Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[renluop]

 An Ofcom article suggests that modern phones do not perform as well as decade old simpler models. A suprise, eh?

[sevenlayermuddle]

I can predict a slightly smug and satisfied 'purr' from at least one forum member, at this news.   

For myself, as a smartphone convert, I will not question it - I feel sure it is all true.    Another feature we tend to forget, is the ability of the preceding generation of mobiles (pre Android/Apple) to go a couple of weeks or so between recharging.   

[burakkucat]

b*cat feels obliged to purr that his ten year old, simple, Nokia mobile phone does all that he needs for vocalising with or sending a text message to other entities! 

As it is turned on only when I am away from The Cattery, it needs to be charged about once per month.

[Dray]

I remember trying to cope with WAP on old mobiles - what a waste of time. Can you imagine getting an Uber on a Nokia? There is a reason that smartphones are loved the world over an it's not because the battery lasts 2 weeks

[burakkucat]

Indeed. It really depends upon the owners requirements and expectations.

[WesBez7]

I can predict a slightly smug and satisfied 'purr' from at least one forum member, at this news.   

For myself, as a smartphone convert, I will not question it - I feel sure it is all true.    Another feature we tend to forget, is the ability of the preceding generation of mobiles (pre Android/Apple) to go a couple of weeks or so between recharging.   

That's like comparing a battery of a calculator and a Windows  laptop and ignoring the computing power. The calculator will always be more efficient. Same goes for phones if old so I've never understood the comparison.

For what is essentially a personal computer I think the batteries are good. My iPhone 6+ gives me all day use much better than my 5s.

The issue is the obsession to make these items thinner & lighter. They could easily shove more battery in instead.  The exception is the 6s but that is because it gained a new 3D Touch screen.

What would be good is a big breakthrough in battery tech wouldn't go amiss . Lithium ion has been around for a long time. A new cell would be great.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I don't think anyone is denying there are good technical reasons for a shorter battery life,
I was merely making the point that as mobile phone technology has evolved there have been sacrifices, and battery life is one of them.

Other sacrifices, IMHO, have been size, weight, ease of use.   In days before touch-screens, phones had become truly tiny.   And they had nice tactile buttons that required no more than a cursory glance, as opposed to the dedicated focus of attention a modern smartphone needs to make it do anything.

My favourites were the 'flip phones'.  So easy to answer, just unflip.   And virtually indestructible, no matter how hard you dropped them, the precious screen was protected.

On balance I'm MUCH happier with my iPhone, and glad that the evolution took place.   But I do think the old phones had a lot going for them too, and sometimes I miss them.   

[NewtronStar]

Found a great program for my old Android Galaxy Ace its called IP Webcam it turns my phone camera into a wireless IP camera via wireless router and just bring up a web page and type in the IP address only seems to work on Chrome, gezz the battery starts to degrade very fast it was at 44% and after 5 mins it had gone down to 31% 

[marjohn56]

Smartphones are getting better, or the batteries are. My first iPhone could barely manage 24 hours. Since then I have moved to the darkside ( android ) and my latest toy, S6 Edge will happily do 48 hours with normal usage. In saying that I have set it to put most things to sleep when not being used, hence I only get email updates when I pick it up, but I don't need it to ping me everytime there is a new email. It's tasks like BBC news that are the battery drainers, when they changed the app earlier this year it was a disaster and I stopped using it until I got the edge and could put it to sleep when not in use.

[Ronski]

That's impressive for an S6,  one of the biggest complaints I see about the S6 is battery life.  I have an S4 currently which has been very good, but am considering replacing it with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 which has a 4000mAh battery, 32GB  storage and 3GB ram for £140 + import charges.

[renluop]

TBH, although I have a Samsung smartphone, it is only a basic one, and I hardly, if ever, use the sophistication. I bought it because my old Nokia flip was too quiet for me to hear; the volume adjustment on the Samsung is far superior. Also, I like texting better than unpredictable predictive. I too only power mine up when out, only to forget to switch off when back. Oops, next time out it's low battery or worse!

Wife now has the Nokia; well used indeed!

[sevenlayermuddle]

Other half still uses an iPhone 3G she bought off eBay.    She doesn't use any of the smart features at all, mobile data is not even configured.   It's just used as a phone, a very occasional one at that.     Used in that way, although the it's always on, she gets a good week or two out of the battery in standby.

[marjohn56]

That's impressive for an S6,  one of the biggest complaints I see about the S6 is battery life.  I have an S4 currently which has been very good, but am considering replacing it with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 which has a 4000mAh battery, 32GB  storage and 3GB ram for £140 + import charges.

Yes, but I do not use twitter or facebook. In general I only use it for phone, email and news. News and email apps are set to sleep when the phone is not active, i.e. I have picked it up and I'm using it. The edge, or at least my edge has no  junk apps on it, so app background usage is kept to an absolute minimum. I do have other apps I use, but I only use them when I need to.

I have an S4 from my company, the S6 edge easily outlasts that one; I also have an HTC One which the S6 replaced and it outlasts that one too.

If you dont sit with them in your hand carressing them all day and showing your mates how funky the phone is, they will last on a charge a good time.