26 Personal Content Experience: Managing Digital Life in the Mobile Age 14 counterparts, otherwise their mobility will suffer. This means that some of their essential functions need to be compromised. Displays are smaller, keypads are tinier, processors are slower, and memories smaller compared to the devices found in living rooms and offi ces. This does not mean that mobile devices are always doomed to be worse than stationary devices. There will always be tradeoffs of mobile ben- efi ts versus mobile limitations, given the intended use. Power consumption is a key factor for any mobile device. Modern applications call for more processing speed, which comes at the expense of battery life. Faster electronics equals greater power consumption – unless the circuits can also be made signifi cantly smaller in size. POWER TO THE PEOPLE Cathy is a self-confessed power junkie. She routinely forgets to bring her mobile phone charger with her on the road. Even a little visit to the City gives her some headache, as she needs to fi nd a place to recharge. She’s got a ton of friends in the Greater London area, though, so there’s always a place to wind up. Besides, that gives a convenient excuse to meet people. So there she was again, at Paddington station with only one bar left of the battery. Cathy had talked to Deena in the train very briefl y – maybe just an hour – so why was it out of juice already? Steve had explained that with poor reception, like in a train, the battery would die more quickly. Ah, whatever. Cathy called some friends. Out of luck – Michelle was in Provence, Suzie busy in a session, and Denise could not be reached. What to do now? Switch off the phone? That was such an alien idea. Instead, Cathy decided to bite the bullet, follow Steve’s advice, and get an extra battery for her phone. There was a Phoney store a block away. Cathy walked in, explained her problem, and was out in fi ve minutes with a new battery, complete with new juice. That should make it. Now she would only have to make sure she remem- bered to bring the second battery with her on the road . . . The miniaturization of electronics in the past decades has allowed constantly increasing effi ciency in terms of computing cycles per watts consumed, and this trend will continue. Improved battery technologies have also allowed higher energy storage densities. However, at the same time, mobile gadgets have got bigger and brighter displays, and mobile applications have become larger in terms of their memory 14 Again, less so in the case of car electronics. Despite being mobile, vehicles can carry devices of substantial weight and size. In this book, the notion of “mobile” focuses on devices that we carry personally.