Why Battery Life Is The Most Important Feature On A Smartphone

Photo by Marcus Urbenz on Unsplash

Every year we’re greeted by bigger and brighter displays, faster processors, better cameras, more AI and machine learning. Very rarely do we see a tech showcase mention the new exciting battery technology that’s been developed, (unless we’re talking about Tesla) yet for most people the most important spec on the list is and should be the battery life of their device. Here’s why.

It’s Dead!

Without good battery life nothing else really matters. Imagine wanting to message your friend, but your battery is dead. Imagine trying to navigate around a major urban center you’ve never been to with Google Maps, but your battery is dead. I could go on and on about this but I think you get the main idea here. If you don’t have any charge left in your battery you better get used to not relying on your phone because that will be your only option. Now sure, it’s not every day that you truly need to rely on your phone for everything but at least for me I know a lot of my daily task rely on my phone, whether it’s attending my classes on Zoom, joining a conference call for work or just investing on my brokerage app. I consider myself a power user when it comes to electronic devices so battery life is at the forefront of my feature list, while I use an older device (Pixel 3a) I go through great lengths to ensure I can reach well over 24 hours of battery power, whether I’m sure to be running the latest version of Android (Hello Android 12) or using built in features like Extreme Battery Saver to really maximize my battery. I would rather have my phone bug me about closing out unused applications than be caught with a dead device when I really needed it!

Outlet Slavery

I wish I could find the picture I came across on Facebook a long time ago but I can’t. However, it will always be imprinted in my brain, it was a picture of cartoon people all looking miserable as they crowd over outlets hooked up to their devices as they convince themselves that their phones and laptops open up the world for them to explore. While I agree that modern technology has brought freedoms and abilities that previous generation couldn’t even imagine several decades ago (Think about how easy it is to check the weather compared to pre-internet days) it seems like more and…