 |
When i switched my mobile contract near the beginning of last year i chose a neat little popular phone which i had to wait around a week for. The phone, Samsung D500. A 1.3 megapixel camera, full colour screen, music player, speakerphone, small, neat, and it had all the functions I thought i wanted. It took me a little while to choose. After around a week or two of usage i feared i had overlooked one feature which I have come to use the most, battery power.
But then i realised, looking around at the market, that battery life was commonly low. I guess it’s a trade-off… all of those great fuctions use up an excess of power. It wasn’t that i overlooked the battery function. Rather, the manufacturers had chosen to reduce the size of the unit for a decrease in battery life.
 |
The size of the battery for the Samsung D500 is miniscule, and the weight is negligable. So why not increase the size of the battery. In fact, why not double or triple the battery size on this little phone? It makes sense. Extend the three hours talk-time to something a little more reasonable.
A little while back the BBC featured a story on the need for power in future gadgets.
“Fuel-cell technology is one of the most promising fields for power. They convert the chemical energy stored in sources of fuel, such as hydrogen or methanol, into electrical energy.”
During the next year I am hoping to purchase a personal notebook computer for help with my studies. I have been looking into the feasibility and have only dipped my foot into the water of notebooks. But it strikes me that there is a similar phenomenon within the world of computing as with mobile phones. Mobile technology is lacking in battery power. Four hours is how long a laptop computer can last. Obviously power hungry applications will drag down the performance.
 |
 |
But fear not, a subsidiary of Panasonic Japan have been developing a new fuel cell for laptops. The fuel cell, which has just been unveiled this week at CES 2006, works with the lithium-ion battery within the battery and the two work in combo. DMFC, otherwise known as The Direct Methanol Fuel Cell is something which looks very promising for the industry. CNET explain the concept in a short but sweet video - Panasonic fuel-cell portable.
Although the fuel cell is still in the testing stage and there is no date set for coming to market, could this be what the market is looking for to boost the battery life in mobile products? I think so, and hope so! With 5 times the battery life of the lithium-ion batteries it’s sure worth looking out for!
