With Handsets, it's All About the Battery, or Is It?

Ask any smartphone user what their biggest gripe is, and for the most part, the answer back will be the need to recharge, the annoying beep of the "battery low" warning and having to make sure you've got your main charger and your mobile charger in the bag when you take a trip.

For all their glory, smartphones today are plagued with battery technology that just hasn't kept up with the power needs of today's energy-demanding gadgets.

Even the newest, and highly lauded iPhone 3GS, is feeling the pain. As a news report notes this morning, Apple's third-generation handset is experiencing some issues as users find themselves reaching for the charger more often than they like.

Then again, this isn't just an iPhone issue. And it certainly isn't a new issue. The extra challenge with the iPhone is that Apple went the "sealed in" route with its battery on the first iPhone in 2007. With most handsets, users can change the battery. Not so with the iPhone, and to be fair, not so with Apple's laptops either.

Will mobile batteries ever catch up with the technology built around them?

Battery makers are frustrated as well. They would happily design better battery technology if they could. The problem is not some conspiracy on the part of battery makers to keep users buying batteries. It's just the limitations of mobile handset designs.

Users want small, sleek, light. The battery is just one of many components in what's now pretty much becoming a mini-computer in your palm.

Many iPhone 3GS users are taking matters into their own hands, turning off features automatic functions and deleting applications to give the battery longer life.

Today's Computerworld article, by Gregg Keizer, quotes one expert who puts it in perspective:

"Users are reporting battery issues that it runs out very quickly," said Aaron Vronko, the CEO of Michigan-based Rapid Repair, a firm that fixes iPods and iPhones and sells parts for do-it-yourselfers. "It sounds like a problem with iPhone 3.0 [and having] some of its features turned on."

We all want speed, and great software, and neat new features to show off at the next summer barbecue when we whip out our latest mobile gadget. But if the thing won't work when we need to make an important call, just what is the point of having it?