I’m almost certain that every mobile phone ever has had one, certainly all the current models, every mp3 player I have seen had one (except an original iPod shuffle for obvious reasons), my old minidisc player had one, all my digital cameras have one: I am referring to a little display that says how much battery power is left. Just about every portable electronic device ((not sure about my old CD walkman)) that has a display uses a small part of that display to tell you if the batteries are running low. Except calculators, where the battery lasts forever anyway.
Why doesn’t my DAB radio have one? I can only assume it is because it gets through them so quickly that Sony expect everyone to stick to mains power after getting through the first couple of batches of AAs.
Cars don’t tell you if the battery is running out, but then car batteries are not the primary power source and until they die completely keep getting recharged in use. I have not been in an electric car, but I like the think that the dashboards have, not a petrol guage-like dial, but an unreliable rectangular box with four bars on it.
My portable DAB radio does have a battery indicator.
Just to rub it in.
Bah.
Must because mine is not a ‘personal’ one but a Filofax-sized portable with a speaker.
Come to think of it, any ghetto-blaster sort of portable players I have had didn’t have battery indicators either. Why do they think that battery life is only a problem on personal devices?
Obviously its a bit tricky to use the mains with a small portable radio you are listening to as you travel but it is worth remembering that a battery will uses 50 times more energy to produce than it will supply. You could salve your conscience with rechargables?
I do need to get some more rechargeables. I bought some nice 2700Ma/h ones before xmas but 4 are in the flash gun, 2 in the small camera with 2 spares for the small camera.
My older ones are dead now, so a good time to get a few more.