Assaulting Batteries
A few days ago, I was in a GameStop and I overheard a father come in with his son with a question about replacing the battery of his Nintendo DS. Not the DS Lite, mind you; this was an original model, bought near it’s launch date, not 3 years ago. (Exactly today, as a matter of fact!) The father complained that the battery would no longer hold a charge and was hoping to buy a replacement. Unfortunately, since the DS Lite is the new standard for the platform, GameStop no longer carries parts for the older model. After discussing options with the sales clerks, he was left with the choice between taking his chances finding one online or buying a whole new DS Lite.
This kinda got me thinking… I began to notice that the battery in my year and a half old DS Lite doesn’t last as long as it used to. Come to think of it, neither does my cell phone’s. It’s barely a year and a half old and I don’t even use it that much. I wonder if my Game Boy Advance SP’s battery is doing alright.
What makes me nervous is that we don’t have much of a battery standard anymore. I’m reminded a lot of my rant on buying an original Game Boy Advance. Having AA batteries is great cuz just about everything uses them! Or at least, they used to. I understand that products began using the lithium ion batteries because they were not only rechargeable, but they also had a much longer life than the old standard batteries did.
This seemed to work great since people got tired of shelling out money for batteries all the time. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t blame them. The only problem is that instead of forming a new standard for electronics, every company–though more like every device–has it’s own proprietary battery. I can’t use the batteries from my old cell phone when I get a new one. I can’t take the battery from my DS and stick it into my cell phone. I can’t let someone borrow a spare laptop battery when theirs runs out of power (unless they have the exact same model laptop that I do).
I would be much happier if we had applied the lithium ion battery technology so that it can fit in the form of the old battery size standards. They’ve had rechargeable batteries for well over 20 years now, which would satisfy those complaining about buying new ones all the time. And the new technology gives us the battery life that modern devices need. As it is, it’s not very economically helpful if I buy a rechargeable battery to save money, yet when it no longer holds a charge, I gotta pay an arm and a leg to whomever is left that has one since the manufacturer no longer supports my machine.
Hell, I’d even accept a whole new standard if they would design one that makes these batteries more universal! Have one type that’s like the AAA, meant for small devices like TV remotes or watches. Have one type like the AA, that most portable devices can use, like phones, cameras, game devices, MP3 players, etc. Then you can have one or two larger types, similar to the C and D size’s purpose: powering laptops, large flashlights, portable stereos, and more.
But that’s not in the best interest of the manufacturers… See, that’s where they get ya! It’s all about add-on sales. The companies have rigged it so that if you need a replacement battery, you can only get it through them. This guarantees that no other third party will be able to reap that cash. And because of the lack of support for when the battery finally dies, they have leverage for pressuring you to buy a spare battery when you first buy the device…just in case.
So here’s what I’m likely to do: I might buy myself one or two spare batteries for my DS and keep them stored for when mine finally craps out completely. Then I’m planning to take my own advice and try to pick up an original GBA. Cuz there are some games that I know that I’ll want to play 10-20 years from now.
