Samsung’s Galaxy S24 smartphones are here and early buyers have been very happy with them. So much so that the new Samsung devices are rated higher than iPhone for the first time. And another new record, Samsung Galaxy battery life has caught up with Apple after iPhone dominated battery tests for the last 4+ years.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has implemented a new Battery Health Management feature on macOS Catalina 10.15.5, which aims to “improve the lifespan of your Mac notebook’s battery.” While this may be a helpful feature for most users, some people may want to disable it since it comes enabled by default. But before we get started, here’s how the new macOS battery management works.
A Weibo report has surfaced that indicates the iPhone 7 may have a slightly larger battery than the current generation iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. According to the poster, the iPhone 7 will include a battery with a 1735 mAH capacity and iPhone 7 Plus will feature a 2810 mAH battery. On both models, this is (slightly) more than the current-generation iPhones. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have batteries with 1715 mAH and 2750 mAH respectively.
The iPhone 7 is rumored to look very similar to the current iPhone, with a thinner body and redesigned antennas. A major chassis design change is currently expected for the ‘iPhone 8’ in 2017.
Recently I noticed that my Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display seemed to be dying at a faster clip. Naturally, I assumed that the battery might be going bad.
After checking the battery cycle count, I learned that I was probably wrong about the battery being bad, as the cycle count was still well within the normal life span of my MacBook. Here’s how I was able to verify that everything was okay with my MacBook’s battery.
Somehow, it has become a part of mainstream culture for iPhone and iPad users to quit all their apps in multitasking as some kind of regular tech maintenance ritual to improve battery life or speed up the hardware. An understanding of how iOS multitasking works however, shows that this is completely unnecessary to close every app in the multitasking view frequently. A 9to5Mac reader decided to ask Tim Cook for an official stance on whether he quits all his apps and if it’s necessary. Although Cook didn’t answer, Apple iOS chief Craig Federighi did with an unambiguous answer ‘no and no’ …
Welcome to the latest edition of Jeremy’s 5, my latest quick roundup of 5 interesting little things that aren’t big enough for full articles, but are still worth sharing with you.
This week, I’m looking at the next wave of emoji, T-Mobile’s 4G LTE CellSpot, Google Photos, iCloud/iTunes Account Merging, and battery drain from the latest iOS beta…
We’ve heard and read a lot about Apple going with two different manufacturers for the A9 chip in its iPhone 6s. Some models ship with a processor made by TSMC while others come with a Samsung-made component. While you’d expect that Apple would ensure both are built to offer comparable performance, it appears that may not be the case. It’s already been revealed by Chipworks that the Sammy model is 10% smaller, but if a couple of videos recently published are anything to go by, you might be better off with a TSMC model…
Like iPhone 6s, the iPhone 6s Plus will also have a smaller battery than its predecessor. Chinese website Apple.Club.TW has obtained photos of the iPhone 6s Plus battery that clearly show a capacity of 2750 mAH (milliampere hour). This is compared to 2915 mAH battery in the iPhone 6 Plus, about a 5% reduction. This mirrors the already-known battery capacity reduction in the 4.7 inch iPhone 6s, which has a 1715 mAH battery. This is also 5% smaller than the 1810 mAH battery in the iPhone 6.
Apple didn’t mention the new iPhone 6s battery life as part of the keynote and there may be a reason for that. In the promo video, Apple shows a shot of the iPhone 6s internals. As it happens, this render is extremely detailed and you can actually make out the battery specifications inscribed onto the battery. Its rated at 1715mAh, which is down from the 1810mAH packed into the previous iPhone 6.
It seems that Apple has had to shrink the battery to make space for new features like the 3D Touch screen and the Taptic Engine. However, according to Apple’s technical specifications, it shouldn’t make a difference. The battery life estimates for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 are identical …
We told you last month about a neat Apple Watch utility app called Power, and today it’s learning a handy new trick and becoming even more useful. Power, created in part by jailbreak developer Surenix, lets you check how much battery power your iPhone has remotely from your Apple Watch. As I mentioned before, this is a practical utility as it’s not uncommon to use the Apple Watch to stay on top of notifications while the iPhone charges in another room.
Starting with version 1.1, Power is adding support for notifications. This means you can charge your phone and know when it hits certain percentages in case you’re waiting for that level to take it off the charger and head out the door.
Expand
Expanding
Close
One of the new features we highlighted in iOS 9 is an innovative new way to help your iPhone battery make it through a long day. When toggled on, Low Power mode automatically kicks in when your battery level starts to get low, reducing the clock speed of the CPU as well as cutting some background activities.
MacRumors ran some tests in Geekbench 3 to measure the performance reduction when Low Power mode was activated, and found it to reduce the performance of an iPhone by around 40%. This would mean that your iPhone 6 would end up with performance somewhere between that of an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 5s.
Apple tweaked the description of Low Power mode in iOS 9 Beta 2.
Low Power mode temporarily reduces power consumption until you can fully charge your iPhone. When this is on, mail fetch, background app refresh, automatic downloads, and some visual effects are reduced or disabled.
The previous text indicated that motion effects and animated wallpapers are disabled. The battery icon turns yellow when Low Power mode is engaged, and it’s been suggested that battery life could be extended by up to three hours.
In addition to helping you get more from your battery, iOS 9 also helps you make the most of your storage capacity.
Following a number of teases for its third-party Apple Watch strap with a built-in battery pack, Reserve Strap, bound to be one of the first battery straps for Apple Watch, is promising an additional 30 hours of battery life for Apple Watch users as it announces plans to ship in November.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Two months after the initial launch of the Apple Watch, and only a day following the device’s debut at Apple Stores, sources have revealed Apple’s considerations for the 2016 release of a second-generation model. According to multiple sources familiar with Apple’s plans, the Apple Watch 2 is planned to gain a video camera, a new wireless system for greater iPhone independence, and new premium-priced models. Interestingly, it will also feature similar battery life to its predecessor…
Google has been working with Adobe to improve battery life drain caused by Flash and today flipped the switch on a new Chrome feature that does exactly that. The new feature aims to detect Flash on a webpage that is actually important to the main content and “intelligently pause content” that isn’t as important. The result is to hopefully make the web experience with Flash more power efficient to improve battery life on your laptop. Here’s how it works:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Apple has just lifted the embargo on the Apple Watch for reviewers, allowing the technology press the to give their verdict on the device ahead of Watch preorders on the 10th. The device will actually be available to the public on the 24th. The Apple Watch is a huge release for Apple, its first new product category under Tim Cook. The anticipation for Apple Watch has been simply immense. The pricing model alone is a huge step for the company, entering ‘high-end’ luxury for the first time with the Apple Watch Edition … and a price tag in the $10,000 range. These reviews are our first glance at whether Apple succeeded in making the next hit product.
Reviewers got a demo of the entire Apple Watch buying process, from the initial Apple Store try-on experience right through to handling the device for a few days. Reviewers got to choose their watch-band combination, although the Edition was not available for reviewers (although you can see what Pharell thinks about it of course)
Read below for our roundup of the reviews from a handful of publications:
Over the past month, I spent several weeks testing the battery of an Apple watch. Not the Apple Watch, of course, but the first product Apple released with the option of being worn like one: the sixth-generation iPod nano. Back in 2010, Steve Jobs mentioned during the “instantly wearable” nano’s introduction (video at 26:30) that one of Apple’s directors planned to use it as a watch. That brief aside directly inspired the creation of nano watchband makers Lunatik and Hex, as well as simple, cheap bands from Apple accessory specialists including Griffin, Incipio, and SwitchEasy. A year later, Apple updated the nano’s software to expand its watch functionality, adding “16 new digital clock faces and improved built-in fitness features.” The nano-as-watch test was at least somewhat successful; Hex even shared pictures showing Snoop Dogg and Justin Bieber wearing its nano watch bands.
Today, Apple is three weeks away from releasing the “real” Apple Watch — a product that clearly shares the old iPod nano’s DNA, but was thoroughly redesigned from top to bottom. Yet despite including a battery that’s around twice as powerful as the nano’s, the Watch is promising only 18 hours of typical battery life, maxing out at three days if used solely as a watch in a low-power mode. So when I ran a “watch-only” test of my used four-year-old nano and found that it ran for just over three weeks, keeping perfect time without ever touching a charger (or synchronizing with an atomic clock), I was genuinely surprised. It turns out that Apple really optimized the nano to work well as a timepiece without requiring constant recharging. So what happened with the Apple Watch?…
In addition to making a general claim that the Apple Watch will run for up to 18 hours per charge, Apple has quietly added a new battery test results page to its web site discussing the Apple Watch’s performance across a variety of different tests. According to Apple, the 38mm and 42mm versions of the Watch will have different run times, and the 42mm Apple Watch “typically experiences longer battery life.” The company does not note how much longer the larger Watch will last for, but does disclose the 38mm model’s times for everything from phone calling to music and workouts…
Expand
Expanding
Close
The possibility of third-party accessories for Apple Watch is still something Apple hasn’t made official, but that isn’t stopping a slew of companies from announcing products before the Apple Watch ships next month. The latest is a band accessory called Reserve Strap that aims to combat any battery life issues with a strap that includes embedded batteries to charge the device while you wear it.
A recent poll of over 3,100 9to5Mac readers indicates that most are not satisfied with current-generation iPhone battery life. Over 90% of respondents said that they want to see Apple improve iPhone battery life, versus less than 7% saying that “iPhone battery life and battery cases are good enough as-is.”
The split in responses interestingly suggests that Apple can safely stop prioritizing thinness over superior battery performance. A solid majority of over 60% of respondents said that Apple should thicken the next iPhone to improve its battery life, which is especially noteworthy given that there were other poll options. Over 31% said that Apple should achieve whatever battery improvements it can by improving the iPhone’s chips, while just under 2% said that Apple should instead focus on improving battery cases.
The Apple Watch’s launch is scheduled to occur in the “spring,” according to Apple Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts, later in 2015 than some had originally anticipated. Ahrendts stated the timeframe to retail employees in a video message, a transcript of which was provided by a source. While explaining that employees need to conserve energy for upcoming shopping seasons, Ahrendts stated, “we’re going into the holidays, we’ll go into Chinese New Year, and then we’ve got a new watch launch coming in the spring:”
*Actors, not actual Apple employees
The Apple Watch is only shipping early next year, after being announced earlier this month, and Apple engineers are reportedly already sporting the wearable in the wild. According to reports on Twitter, Apple engineers have been spotted with the sport model at their usual bus stops en route to work:
https://twitter.com/rohitjenveja/status/514102142802489344
Of course, they were carrying the new iPhones, too. We’ll know how the battery life is if they’re still wearing the watches when they return to the bus stop tonight. Another reader spotted the Raffi model last week:
https://twitter.com/natechiger/status/510603395527622656
Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will feature welcomed battery improvements over the iPhone 5s. The battery sizes will differ between the two models…
A report from the Daily Mail over the weekend claimed Apple is working with fuel cell company Intelligent Energy on a project that hopes to embed fuel cells in mobile devices “within a few years.” The Daily Mail doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to accuracy, but the report claimed “senior sources in the US” have confirmed the partnership between the two companies.
The technology could be rolled out in devices such as laptops and iPads, allowing them to run without being charged for days or even weeks…Intelligent Energy revealed upon floating that it bought a bundle of patents in tandem with a major ‘international electronics company’…It has kept the identity of its partner a closely-guarded secret. But a source, who has knowledge of the partnership, confirmed that Apple is the big name working with the Loughborough-based firm.
The report noted that Intelligent Energy already has ties to Apple with former Apple Computers product specialist Joe O’Sullivan sitting on the company’s board and a new office in San Jose not far from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.
Expand
Expanding
Close
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzMUTrTYD9s]
As Samsung has done with past TV commercials for its flagship Galaxy S5, its latest ad for the device again takes the iPhone head-on. The new ad, titled “Wall Hugger”, focuses on mocking the iPhone’s battery life while showing off the S5’s Ultra Power Saving Mode and removable battery features. And in usual Samsung-fashion, it also borrows a line from comments Blackberry executive John Chen made back in March…
Expand
Expanding
Close
