Seems like this is the easiest way to fix battery issues. Google is in an ugly place not only with its relationship with advertisers but with its own OEMs, who modify Android with usually battery-killing results.

All that extra surface area means lots more battery. Its a classic 'throw hardware at the problem' approach and, unfortunately, that just seems where Android is going. As Lollipop has showed, Volta and ART are not battery savers. If anything, people are reporting worse battery life than under KitKat.

I'm not going to go as far as saying Android is bloaty and out of control; I just don't think you can have the level of QA and control you need for an ultra-efficient mobile OS when you're dependent on so many other chefs to deliver your product and monetization for you (OEM hardware and software, ad monetization, user tracking to better ad delivery, etc).