Cellphone Add-Ons Demand More Juice

Battery capacity just can't keep pace with all of the entertainment cellphone makers are cramming into handsets, reports the WSJ.

"Consider a phone appearing in Japan this month that can pick up TV broadcasts. It runs out of power after one hour of viewing, on average. That doesn't even get you halfway through a showing of "Seabiscuit."

Nokia's N-Gage phone lets you play serious videogames, such as Tomb Raider. But the fun can run out in as little as three hours on a single charge. And that's assuming you won't be making or receiving any phone calls during that time.

Over the next decade or so that will likely end, and researchers will need to come up with some new approaches to data storage and processing.

There is some hope that methanol-filled fuel cells, which can provide five to 10 times as much energy as the average rechargeable battery, will help solve the power crunch. But none of the manufacturers expects them on the mass market for a few years, and even then there are big questions about their price, size and safety".

emily | 11:02 AM | Trends |
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