Thread: Editorial: Are bigger batteries in Android phones going to hurt, more then help?

Don't hurt me on this one, just want to share what I think will happen once companies start incorporating big batteries. In general, Android is a very power hungry OS. It can really drain your battery fast if you are not careful what apps you keep open, what apps you allow to sync etc. Android over the years have had many updates, many patches, etc that help fix battery life. This is awesome. The more the OS is patched to conserve battery will only help not hurt. But whats the quick way to fix the problem? Throw a gigantic battery in there. Does that really fix the problem? In many eyes, it does, but does it really? Let me first start by saying that I am not a huge fan of custom skinned Android versions, but I won't bash them because the claim they take more power then stock Android is mostly false. But, depending on what the OEM adds, battery life can drain quickly. So what happens? They release software updates to fix the battery issues. But when you have a gigantic battery, will the OEM's really spend THAT much time optimizing battery? Heres my thought.

The DROID RAZR MAXX has a 3,000+ mAh battery. Thats insane, and its still thinner then the iPhone 4S, DROID4, etc. What Motorola did set a standard for what their future phones can be. They have shown the world it is possible, and therefore, we should no longer have chunky 2,200 mAh extended batteries sticking out of our phone. But what happens to the software? Will bigger batteries give the feeling that OEM's can throw MORE junk and services on the phone, and the consumer won't notice? If a customer can get 2 days or more out of a smartphone, they can't complain. But will OEM's really spend that much more time optimizing it to take advantage of the huge battery? I don't think so.

I have a feeling OEM's will get lazy once they start throwing huge batteries in phones. They won't spend as much time optimizing the software and just rely on the big batteries to pick up what they are lazy to finish.

What are your thoughts?

Well said.

I would hope that it helps more than it hurts. However, only time can tell.