Jazz Odyssey

No, it’s not militant DRM or ridiculous interoperability issues, but something far more basic–batteries. Battery technology has evolved as a snails pace, and it hampers our abilities with several near-ubiquitous devices such as cellphones, laptops and portable entertainment devices. But there is hope on the horizon. This article over at ExtremeTech discusses Toshiba’s announcement of a new lithium-ion battery that can recharge up to 80% of its capacity in 60 seconds. While there are some practical issues that will prevent instant penetration into the portable device marketplace, it’s an important step forward.

This is an important issue in the developing mobile music market. The combo cellphone/music player is a cool idea but as many people have become incredibly dependent on cellphones for both voice and data communication, any music applications that significantly increase battery drain on the phone are potentially problematic. If phones can be quickly recharged (80% in a minute is pretty darn quick), the impact of adding music or other entertainment functionality to cellphones becomes a non-issue in terms of battery life. As a consumer, I certainly don’t want to look at the battery life on my phone as the day draws to a close and figure out of I’ve got enough power left to spin a few songs and still have enough juice leftover so that I’m not cut off from using the phone for its primary purpose.

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