What do people want in their smartphones? Longer battery life. You don’t need surveys to know that people who always carry their phones wish for an improved battery that can last at least the whole day on a single charge. Sure, people want a more vivid display, more responsive touchscreen, larger display, clearer camera, a slimmer and more robust form but the ultimate need according to a recent survey is longer battery life.
This used to be not a problem obviously because phones of yesterday can’t do much except for taking and making make phone calls and text messages. Now that smartphones are becoming smarter than ever, batteries always get overworked what with all the connectivities, features, and functions being used. To connect with the Internet, there’s WiFi, 3G, or 4G/LTE. Either one drains the battery faster. There’s also Bluetooth, speakers, and the display screen that is always turned on. If you play games, it would drain the battery even faster. So if you’re always glued to your smartphone, checking Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, email, and then playing games in between or reading on e-reader apps, expect your phone to last only a few hours.
We’ve seen several solutions already. The most popular and widely used today are power banks. (I still don’t have one.) If no power banks, people bring their chargers with them every time they go out. But thanks to StoreDot for coming up with a faster solution—a battery that can be charged within one minutes. All it takes is 60 seconds.
Doron Myersdorf of the Israeli company explains that because of the fast charger, you won’t have to worry about your gadget’s battery going dead. That dead-phone dread will be no more because within a minute or so, your batt can have some extra juice. Maybe not fully charged but at least a few minutes or hours to get you through the day. The effect is almost unlimited battery. Of course, you still have to charge the phone but only for a short time.
The StoreDot battery system came from the Tel Aviv University. The nanotechnology department discovered something interesting in peptide molecules the researches were working on. Apparently, those properties cause Alzheimer’s and affects some neutrons in the brain. The said molecules were found out to have the ability hold electrical charge because of high capacitance. When two molecules are combined, the result is a crystal which is now called a nanodot. Nanodots together then form the basis of StoreDot’s fast charging technology.
The StoreDot charger is actually a whole system which includes the battery inside the phone, a special charger, and the system within the phone. The new battery can be charged in a minute but don’t expect its lifespan to be longer—only one-third less of the average time in most phones.
The product is not yet available in the market but StoreDot is working hard on the technology. The battery might outlast current batteries by year 2018. That’s not really surprising because a lot of more advanced technologies will be introduced within three years.
The Israeli company is believed to be in discussion with about 15 smartphone manufacturers already. Before the year ends, StoreDot hopes to have signed official launch agreements with one or two tech giants and the battery system being available in the market before Christmas the following year.
No mention on pricing but it’s expected to be more expensive than the current solutions available in the market. However, three years is far from now so anything can happen and prices can go down. StoreDot is also looking to bring the technology to electric cars but the company would need a lot of money for that.
SOURCE: The Guardian
