The words ‘battery life’ are usually followed by a groan as people become more and more annoyed by their gadgets grinding to a halt, but I think we’re being too harsh on our tech.
I understand the frustration; if you need to make a phone call the worst thing to see is your battery on empty.
But don’t blame the battery – blame your expectations.
Battery and power management technology is constantly improving and the newest models are producing pretty amazing results, as our latest tablet battery life tests have shown.
The new iPad was able to browse the web using wi-fi for 12 and a half hours – that’s over 12 hours of solid work without a break, which is definitely something the iPad does better than me.
Yes, some other models didn’t perform nearly as well as Apple’s tablet, but even the average tablet managed six and a half hours of web browsing. And that’s more than most people will do when they’re out and about away from a power socket.
Stop moaning about tablet and smartphone battery life
Which? Convo’s Patrick Steen has moaned about battery life on smartphones before, but we’ve found in our test labs that batteries are actually getting much better.
The only thing that is causing these batteries to run out is guess what… you. You’re using your phone too much, you’re now calling, texting, web browsing, playing games and watching videos – sometimes all at the same time!
Yes, your old Nokia might have lasted a week without charging, but your old Nokia only had to make five short calls and send 20 text messages a week. Not to mention the fact that it only had a tiny screen to keep powered.
If you want to make your new smartphone last as long as your old phone, you can. Simply turn off your power-hungry 3G, wi-fi and Bluetooth. Don’t browse the web, don’t take pictures with your gazillion-pixel camera, and don’t play games.
This might take the fun out of smartphones, but there’s a better way too – be realistic about how long your battery will last. If you’re going to be away from a plug for a long time, set the screen brightness lower, don’t tweet about everything you’re doing, and (shock horror) why not turn your phone off for a bit so you know it’ll have power when you do need it?
Smartphones and tablets now have the power and capability of laptops from only a few years ago – the fact they can last a day without recharging is incredibly impressive.
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