Rapid charging may be a short-term solution to poor battery life
Battery life has never been a strong point for mobile devices.
In fact, I have previously examined the underlying technological problem that is the cause of weak battery life. Although I am still hoping for a new battery technology to solve this problem, RIM has implemented what may be a good temporary solution: rapid battery charging.
The first device to take advantage of this new technology is the company's popular BlackBerry PlayBook. The device ships with a proprietary charger that plugs into a special port located next to the regular microUSB port. According to RIM, this charger will refill the battery twice as fast as the regular charger. This allows the device to take advantage of the times when you may only be able to plug your device in for five or ten minutes.
This is actually a very good solution to the battery life problem. Not only can it actually be implemented now, but it can potentially be very effective as well. In my use-case scenario, there are many opportunities for me to charge my phone for ten minutes. However, I usually do not take the time to plug it in, because the battery gain would be minimal. But if ten minutes could get me a nearly full battery, I would obviously take advantage of the time.
In theory, being able to take advantage of these short charging periods would allow me to easily get by even on devices with poor battery life (like my HTC EVO). Even though I am still waiting for new battery technology, rapid charging will help make the wait more bearable.
[ZDNet]
