On Wikipedia, I just read about a phone made by Kyocera called the EOS, it's powered by kinetic energy. Could this work for other devices like handheld game systems? Think about it, the 3DS has a built in pedometer that tracks your steps while walking. If this was combined with a kinetic-powered battery, you'd hardly ever have to charge your handheld.
My watch (which was handed down to me by my father) uses kinetic energy to charge its battery; the back is even clear so you can see it at work. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't seem to be new technology, so if Nintendo or any other gaming company hasn't used one by now, there must be a legitamite reason why. Perhaps they're too expensive to mass produce?
My watch (which was handed down to me by my father) uses kinetic energy to charge its battery; the back is even clear so you can see it at work. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't seem to be new technology, so if Nintendo or any other gaming company hasn't used one by now, there must be a legitamite reason why. Perhaps they're too expensive to mass produce?
Well how about solar power? Both LG and Samsung are making solar powered phones.
You're right about the watch TeeJay - that's not new technology at all, although I think the energy it provides to power a watch is miniscule in comparison to what something like the 3DS would use.
After a very quick, not at all comprehensive google, I found this:
It takes an hour to charge the "average portable device" to 80%, assuming you're walking the entire time.
Tendoboy, I think the answer is that, while it's certainly possible to do things like solar and kinetic charging of devices, they aren't really cost-effective at this stage. The efficiency is so low that it's not worth spending the money to incorporate these forms of charging into a device as power-hungry as a 3DS. (Its battery is 1300 mAh compared to the DSi XL's 1050 mAh, and it uses the battery about 3-5 times as quickly).
I can't see the technology for kinetic-energy chargers improving much, and so they'll only ever be useful for low-power devices. Solar power will, I'm sure, become efficient enough in the not-too-distant future, and we'll likely see more miniaturisation and use of the technology in portable devices.
The 3DS doesn't use a trivial amount of power like a watch so I don't think it's that practical. Solar is a similar problem but more limited by the fact that the only time most people have their 3DS out they are either pointing the back of the unit down OR they are right near a power source. If they wanted to extend the battery life it would be a lot cheaper, more practical and less bulky to just include a bigger battery.
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What skywake said, pretty much. Solar power might well grow bigger and better throughout the years, but where are you going to place that sort of thing on a console? I could well see an add-on where you plug into the power supply and let it charge that way, but other than that, I don't see it powering the battery all that much.
Kinetic energy doesn't have enough energy to power a handheld for very long, let alone sustain it.
The only way to make it less bulky and without the need for more expensive and overall worthless garbage hogging space is to just include a bigger battery. A lot like what Sony's done, they've created their own battery pack for the Vita to up the amount of battery power from 3-5 hours to 9-15 hours.
Kinda related, I remember calculating out how much extra range putting solar panels on the roofs on electric cars would give you. Turned out even if you covered the entire roof area with the most efficient panels you'd only get something like 5kwh on a really good day for sun. Those electric cars going around have in the order of 50kwh of battery to get them ~300km. So it was much better to just try and squeeze as much battery capacity into it as possible and drain that extra 5kwh from a mains power source. Unless you traveled really slowly and then you could drive for as long as the car lasts.........
I suspect the same thing applies to portable electronics even if it's on a much, much, much smaller scale.
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Topic: Could this be a new form of battery power?
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