance, and you get something like the land line (desktop) phone.
When we compare the life span of the smart phone to that of its less digital predecessors, which could last nearly a week without charging, it is quite fair to say ‘in relation to their smart capabilities, their batteries are quite dumb’. A major reason for these ‘dumb’ batteries is the constant connectivity to the internet either via Wi-Fi or otherwise, as well as the screen lighting. These functions require a large amount of energy from the batteries to run. Even as evolution into better display screens and faster internet potentials are made, battery life (which is most paramount) should be given topmost priority.
Really, it’s an issue. With hopes, smart phones with equally smart batteries are being manufactured somewhere on the planet. Till then, charge your phones properly before leaving home or get a mobile charger. I would now leave you to have a mental debate on how we got to the point where chargers became mobile.
