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Tech News & Commentary
Rob in Hoboken, New Jersey listening online – calling in via the free app asked: “I have a question about cell phones. Mobile phone screens are getting bigger and their processing speeds are getting faster, but still these phones can’t get you through a full day even if you’re using them lightly. When do you think manufacturers are gonna realize that battery life is a real issue for users?”
You could argue that manufacturers are starting to get the picture, the best example of that is the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx obviously, but let’s be honest…how many phones are coming out with the RAZR Maxx’s battery and how many are coming out with huge screens?
Battery technology evolves very slowly and manufacturers seem to think that a big flashy screens will attract more buyers than saying: “this screen is normal sized, but the battery won’t die on you so quickly”. To be honest, barely any apps are benefiting from the multiple cores on newer phones, the slightly bigger screens don’t make much of a difference to most users, and everyone complains about battery life, but there’s a limit on how much better battery life can get.
Manufacturers can’t slightly shrink the screens and go back to using a single core processor and suddenly get twice the battery life, it will just be marginally better, and saying “we have a pretty ok phone, you know, nothing great, but the battery lasts a little bit longer” doesn’t sound as sexy as saying “this screen is huge and crisp and the processor has 2 (or even 4) cores!”
People already expect smartphones to have lousy battery lives, until decent battery lives become a standard feature, people will expect to have trouble making it to the end of the day on a single charge, and will be open to putting up with that in exchange for cool features that they want to have.
There’s a reason people left their dumb phones with batteries that would last the better part of a week or longer, for their smartphones that double as shiny paperweights by the later half of the day… people prefer cool features to good batteries… at least for now.
There are exceptions, however. We’ve already mentioned the Droid Razr Maxx. The iPhone 4S has “decent” battery life. The Droid 4 doesn’t have the Razr’s OLED screen, and while that means it’s not as bright, it also means that the battery life on the Droid 4 is very good, even without the super-battery from the Razr Maxx.
Battery life needs to be one of those features you shop for, just like a dual core processor or 4G LTE support. A good bit of advise is to check several independent sources who’ve done a run-down test where they stress the battery. Compare their numbers to get an idea of what you can expect. We don’t run benchmark tests like that, we use the phones ourselves and report what we find under real world conditions. Since there are good days and bad days with any smartphone, you want to look for benchmarks when making comparisons.
Finally, plan for the short battery life. Get a device like the PowerMat Dual 1850 that we rave about here on the show. It’s a very compact backup battery for your smartphone or tablet. It supports both iDevices and anything Android that uses the mini-USB style power plug (which is all of them, now, but older devices may not). The PowerMat Dual 1850 isn’t very expensive, we saw them for under $40 at Amazon, and it can be a life saver if you’re stranded somewhere and find a dead phone battery, you can also try the ZAGG Sparq, which will cost you around $60 online.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer
Reports Feature with Mike Gikas
If you’re in the market for an MP3 player, there are other good choices available that are not made by Apple, says Consumer Reports Senior Editor Mike Gikas.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: Papa John’s and Domino’s, FREE
“Have I mentioned that I’m an addict? In addition to tech, I’m addicted to sushi and pizza. Now I haven’t seen a sushi app yet, but when I do this will be the first place I’ll talk about it. What I HAVE just downloaded this week are the official Android apps for my two favorite pizza delivery places, Papa Johns and Dominos. You’ve always been able to order online using your phone from both places, but the mobile web site isn’t NEARLY as convenient as a native Android app. All the features you expect from the web site are there, including remembering past orders (to make getting “the usual” a one-tap affair) and having credit cards on 
file (to prevent the terrible “where is my WALLET” syndrome). We’ve entered a new era of couch potato here, now you don’t even have to sit at a computer or go fetch a tablet to order your hot, fresh pizza. Hungry yet? Both apps are, as you’d expect, free and available on Google Play.” —
For iOS:
• Rob recommends: App Deals Free by AppsFire, FREE
“Daily Deals on Top Apps — I would say this is almost like Amazon’s Daily Free App for Android. It lets you know about apps that are usually pay-to-download that are available for free for a limited time or that are now free vs. pay. Andrew the Intern introduced me to it. And, I check it almost daily to discover a new app. I’ve downloaded more photography apps for my Instagram iPhoneography.”
— Rob
• Andrew recommends: Draw Something, FREE
“Similar to words with friends, or having with friends, Draw Something is a fun game both android and iPhone users can play with. You simply find a friend and you each draw pictures to each other while the other tries to guess what you have drawn…. This game is simple easy fun, BUT VERY ADDICTING. The only down side is that this app kills your battery so make sure you check how much life you have left after hours of gaming! ”
— Chris
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Mike Fisher, Managing Director of NASCAR Research and Development – NASCAR
Race cars are moving to new technologies, what does this mean to you and the cars you drive? Mike Fisher is here to tell us…
Jon in California asked: “Just heard Rickey on the show, who was responding to a listener about cloud storage. The audio on his app call was almost better than the audio from your studio equipment! Holy cats! I’ve submitted two calls, and noted that neither of mine sound very good (audio quality, as well as content, to be honest). Has H done any testing to determine what the best method of using the app is? Does holding my phone up to my ear work better than holding it as a speaker phone? Is talking into a Bluetooth device clearer than either? Are some phones just clearer than others?”
There are a couple of factors to consider here. First and foremost, smartphones have different quality microphones in them. Just like some phones make you sound better during a regular voice call, some phones will record your voice at a higher quality in our app.
Then there is also the performance of the phone and the version of Android. Our Into Tomorrow app uses certain system functions for recording voice input (why re-invent the wheel?), and how powerful your phone is, and which version of Android it’s running can have an effect as well.
It should sound better if it’s held like you’d normally hold a phone, since all it does is turn on the microphone and the microphone is optimized for short distances, but that’s all I really know.
Basically, the phone’s mic is the limiting factor, since you sound better when you speak into the microphone than when you set it to speakerphone and yell at it from across the room during a phone call, the same will happen with a recording…
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
iPad Discussion and listener participation:
What do you think about the new iPad? Will you be upgrading? Or, buying one for the first time? Why or why not?
Some of the comments from our listeners:
On Facebook:
• Jamie said: I’m tired of the constant upgrades…all I do is play “Words With Friends” on mine anyway 😉
On Twitter:
• StarFortress said: Nope, even if I had the money to get an iPad3. It’s still not widescreen. 1935 wants it’s aspect ratio back. I propose the name be iPad3HDquadcorestillnotinwidescreen.
• MichaelGillett: The new iPad isn’t a new revolution it’s a new resolution.
• adamrubins: The new iPad has the nicest camera you will never use.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Honestech: Audio Recorder 3.0 Plus – Convert all of your music, including cassettes, LPs and 8-track tapes, into MP3s, WAV files, audio CDs and MP3 CDs, and listen to them on your portable music players.
Intuit: Copies of TurboTax Premier
ScanMyPhotos.com: Several $200.00 eGift Certificates that can be used towards your purchase of any of their online products, such as: Prepaid Photo Scanning Box, Prepaid Slide Box, or Prepaid VHS Transfer Box