On a recent flight cross country, my wife was concerned that her phone and e-book reader were not charged and might not make it through the trip. Luckily, prior to departing, she found two outlets hidden near the water fountain to plug in and charge. The new charging stations, complete with 4 out lets were all being used. But it got me wondering, are we asking too much from our devices.
My smartphone's most essential function is for communication. But as I use my time on board the plane to watch a movie, play games, and yes even surf the web, I am concerned that I will not have enough power to make that call when I arrive at my destination. Do I need to offload my usage to a second device to relieve me of my concern that I will be with a dead phone? Do I need to carry a back-up?
As we ask our smart phones to do more, we risk that they will be completely drained of power before the day is out. Nice to add an e-wallet to my app library, but if I am without power, I am without money. Is my back up to continue to carry a real wallet?
The smartphone is a life-changing device; web, phone, gaming, time piece, wallet, and more at your fingertips! But we still need a quantum leap in the battery for these untethered devices. Not an extra 15 minutes of reserve charge, but perhaps an ever-renewing battery. Perhaps as simple as a self-winding watch. Until then, it's almost time to plug in again.
