Hasta La Gadget!

Qualcomm has posted about its Quick Charge 1.0 power management initiative, and as its name indicates, this technology is designed to charge smartphones “up to 40%” faster. Qualcomm acquired this last year when it  bought Summit Microelectronics in June 2012. There is no question that battery capacity is not going to improve radically from a strcutural stand point, and while handset do get bigger batteries, they can only do so as long as the handset themselves get bigger. Fast charging is therefore the most likely path to real battery progress, and Qualcomm understands  that perfectly. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Mysterious Nokia Lumia Device Spotted In Lumia 920 Ad, Google Launches Nexus 4 Store Locator,

In my experience, battery packs for smartphones can be quite useful, though they have a tendency to add a lot of bulk to your phone. That being said, if you run out of power very often, a battery case can still be a wise precaution. This new battery pack from Mophie aims to boost battery power for the iPhone 5, while not adding too much weight or thickness.

The Mophie Juice Pack Helium for iPhone 5 packs a 1500 mAh battery, which matches the one inside of your phone. It will allow for an additional six hours of talk time on 3G, or six hours of browsing while using either LTE or 3G. It’s also 13% thinner than the Air Juice Pack they had for the iPhone 4/4S.  Total dimensions for the Juice Pack Helium are x 5.49″(H) x 2.49″(W) x 0.59″(D) – about double the thickness of a stock iPhone 5, about 5/8″ taller, and barely wider.

One really nice feature is that you can charge both the battery case and your iPhone simultaneously, thanks to a single Lightning connector, which is great because having to charge them separately would be a pain.

The Mophie Juice Pack Helium sells for $79.95(USD), with the next batch of dark metallic units shipping out on February 25th, and the light metallic model shipping in early March.

It’s been quite a dramatic beginning for the 787 Dreamliner, probably one that Boeing and the airlines weren’t hoping for, but reoccurring failures to the lithium-ion batteries in several 787 aircrafts resulted in the entire fleet getting ground in order to investigate the issue. However, after a few weeks of investigating and troubleshooting, Boeing has completed its first flight of the 787 following the grounding.

According to Reuters, Boeing said that the test flight was “uneventful,” meaning that the two-hour flight didn’t experience any problems, and the lithium-ion batteries seemed to hold up. The plane took off from and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle, WA, and the test crew on board were there to collect detailed information on the batteries while in-flight.

In the meantime, Boeing is redesigning the batteries as a temporary fix until a permanent solution is thought up. While a “temporary fix” might make some flyers queazy, Boeing notes that numerous tests will be run to make sure the redesigned batteries are in 100% working order before they put the planes back up in the air.

It doesn’t look like Boeing will be doing any test flights today, but it’s guaranteed that the company will be conducting numerous test flights over the next few weeks to get to the bottom of the issue. The battery problem has cost airlines tens of millions of dollars, and that number may continue to increase as long as the birds are left on the ground.

[via Reuters]

Boeing completes first 787 test flight following battery investigation is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The reviews are in for Microsoft’s Surface Pro, and while it’s been a mixed bag overall, we actually enjoyed our time with the tablet, but one area that many people weren’t too pleased about was battery life. During our tests, we were getting around 4.5 to 5 hours, with 6 hours during some occasions. However, it looks like Microsoft may have a solution.

Panos Panay, Microsoft’s corporate vice president working on the Surface tablet, recently hosted an AMA session (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit about the new Surface Pro. When asked if the company had any plans for an external battery of some kind, Panay said that this “would require extending the design of the accessory spine to include some way to transfer higher current between the peripheral and the main battery.”

Luckily, that’s exactly what Microsoft did. The company added new connector plates to the bottom of the Surface Pro, which aren’t being utilized yet, but Panay hinted at the fact that the company may introduce some new accessories down the line that would take advantage of these new connector plates, which may even include an external battery/keyboard hybrid.

Of course, nothing is set in stone, but it sounds like we should be looking forward to some Surface accessories at some point in the future, whether or not that includes an external battery of some kind. It sounds like a battery-equipped keyboard can be done, though, so it doesn’t sound completely farfetched, but we’ll have to wait and see what Redmond has in store for us later this year.

[via PC World]

Microsoft hints at Surface Pro battery add-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Wall Street Journal has gotten word that Boeing is preparing tweaks to its 787’s lithium-ion batteries that could minimize the risk of fire and let its Dreamliners take to the skies before a long-term solution is sussed out. Citing industry and government officials, the WSJ says the modifications will see a larger separation between battery cells in an effort to lessen the risk of heat and fire spreading. Other measures may include keeping cells more firmly in place to prevent them from moving about and interfering with electronics, incorporating heat sensors and a beefed-up battery cover that could contain flames and chemicals. Changes to the aircraft aren’t nailed down across the board just yet, and they still need approval by Japanese and American regulators before they can be applied. According to one of the WSJ’s sources, a best-case scenario could see Dreamliners put back on passenger flight duty in March.

[Image credit: Martin Deutsch, Flickr]

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Wall Street Journal