While smartphone battery life has spurred designers and manufacturers to cram as many milliamp hours into our handsets as possible, it is perhaps wearable devices that could create a charging revolution. Apple is said to be investigating several innovative techniques for juicing up their upcoming iWatch, but will any ever become a reality?
Wearable tech creates a unique problem in regards to battery life. Smartwatches like the rumored iWatch and devices like Google Glass are too small to hold larger batteries, but they are also designed as always-on, always-accessible tools that keep information close at hand. These devices demand more battery life in a smaller space, and Apple hopes to tackle the issue through new approaches to device charging.
We have heard rumors previously about an iPhone or iPad with a solar panel embedded below its display. The reality is that Apple has been investigating solar charging in its devices for years, but the technology is simply not at a point where we might see it in a device anytime soon, according to a report from the New York Times. Still, solar charging is one option being considered for the iWatch, a device that would see considerably more daylight than the average smartphone.
Also being explored are methods of charging via motion-triggered internal systems. Think of it as the self-winding watch modernized for the digital age. Another method that Apple could deploy involves inductive (or wireless) charging.
While it is very possible that the iWatch will see none of these advances in its first iteration, expected to launch later this year, battery life is clearly a problem to which Apple (along with nearly every other major manufacturer of mobile tech) is dedicating more resources than ever. Until only the past few years 20th century battery technology was good enough. That simply is no longer the case.
[via NYT]
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