Better battery life remains a challenge
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Here's the paradox of the portable age: The electronic devices that free people to go anywhere but never lose touch also keep them bound by cords and plugs to electric sockets. Sophisticated devices with color screens, video and gaming features demand more of batteries, and, without steady recharging, users plunge from being in touch to feeling impotent.
Preston Keres • Washington Post
"I usually have to recharge it at two-hour intervals," salesman Joe Kammerer said of his laptop computer. "Then it starts complaining that it needs food. ... It stresses me out."
Salesman Joe Kammerer packs chargers for his various gadgets before taking a trip to London. Even as batteries become more powerful each year, they can't keep up with rising expectations for longer life.
So the Washington resident learned the art of socket-seeking. "I sit strategically in the corner of a conference room," close enough to a wall to use a plug, he said. "Sit on the floor at the airport? I totally do that."
The cycle of renewing battery life has introduced new rituals. Along the power strip, devices are hooked up to charge like animals watering at a trough. Handhelds and cell phones go in their cradles before bed. Beds and bookcases make way for bulky chargers that cover both sockets, leaving the bedside lamp without power. The digital camera and iPod play musical chairs on the wall. Drive time becomes critical charge time.
The cycle can be irksome. "You're a well-dressed professional, and you end up sitting on the floor next to whatever is needing to be charged," said Darcy Travlos, a senior analyst for the research firm CreditSights, who carries a bag full of chargers when she travels. "It's the most important and least-talked-about issue in consumer electronics."
Each year, batteries become more powerful and circuitry improvements make devices more energy-efficient. Still, batteries can't keep up with rising expectations for longer life.
Thousands of consumers settled with Apple Inc. this month, after owners of early versions of the iPod complained about its built-in battery.
PalmOne Inc., Intel Corp., Motorola Inc. and many others are putting muscle behind making batteries last longer. In the past few years, Intel started investing in small companies that work on prolonging or preserving battery life, and now has five such investments. Motorola Ventures, Motorola's investment unit, financed A123 Systems, a company developing more efficient lithium-ion batteries.
Venture-capital companies are getting more interested in battery-power-related investments, said R. Philip Herget, a partner in Columbia Capital LLC in suburban Washington. The company invested in a start-up called Enpirion that manages power in devices, he said, and is looking at other companies. "Power management is critical," he said.
"Battery life is one of the most important things for our customers," said Raj Doshi, product line manager for handhelds at PalmOne Inc., which in April released the Tungsten E2 handheld, lighter and with double the battery life of the previous version. The new handheld is 4.7 ounces, compared with its 5-ounce predecessor.
"I tell the engineers I want the most battery in a smaller battery size," Doshi said, but that simple request requires huge technological advances.
Scientists are getting better at mixing the right chemicals to get more power out of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, but there are cost and physical limitations on how much energy can go into a small cell. Intel is testing battery technology and working with hardware manufacturers to introduce laptops usable for roughly eight hours without external power. Those computers could be on the market by 2008.
In technology circles, experts sing about the promise of convergence — phone, computing, e-mail, television, gaming and photography on one device — yet most people still carry separate gadgets for each function. And that requires a host of different chargers.
"I have so many chargers, can I just tell you?" Kammerer said, rattling off the list: Two laptop chargers — one at work, one in the briefcase. Another for the iPod, "although the cord is too short, so you can't plug it in and put it on the table, so it mostly stays on the floor."
