Sony To Boost Smartphone Batteries Because People Aren't Replacing Phones (theguardian.com)

Not too long ago, people would replace their phone every 18 months. But that isn't the case with most people now. According to new estimates, more people are now changing their phones after at least three years. The problem with this is that by the end of two-three years, the battery on the phone reaches a stage where it gets really annoying. Sony has a solution, or so it says. From The Guardian:Sony is trying to fix that, but not by fixing the battery. That's because the lithium ion cells within smartphones don't exactly need fixing -- they will continue to work for years -- but their ability to hold their original amount of charge rapidly diminishes with repeated recharging cycles. Everyone who finds themselves with a chunky battery pack for their new smartphone or desperately searching for a charger by mid-afternoon knows battery capacity is a never-ending headache that only gets worse as a smartphone, and its battery ages. Rather than fixing the battery, Sony wants to do something about the recharging. Jun Makino, Sony mobile's senior product marketing manager, said; "We've started learning your charging cycles so that our new Xperia X smartphones only complete charging to 100% when they estimate you're about to start using them, so that the damage caused by maintaining a battery at 100% is negated. This is important, a battery that's usually kept at a charge between 20% and 80% of its capacity is much healthier -- it's going to the extremes that wears it out at a faster rate. This is important, a battery that's usually kept at a charge between 20% and 80% of its capacity is much healthier - it's going to the extremes that wears it out at a faster rate. The Japanese electronics firm has partnered with Californian adaptive charging company Qnovo to put technology into its Xperia smartphones. This includes the new top-end Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact, which Sony reckons will double the life of the battery to around four years.

Comments

Softare and wording problem

[gurps_npc]

The phones should be setup to charge to 80% and stop there.

Then offer a special "overcharge" feature that charges it to 100%.

But label the 80% charge "100" and the 100% level as 120 (no percentages)

People would like the 'new' feature. Everyone would instinctively understand that charging past "100" would be bad.

Re:Softare and wording problem

[Ichijo]

But label the 80% charge "100" and the 100% level as 120 (no percentages)

Or 125, because 100 is 25% more than 80.

It would also be good to have a "storage charge" feature which keeps it charged at 40-50%, for battery powered devices that you leave plugged in most of the time, like laptop workstations.

Re:Softare and wording problem

[ShanghaiBill]

The phones should be setup to charge to 80% and stop there.

This is the way that Teslas work. By default, they charge to 80%. You can boost it to 100%, but they recommend you only do that just before you leave for a long trip. It is especially bad to fully charge the battery and then park it in the hot sun. Heat+overcharge=Battery abuse.

Re:My old phone had a replaceable battery

[mcmonkey]

People complained about the bulk and weight of having a removable cover and another layer of hard plastic around the battery.

No, they didn't. I've never heard one actual person using a cell phone in the real world make that complaint. It's strictly an issue for the gadget review press. And besides, what are you talking about? Extra plastic? A non-removable battery is still covered by the phone case. There's no extra layer of hard plastic, just the small tabs or whatever mechanism keeps the cover attached.

Not too long ago, people would replace their phone every 18 months.

Again, who are these people? I've never met them. When phones were tied to mobile plan subsidies, most (all?) were tied to 2-year plans. I've never heard of subsidized replacements on a regular 18-month schedule. The hardcore gadget folks paying full price would upgrade more on 12-month rotations. If you've waited 18 months, you might as well wait 6 more and get it subsidized when you renew your contract.

So how about this...get off the thinner, less features treadmill that seems to impress the reviewers, but is being requested by no actual real person who uses a phone as a tool and not a profession. Instead of shaving off every last mm, just give us a bigger battery.

This is important, a battery that's usually kept at a charge between 20% and 80% of its capacity is much healthier -- it's going to the extremes that wears it out at a faster rate. This is important, a battery that's usually kept at a charge between 20% and 80% of its capacity is much healthier - it's going to the extremes that wears it out at a faster rate.

Okay, Jimmy Two-times. Just give us a bigger battery or the ability to easily replace the battery.

Eh?

[TechyImmigrant]

This:
>This is important, a battery that's usually kept at a charge between 20% and 80% of its capacity is much healthier - it's going to the extremes that wears it out at a faster rate.

Is contradicted by the story a few weeks ago regarding the results of research showing it was the act of charging that degraded batteries not the level of charge of the battery.

So which is it? Given I'm not completely naive here (I spent a time developing Li-poly, NiMH and Li-Ion chargers and did a ton of testing) I saw nothing to support the 20-80 hypothesis. If anything can be improved it's probably avoiding unnecessary trickle charge current and minimizing the idle current of the phone to minimize the area under the charging current curve as phones are plugged in overnight.

 

Re:My old phone had a replaceable battery

[Webmoth]

People complained about the bulk and weight of having a removable cover and another layer of hard plastic around the battery. Reporters making comparison charts and designers decided that thin and light were more important than a replaceable battery. OEM upper managers approved when they realized people could be convinced to replace the whole phone instead of replacing just a battery.

The only people who complained were reviewers on tech sites. Everyone else added weight and bulk by wrapping "protective" shells around their phones.

Re:One thing to fix this

[CastrTroy]

I didn't really want to get into a phone OS war, so I didn't mention it before, but I have a Windows phone, and I have to say, the experience is so much better than what I've seen from iOS and Android. The battery just lasts so much longer. Before anybody chimes in about the phone not running any apps, I would have to say I disagree. This phone runs all the stuff in the background I used to run on my Android phone, including email fetching, reddit client, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and can do anything that I did with my Android phone. I don't have many games, but I never really did enjoy gaming on a touch screen anyway.

I'm not saying that everybody should get a Windows phone, it's definitely not for most people, but I think that my experience has mad me realize that Android and iOS are doing a terrible job in terms of making their phones efficient. Just about everybody I know complains that their phone doesn't last through the day, and many Android users have lots of problem with instability and crashes.