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Next Jolla Phone should focus on battery and hardware durability

asked 2014-12-19 13:54:27 +0200

22sander gravatar image

updated 2014-12-21 21:41:28 +0200

I did not buy a Jolla Phone for 2 key reasons:

1) I just bought a Jiayu G4 Advanced (with to smartphone standards a very good battery life) a few months before. 2) The battery of Jolla Phone is too poor.

Even though my Jiayu phone has a good battery to smartphone standards, in my point of view it is still for from good enough. This is because the phone I had before that was the Nokia 1600 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1600 ). Even after using that phone for about 7 years (indeed!), the phone only needed the power cable after 6 days! This feature was also the main reason why I delayed buying my first smartphone as much as possible to the end of 2013, and why I still have that phone as a backup.

The other thing I do not like about my new phone over to this old Nokia phone is its durability: I had a broken USB connector after 5 months, the software is sometimes buggy, and the phone is plagued by ghost touches after you drive by bike in heavy rain (I don't mind the rain and my phone shouldn't either).

I am certain many people would love a durable and correct priced smartphone with a battery life similar to the Nokia 1600.

This is my personal and ordered wish list for a next Jolla phone (if the first 4 items are met, I will buy it if it costs up to 400EUR):

  1. Durable hardware
  2. Superb battery life similar to non-smartphone Nokia phones
  3. Durable software
  4. Being able to use 2 SIM cards (good way to save on data charges using a different provider)
  5. 2 GB RAM and at least 32GB internal storage space with the possibility to expand storage space with a slot
  6. Good screen
  7. Slow battery friendly CPU
  8. GPS
  9. Faster CPU and more storage space
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That why MTK processor is energy efficient and proven but as the gaming and development goes, MTK has H.265, not H.264 recorder and playback that seem not even production ready.

mikojoko ( 2014-12-19 14:14:31 +0200 )edit

I understand why you'd like to have the battery life of a Nokia 1600. But I don't think it will happen in the near future for smartphones. Screens use power, they light up, they show changing content. They show more and more content, displaying it still costs energy. This will not change. Battery technology is advancing, but not at the speed that the 'next phone' will be able to meet the amount of days a Nokia 1600 lasted. And you can not just add 'power' to a battery. You'll have to make it bigger, or more complicated, or.. well, new things have to be invented.

But durability when it comes to hardware is something I think would be really really nice. I like the Jolla phone, but it feels like it is cheaply built. The volume rocker buttons feel like they are slightly loose. I think there is enough room for improvement, but the battery life of a non smartphone is not something you can compare to a smartphone.

Simon de la Court ( 2014-12-19 14:21:00 +0200 )edit

Please check my feedback to Okw to read a more in depth explanation of what I mean with 'focus on battery life'.

22sander ( 2014-12-19 15:20:00 +0200 )edit
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  1. and 9. are contrary. 5. asks for 32GB, 9. for more storage. What is a good screen? Durable software? Don't you mean stable software? 400 EUR is not that much compared to competitors. They sell mainstream phones at that price tag.
Anna ( 2014-12-19 15:49:28 +0200 )edit
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I think 400 EUR is very much for a smartphone that onlymeets the first 4 feature wishes. For instance, I can buy the cheapest dual-SIM Samsung smartphone for 150 EUR and the most expensive dual-SIM of this brand costs 355 EUR (check http://tweakers.net/categorie/215/smartphones/producten/#filter:Tc3LCsMgFATQf5m1hWve5AMCCXTVZcnCRheWvNBQCsF_77UpoSvlOM7seDg161Z71HdJVPQCi9PGNdaMGjVWZ58eP7wtbmNTfjhlNUPLuYsUMTqYq51Rk4Dnh8aOm3HcvENmMo3nS408hLSSOfog2Ck_HZ0CW1mUkabYBElJ9sWy-kOen9Q73pKKiGIgkce3o6nIeS-E8AE ). This 355 EUR Samsung phone is much more featureful than what I need for 400 EUR.

If more wishes are met, I am obviously prepared to pay more than that.

22sander ( 2014-12-19 16:30:38 +0200 )edit

3 Answers

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8

answered 2014-12-19 14:26:58 +0200

Okw gravatar image

You're asking for quite a lot.

First of all, hardware durability is subjective. I've never physically broken any of my past phones, so to me they are all evenly durable. If I had to judge Jolla in terms of durability I would rank it quite high. It has the sligth bit of flex that prevents it from shattering in case it was dropped. Haven't heard or read about disconnected USB-ports, so I suppose everything is fine on that side too.

Secondly, battery life. You're forgetting about the fact that battery technologies struggle to meet todays standards in most aspects. It's a problem for every manufacturer. Smart devices crammed with features naturally need more juice than an non-smart old Nokia. There's an inevitable tradeoff that has to be made; It's either a "smart" device or long battery life. Power comes through a cable from a wall socket, but you can't get features the same way, which is why battery life often gets the lower priority.

Also, your bullets 7. and 9. are a little contradictory, don't you think?

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7 and 9 are not necessarily contradictory if this means the faster CPU has better power scaling.If the faster CPU can scale down power usage more than the slower CPU, this will result in a longer standby time of the phone.

Battery life. What you are saying is exactly what all people in the industry are saying: it's a smart and powerful device, so it is acceptable to have a much poorer battery experience (standby time of a new Nokia 1600 was 450 hours or about 18 days with a 970 mAh battery). I know much consumers don't mind either, but I am very certain there are still a lot of smartphone users who would love to have the kind of battery life as they had with their old Nokia phones.The problem for them is that no popular smartphone manufacturer is producing smartphones that maniacally focus on battery life.

What I am thus trying to propose here is for Jolla to not accept this industry behaviour and to focus on battery life in all aspects to bring a smartphone that is totally different than what is available on the market to meet a dormant demand of a lot of smartphone users.

Jolla is small, has talented people, and has their own software. If they would leverage these strengths, they could break up the market by bringing an extremely durable smartphone with the same or even less features than the competition, but with software and hardware that brings battery life for smartphones to new heights. People should say: 'Wow this battery life is amazing. I want this Jolla a my main/backup smartphone!'.

22sander ( 2014-12-19 15:16:09 +0200 )edit

Just to visualize the huge potential of a fully battery focussed smartphone, you should check the popularity of these 2 apps:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ijinshan.kbatterydoctor_enhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard

22sander ( 2014-12-19 15:43:35 +0200 )edit
1

I do realize the potential with good battery life. There's just not really much you can do about it at the moment. You can switch all radios off or maybe even have your phone in flight mode when you're not expecting calls or anything. I assume those battery saving hoax-apps are doing something like that. That's however not what most people are willing to do. As an example people want instant messaging to be as instant as possible, which requires running processes to sustain or open connections frequently. You didn't have to worry about such things back in 2006.

You have a valid point. I would also love a longer battery life. It's just that the potential gain in focusing only on battery life is most probably going to be minimal, or perhaps even neglible.

Okw ( 2014-12-19 17:12:26 +0200 )edit

If only those apps weren't placebos!

nthn ( 2014-12-19 17:42:12 +0200 )edit

It does not matter how good these apps help or not. I just wanted to make the point that a lot of people are interested in what these apps promise.

22sander ( 2014-12-20 00:26:51 +0200 )edit
4

answered 2014-12-21 21:53:01 +0200

chappi gravatar image

updated 2014-12-21 21:54:54 +0200

It's not about hardware, it's about software.

Other than - maybe - a little bit more RAM the current hardware is fine. With the price you pay for a Jolla phone you support the development of SailfishOS and the core apps. The phone as a device is just 'a side dish' (and imho correctly priced).

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answered 2014-12-23 20:40:33 +0200

salarelv gravatar image

Battery life can be increased. Other manufacturers are using today ~30Ah batteries today.
Keep the screen near 300ppi. Medium power efficient Soc. Amoled screen.

And of course software improvements .

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Asked: 2014-12-19 13:54:27 +0200

Seen: 1,205 times

Last updated: Dec 23 '14