Battery technology is the set of rechargeable chemistries — most often lithium-ion and lithium-polymer — that store the electrical energy powering phones, wearables, and other portable devices.1
Overview
A battery is rated by capacity (milliamp-hours, mAh, or watt-hours, Wh) and judged on energy density — how much energy fits in a given size and weight — and cycle life, how many charge/discharge cycles it survives before fading. Lithium-ion dominates because it packs high energy density into a light, rechargeable cell. Lithium-polymer variants trade in a flexible pouch that can be shaped to fit thin phones and curved wearables. Charging is managed by control circuitry to balance speed, heat, and long-term wear.
Where it fits
The battery is the hard constraint that shapes mobile design. A mobile operating system spends much of its effort stretching a charge; a smartwatch or wearable lives or dies by how little its SoC and screen draw. The same power budget explains why a smartphone is a poor host for a continuous SDR decode load like GopherTrunk — sustained CPU and radio use drains a phone fast, where a mains-powered capture node runs indefinitely.
Sources
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Lithium-ion battery — Wikipedia, on the chemistry and metrics of modern rechargeable batteries. ↩