Computing technology surges ahead every year. The iPad 2 would have
been impossible two years ago at anything remotely close to its USD
499 retail price for the entry-level device. It may not have been
possible at any price given its performance and svelte size. The
same goes with many of the high-powered smartphones like the iPhone
4 or the forthcoming Droid Bionic.
Despite these leaps and bounds, one thing that hasn't improved
is battery life where improvements move at a snail's pace.
Many of the improvements in battery life have little or nothing
to do with the battery itself but rather components that are
becoming less power hungry with each generation. As an example, the
move to dual processors for phones isn't just about raw power.
Power conservation is chief among the reasons to bring dual cores
to phones and mobile devices. Dual 1GHz processors can deliver
similar performance, sometimes better performance, than a single
2GHz processor and use less power in the process.
Screen technology, solid-state drives, lower powered radios, and
more all contribute to overall better battery life. The operating
system plays a big role as well in managing power consumption.
There have been some strides in low powered Wi-Fi radios to
extend battery life, but it is still a big drain and some of the
low power modes don't work well with some routers forcing a device
to turn up the juice. When your device connects to a Wi-Fi access
point, it remains on relatively high power even if there is no data
moving back and forth. Routers take turns moving data around when
there is high usage, whether it is in a Starbucks or your
conference room as everyone sits down and flips open a laptop or
props up an iPad.
One potentially promising technology that could address this is
being by Duke University researcher Justin Manweiler. It's software
based and he calls SleepWell.
Once installed on clients, routers, and access points, the
SleepWell software allows the radio to go into a low power mode, or
sleep, while it is waiting for its turn to connect for data. Unlike
today's low power solutions for Wi-Fi devices, SleepWell takes
catnaps, many per second. Even when streaming video, you aren't
getting a continuous stream of data when the router is under a
heavy load. You are getting bursts followed by periods of
inactivity. SleepWell would turn the Wi-Fi radio down during these
periods, resulting in longer battery life.
While the software works on existing devices, getting it on
routers and access points is a bigger hurdle, but one that the
demand for more battery life may make clearing possible.
Source: InformationWeek
USA