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0 pointsgizmo68613y ago0 comments

In my experience, the reason people are obssessed with battery life is that when it runs out (which it does), then you are pretty much screwed until you can plug it in for the night.

I think that vendors could easily sell devices with a smaller capacity if they can charge in seconds. This seems like a benefit that is very clear, easy to explain, and understandable to a typical consumer, and it provides a near perfect solution to one of the major inconveniences of current phones. And, that inconvenience happens to be what people currently look to long battery life to mitigate.

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jaredmcateer13y ago

Perhaps, I know I'd rather have a super fast charging phone that lasted a day than one that lasted 3 days and takes a long time to charge, but there are still people out there that seem to think the megapixels are the only thing that's important in a camera.

revelation13y ago

I think the vendors could already charge the batteries faster. A Tesla supercharger charges 40/85kWh in LiIon battery capacity in 30 minutes (from empty, it gets harder to push charge in as they get full). They use off the shelf batteries.

But the dirty little secret is of course that it's not necessary. You need one day of battery life, then people get home and charge it by their nightstand. Similar with the Tesla, it has enough range to get through five times the average American commute, and the majority of people just charge at home when they sleep.

Bandaging peoples irrational fears might simply not be a very viable business model.

mark-r13y ago

> Bandaging peoples irrational fears might simply not be a very viable business model.

Are you kidding? It's one of the best business models ever.

In this case I think you have it backwards. Instant charging isn't bandaging a fear, because you rightly make the point that the fear of running out of power is already covered by ensuring the device has sufficient capacity for the worst case. Indeed it will create a new fear: forgetting or not being in a position to top off the charge when necessary.

speleding13y ago

The high current needed for fast charging requires thick connector wires and produces a lot of heat in the battery, and also in other components of the power circuitry. The heat is the limiting factor in the charging speed for phones.

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