citpeks

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citpeks
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  • iPhone 15 has new battery health controls to prevent charging past 80%

    citpekscitpeks
    AppleInsider said:

    Charging a battery is relatively efficient and uniform from 0% to 80%, but that last 20% generally takes more energy and produces more heat. This leads some users to consciously try to float their battery between 40% and 80% at all times to prolong battery health.

    Now, users no longer need to monitor charging and can have it stop at 80% automatically. However, AppleInsider continues to recommend users stick with Optimized Battery Charging and avoid this new setting.

    There is very little to gain from stopping an iPhone from charging past 80%. Instead, the user will suffer from not having access to the full potential of the battery capacity while only salvaging a few more weeks of battery health.

    Instead, users should continue to use their devices with fully automatic settings and charge whenever necessary. There's no stopping physics, and all batteries will need to be replaced eventually.

    Yikes.  Someone needs to familiarize themselves with the CC/CV charging algorithm, used in lithium battery charging.

    How can the last CV saturation stage take "more energy" and produce "more heat" when the current is being tapered down until the cell reaches termination voltage?  Especially compared to the initial bulk stage, where full current is applied at the maximum C rate (if wise, within the recommended guidelines given by the cell manufacturer)?

    As for the thought that one should never venture above 80% SoC, that's very conservative, and doesn't take into account the practical considerations most users will have.

    Ideally, lithium batteries should be kept within 20-80% SoC to help prolong durability, which is true, but most users aren't going to sacrifice 40% of capacity to have their battery last an unspecified, variable, and not guaranteed additional term.  They'd rather just use their devices and get the most out of them in practical, immediate life.

    These are disposable consumer devices with finite lives and support terms.  They're not designed to be used or kept for eternity.  When a cell does wear out, Apple will happily take your money and perform a replacement.  Or the user may opt to simply replace the device.  Life goes on.

    In this regard, "don't worry about it," and "just use your device/get on with it" is probably the path most will take, and most sensible.  If one must worry about something, try to eat a healthy diet and get some exercise, to live a longer life.  That may pay much greater dividends, and even then, there are no guarantees.

    But I am glad that Apple recognized that their Optimized Charging feature was too convoluted, and relied upon behaviors and usage patterns some users never followed, which worse of all, could render it ineffective, and has now given users a clear cut, manual option.
    mr. hdewmemuthuk_vanalingamJanNLFileMakerFellerwatto_cobrajony0

  • Apple accessories set for rapid Lighting to USB-C shift

    citpekscitpeks
    chia said:
    I wonder if they'll be offering a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle for the new phones?
    https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MU7E2ZM/A/usb-c-to-35mm-headphone-jack-adapter

    It already exists, just a question of whether it'll be compatible with the new iPhones
    Should be no problem.  I use one with my iPad Pro, and another with my iMac as a cheap DAC/secondary 3.5mm output solution.

    May be the cheapest product Apple sells, and a good quality DAC as well.  Hard to beat for ten bucks.

    I like Lightning as a physical connector; robust feeling and has a nice positive "snap" when inserted.  But it has too few pins for the modern age.

    Type-C is ok, but it lacks the same feeling of robustness, and the quality of the connection varies by the quality of the cable.  Like HDMI, the strength of the retention mechanism is so-so, esp. when compared to something like Lightning.  I know how to properly handle cables (the "fragile" OE Lightning cable from my iPhone 5 was in daily use for six years before it finally failed), but I do have a 2.5" enclosure that I use for weekly backups that is starting to show signs of sensitivity to physical bumps, causing flaky connections.  It's certainly not immune to wear.  But the benefits clearly outweigh the disadvantages, and no connector is perfect.

    It's amusing how so many try to turn this into a religious war.  Lightning was a connector Apple designed to suit its needs at that time and place, and it has served its purpose.  Apple, as a prominent member of the USB IF, helped inspire and contribute to the development of Type-C, and was one of its earliest adopters as well, so it isn't sacrilegious to see Apple employ it as well, and move toward adopting it wholesale.

    I guess it's similar to those who continually pine for Steve Jobs and complain about Tim Cook as the devil incarnate, while conveniently forgetting that Cook was Jobs' hand-picked successor, and have no way of predicting how Jobs would have acted had he lived longer.  Jobs might have had a design sense that Cook lacks, but was a much a businessman as Cook, perhaps even more so.  Cook was chosen to safeguard Jobs' legacy and raise his baby to maturity, and by almost every objective measure, has done just that.
    williamlondonwatto_cobrarundhvidFileMakerFeller

  • Rumor: iPhone 15 USB-C cable limited to USB 2.0 speeds, has no MFi

    citpekscitpeks
    clexman said:
    Name one computing device that comes with the fastest USB-C cable. No phone, tablet, laptop or desktop does. It’s always separate or with a peripheral. 

    This is a charging cable for the >99.9% of iPhone users that make all data transfers wirelessly. 

    The minority that transfer data over a wire from their iPhone can buy a specialty cable for that. 

    Stories like this reveal those who have an understanding of how USB works -- in both a technical and practical sense -- and how most don't.  Often, that includes the writer of the piece.  But they do serve well to whip up fervor about how Apple is greedy/cheap/evil, etc., and be good click generators.

    Despite how Type-C has been positioned as the Wonder Connector of Tomorrow, it does not require implementation of the latest and greatest data transmission protocol.  As a connector type, it accommodates any, and everything, so to speak.  One could certainly argue that USB 3.x should have been made the minimum baseline, and I'd agree, but that's not how the USB IF chose to proceed.

    Apple would still fully spec compliant, should it choose to ship iPhones with ports limited to USB 2, as well as with cables limited to USB 2 baseline data speeds.  In practice that is the most common type of cable on the market, fully spec compliant, and suits the needs of the masses for a charging cable, the only type they'll ever desire or need.  In this respect, the company would not be an outlier if/when it does so, according to these rumors.

    MFi is a certification program, not a "chip" per se, and should Apple choose to utilize some sort of method to ID cables, it already has the tools available in the spec, via the Authentication standard, that provides to the ability identify and authorize cables based on their e-markers (which, BTW are required by spec for cables to carry >60W).  It wouldn't need to roll its own chips to enable that functionality.

    As for the EU, the official that was blowing smoke in response to the rumours about limited charging or data speeds doesn't even know his own law, which was written to harmonize charging standards, and ensure compatibility.  It does not address data protocols, and with respect to power delivery, only requires the implementation of Type-C and the PD protocol, which aside from headroom capacity, counts adaptability as it other primary benefit.  It does not address performance, nor specify any sort of minimum or maximum power level, which given the nature of the protocol, and breadth of different devices, would be impossible to begin with.  Hollow threats with no basis to back them up.
    Alex1Neightzerowatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingamdewmeFileMakerFellerjas99pscooter63

  • iPhone 15 USB-C connectors shown in claimed leak

    citpekscitpeks
    y2an said:
    The connector in that image isn’t aligned to the central plane of the chassis. Fake?

    It's a picture of the Lightning connector on the XR, which was slightly offset.

    Type-C connectors have a tongue, as pictured in the linked images.
    watto_cobra

  • Kuo says Apple is behind, and won't release generative AI in 2024

    citpekscitpeks
    hmurchison said:
    "Apple needs a search engine"  ongoing

    The billions of dollars Google pays Apple annually to be the default search option is probably the easiest money Apple makes.
    FileMakerFellerspheric