battery - page 5

iOS 10 users complain of poor battery life after updating

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iOS
Is iOS 10 draining your battery?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A number of iOS 10 users have taken to social media to complain about the fact that their iOS devices are running out of juice far more rapidly after upgrading to the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system. “iOS 10,” writes one Twitter user. “More like iOS 10% of my battery left.”

Fortunately, there’s a logical explanation — which means things may not stay like this for too long.

iPhone 7 Smart Battery Case packs more power into its ugly hump

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There's lots of extra juice in the new iPhone case.
There's lots of extra juice in the new iPhone case.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus aren’t the only new Apple products that are getting a solid battery upgrade.

Apple’s new Smart Battery case for the iPhone 7 has a 26% bigger battery than the iPhone 6 and 6s version, giving users the ability to binge on video for a full 24 hours.

Samsung’s exploding Galaxy Note 7 faces global recall

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The Galaxy Note 7 has an explosive new feature.
Photo: Samsung

Galaxy Note 7 owners might want to start getting ready to ship their devices back to Samsung, after a new report from South Korea claims the company is set to announce an unprecedented global recall.

Samsung’s recall could come as soon as this weekend. The company recently launched an investigation into users’ claims that the Note 7 has a tendency to explode while charging.

Samsung stops shipping Galaxy Note 7 after phones explode

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Apple should steal a lot of the Note 7's features, except the exploding one.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones have barely made it into the wild, but early reports of the devices exploding in customers’ homes may have caused the company to delay shipments.

In a statement to news outlets today, Samsung said it delayed shipments to do product-quality tests, however, local reports from South Korea reveal the company may be investigating whether the device is prone to spontaneously burst into flames.

Pokémon GO loses precious battery saver mode on iPhone

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Pokémon Go
Beware Pokémon GO's latest update.
Photo: The Pokémon Company

Steer clear of the latest Pokémon GO update for iPhone if you rely on the game’s “battery saver” mode. Developer Niantic has inexplicably removed the feature in its latest release for iOS, meaning your latest addiction now burns even more power than before.

KFC’s new chicken box can charge your iPhone

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No one asked for this.
No one asked for this.
Photo: KFC

The world’s largest fried chicken chain has come up with a wacky new idea that will fill your stomach as well as your iPhone.

As part of a promotion in India, KFC has introduced a new limited edition “Watt A Box” that packs all the greasy finger-lickin’ chicken you could want, along with with a USB port and portable battery that eaters can use to recharge their iPhones with while grubbing.

Check it out:

USB-C battery pack gives your MacBook a full charge on the go

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Kanex-GoPower
The GoPower is a MacBook's perfect companion.
Photo: Kanex

Apple’s notebooks pack some of the best laptop batteries out there, but you’re always going to find yourself low on power when using your MacBook on the road. Fortunately, Kanex’s new PowerGo battery pack can save the day.

Packing 15,000 mAh of power and USB-C connectivity, it’s capable of giving your 12-inch Retina MacBook a full charge on the go — and it’ll keep your iOS devices topped up, too.

iPhone 7 might get battery boost, new leak suggests

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The next iPhone will have a huge battery.
The next iPhone will have a huge battery.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Leaked images from Apple’s supply chain in Asia have allegedly revealed the upcoming iPhone 7’s battery, and it looks like it will be slightly bigger than the one found in the iPhone 6s.

Photos of the batteries where published this morning on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo showing that the iPhone 7 will be upgraded to a 7.04Wh battery — a bump up from the iPhone 6s’ 6.61Wh battery — that will hopefully bring a few more hours a usage time to the new device.

Why iPhone battery life will never last more than 1 day

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Your iPhone will always need to be recharged everyday.
Your iPhone will always need to be recharged everyday.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Every year Apple introduces a new iPhone, and every year I get my hopes up that this will finally be the model that can go two or three days without needing to be recharged. But according to a lithium-ion battery expert, the odds of Apple adding a power source capable of boosting iPhone battery life like that are practically zero.

Dee Strand, chief scientific officer at battery research firm Wildcat Discovery Technology, says the throughput on smartphone batteries is rapidly improving every year. The problem is, new features are bogging them down.

Apple investigates iPhone 6s models not correctly reporting battery life

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Apple is investigating battery issues for the iPhone 6s.
Apple is investigating battery issues for the iPhone 6s.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

If you have an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus that’s not properly showing how much battery you have left, there’s good news and bad news. Bad news first? Apple doesn’t exactly know what’s causing the problem. Good news: They’re looking into it, and there’s a temporary fix.

Pro Tip: Max out your iPhone battery life with this extreme trick

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battery
This reminds me a lot of the iPhone throttling controversy.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

My iPhone 6 Plus is a battery hog. I routinely get around 12 hours off of one full charge. I carry around external battery packs to make sure I’m not short when it matters.

I’d do pretty much anything to increase the amount of battery I have left at the end of the day, including the following fairly extreme trick.

Pro Tip: Check your Apple Watch battery from your iPhone

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Get your battery info fast and easy.
Get your battery info fast and easy.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugYou can of course check the status of your Apple Watch battery on your wrist, but it’s even easier to discover how much Apple Watch juice you have left right from your iPhone.

In fact, you can check the battery status of anything connected via Bluetooth, including headphones and speakers.

Here’s how.

All-week Apple Watch battery life could be possible due to MIT breakthrough

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Apple Watch battery
The Apple Watch battery could last a lot longer per charge thanks to a new lithium ion advancement.
Photo: iFixIt

Despite many theoretical improvement, lithium ion batteries remain a very slowly progressing technology. Moore’s Law keeps on helping our gadgets better at conserving batteries, but the batteries themselves aren’t keeping pace with Moore’s Law when it comes to increasing capacity.

But a new innovation by a team of forgetful researchers might change all that: they’ve figured out how to quadruple a li-ion battery’s lifespan.

Save your battery with iOS 9’s Low Power Mode

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Keep your iPhone humming for up to three hours until your next charge.
Keep your iPhone humming for up to three hours until your next charge.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

iOS 9 brings a bunch of battery-boosting features, most of which work right out of the box. But there’s one battery-saving feature you’ll have to enable yourself.

Called Low Power Mode, this new feature should prove super-useful when you need to eke out just a bit more time with your device — provided you’re not doing anything intense.

Portable batteries for Apple Watch have already arrived

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Keep your Apple Watch alive for longer with Nomad Pod. Photo: Nomad
Keep your Apple Watch alive for longer with Nomad Pod. Photo: Nomad

It seemed like it took accessory makers forever to make battery pack cases for the iPhone, but companies are wasting no time with Apple Watch accessories, and the first portable battery for Apple’s wearable is already here.

Nomad introduced its answer for the Apple Watch’s battery woes with the Pod, a small portable power station for your Apple Watch that will keep it ticking well past the 18 hour battery life Tim Cook promised.

Revolutionary new mobile battery delivers double the juice

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battery1
There aren't too many better sights than a fully-charged battery. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Whether it’s the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch or some other hot piece of tech, battery life is one of the most commonly criticized aspects of today’s devices.

That may be about to change, however, courtesy of a University of Michigan spinoff company called Sakti3, which has developed a new type of solid-state battery capable of storing twice the energy of traditional liquid-based lithium rechargeable batteries.

Apple Watch battery life will be better than expected

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apple-watch

Apple has been very quiet about the Apple Watch’s battery life since the device’s unveiling in September. Reports that the wearable might run out of juice after just 2.5 hours of heavy use have worried many Apple fans, but according to TechCrunch, battery life will be better than expected.

Tim Cook has said Apple Watch owners will need to recharge their devices every night. That doesn’t mean the battery will run dry midway through the workday, though. People who have used the Apple Watch say you should still have around 25 percent of your battery left after a long day.

Apple extends its iPhone 5 battery replacement program until 2016

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Is this a familiar sight for your iPhone 5?
Is this a familiar sight for your iPhone 5?

Battery life is one of the most discussed aspects of the iPhone, but some handsets have it worse than others.

If you bought an iPhone 5 in the six month window between September 2012 and January 2013, you could be eligible for a free replacement due to a battery fault.

Apple first launched its iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program back in August 2014, and has now extended it past its original deadline of March 1, 2015 to January next year. That means that if you’re one of the affected customers, and you’ve not yet done anything about it, you’ve still got a bit longer to do so.