Researchers at a university in Finland have managed to develop a method by which the energy consumption of smartphones can be reduced by up to 74% while using a 3G data connection. Practically, the scientists managed to produce a method to reduce the communication periods between the smartphone and the mobile phone towers using so-called proxies that instead of sending data all the time only send data at certain time intervals. As long as the modem is not sending data, it is idle and practically the terminal's energy consumption is reduced by up to 74%.
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have designed a network proxy that can cut the power consumption of 3G smart phones up to 74 percent. This new solution is particularly valuable in developing countries because it provides significantly more effective Internet access to a much larger number of people. At the moment, only a small percentage can access the Internet from a wired connection, but 90 percent of the African population lives in areas with mobile phone network coverage. Mobile phone usage is increasing rapidly, however the use of mobile Internet services is hindered by users not having access to the power grid to recharge their phones.
Although the solution is still far from being implemented on a large scale in smartphones, it could be a very good method to improve a battery autonomy that every smartphone owner complains about. My opinion is that such technologies will be available in smartphones in the near future, but until then we will of course have to make do with what we have in our pockets.
