[jacquesm]

Moore's law actually helps battery powered devices too. As the switching elements get smaller they consume less power. The problem really is that we've at the same time increased our demands on the devices to the point where the gains were undone.

5 years ago cell phones had a longer battery life than smart phones do today.

[James_Duval]

This is why I love my Nokia 100.

I don't want or need a smartphone, that's what my computer - or on the go, my laptop - is for.

I want a reliable phone that will get me out of emergencies and sticky situations.

A smartphone that runs out of battery in a few measly hours, overheats, and has terrible design flaws simply does not do the job I want it to do.

Admittedly I had a very bad experience with an early model of HTC Desire, so I'm more untrusting of the things than most.

[gizmo686]

Smart phones have gotten pretty good about scaling power usage. When your not actively using them they can hold their charge for a long time (even while they are still listening for incoming calls). The only time you run into short battery life is when you are actually them to do intensive stuff. On the rare case where some background app is eating your battery life, you can even feel your phone get hot and know you should reboot it (or close the offending app).