Battery life remains a concern for mobile phone owners, but a fast recharge could be the fix, particularly one that’s so fast, it happens in minutes.
If there’s one complaint about phones we think we’ve all had, it’s the battery life. Whether your phone doesn’t hit a day or only lasts just that one day, battery remains a concern for everyone. Possibly less so if you’re working from home, but when this whole coronavirus thing is over, it’s likely going to go back to a concern over whether your phone will last a day without needing to stay plugged in to keep the charge topped up.
Battery life is a genuine concern because of just how much our phones do these days, and the more they do plus the better the screens, the more likely you’re going to see battery drops.
Manufacturers have been pushing the battery levels in phones for the past few years, that said, delivering more supply for the phone to draw charge from, but even then, you might not hit as much life as you want. With phone usage varying greatly between different users, not to mention the major differences in mobiles on the whole, there’s no one-size-fits-all scenario for battery life, and a good chance you’re going to keep a battery power bank with you, if not a plug to let you charge on the go.
But while batteries are improving, so too are the technologies that keep them charged, and it’s here that we might see a resolution of sorts. It’s an area companies such as Oppo have been working on for quite some time, building high-power plugs for their flagship phones, helping to get them charged more quickly, and there’s even a development in that category this week.
Oppo is adding to its knowledge in the area, announcing a new flash charge technology that pushes the typically high power plugs its phones come with even more. While you might be used to seeing a 50 or 60 watt charger with an Oppo phone, it’s boosting the technology significantly with a crazy 125 watt flash charger, able to charge a big 4000mAh battery in 20 minutes, or just a third of the battery in the space of three minutes.
Oppo isn’t alone in this feat, either. The technology appears to be shared with Oppo’s sister brand Realme, which is using a variant of the technology as 125 watt UltraDart, which is compatible with Oppo’s technology and provides fast charging for Realme phones, too.
The technology essentially delivers a laptop-style charger for a phone, capable of fast charging Oppo and Realme phones, and working for other devices such as tablets and laptops, too.
These developments potentially mean faster charges could be a way around battery life issues, delivering a tremendous boost in available charge provided you’re happy to wait a few minutes with the right power plug.
There are also other power sources Oppo is showing off with this announcement, including a new 65 watt high-speed wireless charger that can handle that same 4000mAh battery in the space of 30 minutes, as well as a 50 watt mini-charger that uses Gallium Nitride (GaN) and packs in a massive amount of power in a power pack that can fit neatly in your pocket.
You may not remember Gallium Nitride, but it’s a technology that made an appearance at CES this year, and essentially delivers a way for power packs to run cooler and smaller while still delivering larger amounts of power.
It’s this technology that Oppo is tapping for its 60 gram 50 watt mini charger, which seems like the sort of thing people could just end up carrying with them for devices in their lives.
Unfortunately, there’s no pricing or availability for either of these charging technologies, whether it’s from Oppo or Realme. Our guess is you can expect these power-heavy power packs with eventual flagship phones, but as extra accessories, these might not make it to stores online or offline for a month or two. However like all things, we’ll let you know when that happens.
