Chinese manufacturer Huawei is growing in popularity in the smartphone space, as the Nexus 6P becomes one of Google\u2019s most prestigious Nexus devices in the smartphone lineup\u2019s history. Huawei\u2019s hardware designs have been noted in China and worldwide, with the manufacturer topping Microsoft as the third most popular manufacturer on the global scene.<\/p>\n
Even with the recent popularity spark, however, Huawei is not sitting still. The company\u2019s smartphones and even the new Huawei Android Wear smartwatch follow in the vein of other manufacturers who want to make a name for themselves in the mobile market, but the key to all of the smartwatches, smartphones, and tablets concerns battery life. Lots of new mobile devices are being made each year, but few are improving battery life.<\/p>\n
Take a look at this year\u2019s smartphones, and you\u2019ll see that, even in 2015, we still can\u2019t get most smartphones to provide a day and a half (36 hours) of battery life on a single charge. You\u2019ll only get that experience with a Motorola Droid Turbo 2, or some other phone with a 3,500mAh battery or higher (like Samsung\u2019s Galaxy S6 Active). Huawei has said in days past that it wants to gain the popularity of Korean giant Samsung, and the Chinese manufacturer\u2019s commitment to improving battery life is yet another step in the company\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n
According to the latest report, Huawei\u2019s Watt Lab has developed batteries that can charge to 48% in just five minutes \u2013 or, as Huawei says, \u201cin the time it takes to drink a coffee.\u201d The company was able to achieve this feat by heteroatoms, which can increase the charging speed of batteries without compromising battery life.<\/p>\n
There are some things to keep in mind about the Huawei Watt Lab experiment, however. First, the battery was a 600mAh battery, not a large-sized battery, so Huawei\u2019s fast-charging batteries may work for wearables like smartwatches and smart fitness bands (but not necessarily smartphones and tablets at this time). Next, is the fact that the fast-charging batteries for smartphones and tablets is something that a number of manufacturers have been working on. Huawei joins companies like Samsung in this, with Samsung having already implemented fast-charging technology into its own micro-USB adapters. USB Type-C charging is being inaugurated with Huawei\u2019s Nexus 6P, and USB-C is known for its fast charging capabilities. The issue with USB-C charging, as is the case for USB charging as a whole, is that it mandates \u201cwired\u201d charging (as opposed to the more remote wireless charging).<\/p>\n
Huawei\u2019s fast-charging batteries give hope for the future of mobile tech, with the idea that some day, we won\u2019t need to continue charging our devices with wires at all. Wireless charging will be more \u201cwireless\u201d than it is now (even the charging pad or mat won\u2019t need wires in the future), and Huawei\u2019s work in fast-charging batteries may give the company something of a \u201cturbo charging\u201d advantage to rival companies like Motorola (with its Turbo charger) Samsung, and even Qualcomm (with its Quick Charge 3.0 tech in the newly announced Snapdragon 820 processor).<\/p>\n