this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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mAh is a stupid way to measure batteries. Wh is more relevant.
It also tells nothing about the efficiency of the device. You can add a 50kWh battery to a device but it doesn’t matter if it uses 2kWh at idle
A 4Ah battery at 5V would be a 20Wh battery, drop the kilo. Electronics draw power at idle, not energy. 2kWh is meaningless without an idle duration. What are you saying?
Wh may be better for determining total energy storage across differing cell chemistry. mAh is standard for electronics and makes more sense at the design level as the battery voltage is chemistry dependent and known to the designer.
i don't think any manufacturer publishes the voltage their devices run at, could be anywhere from 3.3 to 5V. so i don't know how an end-user is supposed to compare battery sizes between devices.
They would also have to give current draw which isn't really possible since each end user has different apps and behavior. So you more often get standby time or video playback time which are based on an "ideal" (probably non-bloated) clean OS. That's more useful to an end user but also subject to marketing fudging the figures.
You can often look up the battery chemistry or use an app to access sensors btw.
At the end of the day battery capacity is only one factor of many in battery/charge life and is generally just marketing in the context of phones.