The Paradoxical Search for More "Juice"

Inevitably, rechargeable batteries for portable electronics run down at the least opportune times — i.e., right when you need them the most. For example, your car breaks down in the boonies and you can't call for a tow with a dead cell phone. Enterprising technophiles (and probably ex-scouts) can be prepared for this by purchasing DC chargers, multiport power inverters, extra batteries, and so on ad infinitum at an added cost. Since standby times and "on" times never seem to live up to the spec values, what do you think OEMs should do to make devices last longer in use? Cut high-power-consumption features, incorporate sleep modes, use better batteries, or what?

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