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Comment by jdavis703 | Hacker News Reader

Won't it always be an issue? I have a feeling they'll just put in more and better power-hungry hardware and software and we'll be back in the minimally acceptable battery life range.

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Right. And if they don’t do that, then the phone will just get thinner. We already have incredible energy density compared to a decade ago, but that budget is used up by shaving millimeters off the thickness.

> used up by shaving millimeters off the thickness

I wish they didn't do that, I would gladly carry around a slightly bigger phone if it had much better battery life.

Many phone models do have expansion options like this, even iPhones. I for one am appreciative of “low power mode” so I get to choose efficiency over app freshness.

Yeah, but that (1) feels like the hardware equivalent of DLC, and (2) the resulting unit is much thicker than it would be if the battery were designed into the device from the start.

I get why some people prefer thinness over battery life. Not all use cases are the same. Just wish that there was an option when choosing a model to go with svelte or chunky.

I have an LG V20 with a 6700mAh battery. Goes for DAYS with moderate use, and will easily make it all day with extremely heavy use. I managed to kill it exactly once, with 4 hours of screen-on nav + steaming spotify, another 3 hours of youtube, and probably some misc usage. It's fantastic, and I keep wishing that somebody would release another phone with a user-replaceable (and upgradeable) battery so that I could move on. I actually bought this V20 after the V30 and S9 were out specifically for the removable battery. sigh, I blame apple.

A Jevon's paradox on battery life. Hmm, yea.

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