There would appear to be a magic figure that Apple want all iPads to be able to deliver and that is 10 hours use of their tablets on a single charge.

So how do you ensure that this desirable 10 hour figure stays the same when the new version of the iPad will offer 4G LTE (a notorious battery drainer) and a densely packed 3 million pixel high definition screen consuming power via quad core graphics processing?

One answer would obviously be to put in a bigger battery, but when you have got a product that is selling like hotcakes and has no reason to reinvent itself, why on earth would you redesign a winning formula to accommodate a bigger battery. Even though the new iPad is heavier and slightly larger it is hardly a full redesign.

The other would be to reduce the overall power consumption by redesigning the chip architecture.

New battery technology ensures great performance:

But the answer for Apple has come from working on the battery itself and this has resulted in an iPad 3 battery that has nearly double the capacity of the iPad 2 battery meaning you get a whipping 42Wh in teh iPad 3 compared to to only 25Wh in the iPad 2 which from my tests on wi-fi and general use is hardly a poor battery anyway.

This when measured in milliamps means that the new iPad 3 will offer 11,666 mAh compared to the iPad 2’s 6944 mAh, so almost double.

But, like we have mentioned prior, the iPad 2 is considerably less power hungry on the screen side and also with the 4G LTE option that the new iPad 3 will offer, so Apple had to do something.

So what is going on in this battery to make it so powerful without the associated weight and size growth that it would seem to need?

Apple battery labs are hard at work:

Until we see the final product and get some wise ass to do a “teardown” we can not fully say, but, it appears that Apple’s battery laboratories have been hard at work testing new technology and improving the power of their Li-ion cells, and with the battery world in serious need of a catch up to keep up with new mobile technology that is so power hungry, could Apple have found more technology with which to sue every other company who tries to take a bite.

Are you happy with your iPad battery life currently and how do you think they will manage to pull this off when the new device will be so power hungry?

This issue of smartphone battery life is one of major concern for both device owners and smartphone and tablet manufacturers, and though there are some exciting technological advancements coming out that aims to help us all enjoy longer battery life from our smartphones but until all these actually come to fruition there could be another rather nifty way of helping us get a little #MoreJuice out of our phones….and the answer lies in waste energy.

In an article in IEEE we see that wasted light could be the key to extra smartphone battery life.

Our batteries are finding it tough to make our shiny Super AMOLED screens stay bright all day and play all those games/apps and process that video as we now use our smartphones more and more and expect more from the devices. So could the answer lie in the light energy that is pretty much wasted from our screens on a day to day basis?

Cambridge university researchers could hold the answer:

You have obviously all heard of Solar Power, so without going into too much technicalities imagine this concept being taken and used in your smartphone for light that has escaped from your OLED screen.

Professor Arokia Nathan and researcher Arman Ahnood, point out that around 36% of the light produced on a mobile device screen is actually projected forward to the display to be seen by your eyes with the remaining light escaping at the display edges, and it is this wasted light that could hold the key to making that battery last a little longer.

Science part:

With the prototype developed, a number of key areas are explained that make this technology work as intended.

One of the main issues is voltage spikes which would potentially cause damage to the battery while charging and would be caused by the differing light intensities, this would be managed by using a number of solar cells within the smartphone display which are made up from thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon, this technology would be able to harness both the wasted light and the ambient light around you. Couple this with a thin film super-capacitor and you should be able to even out the voltage to stop damage to the battery.

On top of this another set of solar cells would be arranged around the device display to capture any light that escapes from the screens main display and it is said that an average smartphone can produce up to 5 milliwatts of power using this method and technology.

Does this sound like technology that will work or a bit of pie in the sky?

It has to be said that battery life on smartphones appears to be a very divisive issue among tech heads.

And woe betide the man who moans about smartphone battery life……as he usually then gets told to search long and hard for applications, settings, additional replacements etc etc, to make sure that the device works for more than 7 hours of average use, because of course that person would be stoopid to even think about getting a days battery life on such a device in 2012 and beyond.

Battery Life:

Coming back to that particular article by that particular person which so far has some 25,000 + pageviews and growing since the end of last year.

Could it be that Mobile Inquirer has helped the average Joe get a much needed (IMHO) smartphone battery victory and force manufacturers to really think long and hard about improving smartphone battery life on their devices.

Well one thing is for sure, it is no longer seen as a “non issue” as Samsung have done the decent thing and said they will provide batteries in their 2012 stock that will last for a full day of moderate to average use.

Talking at CES and to CNET, Kevin Packingham, vice president of product innovation at Samsung says:

“When you wake up to when you go to bed, we don’t want you feeling anxiety about your battery life,”

Th reason behind the drain is obvious, we have dual/quad core beasts lurking below our mm thick bright large screened devices that are often connected to the power hungry 4G LTE networks, and stream video, constantly updated notifications on social networks/email etc, and yes, as a result, these monsters need feeding power regularly.

Mobile Inquirer fights and wins?

This is what we said to device manufacturers and many of you have so far signed it so please add yours still.

Currently one way around the issue:

Sacrifice size of device and slap in a bigger battery.

This was part of the petition I set up on my flagship article moaning about battery life on my Samsung S2, and it was designed to genuinely make manufactures think more about designing slightly thicker phones, as no one I know cares one jot that the phone is so slim it has to be coupled with a pathetic battery that doe snot provide juice for a full day.

Motorola attempted to resolve this is by bringing out a “Maxx” version of the Droid Razr, slightly thicker and therefore heavier and with a more substantial battery, it was a no brainer to me and so many others….we the consumer are not bothered about a few mm’s on our phone just make it bloody well last a day please.

Packingham has said that Samsung will also move to larger batteries for now and will continue to look at ways to optimize their devices and come to grips with issues that cause battery drain on smartphones.

We have provided a couple of articles on how to improve your battery life and how technology may help in the future and they can be found below:

The Ultimate Guide To Prolonging Smartphone Battery Life

Smartphone Battery Life Increased Ten Times Using Graphene

In the interview Packingham said that 2011 was a transitional year and went on to say that Samsung would be refining their devices for 2012 and bring about the quality that people perhaps expect more of from the high end device manufacturer with so much promise, just dont laugh at their “delisted” first adverts for the Samsung S2 here!

With smartphone battery life being of major concern to many mobile phone owners, we examine a new set of data showing how Apple are looking into new territories for their future energy source for mobile devices.

Apple now have two intriguing fuel cell battery patent application proposals, which were initially filed in 2010, gone through the motions.

Both are related to “fuel cell” technology and could help reduce the need for a heavy battery inside mobile devices.

The technology is rumoured to enable a much higher density of volumetric and gravimetric energy densities and this should enable the ongoing operation of mobile devices to carry on for much longer, even into the days or weeks territory without the need for refuelling.

This could certainly help to stop the battery issues which have plagued smartphones from the days when they started to stick dual core processors in them, and expect them to last a full day.

Apple go Eco-friendly?

Probably in a bid to save face, among other reasons, Apple seem to be pushing the renewable energy bandwagon even further up the hill into a workable battery for smartphones.

The patents provide hope that they can utilise hydrogen technology and produce a more eco-riendly energy that is based on renewable energy:

“..potentially achieve high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities, which can potentially enable continued operation of portable electronic devices for days or even weeks without refuelling.”

Internal Structure Of Fuel Cell System:

Hydrogen Fuel Cells:

Could Hydrogen fuel-cell batteries be the answer?

They are lightweight, and it would appear that Apple are focusing their attentions here, perhaps in a manner to show that they are a caring company, after a series of PR gaffs have shown that not everything Apple is all that rosy.

This new type of battery could go some way to making batteries live longer and also allow a move away from the traditional reliance on fossil fuels, they even make a note of this in their patent application.

Taking the cynical side away from this article, it will be great if this technology does prove useful, and we hope that Apple will somehow allow others to also tap into any breakthroughs as this would seriously show just how much Apple care about the environment if they were to then block rivals from also benefiting from any energy milestones that could be found.

Surely there must be a way to license the technology if the patents are upheld and a fuel-cell breakthrough is so unique in its nature.

As many will know my Samsung S2 battery life article has become quite the flag bearer for mobile inquirer, unfortunately it has taken me a while to get around to writing the follow-up that aims to help owners of smartphones with their battery life issues…instead of just moaning..;)

So here it is, the definitive guide and resource to learning more about your smartphone battery and improving its life:

I am going to cover myths of battery life on smartphones, and ways you can help prolong the battery life of your device in general:

Firstly I have to tell you what battery we are talking about when it comes to the power source that is actually inside your smartphone:

Li-ion smartphone battery:

Your smartphone invariably makes use of a rather amazing bit of kit called a Lithium-ion type battery, with my Samsung S2 taking a Li-ion 1850mAh Rogers Model with a 1650mAh model also being offered for this device.

Your smartphone probably uses something similar.

The problem that many are facing, is that the power demanded from your smartphone is not yet matched by the power offered from your battery, and this causes obvious issues, not least of which in Apple’s case is you can not actually replace the battery, so if it runs out during your day, which they so often do, you pretty much have no choice but to stop and recharge.

And so it has to be said that at least in devices where you can replace the battery, you can currently own two or more spares, to get you through a little longer.

The smartphone battery test:

This test was carried out in 2010 by batteryuniversity.com and is a thorough analysis of how a pool of batteries degrades over time under certain conditions.

The pool of brand new 1500mA Li-ion batteries for smartphones were tested on a Cadex C7400 battery analyzer. These 11 pouch packs, started with a capacity range of 88–94 percent, they then decreased in capacity to around 73–84 percent after 250 full discharge cycles (2010).

Here are some of the key findings from the fairly technical report:

It has to be said that they were seemingly testing for the life of the battery and it is slightly configuring as to if they refer to the life of a charge or the life of the battery over months…i.e how much it degrades over time, either way some truths are still contained that we should all really know about.

Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, so also does the depth of discharge (DoD) determine the cycle count. The smaller the depth of discharge, the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid frequent full discharges and charge more often between uses.

This above quote dispels most commonly held views that you should let your smartphone battery fully charge down when you first get your phone, and then charge it all the way back up, and keep doing this through the lifetime of your phones battery.

Myth number 1 – Memory effect:

“Memory effect” caused some rechargeable batteries to lose maximum charge capacity unless they were fully drained before recharging, this effect does not occur with smartphone batteries and the chart below shows that for optimum life of a smartphone battery, they are best kept charged and not allowed to drop to fully empty that often.

Here is a chart showing that if you were able to keep your phone charged at around 40% all the time instead of going from full to empty as many owners do, your overall battery capacity would not degrade at such a level.

Myth number 2 – Priming batteries:

This was also necessary for some (ones that did not have it done at the factory) Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) and Nickel Metal Hydrate (NiMH) batteries which needed to be “primed” in order to ensure that the worked to their fullest, this meant that you needed to initially run the battery dead before charging it up.

Li-ion in general (including Li-ion Polymers) do not need priming.

Myth number 3 – Temperature:

Gone are the days of putting your battery in the fridge or in the the sun to get a little more juice out of your smartphone, and is totally impractical anyway.

Your smartphone battery will nowadays most likely prefer to be kept at around 20 degrees Celsius, this means that recharging using a wireless mat for instance will not probably help the battery stay in its prime condition as the energy lost in the exchange is transferred into heat and will actually cause the battery to unnecessarily raise in temperature overall, and looking at “scientific” data, this would lead me to conclude that a degradation would occur which may not have happened if you used a conventional lead based method.

Exposing the battery to high temperature and being at full state-of-charge for an extended time can be more damaging than cycling. Newer designs may show improved results.

Apps to help battery life:

Well one way maybe to actually kill your apps in all honesty, using your task killer options where available, however there are rumours to be some application options that may help to improve your battery life.

For the iPhone you have:

And for Android you have:

I have no idea whatsoever if these work well or not, I have trialled the free version of Juice Defender to improve my own Samsung S2 battery problems but I found it to be quite complicated and unsure it did anything much after trialling for a few days on various settings, but maybe the pro version is better.

Accessories to help smartphone battery life:

We covered this model in our top 5 iPad accessories list, so here it is again.

The New Trent iCruiser IMP1000 11000mAh External Battery Pack, which will give you a charger on the go.

This nifty device is really worth checking out especially if you like camping etc.

Methods you can utilise day to day to extend battery life:

There are some every day lessons to be practised that many people may not know about and should help you obtain better battery life in general and will work for most smartphones.

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• Keep your background image simple

• Underclock your phone’s CPU

• Disable GPS / Bluetooth

• Force a 2G or 3G signal do not make your device keep switching

• Reduce widgets on your home screen

• Minimize auto sync features

• Reduce screen brightness

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*In all honesty some of the above areas that I mentioned could do with fleshing out a bit, as some points are not that obvious to accomplish for the average user.

Innovations that could be considered to save battery life:

Here I want to take a look at some areas that could be developed that would help bring about battery life improvements:

Cloud based technology for content delivery:

More and more cloud based applications like Onlive are now taking some of the heat off our smartphones processors, by doing the calculations in the cloud and sending a compressed stream to decode on our phones, this method allows extremely high quality gaming to be seen on smartphones and mobile devices, I think that GPS would benefit from improvements here.

Hot Swapping:

One inventor called Ric Richardson’s has produced, what he calls, “hotswap” batteries for laptops, these new batteries allow you to take one battery out and replace them with another without having to turn the device off and create a 2-5 minute delay, this would be very useful for people who need to keep on a conversation after a particularly heavy day using their battery…emergencies also.

Wi-Fi Scaling:

Have you heard of Wi-Fi Scaling?. The new concept that could save 50% of your battery while it is idle.

Mr Kang Shin and Zinyhu Zin Yang at The University of Michigan have been testing ways to reduce the time your smartphone battery wastes listening for signals.

E-Mili, stands for “Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening”, and is designed to reduce the power needed to provide that listening functionality that smartphones rely on.

Exciting as this technology is, it is also seemingly in its early stages though so they are currently..

“….pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property, and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market.”

So there you have quite a few areas that could start to seep into every day use and provide our smartphones with a little #MoreJuice!

Your comments:

We would love to hear your thoughts on the applications mentioned, and indeed any battery saving tips that you use, or areas that we may have omitted that could be interesting topics of conversation for our readers.

We have talked about smartphone battery life issues in various articles, ranging from one big moan to a guide on getting the most from your devices puny little battery.

But now we are hearing that the wonderful material the we wrote about ages ago called Graphene could end up being a smartphone battery saviour, as well as its material of choice in years to come.

What is graphene?

Improved battery life for smartphones – the holy grail:

It has been quite the challenge to ensure that our beloved mobile devices can keep up with the amount of power that we bestow in them, and where “moores” law dictates that things can get smaller and smaller and quicker and quicker, the law of the “li-ion” does not follow suit, so having a laptop inside a thimble with quad core processing makes for one particularly pathetic thimble, apart from the five minutes that it can open up iTunes in two seconds flat and play Angry birds for mice in 3D. Yes, it looks pretty cool for a while, but alas they never last!

Now when you hear of people playing down the issue of battery life, ask yourself this, would you rather it improved or happy that it stayed the same?

You see there is only one answer to that, and where I can safely, and happily say that my smartphone screen should stay the same size, the battery life does need improving.

Smartphone battery charge time increased by a factor of ten?

Taking a look at a TechCrunch article from back in November that I totally missed, it would appear that a professor at Northwestern university called Harold Kung has devised an ingenious way of utilising the wonder material that is graphene and integrating it into the structure of li-ion batteries in order to increase both the charge capacity and charge speed of this type of battery.

They key is in the way Graphene is layered in between the lithium ions, as the ions move across the layers of graphene, the speed in which this occurs directly relates to the speed that it can charge.

Helping to accelerate this process the professor decided to poke millions of tiny holes into the graphene layers of around 10-20nm in size, this helped to provide a “shortcut” for the ions to travel. Which in-turn helped to charge the battery ten times quicker than normal cells would be able to achieve.

Smartphone battery capacity extended:

So not only has professor Harold Kung found a way to speed up the charge time for li-ion batteries, he then went on to mess about with some more concepts and test the results out.

The second of which increased the overall capacity of the battery by another factor of ten, meaning that you could almost get a full week from one charge if these were to be rolled out as production battery sets.

And the key to this achievement was the fact that graphene is so malleable, and so avoided negative effects of the silicon expansion issues that beset earlier attempts to achieve similar results.

Essentially, what is needed to increase the capacity of li-ion batteries is to be able to insert small clusters of silicon in between each graphene slice which allows more ions to collect and gather at the electrode end, increasing capacity, the fact that graphene and silicon are malleable helps this process work.

“Now we almost have the best of both worlds, we have much higher energy density because of the silicon, and the sandwiching reduces the capacity loss caused by the silicon expanding and contracting. Even if the silicon clusters break up, the silicon won’t be lost.”

The downside is that the charge capacity and speed of charge degrades sharply after 150 charges, but as was pointed out, you are pretty much well into your second year of use at that point as the charge lasts so long anyway.

This is seriously great news for device manufacturers who right now need to work on ways to improve their smartphone battery life until this kind of technology becomes affordable, and practical and is present in every single phone sold.

I look forward to this time indeed!

Yes the iPad is fantastic and in a class of its own in many ways, however it still feels a little lonely and lacking sometimes, so this is where Apple branded product accessories and third party suppliers come into play.

We take a good look at popular items sold on Amazon that also have high user feedback ratings to see exactly what people are buying, and also if there may be an item out there that you may not realise you needed!

This list is also a great start for inspiration related to gifts for the iPad 2 and iPad range.

So without further ado here we go:

Bear Motion Genuine Leather Case for iPad2 2nd Generation with built-in Stand:

This Bear motion product with Sleep mode, has been modified based on comments and user feedback, so as of version 2 the feedback seems to be nothing short of high praise (1000+ comments on Amazon saying how great it is).

The case is especially designed for the iPad 2, featuring “top grain” leather, which is the highest grade of leather from the hide, and when the cover is closed it will put your iPad to sleep, this is after you have turned sleep mode on as a function.

Customer feedback is seemingly paramount at Bear Motion, and they offer to resolve any issues you have with their products straight away, simply contact their customer support by email, for prompt service.

Features of the Bear Motion Genuine Leather Case in detail:

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• New version – Supports Sleep Mode
• 100% real “Top Grain” Cowhide Leather
• Access all of the iPad 2’s features without taking off the case
• Easy to slip onto your iPad 2 for long lasting protection
• Interior and exterior has soft real leather and scratch protection
• Securely hold iPad in place with Unique Inner flap and Reinforcement Strip

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Yes, as a case and stand, and at the discount price that it can be obtained for now, you would be silly not to consider this product as your iPad 2 cover.

Kensington Apple iPad 2 KeyFolio Pro Performance Case with wireless Bluetooth keyboard:

So you are in the market for a keyboard and stand for your iPad 2?

This device is selling well on Amazon, and is essentially a high performance keyboard which is optimised for touch typing, and delivered via the built-in bluetooth technology offering fully wireless operation, so you are able to make that lovely looking iPad 2 into more of a laptop/desktop affair, and utilise the screen real estate of the iPad 2 much more than having a virtual keyboard take up that vital space.

This is a must have for anyone who does any more than a smattering of emailing on a daily basis, and I personally recommend it to anyone who wants to work a bit faster and also kill a few birds with one stone, as it works as a cover, stand and keyboard, what more could you want!

It is built well, and also offers access to the iPad cameras on the front and back, the tactile keys offer the same build quality that you come to expect from Apple products.

The keyboard that is built into the KeyFolio Pro includes some iPad 2 functional controls such as home button, volume, and brightness.

With a rotating stand offering landscape or portrait viewing, the flexibility that this product offers is fantastic.

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• Bluetooth: V 2.0 standard
• Battery Life: 90 hours
• Standby Time: 45 days
• Battery Capacity: Minimum 430 mAh
• Battery Life Expectancy: 3 years
• Charging time: up to 4.5 hours

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With a 2 year warranty we think this keyboard and stand is well worth a look.

Apple Digital AV Adapter:

So you want bigger and better things for your iPad 2?

And why not, but it is not easy getting your HDTV to sing happily with your iPad 2 unless you have certain connections like this Adapter.

Simply put, this Apple digital adapter will mirror exactly what you have on screen on your iPad 2, meaning that you can control a photo slideshow, a video, or even watch a game being played with the benefit of that larger screened HDTV that is then connected via the device.

It also supports video out for iPad, iPhone 4 or iPod touch (4th gen) and is HDMI compatible.

Full specs:

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• Product Type: A/V Cable Technical Information Cable Type:
• HDMI Fiber Optic Mode:
• 1 x 30-pin Male Proprietary Connector on Second End
• 1 x 19-pin HDMI (Type A) Male Digital Audio/Video Connector on Second End
• 1 x 30-pin Female Proprietary Conductor

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Yes, this device is a really nice accessory to have with your iPad and comes in handy for many things, now go use your imagination!

Trent iCruiser IMP1000 11000mAh External Battery Pack and Charger:

We all know that mobile devices eat battery life for breakfast, but there are ways around this and here is one great solution that we recommend in the form of an External Battery Pack and Charger iPad2 accessory.

Now in its 4th generation, the Trent iCruiser is now compatible with the iPad 2, and provides that extra bit of power that is often needed during a long day without access to a power supply. This device works as your power supply, offering a revolutionary high capacity of 11000mAh at 5V output voltage, this device will give you an extra 17 hours of iPad 2 movie time.

So is perfect on trips away, and as a great backup just in case.

The device will also pretty much power any of your devices from Nintendo’s to Droid’s, and PSP’s and Galaxy Smartphones, indeed this device is on my Xmas shopping list!

As this device is more than just an iPad 2 accessory here is a list of other features that may help you decide how useful this is:

Some features non iPad 2 related:

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• Enjoy 50 hours movie time for iPhone 4S 4, 3G 3Gs iPhone and 4G ipod touch, 17 hours for ipad 2 Compatible with iPhone 4S 4 3Gs 3G, ipod touch 1G 2G 3G 4G 5G, blackberry (9630, 9700, 9550, 9800), HTC android EVO, incredible Nexus, Droid
• Ultra reliable Lithium-Ion battery with 11000mAh, 600% iPhone 4 Battery life incredible Nexus, Motorola Droid
• Compatible with ipad 2, iPhone 4S 4 3Gs 3G, ipod touch 1G 2G 3G 4G 5G, blackberry (9630, 9700, 9550, 9800), HTC android EVO, incredible Nexus, Droid
• Compatible with HTC Android EVO, Droid, Samsung Galaxy S, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP
• No iPhone/iPad adapter is included, but IMP1000 is compatible with original iPhone/ipad data cable. 6 months product warranty

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This really is an amazingly useful device and accessory and one that most smartphone and tablet owners could do with, shame, but this is the current state of play in the battery market.

Snugg iPad 2 Leather Case Cover and Flip Stand with Elastic Hand Strap and Premium Nubuck Fibre Interior:

Yes you may well have heard of the popular Snugg iPad range and now they have brought out the specially made iPad 2 flavour, this PU black leather case, offers you great protection and some extra functionality like an ability to stand the iPad to watch movies etc. Also included is an improved elastic strap for easy carrying

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• Premium nubuck fibre interior + improved velcro flap to secure your iPad 2 tightly in place when in landscape position
• Camera hole cutout on the back and full access to all iPad 2 ports / connections
• Superior iPad 2 Case by Snugg
• Elastic strap makes it easier to hold and use the iPad 2 – Great for FaceTime
• Automatically wakes and puts the iPad 2 to sleep

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So there you go, a fantastic list resource of bits and pieces that can add value to your iPad or simply protect it a little.

Now get yourself over to Amazon and grab yourself a bargain!

Anthony Munns]]> https://www.mobileinquirer.com/2011/top-5-ipad-accessories-and-gifts/feed/ 4