HTC has blamed a buyer obsession with slimline handsets for its decision to prioritize slimline smartphones over longer-lasting but chubbier devices. Speaking at HTC’s Frequencies conference in Seattle today, HTC VP of portfolio strategy Bjorn Kilburn cited research the company had conducted in 2011 which suggested users preferred more compact models rather than those made thicker to accommodate a bigger battery.
So far, we've seen a lot of electric cars from automakers around the world, but we haven't seen such a big uptake in the production of electric trucks. There are few electric trucks on the market, butmost are aimed at larger enterprise users rather than the general consumer. Ford CEO Alan Mulally has said that Ford intends to come to the electric truck market slowly.
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This week Intel has introduced a standardized battery solution for Ultrabooks around the world, working with a solution that would make Ultrabooks not only cheaper to make, but potentially able to run much better as well. The standard size Intel is speaking about here for Ultrabooks of the future is 60mm x 80mm, aka 2.4-inches by 3.1-inches. These batteries will have cells with a diameter of 16mm, thinner than the common 18mm cells of today, and the whole solution would allow PC makers to standardize production should the industry adopt it.
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There's a vehicle out there by the name of Renault Twizy, a cross between a buggy and a car, smaller than a Smart Car and made specifically for city use. This vehicle has been tested out by Antony Ingram at Green Car Reports and as they describe it as a "high-rise electric go-cart," it seems at first to be a bit strange for $10,000 and $65 a month for battery rental, even if that's one of the cheapest electric vehicles on the market today. Renault is noted, on the other hand, has having prepared for the eventuality of the unconvinced customer with a Steve Jobs quote, of all things.
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While I've been wishing for a truly wireless charging solution for some time now, especially in my truck, Chrysler is set to add wireless charging solutions to some of their 2013 line-up starting with the Dodge Dart. Now this doesn't use wires, but it still needs to be in a certain place for the conductive charging system to work. The image below can be a little misleading.
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Consumer Reports hasn't just reversed its opinion on the new iPad's heat output, finding the third-gen Apple tablet to best all Android rivals, but has quietly conceded that the recharging issue it initially reported is far less significant than first believed. "Further tests of observations we made that the new iPad was not recharging when playing a demanding, intense video game," Consumer Reports said, "showed that the problem was limited to times when the device was playing a demanding game with the screen fully bright."
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This week we're getting our first look at the smartphone-based next-generation processors of two giants (Qualcomm and NVIDIA) as they sit on the HTC One series reviewed earlier today. What we're seeing is that not only are both of these chipmakers bringing heat to the processing world, they've begun a true war on battery conservation. The HTC One X smartphone contains NVIDIA's Tegra 3 quad-core processor with an extra core for low-powered tasks and sleeping, while the HTC One S contains the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip, made also to keep itself conservative when it comes to draining your power.
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The US version of the Galaxy Nexus, featuring LTE on Verizon’s network, is already slightly thicker to accommodate a larger battery. If you want to take advantage of Verizon’s high speed network, then you have to pay the price is battery life, with some users opting for an extended battery to get them through the day. If you were on the fence about the phone and had concerns about the battery, maybe this deal is for you: order a Galaxy Nexus from Samsung Direct on a new two-year contract, and they’ll throw in the 2,100mAh extended battery for free.
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The new iPad has been the subject of several so-called controversies reserved only for a device with such a wide distribution as it, the latest of which has been responded to by Apple today. Speaking with Ina Fried at All Things D, Apple VP Michael Tchao let the world know that what people have been seeing this past week - that being an iPad which appears to charge well beyond it's "100%" mark, is no more than built-in technology that's been with iOS for quite a while. In addition to noting how this feature works, Tchao let iPad owners know that regardless of how full of power their iPad was, if it reads 100%, they can expect the 10 hours of work time promised by Apple.
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BMW and Toyota Motor Corporation announced they have decided to team up and have signed a collaborative research agreement for lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are a core component for EVs and hybrid vehicles, and lots of time and effort around the world is being put into battery research. Better batteries mean EVs with longer driving range and hybrid cars that are more efficient.
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When testing out the new iPad's battery life, AnandTech discovered that the device could actually achieve 25.3 hours on a single charge when used as a personal hotspot with the power-hungry Retina display turned off. This is about 5 times longer than the LTE MiFi hotspots from Novatel and Samsung. The Verizon LTE iPad model, however, is the only one at the moment that has this feature enabled.
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When it comes to new iPad battery life, how long is long enough? Gasps of surprise as Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the third-gen tablet would last as long as its predecessor – despite the Retina Display, quadcore graphics chip and LTE connectivity – have given way to sniping and frustration over whether the tablet gets warm during charging, whether it lives up to the predicted times, and whether the battery is really as full as it ever claims to be. It’s not clear, though, whether owners have legitimate concerns or if they’re simply complaining for the sake of it.
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