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AppleCare+ Now Covers Batteries That Drop To 80%

Posted by timothy on from the wish-this-applied-to-my-mac-book-air dept.

Mark Wilson writes with news that Apple's AppleCare+ plan has been updated to address one of the biggest worries that people have about products with non-removeable batteries, and that become very expensive paperweights when the juice runs out. From BetaNews: "Previously, the extended warranty only covered batteries that would hold 50 percent charge or less. Now this has been updated so that you can request a free replacement within the coverage period if your device's battery is only able to hold 80 percent of full charge. The new terms to no apply to everyone — it all depends on when you bought your Apple device. If you bought your iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple Watch before April 10, 2015, you're stuck with the old terms. I wish this change applied to my MacBook Air, with which I'm lucky to get 90 minutes of battery power.

152 comments

  1. Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    When people applaud Apple, design is often one of the things they applaud. How about non-removable batteries as bad design?

    I bought an Android partly because I can carry a tiny spare battery, and replace it if needed, instead of carrying a charger or an even bigger battery to charge my phone.

    1. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Removable batteries are bad design because they introduce seams. Seams are bad design. Apple tries to make their devices seamless both when it comes to the user experience and to the physical experience. My MacBook has a sleek and nearly seamless case. The only seams I see are around the touchpad and the keyboard keys and the ports. The rest of it is pretty much totally solid and smooth with at most a very tiny groove. A removable battery would inherently ruin that by introducing many more seams.

    2. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      More importantly, in order to be able to remove a battery, that battery has to be able to survive outside the device's case. That means it needs a case. Not only that, the phone needs reinforcement to not get damaged when the battery is removed. All that space could be used for... more battery.

    3. Re:Good design, eh? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Because Apple is a premium brand whose users typically receive 'free' lifetime upgrades to the newest model whenever their contracts roll over.

      So as long as the battery doesn't lose too much juice over that period, consumers will tolerate a slight drop since a replacement phone is just a few months away.

    4. Re:Good design, eh? by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      When people applaud Apple, design is often one of the things they applaud. How about non-removable batteries as bad design?

      Also glossy displays, hard-to-repair assemblies, dust accumulation. Apple should be the "you pay to get a product in which everything is perfect" brand, but there are still glaring deficiencies from an engineering standpoint.

    5. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Seams are bad design"

      That's why I buffed out my nutsack. People called me crazy, but when the sun gleams off my nutsack, I got the last laugh.

    6. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My MacBook has a sleek and nearly seamless case.

      But a few years ago, MacBooks had a seam for removable batteries. Who looks at the bottom of another person's MacBook anyway?

      https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfr...

    7. Re:Good design, eh? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 3, Funny

      I agree - Apple products are unseemly.

    8. Re:Good design, eh? by fluffernutter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That depends entirely on whether you think functionality matters or not. Clearly, Apple users don't.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    9. Re:Good design, eh? by kthreadd · · Score: 0

      When people applaud Apple, design is often one of the things they applaud. How about non-removable batteries as bad design?

      I bought an Android partly because I can carry a tiny spare battery, and replace it if needed, instead of carrying a charger or an even bigger battery to charge my phone.

      The battery is clearly removable. According to the summary they will replace it for you if it drops below 80 % and they would not be able to do that if it was non-removable. Just because you can't quickly and easily remove it yourself doesn't mean that it's not removable. It is removable, you just need some time and tools to do it.

    10. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 0, Troll

      I had three different cell phones that would randomly shut off in my pocket because over time their battery door came loose and the battery itself would momentarily disconnect, causing it to lose power. Personally I don't see why anybody would want the structural weakness of a removable battery.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    11. Re:Good design, eh? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1, Troll

      You think when they put the battery in at the factory they are just going to inject pure battery 'juice' into the phone??

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    12. Re:Good design, eh? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Sounds like a general phone design issue as opposed to a removable battery issue. On my phone there is no individual door, the whole back comes off and there is no risk of it just coming off. Furthermore, the back is usually under the case that I have that clips tightly onto the phone.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    13. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      I would really like to know why my comment was modded down. Surely you would be frustrated at having cell phones that don't ring because they've randomly shut down.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    14. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Wherever the design problem lies it happened across three different brands of phone at different price ranges. The most recent phone was a 2006 model. Perhaos modern designs are better, and that'd be great, but I'd rather have a sturdier phone.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    15. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fine. Not "customer removable" and certainly not "quickly removable"

    16. Re:Good design, eh? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Clearly something you should have researched better before buying a second phone with the same issue.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    17. Re:Good design, eh? by adolf · · Score: 2

      Just because you can't quickly and easily remove it yourself doesn't mean that it's not removable. It is removable, you just need some time and tools to do it.

      Remove the battery on an iPhone 6 in 27 easy steps. After that, reassembly is simply the opposite of disassembly!*

      You just need some time and tools to do it!

      *: You hope.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    18. Re:Good design, eh? by gnasher719 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You think when they put the battery in at the factory they are just going to inject pure battery 'juice' into the phone??

      Have a look on Apple's website at the design of the batteries in newer MacBooks. It's not quite "battery juice", but the batteries do come in shapes that fill the smallest gap, something that would be impossible with a removable battery.

    19. Re: Good design, eh? by kthreadd · · Score: 1

      Either that or pay a professional to do it. Apple will do it for you when you buy a new battery.

    20. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Yeah because reviewers keep their phones for a year so they can give you a heads-up on issues like that. Totally my bad.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    21. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When the Retina Macbook Pros came out, these were the ones with the integrated battery, one of their key differences over their predecessors is that they felt a good deal more sturdy. If you lifted it without folding it up it felt like it had a good deal more structural integrity. This is partly because it's lighter and you're moving less mass around and partly because the case is just plain more rigid.

      That's why the lack of seams matters.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    22. Re: Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seams are ALWAYS bad design?

      That's a mighty tough stance to defend, unless you're the type of zealot who believes that form trumps function in absolutely every circumstance.

    23. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can absolutely guarantee that you are lying. Please name the three phones.

    24. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Palm Treo 700, Motorola generic flip phone, Nokia 3650. Not sure why you think I would lie about this. Is there a particular brand whose honor you're trying to defend?

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    25. Re:Good design, eh? by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Dude... We are engineers. Nothing like that is impossible. We could, and would, design around it if needed. More likely we'd just make an overly complicated and impossible to work (for mere mortals) batteries that required special tools to service BUT they would be open source, open standards, and have a dozen forks by tomorrow at noon. And we would like it... We would not even patent it - we would trademark it and copyright the design.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    26. Re:Good design, eh? by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      Its probably due to something like that never happening to someone. Its never happened to me since I started using cellphones back in 2003. I tend to go through one a year.

    27. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Interestingly enough replacement battery doors were plentiful for all three of the phones. But whatever, no, I'm not making this up. I made no claims to how widespread the problem is, only that for me it traversed three brands of phones and two pricing tiers. Personally I find it hard to believe I am alone here, but I offer no proof
      to the contrary.

      Even if I was making this up despite a clear lack of motivation it is commonly understood that less moving parts means greater reliability.

      There is no call for this philosophy to cause conflict, nor am I a liar because I don't have a fashionable complaint.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    28. Re:Good design, eh? by Archimonde · · Score: 1

      And looking at my 13in MBP (mid-2014) from below and it has a nice "seam" going all around the back plate. And yes, you can easily remove it and gain access to the battery.

      So yeah it does have a "seam" and your argument is quite weak in the case of apple laptops.

      --
      Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
    29. Re:Good design, eh? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      So let's just leave it as you are one person who had bad luck.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    30. Re:Good design, eh? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      So long as it's agreed that an integrated battery means a sturdier phone. Afterall, my 'bad luck' was consistent.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    31. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That seam you're talking about cuts through a hardpoint on the case instead of introducing a weak spot on the bottom of it. Yes, you are getting a better structure out of it. No, you didn't negate anybody's point.

    32. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And looking at my 13in MBP (mid-2014) from below and it has a nice "seam" going all around the back plate. And yes, you can easily remove it and gain access to the battery.

      So yeah it does have a "seam" and your argument is quite weak in the case of apple laptops.

      And your point weakens the argument that the battery is not replaceable.

    33. Re:Good design, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its probably due to something like that never happening to someone. Its never happened to me since I started using cellphones back in 2003. I tend to go through one a year.

      Because you know they tend to fall apart a week later?

    34. Re:Good design, eh? by Archimonde · · Score: 1

      That was my point exactly. In fact, it could have been made easily replaceable.

      --
      Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
  2. a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Hence, the POS iphone's true value is about $6.49.
    Value of a clueless gay apple user: priceless.
    Do people choose to become clueless gay apple users? Or is it genetic?

    1. Re:a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Why the heck did the homophobic parent comment get modded up?

      Not all Apple customers are "gay".

      Some of them are asexual, with absolutely no sexuality at all. They don't care about penises and they don't care about vaginas. They care about trendy, hip electronic gadgets.

      Some of them are multisexual, where they like members of the same sex and other normal forms of sexual attraction like that between a man and his motorcycle or that between a woman and her purses and shoes.

      Just because heterosexuals tend to choose Android and Windows it doesn't mean that all Apple customers are "gay".

      Please show some respect.

    2. Re:a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is Apple's competitors are not teh shiny. They are about features and price, not good design. So consumers prefer Apple even with the more price-gouging non-replaceable batteries.

    3. Re: a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you got that wrong - ironically, it's mostly the closet gays that proudly talk about their windows and android choice on forums to show how "heterosexual" they are. same story with bodybuilding and small dicks.

    4. Re:a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

      Every time I use an Apple product I wonder if they test it for usability at all. Specifically, they should be bringing in people who have experience with every type of system out there and rate it in terms of usability in comparison with everything else.

      It seems to me that their tests consist of bringing average people into the room while having someone experienced walk through some sort of script at the front of the room and the test subjects don't actually interact with the device. This would explain why they end up with pretty things that have a lot of issues once you take off the covers.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    5. Re:a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      You forgot to mention that the huge majority are heterosexual and have no problem getting laid with a member of the opposite sex. I guess as a slash dotter without that kind of experience it didn't occur to you.

    6. Re:a replaceable battery would be to expensive. by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you have this reaction because you have the intelligence of a used tissue.

      Specifically, they should be bringing in people who have experience with every type of system out there and rate it in terms of usability in comparison with everything else.

      Why? How does that help that at all?

  3. Instead of building thin bendable phones... by jbssm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Perhaps Apple could build usable phones that actually last a full day on their battery instead of competing for the biggest buzzword of the moment and be able to say: "Look, this is the thinnest phone on the market". It bends easily, it breaks easily, it's got an awful battery, but ei, they can state it's the thinnest phone on the market.

    1. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by binarylarry · · Score: 0

      Because apple's customer base values sexiness over practicality and common sense.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    2. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You realise an iPhone 6+ lasts about 5 days of typical usage on a charge right?

    3. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by berj · · Score: 1

      *shrug*

      Most days I end up with 30-60% of my battery life left on my iPhone 6. The only time I have to plug my phone in during an average work day is if I forgot to charge it over night (maybe once or twice a month)

      I personally prefer thin and light (something which affects every usage of my phone) to longer battery life (something with affects a small percentage of my usage).

      When I want *really* long battery life (eg. when I spend 14 - 18 hours on a film set in the middle of nowhere and am using the radios in my phone heavily for communication) I just carry a small power pack with me. It will charge up my phone while it's in my pocket -- much better than having to turn off my phone and fumble with it while I pull out the internal battery and swap in a fresh one. My battery pack can charge my phone 6 times before it needs to be charged itself. Never even have to turn the phone off.

    4. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lie much? I know you Republicans hate Apple and want their employees to die, but this is getting ridiculous. Apple makes good products no matter how many lies your kind tells. You Republicans are so stupid if you think we're going to believe otherwise just because you spew lies. That is all your kind does. You don't make any products or do anything else for humanity. You just tear down others. You don't work, but instead mooch off of the taxes that working people pay. You never pay for healthcare, while the working poor have to pay retail prices that are sometimes tenfold greater. You're rather have a five year-old girl die than pay reasonable taxes to make sure that doesn't happen. You are so full of hate. So full.

    5. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because apple's customer base values sexiness over practicality and common sense.

      Absolutely. There is no such thing as rational consumption in consumer markets and there's quite a bit in business markets too (you can't get fired for buying IBM or is it now Microsoft.).

      It's all appeal to emotions and then find a way to get your customer to rationalize their "need" for your product. And the easiest people to manipulate are the ones who think they are rational.

    6. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by jbolden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Of the major phones sold:
      1st place: Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (14:43)
      2nd OnePlus One (13:16)
      3rd iPhone 6 Plus (10:00)

      I'd say it is pretty inaccurate to say Apple phones have terrible battery life.

      especially since
      4th Samsung Galaxy S5 (9:42)

    7. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      I don't mind thin devices, but I do mind thin devices that can't withstand typical day-to-day usage and need a case to last. What in the hell is the point of a thin sleek device if I need to put a thick unsightly case around it?

    8. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Maybe how you use it, that's not true how I use it.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    9. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want your fat phone, you can keep it.

    10. Re: Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What battery pack is that. In my experience most battery packs overstate the power storage size

    11. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how do you use it? pr0n?

    12. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by kromozone · · Score: 1

      Thinness and lightness are not some sort of exclusive point of marketability that only Apple users care about. These are guiding principles for technological development at almost every portable device manufacturer. You can look at the patent stream from Samsung and LG and see this quite easily, at least half of their portable device patents mention weight and thickness reduction. The manufacturers are not simply heading in this direction because they've decided that it's the cool thing to do, they perform market research and have determined that these are characteristics that play a major role in purchase decisions. This is also the reason that manufacturers increasingly use pouch batteries adhered to the case with adhesive. By removing the protective casing and screw mounts from the battery, they reduce weight and thickness. However, a pouch shaped battery is easily punctured and relies upon the hard exterior casing of the phone/tablet/laptop to protect it. If the manufacturers allowed consumers to simply pop their pouch batteries out and leave them sitting around to charge, they'd be liable when some consumers inevitably dropped something on the pouch, puncturing it and leading to a fire. Also, the increasing use of adhesives in place of bolts isn't isolated to portable devices, huge sections of the BMW i8 are now glued together where they would have been bolted in the past, while sacrificing consumer repairability, the weight reduction enables improvement in range as well as mileage.

    13. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      The funny thing is these people buy the device to be 'sexy' but then they don't mind dangling a battery pack off of it when the battery inevitably dies.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    14. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      A typical heavy day consists of me checking what the weather is on a website, followed by enabling bluetooth and GPS for an hour so that I can drive to a pool (the system in my vehicle utilizes bluetooth). Then while sitting by the side of the pool lots of heavy browsing for statistics while listening to an audiobook for 8 hours or so. Then bluetooth and GPS again for the ride home. I find a single battery has trouble getting through a day with this kind of use. Hard to use battery packs by the side of the pool.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    15. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      There are plenty of legitimate complaints to make about Apple and their products. Why do you have to make shit up?

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    16. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm curious how people are finding that a battery pack is the solution, when:
      1) Usually the battery dies when you are using the phone, so you can't just put it aside at that point and charge it. I can use my phone while it is on a battery back but then it hardly charges and i'm stuck with the pack.
      2) A battery back is physically bigger than a phone battery and most require an extra cable. How is that ever going to be more convienent then just carrying another charged battery?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    17. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      But not hard to connect your phone to a charger while you drive, most cars have accessory sockets these days or even direct USB connectors for charging phones.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    18. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Buy a battery case. It will 3x phone life.

    19. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Smurf · · Score: 1

      Just a question: Why do you need a GPS to drive to a pool to which you have driven several times before?

      I agree that there are several scenarios where people would want to have their GPS on for several hours a day, but that doesn't seem to be one of them. (And in fact, any scenario in which you are driving your car for several hours is better served by a car charger for your phone, regardless of the phone's brand).

    20. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by berj · · Score: 1

      1) I keep track of the battery remaining percentage. When I get too low (say 20%) I plug the pack into my phone and put them both in my pocket.

      2) It's more convenient for a numer of reasons:

      a) I don't have to turn off my phone to charge up like I would with changing a battery. I keep runnign as if nothing has changed.
      b) I don't have to open my phone up and expose it to the elements. I had a friend on a really filthy, muddy film set in the middle of winter try to replace his battery. He ended up dropping the back of the phone and the dead battery into the mud. Pain in the ass. All I have to do is plug in a cable.
      b.5) if I have a protective case on my phone, replacing the battery becomes even more of a hassle.
      c) I can keep using the battery pack for days on end without needing to charge it up. Better than having to carry around and make sure to keep charged 4 or 5 or 6 extra batteries.

    21. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'm curious how people are finding that a battery pack is the solution, when:

      1) Usually the battery dies when you are using the phone, so you can't just put it aside at that point and charge it. I can use my phone while it is on a battery back but then it hardly charges and i'm stuck with the pack.

      2) A battery back is physically bigger than a phone battery and most require an extra cable. How is that ever going to be more convienent then just carrying another charged battery?

      I use battery packs too so let me respond:

      1) I have no problem getting my phone to actually charge off a pack. It isn't even a good one. Some Schneider branded Chinese rubbish given away at an engineering conference, and it has no problem putting 1.6A into the phone when I plug it in so it charges phones rather quickly.

      2) Many battery packs are universal. I have the option of carrying an extra battery for my phone, my go pro, iPad, Kindle (yes after 2 months of battery life it went flat while camping), my USB chargeable torch, etc. Or I can have one large battery pack that can charge any device that happens to go flat. Then there's the point that 3 of the above items don't have replaceable batteries.

    22. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You missed the point: He pointed out the hassle (and liquid dangers to the device) of carrying the extra gear. The car adapters and cables are just a workaround like Tylenol is to brain cancer headaches.

      People have been waiting nearly a decade for smartphone standby times to bounce back to measurements in weeks rather than hours. And that's not even close to the juice our forefathers expected a watch battery to provide. We become too complacent and let hamstrung tech be rammed down our throats.

      My hope is that battery tech will makes advances like low power processors opened up the way for Raspberry PI

    23. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It wasn't long ago that the Photo app on new phones (or rather, ancient phones your carrier still dared sell in 2014) would in fact refuse to take pictures when the battery reached 30%. I missed out on many shots on the way back from work. I would like to hear hard numbers on just how many kodak moments worldwide were spoiled in Android 2 (which again, I was actively using till I got Android 4.4 a month ago)

      Now, I just have 3 USB cord so I can charge at work by the bed and by the computer. The world would be a very different place if my phone did not use a standard cable... because Samsung / Apple, you guys love having users who must stop taking photos anyway, just because nobody else at the party has your snowflake chargers. At least Samsung is learning their lessons, but copying Apple's fingerprint readers and battery door removals helped to kill them off for me.

    24. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your job sounds like it sucks.

    25. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If we omit chargers from the equation, my phone has infinite battery life. Hopefully they contact me for a commercial spot.

    26. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      2) A battery back is physically bigger than a phone battery and most require an extra cable. How is that ever going to be more convienent then just carrying another charged battery?

      How do you charge said battery? I know Samsung, for some models, make a "dock" so you can stuff your battery in that and charge it. But otherwise, you have to charge it in your phone. If you're using the second battery, you then have to swap out the batteries, then put your phone back on charge. If you're like me, you forget to do so a few hours later and now you have a dead battery and a charged one, and no time to charge the dead battery.

      With an external pack, I plug the charger to the external pack, and either plug the phone into another charger, or into the pack, and they all charge in a chain. In the morning, the pack and phone is charged, and I didn't have to anything more complex than put them both to a charger.

      Extra batteries are for chumps unless your phone has special charging dock that lets you charge it outside the phone. Charging batteries in the phone is annoying unless you remember to swap them once the existing one fills up. And most likely, you'll forget, so you're back to one battery again.

      I've never seen such push back over something that really is much more annoying. Sure an external pack is bulkier, but they are way more convenient to use - especially when charging.

      It's like removable batteries for laptops - so the low battery warning goes off, what do you do? Shut everything down and change the battery? (Old Apple laptops back in the day had a 5 minute battery so you could suspend the laptop to RAM, then swap the main battery without losing RAM and then resume where you left off, back in the days when people carried several batteries as a matter of course, and there were charging bays and all that...). I don't think many Windows laptops did - once the battery ran low, you had to shut it down, swap, then boot it back up. And these days I don't think any computer has a temporary battery for swapping while suspending.

    27. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      That's still better than preferring utterly incomprehensible user interfaces that have 17 ways to perform the same action, but with no overlap so you have to know the specific way for each app you have installed.

    28. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      It's really the screen that drains the battery when you're using it as a GPS. Or at least it should be. I've been tracking my bicycle commutes on my phone. And even during my 40 minute ride when I take the long route, the battery doesn't drop more than a couple percent.

        Then again, I have a Windows phone. It's ridiculous how little battery this thing uses if you aren't actively using is. I've finished the day with 80% battery left because I was particularly busy. Even when I use it a lot, I rarely get below 60%.

      My previous phone was Android and it would drain the battery to 20% be the end of the day, even if I didn't use it. I basically had to leave it plugged in at work or it wouldn't make it through the day.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    29. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      What were the phones doing during that test? I'm guessing screen at maximum brightness and always on, maybe with an auto-refreshing web page open. Such tests tend to be useless because most phones spend most of their time with the screen off, and maximum brightness varies a lot etc. Also, the iPhone 6 Plus has a much bigger battery than most iPhones (2900mAh vs just 1800mAh in a normal iPhone 6) so isn't representative of what most iPhone users experience.

      I have a OnePlus One and it will last three days on a charge with moderate use, or two days of heavy use.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    30. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I bought a battery for $18 and it came with a wall charger.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    31. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're really trying to say 18 minutes between 3rd and 4th place is significant? when there's *3 hours* between 2nd and 3rd?

      Granted, 9 and almost 3/4 an hour is bad battery life. 10 hours is not better enough to say anything about.

    32. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by jbolden · · Score: 1

      The benchmark is continuous web surfing over LTE 4G, with screen at 100 nits of brightness. The iPhone 6 plus can do 537 at max. There are other benchmarks that measure how long the phone lasts in low power mode so one needs to use multiple benchmarks.
      The iPhone 6 does 7:40, which is about an hour below average.

    33. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by jbolden · · Score: 1

      You're really trying to say 18 minutes between 3rd and 4th place is significant?

      No I'm trying to say that claiming that the #3 winner is bad is a problem because #4, is slightly worse not much better.

    34. Re:Instead of building thin bendable phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they really wanted it to be representative they would have screen off, no use, with Google Play Services pegging the system like it seems to love to do so much.

  4. Well Jeez Louise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My battery does that. I just looked and it shows 66. I am due a new battery!

  5. Re: Using it wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes.

  6. Smaller vs. thinner by garyoa1 · · Score: 1

    Used to be everything got smaller and smaller. Then they realized... no, people don't really want or need small. So then everything gets bigger and bigger. No where else to go so they decide to make thinner. Why? Sorry, that's beyond me.
    But if they make it thinner they can't have a replaceable batt. And it seems more and more companies are pushing the thinner and not really stating you can't replace the batt.

    --
    Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
    1. Re:Smaller vs. thinner by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      Yeah I'm kind of miffed at this. I love macs. I have my PC for games and when I need to do windows or linux coding work, but my main tool is my macbook. I'm still on the 2011 macbook pro however, because I can service it, replace most of its parts, upgrade it and what not, and frankly she's still a pretty snappy laptop. If I get a newer macbook pro, I cant update the memory, I cant update the hard drive, I cant even replace the battery. If I get drunk and spill beer in it I cant repair it at all. As a result, I'm not going to upgrade until apple starts making expandable laptops again. Which might never happen :(

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  7. Facetious complaint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If your MacBook Air only gets 90 minutes of runtime, you're way below the 50% mark anyways.

  8. greenwow - you fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go away. You are a fool.

  9. to no apply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The new terms to no apply to everyone".

    Slashdot make hard word sentence coherent, EVER?

    1. Re: to no apply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm reading these comments just looking for someone that was able to translate that to English. Doesn't seem like anyone has.

    2. Re: to no apply by Time_Ngler · · Score: 1

      From the article: The new terms do not apply to everyone -- it all depends on when you bought your Apple device.

      So Slashdot decided to change that sentence for some reason.

  10. Re:Using it wrong? by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    well, yes when power management on say a new tablet means that you can run for ten hours and more continuously with the wifi and bluetooth on.

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  11. Re: Using it wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when you got a laptop that boasts "up to 12 hours" of battery life - and it's from apple, so there's usually some truth to this claim - yes, you're using it wrong. i don't know if it's even possible to drain a recent mbp in 90 minutes.

  12. Re:Using it wrong? by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    90 minutes is what I get from a crusty used laptop acquired from eBay. But we have moved into a world where 5 hour battery lives are not unreasonable to expect from new machines.

  13. Just replace the battery by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

    Hey Mark Wilson, quit whining and just replace your battery. If you can't work a screwdriver yourself, I'm sure someone around here still knows how. You can buy replacement batteries on eBay, Amazon, or ifixit.com even comes with detailed instructions. Most models take about 10 minutes.

    1. Re:Just replace the battery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please don't bring logic and fact in to this discussion. This is Slashdot and we like to rag on Apple every chance we get. Despite every other manufacturer these days leaning towards not-easily replaced batteries, memory, hard drives, etc.

      If, in the least likeliest of event, Apple were to put user-replacable batteries in their devices, the same people in this thread would rag on Apple for having larger phones, batteries that fall out and how the battery has to be changed after an 8-hour session of Fallout Shelter.

      Boo Apple sucks. So does living in your parents basement.

    2. Re:Just replace the battery by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I won't open the case on a newer device. I'm too afraid of voiding a warranty of some sort. Or of a recall coming up for a battery or something and having them say 'oh no you opened this, we don't have to replace your part'.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:Just replace the battery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On a newer device? If it's not working when it's still new, you should take it in for warranty service. People changing the battery or fixing other items typically do so out of warranty or after the device has been dropped and damaged. Apple also really has no way of knowing you opened the device unless you really messed up.

    4. Re:Just replace the battery by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Ok I didn't know that about Apple. I assumed there was a label somewhere that got broken the instant you opened the case.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    5. Re:Just replace the battery by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Question: Does Apple specifically say that a user is allowed to open the device? Because I think if not I wouldn't open it. Definitely not if it was still on warranty.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  14. Macbooks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The replacement of batteries for most macbooks is trivial.

  15. I have an iPhone 1 by tlambert · · Score: 0

    I have an iPhone 1; it was given to me in 2007 as part of the Apple iPhone giveaway to employees.

    It is now 8 years old. And using the original battery, and not having charge or capacity problems.

    The only people who care about removable batteries are the people who want to have multiple batteries so that they can replace them in order to maintain a more or less continuous duty cycle for the device.

    For those people, there are cases with integrated batteries they could use as an external power source.

    1. Re:I have an iPhone 1 by gnasher719 · · Score: 2

      The only people who care about removable batteries are the people who want to have multiple batteries so that they can replace them in order to maintain a more or less continuous duty cycle for the device.

      I thought the only people who care about removable batteries are the people who love Android and haven't figured out yet that the latest Samsung Android phones come without removable battery. Oh well, and some people who love Android and figured out that the latest Samsung Android phones come without removable battery can complain about that as well :-)

    2. Re:I have an iPhone 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Droid Turbo does not have a removable battery either.

      I don't really understand why.

      Of course, the cynics will say it's built-in obsolescence and perhaps they're right. Is there any other good reason for not having a removable battery?

      Consumers should probably refuse this shit, but Apple products have been so successful without removable batteries that other manufacturers are following suit.

    3. Re:I have an iPhone 1 by mysidia · · Score: 1

      It is now 8 years old. And using the original battery, and not having charge or capacity problems.

      The longevity of the battery depends on random chance and how it's treated. The AppleCare+ thing doesn't address the concerns, because it only lasts 2 years. MOST LIKELY the battery will last longer than 2 years, but still cut short the life of the device, Especially if the battery is frequently cycled too deeply.

      I have a desktop that is over 8 years old, and it's still using the original hard drive. It does not mean I should not be very concerned, if the system had a non-removable hard drive. Just because mine didn't fail yet, does not mean these things don't fail.

    4. Re:I have an iPhone 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The only people who care about removable batteries are the people who want to have multiple batteries so that they can replace them in order to maintain a more or less continuous duty cycle for the device.

      You never had a device freeze where the only fix is to take out the battery because the OS is comatose? Forced power-off on desktops, smartphones and even cable boxes fails, courtesy of our 90's-begotten switch-less buttons that let some software decide what to do with a power press.

      Technically, you COULD wait an hour or two for a battery discharge if you want as much as to even get the next phone call while your phone is frozen. I mean, a smartphone IS a phone too, right?

    5. Re:I have an iPhone 1 by Tourney3p0 · · Score: 1

      You're right! The only people who care about removable batteries are people with the Samsung Galaxy S6! There's no reason at all to think anyone else would care about it. You're very clever. Perhaps you should write a book.

  16. but it's apple! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it just works!

    fucking lemmings

  17. Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

    I know a guy who is a big Apple fan but he won't use certain functions/apps on his phone because he wants the battery to last all day. Mostly he will not use any app that turns on the GPS.

    I want to use everything on my phone and not worry about it, so unless I can have the GPS and Bluetooth on for a full day and still have a comfortable margin left to plug it in at night I'm looking for a phone with a removable battery.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Apple fan by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I want to use everything on my phone and not worry about it, so unless I can have the GPS and Bluetooth on for a full day and still have a comfortable margin left to plug it in at night I'm looking for a phone with a removable battery.

      Do you really use the GPS and Bluetooth all day in a context in which you can't also use a power bank? That reminds me, I need to recharge mine... I've charged my phone with it like three times so far on this charge. I stuffed it with my own batteries, it was $6 and contains 6x18650 I pulled from laptop packs.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      The point is, I want to use the GPS and Bluetooth freely without having to worry about modifying my phone with something like a power bank. With my current phone I know two batteries are enough, so I just through a charged battery in my bag and away I go. And I can't really use a power bank any because I am not sitting at a desk when I use the GPS (thus, the need to use the GPS). I don't want something else dangling off of my phone.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:Apple fan by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And I can't really use a power bank any because I am not sitting at a desk when I use the GPS (thus, the need to use the GPS). I don't want something else dangling off of my phone.

      Well, that's not really what I mean. You use the power bank to recharge your phone, which doesn't take that long; even my el cheapo model has a 2A socket (as well as a 1A socket.) So if you actually use it enough to run it down, then you just plug it into the power bank for a while. Perhaps in your pocket, or in a backpack if you're hiking or something. Many people keep one in the car. These days there are actually models capable of starting your car, so they're extra-useful when kept in there. And then if you know you'll be away from the vehicle for long, you grab the power bank as you exit.

      I understand that a minuscule minority of people really are traipsing around the wilderness for long periods of time with just their phone and their keys and maybe a bottle of water, so if you are one of those people, I understand your objection. Otherwise, not so much.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Apple fan by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

      I have an app (Human) that uses the GPS to track me a little more precisely to see how much I'm moving. My phone regularly gets 11+ hours of usage time per day before I'm down to about 10%. I've seen it as high as 13.5 hours. The real battery killer, for whatever reason, was Facebook. Even with background updates disabled, it was still killing me. But that was the only app that I've seen fit to remove for the sake of my battery.

    5. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      And as I said, I don't want to do that. That is what quite simply what I mean.

      I would rather just carry an extra battery. A solution that seems so simple by comparison that it way more then makes up for the fact that you *gasp* have seams in your phone case. I have some of those recharge packs and I have been stuck using them in the past.. the thing is a phone starts dying when you use it. So when I attach the pack I have to keep using it. Then the phone doesn't charge quickly and the cycle continues.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    6. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I find anything to do with the web is a battery killer. All the javascript tracking, analytics, etc etc.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    7. Re: Apple fan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A power pack makes more sense. It usually last longer (so you don't have to charge every night). You can use it for different devices, even when you change phone, and it is a hassle to charge an extra removable battery.

      And I question the wisdom of having gps the whole day. Most of the people I know keep their gps off for obvious reasons. I have yet to know anyone who has their gps on the whole day.

    8. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Oh and the last time it happened I was sitting by the side of a pool looking up stats for a swimming competition that was going on. So, no, not a convienent time to use a charge pack.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    9. Re: Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying I use my GPS all day. I'm saying I don't want to have to fear using it for the sake of killing the battery, and unless I know it could go for most of the day without an issue I would fear using it.

      Also, as I said above, a lot of the time when I am using my phone I am sitting by the side of a pool watching a swim meet so I don't want to be fiddling with anything external. I need to be able to pull another battery out of my pocket, insert it, and keep going.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    10. Re:Apple fan by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure what your friend is doing wrong, but any iPhone can have its Bluetooth on all day. I can tell you this from experience as a Pebble Watch user. As for the GPS, that will eat up the battery if you're using it for turn-by-turn directions, but if you're just looking up where the coffee shop a few blocks away is your battery will easily last past bed-time.

      Frankly I'm not sure where all this battery-hate against Apple came from, usually those complaints only turn up at new iOS releases.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    11. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      The specific conversation was that my friend wanted to track a hike he was going on with his son. I asked him why he doesn't just use a GPS tracking app on his phone and he said he worried that the phone battery wouldn't last all day. Being an Apple fan, he likes his phone to be thin and lean so he would never consider attaching a battery pack.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    12. Re:Apple fan by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      He's right about that, you can kill an IPhone fairly quickly in that scenario. I'm not really sure what smartphone you would use for that, though.

      He wouldn't need to thicken his phone, just bring a USB battery pack with him. If he's opposed to that he isn't a typical Apple fan. Then again I don't know any Apple fans that behave like him.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    13. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      This is why I'm saying.. removable battery, just bring as many charged ones as you need, problem solved. For my use I only need one extra.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    14. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Let me add, a USB power pack doesn't work on a hike either. I wouldn't even use a USB power pack and I am considerably more tolerant than my friend. Say you are walking along a trail and you want to check your phone, or take a picture. Now you have a cord dangling off your phone so you are not just grabbing it out of your pocket, it is in your bag with a cord attached. So you have to use both hands now and either pull out phone with power pack or go into your bag and disconnect the pack, hoping you have had the phone on there long enough for it to charge enough while the GPS is going. It's just not convenient at all.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    15. Re:Apple fan by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Or you can bring a usb battery pack that solves your problem with the additional benefit of not having to reboot your phone. Plus you get more battery, removable batteries have less area to store a charge. Oh and don't forget that you can charge other stuff with that pack and not just your phone.

      Heck, my battery pack has a solar panel on it, of course I'd take that hiking!

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    16. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Doesn't work. Now you are dealing with two devices and a cable. Too cumbersome on a trail. Personally I spend a lot of time sitting at the side of a swimming pool these days for swim meets and I don't want to deal with two devices there either.

      I'll reboot my phone. No worries there.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    17. Re:Apple fan by Smurf · · Score: 1

      Doesn't work. Now you are dealing with two devices and a cable. Too cumbersome on a trail.

      Some power packs connect directly to the phone, no need for a cable. Some are integrated to a case, so in practice it's like a single device. (Yes, I know your friend doesn't like the extra thickness, but this is something that he would use in those rare occasions when he really needs the extra power, like when goes on a long hiking trip with his son.)

      Personally I spend a lot of time sitting at the side of a swimming pool these days for swim meets and I don't want to deal with two devices there either.

      And yet you are willing to carry around "in your pocket" "as many rechargeable batteries as you need". Carrying and dealing with removable batteries is just as cumbersome as carrying and dealing with directly-connected power packs.

    18. Re:Apple fan by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 2

      In most cases, I get a full day out of my iPhone with GPS and Bluetooth on, email set to push, and all the other battery-hungry settings enabled. About the only time I adjust the settings is when I know I'm going to be out and about all day somewhere with very poor, or no, cell coverage. That, in my experience, is the worst energy-vampire of all for any phone; as they all ramp up their own transmission power to max in a desperate attempt to reach and maintain contact with a cell.

      Occasionally though there are certain apps that, either through a bug or poor design, will drain excessive battery via location services. Annoyingly enough, a while back Facebook's app was especially battery-hungry in the background, and would be one to explicitly kill after exiting.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    19. Re:Apple fan by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's actually a situation where you *wouldn't* use a smartphone at all.

      Wilderness applications like backpacking, camping, climbing, hiking, or whatever, (Not just jogging in the park.) really call for a dedicated GPS unit. Smartphone GPS chipsets have severe limitations that limit their utility when they have no data connection. Specifically, they use aGPS (Assisted GPS) to "cheat" in order to get and maintain their fix quickly and with less power consumption. And they tend to be utterly terrible at getting a "pure" GPS fix. I've also never seen a app that's really full-featured enough to use outside civilization. There could be one I've missed, of course, but that still wouldn't correct the deficiencies of the hardware.

      On the other hand, my second-from-their-lowest-end Garmin (Etrex 20) uses GPS, GLONASS, and WaaS with no data connection required to cheat the fix. It's rugged and waterproof to 2 meters. The software is specifically designed for real outdoors applications and not just driving directions. It's lightweight and designed to be both held and operated in a one hand... no mucking about with a touchscreen. There's a huge variety of maps, both free and paid, I can load on it either vis USB or MicroSD card. And it will run continuously for better than 24 hours on a pair of AAs.

      (Also, if you're smart, you'll still bring a paper map and compass as a backup.)

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    20. Re:Apple fan by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Too cumbersome for a trail? You'd prefer to take your phone apart out in the middle of nowhere? Somehow I doubt you've actually tried it. Anyway, you can always do what I did and get a case with a built-in battery. I like mine because it works as a stand but some include a built-in LED flashlight, certainly useful on a hike.

      And why would you need a battery pack at the pool? How much trouble do you have getting there?

      Anyway, I haven't used a phone with a removable battery in years, you can clearly see you're not making me envious with your victorious tales of battery removal. You may not agree with my decision but at least I can show you a couple of old phones that are in great shape and still work well. I keep them as backup in case we have to deal with phone-theft in my house. Sometimes integration is better.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    21. Re:Apple fan by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      I agree with you on all counts. The conversation he and I are having is largely academic, personally I think he's embelleshing a bit about his friend.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    22. Re:Apple fan by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      , I get a full day out of my iPhone with GPS and Bluetooth on

      GPS on and actively using GPS are not the same thing. I don't think I've seen ANY phone last more than half a day when actively using GPS. Though GPS is unlikely to the root cause since any program requiring continuous use of GPS among other things will also prevent the CPU from sleeping.

    23. Re:Apple fan by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 1

      I'm no Apple fan, but I leave Bluetooth and GPS on all day, every day, and I still get 18-24 hour battery life on my iPhone 4s.

      I don't get the hate.

    24. Re:Apple fan by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 1

      Does geofencing count?

    25. Re:Apple fan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I once drove from Florida to Missouri on a Galaxy S4 using Google Maps and no charger with the screen off. It definitely took more than half a day.

    26. Re: Apple fan by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      I need to be able to pull another battery out of my pocket, insert it, and keep going.

      There has never been a consumer phone on the market where this was possible.

    27. Re:Apple fan by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Depends on the way the app is written.

      I can't speak for your phone but in a commercial GPS application I deployed there was a tradeoff between accuracy of the geofence (how many times it wakes up to get its current location) and battery life. If you want notification the second someone steps out of an area down to the meter then I imagine the resulting program would destroy your battery life. If on the other hand the nearest minute is good enough, or the target is slow enough that a slow update rate is still accurate then the equation changes. This is somewhat unanswerable.

      Things like navigation on the other hand require always-on GPS and decimate a phone's battery life even with the screen off.

    28. Re:Apple fan by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      GPS really shouldn't kill your battery that badly. A typical GPS module uses around 35mA in "active" mode, giving position updates once a second. So running for 10 hours needs 350mAh of your battery. IIRC iPhones have fairly small batteries, something like 1800mAh. My phone (OnePlus One) is 3100mAh, so running GPS all day should not be a huge problem.

      That's assuming a fairly dumb phone and dumb module. With proper management much lower power consumption is possible. Better antennas mean less gain needed to pick up the signal. The update rate can be lowered if the app doesn't need 1 second updates, or if the phone isn't moving (low power accelerometer can tell you that). Much of the energy is used to process the GPS signal and calculate position, so reducing the update rate has a massive impact.

      If iPhones are only getting half a day with active GPS use then something is wrong. I've had GPS tracking on all day on my OnePlus One (so that I can geo-tag photos from my DSLR by simply comparing time-stamps to the GPS log) and ended up with about 40% battery life remaining, and that's with lots of other use.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    29. Re:Apple fan by pherthyl · · Score: 1

      Not true at all. I've used the GPS on my iPhone for multi day backcountry trips with no service. Works perfectly fine and gets a fix in seconds while my old dedicated GPS would take a minute.

    30. Re:Apple fan by pherthyl · · Score: 1

      It's not the GPS its the screen plus active routing plus GPS plus voice that drains battery. In other words GPS navigation. Just running the GPS in the background and logging it isn't that bad

    31. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      It's really not that difficult to change a battery in a phone that is made to do it, no matter where you are.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    32. Re:Apple fan by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I've never needed more than one extra battery. It's small, not a bother.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    33. Re:Apple fan by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      It's a lot easier to plug in a charging cable.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    34. Re:Apple fan by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 1

      What app do you use in the backcountry? I've honestly never found one that I've thought to be a satisfactory substitute for my Garmin.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    35. Re:Apple fan by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Wrong again. What kills batteries is what the phone does with the GPS. Active routing is barely done unless you're completely ignoring your GPS and even then routing on the most common apps is offloaded to Google or Apple and not done on the phone itself. Also the phones will flatten while the screen is off too only at a slightly lower rate.

      GPS on implies it is doing something with the data. Processing takes effort and it is the apps preventing the CPU from sleeping that is what ultimately kills the battery. You're getting a continuous feed of GPS data that implies there is an app sitting in the foreground keeping the phone alive.

    36. Re:Apple fan by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      What do you do with GPS data?

      The module itself is inconsequential compared to an app that keeps the CPU awake to process a continuous stream of GPS data. The module is only a very small part of the equation.

  18. Big issue: battery stats are unreliable by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    I find battery stats to be quite wrong in most cases. For one thing it is a known fact that smartphones drain the battery faster just when you are in an area with a weak or slow connection. So many variables involved it's a bit rediculous for any phone maker to make a claim on their battery life. Therefore I cannot rely on that number when dumping close to $1K on a handheld device.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  19. Wrapper != thick plastic case by tepples · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A battery that is not user-serviceable still needs some sort of wrapper. But it doesn't need a separate case thick enough to shield the battery from rough handling while out of the device.

  20. Metrosexuals by tepples · · Score: 1

    Just because heterosexuals tend to choose Android and Windows

    I thought Windows had been for metrosexuals since Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8.

    1. Re:Metrosexuals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Metrosexuals are heterosexuals. They just care for skin care.

  21. This is why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is why I NEVER buy (at least try to not buy) any portable / mobile device that doesn't have a replaceable battery. My Samsung Galaxy S5, my original Google Phone, and my Dell laptop all have replaceable batteries. I have Nokia Lumia 900 and 920 phones (compliments of Nokia where I worked until Microsoft took them over), which don't have replaceable batteries, and they suck battery life! When I went to work for Nokia, they issued me an N8 Symbian phone. It had better raw battery life, and the battery was replaceable! Unfortunately it broke when I loaded a bad SIM carrier... I would not mind if I still had it - a great phone!

  22. iPhones less bendable than others by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    The iPhone 6+ is in fact less bendable than the Samsung phones, and the Samsung phones have screens that will shatter instead of bending slightly...

    But in fact the iPhone 6+ is easily good for more than a day of charge. So if you want an iPhone that you don't have to think about the battery, they already sell one.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  23. Consumer Law by Shuntros · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing you live in the US? If so, erhaps you should petition your local person of power (senator? congressman? whatever) to address the pitiful consumer laws in your country. In Europe such things are legally bound, in terms of products being fit for purpose for their intended lifetime. In the UK this is implemented in (amongst other things) the Sale of Goods Act which gives you significant ammunition in terms of demanding it be fixed for a period of (I believe) up to 5 years.

    Genuinely not trying to be a smart ass; you could be in Europe and be unaware of such laws - hopefully you are. Companies, as a matter of course, will conveniently forget to mention these rights until you beat them around the head with them. But then, that's business - deny deny deny, until you're banged to rights.

  24. wOW. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I made it by 3 days and bought my wife's Iphone on the 13th. Oh lucky me. :(

  25. Battery life by Tourney3p0 · · Score: 1

    My laptop's battery lasts about 4.5 hours with regular usage. However, it is about 6 years old. I will readily admit that I'm on my second battery. It was pretty obvious when my first battery died. It would quickly go from 80% to 0% within only a few minutes. I then went onto Amazon, bought a replacement for 15 dollars, and changed it out in about 30 seconds. Anything less than this is frankly unacceptable to me. Others may feel differently, but it's 2015. Let's not pretend this is a problem that hasn't been solved, even if some companies are actively working against it.

  26. to no slashdot editor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The new terms to no apply to everyone"

    Slashdot editor to no apply editingnizationlatism for story.