Overcoming the Power Struggle

Have you ever declined an invitation because your battery symbol has just gone from yellow to red? Do you obsessively check the little green gauge to ensure that you are not wasting excessive power? How about that snakes-nest of chargers you travel with, just in case? If you're anything like me then you're a constant prisoner to your phone's very limited power-supply.

Have you ever declined an invitation because your battery symbol has just gone from yellow to red? Do you obsessively check the little green gauge to ensure that you are not wasting excessive power? How about that snakes-nest of chargers you travel with, just in case? If you're anything like me then you're a constant prisoner to your phone's very limited power-supply.

It's one of life's recent ironies that the smarter our phones become the more we need them, but the more we need them the less their batteries can keep up with our demands. Now we all spend our days with a ticking time bomb in our pockets, knowing that it's a case of if, not when our smartphones are going to die on us. I can't be the only one who longs for the days of charging an old 3210 once or twice a week and not worrying about it.

The vast majority of smartphone users are affected by this Stockholm Syndrome - we have all fallen in love with phones that keep us chained to the plug socket.

Our research at Lady Geek has shown that women talk about losing a phone in much more emotional terms than men - comparisons have been made to the loss of a limb, or the absence of a family member - it's the umbilical cord that women don't want to cut. For many women their phone connects them to everything that is important and thus running out of battery can often be a disaster. With Motorola's latest handset, therefore, it's nice to see a major manufacturer finally doing something to change the situation.

The Motorola Razr Maxx is re-design of the 2011 Motorola Razr - all in all not a bad device. It's good at call handling and the camera is excellent, while the phone itself has a nice feel with a back panel made of an unusual woven kevlar material (I'm not sure why a phone should need to be made of the same stuff as bullet-proof vests, but it does make it difficult to drop). The spec on board means that it is decidedly mid-range when compared to super-phones like the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the HTC One X, but that hardly matters - the Razr Maxx has a super power all of its own.

The battery life is HUGE.

Seriously huge. Three times bigger than the previous Razr model and streets ahead of most competitors on the market. When I put it to the test I was astonished by the results: On my first night of use I charged it up and then unplugged it just before I went to sleep. By morning the battery gauge still showed full power. Around lunchtime the next day - after considerable usage - I'd got it to around 80%. By the time I was ready to cycle home it was still above 50%.

As a busy woman that likes to be connected at all times it's liberating to encounter a phone that doesn't make me worry about checking my email or calling my friends for fear of draining down the power and cutting myself off from the world. I only wish other smartphone manufacturers (I'm looking at you HTC and Samsung) would take note and start building devices that can cope with a typical working day. In this respect the Razr Maxx feels like a phone of yore - durable, reliable and with enough power to let you do what you need to do for as long as you need to do it. Now why can't all phones be like that?

Written by Sally from @ladygeektv https://twitter.com/#!/ladygeektv

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