Charging matters - the Samsung Galaxy S6

What does it take to capture attention at a packed trade show amidst all the hustle and bustle? In my case it was a single slide that promised a charge time of no less than ten minutes for a new smartphone due to be released. I stopped dead in my tracks whilst passing the Samsung booth at the 2015 Mobile World Congress - the specs of Samsung’s new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, were being unveiled.

Battery life and charge time

Charging is a nuisance and battery life still ranks at the top of most people’s preferences when selecting a new device. The paradigm from my perspective had always been “How much time do you get from a single charge?” But passing Samsung’s booth it occurred to me that by dramatically reducing the time needed for a full charge is another way to skin the cat. The nuisance factor of charging drops and influences the acceptance of shorter “battery life”. Device selection by scrutinizing the energy metric then becomes a trade off between the time needed to fully power the phone and the ensuing endurance of its charge.

At the Mobile World Congress: Samsung compares the charge
time needed for their new flagship Galaxy S6 versus the iPhone 6

At the MWC, Samsung claimed that their Galaxy S6 (due for release on 10 April 2015) will provide four hours of operation on a 10-minute charge. Oops. I initially thought 10 minutes would mean a full charge. Besides, does being operational mean making calls, browsing the web or just being idle in standby? This is where things gets confusing.

4 versus 3 hours?

Back home I quickly checked what my iPhone 6 plus gets me on a ten-minute charge from an empty battery. It’s battery status indicated a 5 % charge. It lasted for around 3 hours during which I spent roughly one hour surfing the Internet using a 802.11 ac WiFi connection. Sure, that’s comparing apples with oranges. Battery endurance should accurately measure the split of time spent on making calls, browsing the web or just being idle in standby as well as taking the wireless connection into account. But 4 versus 3 hours? Is that a quantum leap as Samsung suggests, or just another case of marketing interpreting basic physics in new ways?

Copying: the sincerest form of flattery

In its comparative marathon, Samsung claimed its new flagship phone charges in half the time of an iPhone 6. The jury is out on that one and certainly phone review websites will seize the opportunity as soon as the device is available. Keep watching this space. It’s clear that Samsung has done much with its new device to match Apple’s latest smartphone models: use of superior materials lead to a higher appreciation of quality; the battery is now built into the device and can no longer be removed; the phone no longer accepts memory cards. Some of these new features are bound to annoy Samsung aficionados who have cherished this differentiation from the iconic smartphone inventor. On the other hand, new features such as wireless charging with its support of both WMC and PMA standards means Samsung is one lap ahead of the field.

Keep your eyes peeled

Fast charging is a prized feature for power-hungry phones. I’m curious to find out what it takes in battery technology, semiconductor devices and the chargers as such to offer incremental improvements for decreasing the time it takes to “fill up a phone” as we move forward.

Who Needs a Smartwatch?

Touted as the next big wave of consumer devices to impact our lifestyles, smartwatches will supposedly change many of our daily habits. Or will this be just one more device that finds it way into some drawer of collectibles after a few weeks of use? 

Examining my own behaviour, I have to admit that I always wore a wrist watch until the day I became the proud owner of my first cell phone. On that veritable day my cheap wrist watch became a forever companion to the special-occassion premium model in my bedside drawer. Yet recently I rediscovered the convenience of strapping a regular watch to my wrist to tell the time. A quick glance instead of fumbling for that phone slate somewhere deep in a pocket.

Hands freed up at long last

If you're on the go, there's a certain magic to having both hands free from carrying things like a luggage item or a phone. Smartwatches have the potential to deliver on that promise. In addition they they will be so much more than just an elegant timepiece.  Having a launchpad for calls, guidance, management and diversion strapped to one's wrist is a tempting thought. And a few clicks, swipes or voice commands could initiate all the fun. If regular wrist watches with a brand name cost 100 Euros at the lower end of the scale, then surely 300 Euros is a consumer-friendly price tag for a watch with smarts?

I’d be an easy mark for a smartwatch if

• it offers full functionality without my smartphone, unless I want to make/take calls or access the internet.
• the casing and industrial design in no way resemble an electronic device. As all smartphones resemble rectangular slates, it’s a fitting time to break out of the uniformity mould and revive lifestyle regalia.
• it powers itself through a kinetic mechanism or energy harvesting. As long as I never have to charge it.
• it unfolds a whole new world of “hands-free” functionality for
  • phone calls (missing parts: the Bluetooth earpiece that invisibly clips behind an ear or integrated in an eyeglasses’ arm, and some kind of highly directional microphone that won't require any strange gestures so that the person on the other end understands me)
  • effortless and efficient contactless payment
  • finding my way whilst walking or cycling
  • helping improve fitness or basic monitoring of health (heart rate, blood pressure, glucose level...)

My short list above might one day appear quite meek. Equipped with a multitude of sensors, smartwatches will see unthought of functionality unfold as creative developers build new applications using development kits that the manufacturers provide. The beauty of “smart” in smartwatch means different designs, different functions, different uses for different types of users.

Apple Watch	Samsung Gear S	Moto 360	Asus ZenWatch	LG G Watch R
Photo courtesy of Apple	Photo courtesy of Samsung	Photo courtesy of Motorola	Photo courtesy of Asus	Photo courtesy of LG

From Swatch to Rolex: will smartwatches ever span the breadth from the low-cost to the up-market?

Visitors to the Mobile World Congress earlier this year could witness smartwatches and fitness gadgets galore on display. Apart from the trendy fitness band, I have yet to see any of my personal acquaintances sporting a smartwatch. Will the announcement of Apple’s Watch for next year change consumer behaviour at the flick of a switch as they so often have proven before? 2015 might indeed provide the spark to catapult smartwatches and wearables into mass adoption.

Smartwatch and Wearables Shipments

Smartwatches fall into the so-called category of "Wearables" that many technology market research companies track. Forecasts vary and inflated expectations are sure to traverse a temporary trough before certain mass adoption occurs. Various sources suggest that around 10 million wearables were sold in 2013 with sports and activity trackers topping the list. Looking further into the future, opinions differ on the potential market size. Bold seers predict over USD 100 billion of wearable device revenue for 2018, whilst the more cautious cap their forecast at USD 30 billion. Compared to 2013 smartphone revenues of roughly USD 300 billion (around 1 billion smartphones were sold at an average price of USD 300) smartphones overshadow wearables considerably, but for how long?
On the smartwatch front Generator Research provide a short yet comprehensive history and outlook for smartwatches (free). The market research outfit’s recent study Smart Watches: 2014 forecasts sales of 5.8 million devices worldwide in 2014, rising to 313 million by 2020.

Sample Market Research on Wearables

Wearables Service	CCS Insights	http://bit.ly/1ou2S2b
Wearable Computing: Technologies, Applications and Global Markets	BCC Research	http://bit.ly/1qReqfq
Investing in Wearables for Financial Services	Javelin Research	http://bit.ly/ZnzAMS
Wearable Computing: Fitness and Health in Style	Parks Associates	http://bit.ly/1nEvg71

On wi360 you’ll find many more report summaries that focus on wearables and smartwatches providing insight and opinions into a consumer market segment that is set to boom.