iPhone Battery

Apple submits plenty of patents every year that never see the light of day, but a recent filing published in the database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 22 has a lot of people overly excited. Application 20110311895, filed in August 2010, reveals that Apple is looking into hydrogen fuel cell technology. Hydrogen fuel cells would allow batteries to last for weeks without recharging, and would also make devices lighter and slimmer. Too bad it is years away from reality.

Even Apple acknowledges in their patent application that “it is extremely challenging to design hydrogen fuel cell systems which are sufficiently portable and cost-effective to be used with portable electronic devices.” Hydrogen fuel cells would also be friendlier to the environment eliminating the use of toxic chemicals for hydrogen.

Battery cases make great accessories for the iPhone and iPod touch. Not only do they protect the mobile device, but they increase the battery life, often doubling battery power and keeping the iPhone charged. There are always sporadic reports of lithium-ion batteries malfunctioning, which can involve excessive heat, fire or even explosions.

Lately two brands of iPhone battery cases have been recalled as problems with internal parts have been discovered. To avoid risks of overheating and possible fire, use of these cases should be discontinued immediately. The first recall involves the Rocketfish RF-KL12, designed for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

iPhone users who have experienced shorter than expected battery life using iOS 5 continue waiting for Apple to track down the cause of the power drain. The recent iOS 5.0.1 update made some changes to improve battery life, fixing the problem for some iPhone owners. Apple explained that more work was underway to figure out other causes of battery drain that are still affecting others.

Developers had hoped that iOS 5.1 would contain more fixes and battery life on the iPhone 4S would improve for those experiencing the problem. Unfortunately, it seems this is not the case, and the iOS 5.1 beta firmware has not solved the ongoing battery issues. Many iPhone 4S users have not had any problem with their battery life, which makes the problem even more elusive.

Siri still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. According to the German website Macerkopf.de, iOS 5.1 will enable Siri to control your iPhone's hardware by the end of this year. This should allow Siri to do more than tell you where the nearest coffee shop is located by giving the voice assistant more control over your device.

If true, iPhone 4S users will be able to ask Siri to do things like shoot video, or turn off their Bluetooth when they get home from the office. Macerkopf.de isn't known for the most accurate iPhone predictions, but Apple needs to do something to make Siri more useful. I know the novelty of the voice assistant has worn off for some.

Even after Apple released iOS 5.0.1 to address complaints about iPhone battery life issues, people are still experiencing unexpected battery drain. What originally seemed like a few isolated incidents on Friday, has grown into a pile of new complaints on the Apple support forums. Some iPhone 4S owners are claiming iOS 5.0.1 did nothing to fix their battery problems.

Apple responded to the new complaints by releasing a brief statement to AllThingsD.

“The recent iOS software update addressed many of the battery issues that some customers experienced on their iOS 5 devices. We continue to investigate a few remaining issues.”