You know, I actually think that todays lithium batteries are pretty good. My phone will charge up in an hour or so (from a wall wart - USB charging is much slower.) The battery is quite small for the amount of runtime it gives. And it will last for well over a year of daily run downs, probably longer.
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It would be trivially easy to double the battery life of most electronic doodads: put in a bigger battery. Go ahead: take out the battery from your phone or camera or what have you. I defy you to tell me you don't think that two batteries could fit into the case of that device. This is certainly the case with my Droid X, my Pentax SLR, my Canon video camera, and my Fuji pocket camera. They all have pretty compact batteries. Admittedly, there are a few devices that are so incredibly thin or tiny that they've got about all the battery they could fit; but in any case I would have to ask? Would it really kill that device to enlarge the case just enough for more battery? I don't think so. In most cases we are talking about maybe making the device about 1mm thicker. That's very nearly indistinguishable.
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In most cases, manufacturers give you the least battery they think you will stomach. For smart phones they just figure most people are okay with charging every night, and buying an extra car charger or two to use during heavy work days.
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