Checking in, Calum MacDougall

Hello again

As well as meeting our retail and operator partners, part of my time here at CES has been spent talking to the media and tech blogging community. 

I was with some bloggers yesterday, who were talking about the balance between enjoying all the high-end functionality you get in a smartphone and having the battery life to enjoy it all. As ‘power users’, they often felt frustrated after enjoying mobile entertainment, (video and games especially), but then not being able to maintain enough juice to do things such as texts, mails, calls or updating their blogs or social networks.

It’s a common concern. How do you confidently use your smartphone for stuff you love to do  (like watching/shooting HD video, music streaming, high-end gaming) while still making sure you save enough battery for the basic, ‘old-fashioned’ stuff you need to do – like take calls and send texts!

Battery technologies have come a long way in recent years and of course continue to improve. But let’s be frank, balancing battery size and capacity to ensure your smartphone experiences are as good as they can be, remains a consistent challenge for us manufacturers.

Well, we think we have gone one better.

We recognised that people don’t use their phone all day long, and in many cases it can spend up to 90% of the day on standby, in your bag or pocket. The thing is, a lot of your apps will continue to run in the background, using up your battery. To tackle this, Battery STAMINA Mode was born.

The premise is simple – by saving power consumption when you don’t need it, Battery STAMINA Mode lets you get the most out of your battery life when you do need it. Your phone knows when your screen is off and shuts down the battery-draining apps you don’t need, then starts then up again when the screen is back on. But, “What about my email/DMs/Facebook notifications!?” I still want to know when I get those!” I hear you say. Well, here’s the clever bit… it is fully user-customisable. You simply check the apps in the menu that you do want to keep running in the background (like Twitter, Facebook etc.) so you can decide. Need all the power you can get? Turn them all off. Can’t miss that important mail? Turn just the mail on. Simple – and smart.

If you want to see more, we’ve made a video that tells you all about it, so be sure to check that out above. See you tomorrow!

What do you think – how important is battery power to you? Do you prioritise or ‘budget’ your mobile battery power?

Calum