Enough with the cores, let’s talk battery

The gadget world is obsessed with cramming in the latest and greatest hardware. At the end of 2010 LG introduced first dual core phone and 2011 turned to be a year of dual core phones. Now thanks to NVdia’s Kal-Ei processor, 2012 will be the year of quad core phones.

Without skipping a beat, HTC has announced its massive 2.5 GHz quad core processor called HTC Zeta. HTC has already announced HTC Edge with 1.5 GHz processor.

Since we know the truth about quad core, it technically is five cores if it’s the NVdia Tegra 3 processors. For our computing needs, there’s no limit on the number of cores we can have. In the race to launch phones with multiple cores, bigger screens and better cameras, something important is not being given attention : The Battery.

Sometimes it’s a footnote and sometimes it’s a gross neglect. It rarely gets a top mention. While we all appreciate the mutation of smartphone to become a powerful beast as it has become today, we can’t help but wonder, what would it take to provide a battery which lasts a day.

Let’s recall the last 3 stories we have heard about battery getting its 2 second fame. It started with Motorola Razr’s massive battery, and its motocast features. Then the Galaxy Note pumping 2500 mAh to power its massive 5.3 inch screen and then there was a 1800 mAh on a smartphone, the name of which I fail to recollect.

Razr turned out to be a dud on the battery performance. And the search for a phone which is both smarter and can run longer is still on.

Searching for a power outlet once in every 6 or 8 hours isn’t even a chore. It’s a pain. Smartphones need better batteries. Period. Especially when the smartphone enthusiasts have differentiated themselves and termed the other phones as dumb phones.

Guess what? those dumb phones actually last longer and get the work done. Some even have a standby time of more than 50 days. Of course, they don’t play Angry Birds or do your laundry but at least you can be assured to make a call or turn on the flash light when needed.

I’m sure there is a conspiracy theory or a Freakonomics style story.  I don’t want to know what the story is and honestly I really don’t care. I just want a smartphone which runs longer. Is that too much to ask? And yeah, I’m fine with single or dual core too.

Why don’t the manufacturers produce a better battery? And why won’t the OS makers make more effort to use battery efficiently?

PS : The same goes for tablets though tablets have a bigger fish to fry. Quad core tablet? Get a life and get some apps. Will ya?

Picture courtesy Flickr user ozium101