Overheating and poor battery life are often correlated. However, it's rarely a casual link.
These symptoms in conjunction typically stem from a different problem.
Lithium batteries do get warm, especially when faulty or degraded, but never enough to make your phone an effective hand-warmer.
What we have going on here is a short circuit.
This occurs when electrical current finds a way to bypass the circuit on a path that has little or no resistance. The current flows straight to ground, overloading the circuit with more energy than it's designed to withstand.
Excess energy moving through a wire produces a lot of heat, and can blow components on the circuit.
Pictured, we have a shorted chip, which has clearly burnt out. It's nice when the culprit leaves clues.
We inject power, and it literally start smoking.
Smoking is bad for phones too.
Fortunately, these circuits are easier to repair than a set of lungs.
A couple of replacement components and some cleaning up, and the device is alive and well.
In 2016, Apple released iOS 10. A substantial proportion of iPhone users reported issues relating to performance, whereby their device was running more slowly than before the update, i.e. struggling to perform complex tasks such as gaming or GPS navigation.
It was later discovered that Apple had deliberately introduced such measures in iOS 10.
This is called battery throttling.
The Problem:
Lithium batteries degrade over time. They lose capacity. A degraded battery loses its ability to provide peak power to the processor.
The processor asks for 3 volts of power to complete a task, but the battery cannot provide it, so it shuts off.
The Solution:
Battery throttling is a software algorithm, which suppresses the system in order to control peak power demand.
This prevents unexpected shut downs, rebooting, or rapid discharge.
Think of this as an eco-mode for your phone. You sacrifice speed for endurance and reliability.
Restricting performance in order to improve battery life is logical, and is generally common practice.
It's a feature, not a bug.
Apple provided a statement to explain why this happens:
"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components."
Apple later released an update which allows the user to view the battery capacity in settings, as well as the option to disable battery throttling.
Sounds fair enough, right?
Apple's costly error was the fact that they denied the implementation of battery throttling for some time. It wasn't until a Reddit user exposed the software that Apple owned up to it. This hiccup cost them $310 million in a class-action lawsuit, with millions of iPhone users in the US receiving compensation. An equivalent case is currently underway in the UK, in which 25 million iPhone users could be entitled to £30 compensation.
"Instead of doing the honorable and legal thing by their customers and offering a free replacement, repair service or compensation, Apple instead misled people by concealing a tool in software updates that slowed their devices by up to 58%" - Justin Gutmann
This scandal has left a bitter taste in people's mouths, and has justly made consumers less trusting and more suspicious around Apple's products and business practices.
Critics have labelled this as planned obsolescence, which is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life or a purposely frail design, so that it ceases to function prematurely. This strategy aims to maximise sales volume in the long-run by shortening product life-span, thus forcing users into purchasing more replacements or upgrades. Great examples of this are lightbulbs with short lifespan, revised textbooks, and poor quality clothing.
In this case, we disagree with the consensus. We argue that a slower phone is more useful than one which shuts down whilst you are using it. Yes, this might encourage the user to purchase a replacement, but we are confined to current technological limits which have to operate within the laws of electrical science. We have to make a compromise somewhere. This particular compromise can be negated with a replacement battery, rather than a replacement phone. This actually extends the product life-cycle.
iPhone batteries (at the time) were inferior to other manufacturers. So yes, we can be justly critical of Apple for not making more durable batteries, which would have somewhat mitigated the problem. Also, at the time, Apple charged £79 for a battery replacement. Once the news broke and Apple came under fire, they reduced it to £29 - temporarily, in order to appease their critics. Batteries are consumable - they should be cheap and easy to replace!
This is not to say that Apple should be liberated of all claims of planned obsolescence. Attempts and measures to make their products unrepairable or to restrict consumer repair options are forms of planned obsolescence:
> Telling customers that they cannot replace a faulty battery if they have a tiny crack on their back glass, and that their only option is to purchase a new device.
> "Signature faults" such as "Touch disease" on iPhone 6, or "Audio disease" on iPhone 7 - which typically occur 13 months after the product is sold with its 12-month warranty.
In our opinion, Batterygate was overblown. Apple should
absolutely be held accountable for their dubious business practices, but it's not always exactly clear how or to what extent they are culpable.
Thanks for reading!
See Our Blog for the latest industry news, tech tips, company updates, and anything else we feel like writing about.
One common complaint that floods the forums as well as our phone lines succeeding an iOS update is reports of decreased battery life.
Most users will indeed experience decreased battery life for the first two days following a major software update.
Even after the update has installed, there's still a ton of background processes occurring, which will consume more power.
The device is completing a series of complex operations to organise all of your new and existing files, apps and other bits of software. This is called indexing.
Most of your apps will automatically download updates - new versions which are optimised for the new OS.
People are quick to assume that poor battery life is linked to a recent software update; leery of the company's intentions.
This was exacerbated by Batterygate, which occurred in 2016 following the release of iOS 10, and sparked outrage across the world. Users were experiencing major battery issues, which Apple initially glossed over, before later releasing a statement which explained how battery throttling can protect electronic components.
We'll cover Batterygate in depth in a future post.
On September 21st, nine days after its launch, 23% of iPhones were running iOS 16.
A significant proportion of these are iPhone 14's, which launched with iOS 16.
The majority of remaining iPhones are running iOS 15.
These users can be lumped into the following categories:
Those which strategically sit back and wait for all the bugs and issues associated with large software updates to be patched.
Normal people, who don't really care that much, and just haven't gotten around to installing the update.
Hoarders with insufficient storage space to upgrade.
Those running older devices (iPhone 7 and below), who cannot update to iOS 16.
Grandma, who doesn't know what an eye-OS is.
Every major software update comes with a few bugs, which get ironed out over time.
With iOS 16, the most common issues reported (amongst others) are:
Camera shakes in third party apps - see our recent post on this. (Fixed)
Unresponsive or laggy touch and blank displays - particularly on devices with aftermarket screens. (Fixed)
Slow Spotlight search. (Not yet fixed)
Severe battery drain - even after the 48-hour busy period. (Not yet fixed)
Bear in mind that each individual issue will affect a seemingly random but small subset of iPhone users.
If your battery is draining more quickly immediately after the update - that's normal. If it persists for more than 48 hours, you may be one of the unlucky few who's device does not like the OS - in which case, you'll have to sit and wait for the developers to fix it.
It could also be coincidence. Batteries degrade over time. If your phone is more than three years old, the battery itself may have been on its way out anyway. We are more likely to notice things when there's a big change, which can lead us to make inaccurate connections. Correlation does not equal causation.
We think it's always a good idea to wait until the ".2" version before updating. Remember, once you've made the jump, you cannot go back! There's some cool new features, which you will probably benefit from, but have survived without until now.
"1000's of friends & followers blowing up my phone round-the-clock, yet I feel connected to none of them."
Resonate with you?
Just as TV hooked people in during the 20th century, the internet became our electronic drug of choice in the 21st - both mediums subtly pulling us away from the real world.
As with many addictions, the most significant cost could be it's effect on relationships, which diminish in quality & quantity.
Technology has given us many powerful tools, which we can leverage to build our communities and networks with markedly greater efficiency than ever before.
The problem arises when we substitute physical relationships & interactions for digital ones.
> Smartphones are making us less empathetic. One study observed couples chatting in public. 29 percent of the pairs had a phone in hand or on the table. These people later rated their conversations as less fulfilling than did those without their phones, and they reported experiencing less empathy for their companion. Even without active use of a device, keeping one in sight can be a distraction, leading people to make less eye contact & miss subtle communication cues, such as changes in facial expression.
> Around 40% of communication is non-verbal. Text on a screen does not transmit emotion accurately. Therefore, we are significantly more likely to misinterpret digital messages, and believe it or not, other people will misinterpret yours, regardless of how many emojis you use.
> We are all guilty of using electronic communication to avoid confrontation or awkward situations. It feels easier in the moment, but the outcome is often worse.
> One study on young adults aged 19–32 found that people with higher social media use were more than three times as likely to feel socially isolated than those who did not use social media as often.
Phones have cheapened human interaction. Sending a DM or posting on Instagram does not adequately satiate our need for social connection in the way that physical interaction does.
Tossing our phones in a river is not the solution to the loneliness epidemic. A sufficient dose of meaningful, in-person interactions with good people is probably the best place to start.
Thanks for reading!
See Our Blog for the latest industry news, tech tips, company updates, and anything else we feel like writing about.
Mother Nature whispers to the wind, "I fall; but always rise again."
Crunchy leaves beneath your feet. Everything so fresh, soft and ethereal. Crackling fires, cosy clothes and warm drinks take the chill out your bones. Pumpkin spice and other delightful scents fill the air.
Autumn is officially here, which means increasingly short and cool days; a countdown to winter.
Many of us are justly concerned about our forthcoming energy bills and are looking for any way to cutback our consumption and subsequent bills.
"Phantom electricity" is power consumed by electronic appliances and devices when they are switched off or in standby.
We wanted to know if leaving our phone charger plugged in when not in use had any meaningful impact on energy consumption.
Most charging adapters have a maximum output of 10-25 watts. Higher wattage = faster charging.
When we disconnect our phone, the power output drops to a fraction of a Watt, which rounds down to 0.
In order to even get a reading, we need to plug 6 mobile phone chargers in to one extension. This gives us a reading of 0.3w.
Based on this, leaving your phone charger plugged in when not in use will probably cost you around 20 pence per year. A laptop charger wouldn't be much more.
Most modern appliances and devices are pretty efficient, and won't consume much, if any power when in standby.
Here's some very rough estimated costs that we found online:
> Desktop computer in sleep mode: £10.00 - £15.00 per year
> Wi-Fi router: £5.00 - £10.00 per year
> TV: £12.00 per year (3.2 pence per day)
> Game Console: £5.00 - £10.00 per year (can be switched on remotely, so will continually draw a small amount of power so that it can respond to a remote control)
> Microwave: Less than £3.00 per year (to power the digital clock)
> Sky TV boxes use the most power when in standby - about £50.00 per year!
The amount of power consumed by most of these devices in standby mode is pretty negligible - but they do add up.
The crucial thing to remember is that these devices consume 10-20x more energy when switched on, so simply switching them off when not in-use is 10-20x more effective than unplugging them versus leaving them in standby.
So no, unplugging your phone charger isn't going to save the polar bears.
However, we still think that you should.
Every time that you switch off your phone charger, you strengthen a habit. A habit of switching off devices and appliances when you're not using them. You will develop mindfulness surrounding your unnecessary energy consumption.
Studies have proven that strong habits are associated with positive long-term outcomes - in this case, reducing energy consumption and saving money.
By repeatedly taking a really small, easy action, you will almost certainly take action and make better choices on the things that really move the needle. And this in-turn might just save you hundreds this winter.
Thanks for reading!
See Our Blog for the latest industry news, tech tips, company updates, and anything else we feel like writing about.
