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IEEE begins work on new smartphone battery standard

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 26 May 2012 at 04:35

The IEEE has announced that it's beginning work on a new smartphone battery standard.

The current IEEE 1725 standard has been in effect since 2006 – but as the IEEE notes a great deal has changed since then.

"The industry has grown tremendously since IEEE Std 1725 was first approved, as have the patterns of people using mobile phones," said Jason Howard, chair of the Cell Phone Battery Working Group, which will be in charge of updating the standard.

"With today's consumers demanding more processing strength and better power management from their phones, it is time for us to review and revise the standard to make sure that it covers the latest developments in battery technology and industry knowledge."

The group will be concerned with improving the “quality and reliability of rechargeable lithium ion and lithium ion polymer batteries”, hopefully bringing an end to the days of smartphone batteries dying after only a day's use.

There’s no word on how long the IEEE will debate the standard, which might set off a few alarm bells given that it took the organisation seven years to finalise the 802.11 n wireless standard.

The group will hold its first meeting in February 2010.

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User comments

Why stop at smartphones?

I have had four phones to date, all with similar but different batteries. What am I supposed to do with my old phone batteries (and spare batteries) when I upgrade a phone

By BornOnTheCusp on 18 Dec 2009

Batteries are in need of a breakthrough. They now constitute one of the biggest elements of phones and cameras, so will limit the scope for further miniaturisation.
Proof of the failure of this organisation is that possibly noone has heard of them, and every battery for every model from every manufacturer has a different spec!

By davidsoap on 19 Dec 2009

Are you sure

Are you seriously saying that no-one has heard of the IEEE? Blimey, where have you been hiding?

By The_Scrote on 19 Dec 2009

and the point is..?

Engineers have been trying for years to improve battery technology... wasn't the last breakthrough that rare element that helped offset the 'memory effect'?

It sounds like the IEEE are trying to keep themselves busy. Writing down a standard won't make battery technology evolve any faster, and you can be damn sure Apple won't stop selling iPhones just because most of them need to be recharged every 36 hours.

Wireless N was one thing - the technology was evolving so fast fast a standard had to be set - though by the time the IEEE did their work was almost redundant. If the IEEE has any bright ideas for physically extending battery life, they should let everyone know. Otherwise they're just bureaucrats passing memos to each other, surely.

By Noghar on 20 Dec 2009

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