Apple recognizes iPhone 6S battery percentage bug

If you thought your iPhone 6S came with unlimited battery life, sadly it's not the case. Apple has already acknowledged a bug that may keep the battery percentage unchanged in your iPhone's status bar... until it runs out of juice.

Batteriser fools over 7000 backers on Indiegogo?

Indiegogo already has a shady reputation when it comes to "scam-like" projects; and now there's a new one that seems to have fooled over 7400 backers promising to extend battery life by 800%. As usual, when something sound too good to be true...

Which smartphones charge faster?

No matter how large your smartphone battery is, Murphy's laws dictate that you'll run out of juice precisely when you'd need it the most. To fix that, you can either lug an external power bank around (which will most likely be out of juice as well), or hope the fast charging technologies really work as advertised and grab a quick charge in 15 minutes or so.

Inventor of the Lythium-ion battery is working to create a new "super-battery"

John Goodenough is probably one of the world's most important "unknown" men. You may have never heard of him before; but if it weren't for him, you'd probably be strolling around with a smartphone with a battery the size of a brick. John is the inventor of the Li-Ion battery, and he's now working on a improved version that may revolutionize the world once again.

Petalite Flux is a portable battery than can be charge in just 15 minutes

Portable batteries  have become an accessory more and more people have learned to live with. But for some, the need for an extra battery is often let down by the fact that when you need it the most... you remember you forgot to recharge it. Well, with this Petalite Flux, that's something you can take care of in just 15 minutes.

Plan V charges your smartphone using a 9V battery

Our smartphone's charge never lasts as long as we'd like, and to make it worse it usually ends in the worst possible moments. This Plan V might be the perfect solution, allowing us to charge our smartphones using a regular 9V battery.

Qnovo promises faster and better battery charging

New and improved battery technologies news frequently pop up every now and then. But the years go by and little or nothing changes. Qnovo has a new approach: instead of promising a new battery technology that will likely be decades away, it brings us a software approach that aims to make the most of current generation batteries.

NomadPlus makes your iPhone charger mobile

You've probably heard of Nomad before. They have some clever power charging cable-adaptors that are sure to have caught your eye; and now they're back with a very clever system that allows us to turn a regular iPhone wall charger into a portable battery you can take anywhere.

StoreDot promises to charge your smartphone in 30 seconds

One can't talk about mobile devices without complaining about batteries. We're used to seeing news regarding revolutionary battery technologies, but they come and go... and nothing truly revolutionary ever comes to the market. Now, an Israeli company called StoreDot promises to charge your future smartphone battery in just 30 seconds.

While we don't get a week-long smartphone battery, a fast charger that can fully charge your smartphone in under a minute can be the very next best thing. How often you notice your forgot to plug your charger just as you need to head out, and see its battery level in the red? Even if you're one of those people that has a mobile battery pack, chances are it will too be out of charge when you need it the most. Being able to fully charge those devices in less than a minute would truly be amazing, and might help ease the pain waiting for those "revolutionary" batteries.

StoreDot says this ultra fast charger technology would cost twice as much as a regular battery/charger, but that's a small price to pay - and I'm sure most will agree. The only bad part about it is that this miraculous charger is also years away from arriving to the stores. We can (hopefully) expect to see it by the end of 2016; and we'll still have to wait what battery experts will have to say regarding its effects on battery longevity.

Hustle - Wireless Battery Bag/Wallet for Smartphones

No matter what kind of smartphone you buy, there's one thing you'll never be completely satisfied with: it's battery life. Most high-end smartphones can barely go a couple of days without charging, and some struggle to last to the end of the day if you really dare to actually use it as you'd wish. There's a new project in Indiegogo that aims to help with that: the wireless charging bag Hustle.

The concept is the same as all those mobile battery extenders, but here it is nicely hidden as a small bag/wallet that can go unnoticed anywhere (and available in male/female versions).

One other nice touch is that it can be recharged wirelessly - using the Qi wireless power standard - so you need only drop the bag/wallet on top of the wireless charger to charge it (and recharge you smartphone as well, if it's plugged in into it.

The Hustle bag/wallet costs $139 with an included Qi wireless charging pad. It's not cheap, but considering you get a portable 4250mAh battery that looks good to us in any occasion, and a Qi charging station you can use to charge any other Qi device, like the Google Nexus 4, Nokia Lumia 920, or HTC Windows Phone 8X... it may end up not being a bad deal after all.

Tablets Battery Life

If there's anything that may stand out when we use tablets, is that their larger batteries make it last and last, longer than our smartphones than can barely go a day (or two) without requiring recharging.

Now, some of the most popular tablets were put to the test and we can see just how long they can really last.

When it comes to 10" tablets, we find the iPad retina to be well ahead of the pack, with an impressive 811 minutes while browsing the web over WiFi. In second place we find the older iPad 2 (with 590 minutes), and only then do we find the Android Tablets, like the Xperia S, Galaxy Tab 2 and Google's own Nexus 10 (which trails the Surface RT from Microsoft). In the worst spot we find Asus's Transformer Prime (but it could fare better should you choose to dock it to the keyboard, with its secondary battery).

Impressive to see the difference we have from the Nexus 10 (488 minutes) to the iPad 3/4 (811 minutes)!

As for the 7", things are similar. Apple's iPad mini leads the pack with 783minutes, and the second is Amazon's Kindle Fire HD (591 minutes), followed by the Nexus 7 (550 minutes).

With this in mind, how much do you value battery life when it's time to decide wich tablet to buy? Would the longer iPad battery-life diret you to chose an Apple device over an Android? Or do you think even the average battery life is now "more than enough" for you to not to take it so seriously?

iPhone 5 Battery to be (Slightly) Larger

If the new iPhone will be taller as is expected we'll be able to get - not only a slightly larger screen - but also more room for a larger battery (most of the iPhone inside space is reserved for the always critical battery - that is never "as long lasting" as users would like).

But, it seems that the extra space is not enough to provide a battery upgrade as big as one would expect. In fact, it's about the same upgrade we've had before when going from the iPhone 4 to the 4S. In those models the battery went from 1420mAh to 1430mAh... and the battery for the iPhone "5" seems to be stuck with a similar increase rate: at 1440mAh. (There's also a slight bump in voltage and "watts hour", but nothing out of the ordinary).

I really expected more out of it, at least 10% more (or 5% at least)... but with such a small battery improvement, and considering the new iPhone is expected to have LTE/4G connectivity... I don't have high hopes for it to improve on the already not-so-great battery life of the iPhone 4S. Once again, thing will rely on the software side, with its smarts being responsible to save as much power as possible.

Maybe it would be nice for manufacturers to start considering that all these powerful devices don't do us much good if you can't even actually use them during a day (at least). For example, I just went for a 2h walk with my iPhone 4S, tracking it with RunKeeper, took a couple of Instagram shots, checked Twitter and email from time to time... and the battery went from full charged to under 50% - in less than 3h!

I have nothing against powerful mobile devices (in fact I love it)... and I know I could moderate my usage to save power (turn off 3G, location services, etc.)... but again... what's the point of having all that if you can't actually use it without fearing not being able to make it through the day?

I won't go as far as saying that battery life should be given under a "worst case scenario" with the device using as much power as it can possible use (100% CPU, 100% GPU, GPS, Camera, etc.) but... maybe that would force manufacturers to get a grip with just how limited their devices are. How would you feel if they were forced to advertise: "The new and Improved Model X-smartphone! Battery life at 100% use: 1h!"

Prieto 3D Battery Promises More Power and Faster Charging

No matter how you look at it, batteries are the big "Achilles heel" of modern mobile devices. While smartphones evolved from "dumb phones" to quad-core power houses that can rival desktop computers from just a few years back, batteries have largely remained just as they've been for the past decades. Other than the transition from the old NiCd to the more recent LiIon batteries... what has really changed?

Sure, we regularly hear news about miraculous batteries that promise instant charging and longer battery life... but, while the news keep up showing... the batteries not so much.

So, let's hope this new Prieto battery can be more than just another news report that will soon be forgotten.

This battery uses a "interdigitated cathode and anode" 3D construction that allows it to have much higher power density than a regular LiIon battery. Better yet, it promises to have faster charging times and longer battery life as well. And as we can't forget to be environment conscious, it contains no toxic waste materials.

Let's hope that they can indeed deliver.

Battery Amplifier App Scam in the App Store

Sure, snake oil is being sold over the ages since immemorial times; but the last place I would expect to see it would be in Apple's own App Store, as it happens with a range of Apps popping up promising to amplify your iPhone battery!

I would expect any iPhone owner would have a couple of neurons working, and at least be intelligent enough to look for information regarding how batteries work... or simply have a bit of plain common sense.

In this App feature list we find things as:

• 100% automated Charging.Plug and go! - Oh really, don't you tell!
• Supports high res Retina display! - Wow! Amazing!
• Channeling charge in background on your device! - Mindboggling!
• Charges while device is closed/locked! - Surely, something worth patenting!
• Varios themes available! - Scamming with style!
• Multiple tips how to conserve your battery power! - At least something that could possible be worthwhile... but it's too little too late.

If one of the closed App Store benefits is to protect iPhone owners from "bad" Apps, how can Apple allow for such a blatant scam to keep going on in the App Store? 

Considering this is a paid app, and was in the "top" lists... I immediately started wondering... should I create a WiFi extender App, that promisses to extend your iPhone WiFi range by 25% - and even more (via In App purchases, of course)?

iPhone 4S Battery-gate

Apple launched iOS 5.0.1 claiming it would fix the battery problems lots of users have been reporting on the iPhone 4S. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to do the trick - just as I suspected it wouldn't.

I'm sure there might be a few units out there that might actually be defective and have *real* battery problems; but for the most part, I say it is mostly a software isse. There was even a case where someone had the exact same setup with two different iPhone 4S - one with the battery problem; the other without - and when he wiped them and switched the "restore" files; the "battery problem" switched iPhones as well!

Like I said before, this seems - to me - to be a clear indication that it is merely a calibration isse and that it can be easily fixed.

How many of those people have actually measured how long their iPhone 4S lasts? Please ignore the low battery warning and keep using. If it is just the battery reading, you'll notice your iPhone will keep going and going... and going.

As for the contacts bugs - showing a phone number instead of the name of the person on your contact list: that is really a very annoying bug; but it wasn't introduced in 5.0.1; I already had it with iOS 5, and the update to 5.0.1 didn't fix it. At least it seems to have made it more visible, and I now hope Apple will make a speedier fix.

How to Fix iPhone 4S Poor Battery Life

The new iPhone 4S may be the best iPhone ever but... unfortunately it has also been in the news due to undesirable issues: such as its poor battery life.

I was just one of the many people that noticed a drastically reduced battery life going from my previous iPhone 4 to the new 4S... and wasn't very happy about it. I was used to getting a full day of averagy/intensive use out of my iPhone... and with the new 4S, I couldn't even get to the end of the afternoon without reaching the critical red stage (below 20%).

Sure, I have "everything" enabled: 3G, location services, bluetooth... and I planned on keeping it that way.

I also tried some of the tips: disabling the location services for the ads, timezone adjustment, etc. But it made no difference at all.

So, a few days back I decided to go old school and simply perform a complete discharge/charge cycle - also called "battery recalibration" - as it allows the charging/monitoring circuits to better measure the battery level.

I noticed something might be off, as i quickly got to the 20% mark... and to the 10%... but the iPhone 4S just kept going and going... one hour... two hours... and so on... until a few hours later - at last - the iPhone 4S finally shut itself off. Meaning... the last 20% took almost as much time to deplete as the previous "80%".

It seemed I was on to something...

I left my iPhone 4S charging overnight, and the next day my new iPhone 4S discharge rate was finally similar to what I was used to on my iPhone 4. Going through the day without a hitch.

Now, a few days later, the iPhone 4S keeps behaving just as I would expect - and no longer showing me low battery warnings in the afternoon.

Considering it won't cost you anything to try it: I strongly suggest you do the same if you're facing the same abnormal "low battery" warning. It might simply be just a erroneous battery level  measurement!

iPhone 4S Poor Battery Life and Other Issues

The new iPhone 4S may be the best iPhone ever, with twice the CPU power and 7x faster GPU, but lots of users are finding a very annoying drawback: the iPhone 4S battery life took a severe hit, and can't even last a single day.

That's something I unfortunately found out as well. With the iPhone 4 I could go on from 7AM to the end of my day without worrying about it; even with more than moderate use I usually ended up the day having well over 20% battery left.

With the iPhone 4S, things are quite different: and not long after lunch my battery is already entering the dreaded "red zone" - forcing me to recharge my iPhone 4S whether I want it or not. And while that's no "biggie" for most of my days, things will be a lot harder whenever I'm away, far from a power supply.

That's something I was used to face with big powerful Android devices, which sometimes can "drain" all the battery due to misbehaving rogue Apps and background services - but that Apple proudly "solved" by limiting the amount of backgrounding Apps can do.

Even though there's a new notification center; the number of notifications popping up is exactly the same as before - so it shouldn't be attributed to that either.

My guess is that it has something to do with the new iCloud syncing stuff... and I hope Apple can find it and fix it soon. Fortunately, it looks like Apple is actively looking into it, and I hope we can soon have a fix, delivered via the new Over-the-air update method.


Also, we desperatly need a way to set the timing for those automatic iCloud backups - it makes no sense for my iPhone 4S to start backing up in the middle of the day while I forcefully have to recharge it at work - and using up amost of the available bandwidth(!) - or at some public place or friend's home. I want to be able to set it so it syncs only during a preset alloted time (say, from 2AM to 6AM)... and also the chance to limit it to just a list of allowed hotspots (so I can safely charge it at a Hotel, for example, without incurring in extra costs paid for WiFi use!)

There are also major bugs in the contacts section and Siri. For instance, after setting my "home" address, Siri works fine, setting reminders for when I get home... But then, a few days later it says it can't do it anymore because I have no "home address" set - and, without doing anything at all, it then starts working again the next day... So... what's up with that?
One friend of mine couldn't make it work at all, and had to resort to creating a different contact, called "master", with the exact same address it uses in his own contact info: and while Siri can't find his home address, it works fine when using the "master's home" address... Weird.

And while we're at it: it's also strange that Apple's own App store App works so badly! Besides not being actively notified of updates (why doesn't Apple use push notifications for it?), the badge count is often off: showing updates that were already installed, showing up blank pages, and lots other glitches that users shouldn't have to endure - particularly in one of the most "visible" and important App in the entire iOS ecosystem.

iPhone Secret Charging Tricks

There's nothing more annoying that plugging your iPhone to an USB charger and getting the dreaded "Charging is not supported with this accessory".

How can it be that generic electricity isn't good enough for Apple's devices?
Well, thanks to a hacker, we have now found why this happens, and it's all due to some secret resistors on the USB data lines.


Reverse engineering Apple's secret charging methods from adafruit industries on Vimeo.

Microsoft InstaLoad

How many precious moments have you lost figuring out how to replace batteries?
"Are you putting it right? Is this way or the other? etc."

Well, looks like all these troubles are about to end, thanks to Microsoft InstaLoad.

Basically, it's a system that allows you to place the batteries in any orientation you want, and it just works!

It's quite simple - and reminds us how even the most "basic" things can still be revolutionized -a flat surface makes contact with the negative side of the battery, while a small recessed area makes contact with just the positive side.

Let's hope everyone starts using this InstaLoad system, pronto!

WiFi Wireless Battery Charger

How about a simple adapter that can recharge your batteries using WiFi energy?
That's what this Airenergy from RCA claims to do, one more device in the long list of wireless energy promisses that we're still waiting to see delivered. According to them, it can "charge a mobile phone battery in little more than 90 minutes."

Well... if that sounds too good to be true, so did to several other people who took the time and effort to do some calculations where they concluded that such device would take over 30 years to charge a cell phone battery using a single WiFi signal (and assuming some very "lucky" conditions.)

Let's wait to see how RCA responds to that...