Spare Batteries

Not everyone is like him. Carrying spare batteries is probably the exception, not the rule. I literally can‘t think of anybody I know in real life who even owns a spare battery for their mobile phone.

Apple probably figured that this was a feature worth ditching because hardly anybody needs it, maybe also because there are (clunky) workarounds (with all those external batteries). The iPods and later the iPhone have an active accessory ecosystem so Apple can do stuff like that.

I always carry an external battery in my bag with enough juice to repower an iPhone 3 times over (and enough cell phone tips that I can recharge others' phones in a pinch). Most of the battery+case combos work pretty well, too. I'd prefer the internal battery was accessible, beautiful design be damned, but it's not like it's a difficult problem to work around.

(In practice, the iPhone 4's battery actually lasts for 1.5-2 days of heavy usage, so it's seldom an issue, but of course that won't be true a year from now.)

There's more than one way to skin a cat. The only time I get in charge trouble with my iPhone is on transoceanic travel days, and for those there is this: http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/

Bottom line: a smartphone has to last for a full day of heavy use on a single battery. Not 16 continuous hours of high-drain usage, but a mix of phone calls, web browsing, audio or video recording, still photograpy, listening and watching.

Mophie, Kensington, and Griffin all sell battery extenders that are external.

It's a design tradeoff. Not requiring the user to open the iPhone means that Apple doesn't have to design a latch and they can pack components tighter.

$10 got me 2 spare batteries for my Droid. They're great insurance and I don't know why it took me so long to go this route.

The thing with spare batteries is, they're only useful if you also have a standalone charger, and most people neglect that. If you have to use the phone itself to recharge them, then any time you've used up several spare batteries, getting them all charged up again is a huge pain.

I have a standalone charger that plugs into the wall, and half a dozen spare batteries. Rather than plug my phone in to charge, I swap its battery with the fully charged one in the charger. This means I never worry about discovering my phone is almost dead when I'm about to leave the house; recharging to full is instantaneous, rather than tying my phone (and by association, me) to a single spot for hours. Doing things that drain the battery quickly are no longer a big deal. And if I'm going to be traveling for awhile without the ability to plug in, I can take as many batteries as I'll need.

Nowadays, most people could probably bolt the hood on their car shut without any consequences (but there would be outcry from the car guys).

But a lot of cars nowadays basically do this. There's an engine cover underneath the hood hiding all the engine parts, with only a place to add fluids visible.

I've never run out of battery on my droid x in the same day which I unplugged it from the charger. I wish that I could say the battery life problem was going away but 4g, dual core android phones will be here soon and battery life will get worse. http://androidandme.com/2010/09/news/t-mobile-mytouch-hd-fir...

A few observations, I've never used my iPhone enough in one day to run down the battery. If you are the kind of person who does then they sell external batteries. You could also take along the charger or in car charger and top your phone off during lunch or while driving around.

I had an issue getting through a day at trade shows and then got one of these:

http://amzn.to/cx8u6p

I spent about $30 on it and now its only $20 money well spent.

When you travel a lot, or are not near a computer often the spare battery pain becomes mightily obvious. The typical I'm at home/work pattern has plenty of chances to charge.