14 DAY TRIAL // Wearables are becoming more and more popular these days, but one big challenge for every manufacturer our there is to improve their battery life, as in most of the cases, they do not provide more than one-week autonomy or even a couple of days when connected via Bluetooth to a mobile phone.
Microsoft Research has created WearDrive, a new technology that can improve the battery life of a specific wearable device by up to three times, with tests showing that, when paired with an Android phone, such improvements are indeed possible. Support for iOS and Windows Phone can also be offered.
Basically, the new feature works by allowing the connected mobile phone to perform a number of actions for the wearable device, thus offloading a number of background services and greatly extending the battery life.
The wearable works normally without the need for a phone, but when it detects one, it performs a number of tasks via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi using its processing power. Microsoft says that only a small impact on phone battery life has been recorded, but instead, the autonomy of the wearable has significantly been improved.
Bigger batteries on wearables? Not possible
Such an improvement addresses one of the biggest problems of the wearables, as using a larger battery pack that can extend their life is impossible for the moment, as it adds weight on your wrist and makes the device itself more difficult to carry around.
"The size of the battery is even more problematic," Ranveer Chandra, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, said. "You can't have heavy batteries because they add weight. And you can't have a large battery because of real estate concerns: You don't have much room on people's wrists."
For the moment, Microsoft says that it has no plan to introduce this new technology on its own Band smart wristband, but since it opens new opportunities for the future, it could use similar features on projects that could be launched in the coming years.