Readers’ comments
Your views and feedback from email and the web
Mobiles and batteries
I’m bemused by Darien GrahamSmith’s argument that battery life beats other features ( see issue 274, p24). He makes a good point, but I doubt his mates down the pub would share his enthusiasm. It’s obvious why so many phones are thin, shiny and expensive: they outsell the mundane and practical every time. A cool-looking phone is eye candy, like fancy jewellery or whitened teeth.
Magazine reviews extol the virtues of wafer-thin devices sporting revolutionary cameras, fancy displays and the like, and in doing so encourage us to go out and buy the latest model. The way mobile contracts are structured doesn’t help, either, encouraging us to upgrade when we can.
Me? I have a four-year-old SIM-free iPhone that I charge every couple of days. Alan Brown
Associate editor Darien Graham-Smith replies: Your point about mobile contracts is spot on: when you come to the end of an expensive two-year plan, you’re naturally going to be drawn to a shiny, aspirational upgrade rather than a dully functional one. I’m just waiting for someone to build a proper flagship smartphone with a long-life battery. In these days of six-inch handsets, they can hardly claim that there isn’t space for one!
DIY battery upgrades
So, Darien knows people who change their phone when the battery deteriorates, does he? Just because the manufacturer says they’re not user-changeable doesn’t mean you can’t do it. You can buy new batteries for any phone on eBay, and a web search will reveal how to fit it using basic tools. If you still feel daunted, take your phone to a local repair shop and let them do it for you.
Don’t sling the hardware you’ve mastered for the sake of such a primitive component. That would be like replacing your car because it needed an oil change. Andy Cole
Associate editor Darien Graham-Smith replies: Fair point, and I’m sure many PC Pro readers do just that. An accessible battery compartment is still much more user-friendly though – it lets you easily pop in a spare battery if your primary one runs out, or even fit a third-party extended battery. These used to be all the rage for handsets with pop-off backs, but nowadays they’re simply not viable. A real shame.
Power consumption
With a career in electronic design, I was delighted when your comparison of Wi-Fi extenders ( see issue 268, p80) included their measured power consumption. It’s important to know that if your 8.5W extender is left on 24/7, for example, it’ll consume 74kWh each year, which is why I use the “off” switch.
But your recent Wi-Fi routers Labs ( see issue 274, p74) didn’t mention power consumption. You noted that routers with a mesh of Wi-Fi nodes can improve range and speed, but how about their total wattage?
EU eco-design directives are forcing design improvements that further cut networked device power consumption, which is good as Wi-Fi-connected gadgets from
printers to security cameras become ever more popular.
With this in mind, as many of us are keen to save energy, minimise our bills and reduce impact on the climate, I would be grateful if you would give power consumption information for more of the products you review. Tom Bragg
Tim Danton, PC Pro editor-in-chief,
replies: Thanks for bringing us to heel, Tom. That’s a fair point and we’ll include this in our next group test of Wi-Fi routers (and similar, always-on products).
Multi-modal security
I have used KeePass to store login credentials for a long time, and for convenience have my KeePass database on Dropbox, from which it’s synced across multiple devices.
It did bother me slightly using Dropbox, as it’s a remote server, but I recently changed my security setting from “password only” to “password plus key file”. I store the key file on Google Drive, which is protected using two-factor authentication.
I figured the chances of both my Dropbox and Google accounts being hacked by someone who can also guess my very long password are slim, so I now have a much cheaper solution to a hardware-encrypted drive, and one that I can keep synced across multiple devices.
Elsewhere, I have a memory card hidden in my house containing a VeraCrypt drive containing a copy of my KeePass database and key file. Two members of my family each have a sealed envelope containing half of the VeraCrypt password and half the KeePass password plus the location of memory card, so if I get knocked down by a bus, at least my family can get to my passwords.
My wife thinks I’m bonkers! Alan Smith
Tim Danton, PC Pro editor-in-chief, replies: Far from being “bonkers”, you’re an example to us all! While I have faith in Dropbox and Google Drive, it’s always good to be paranoid where personal information – and particularly sensitive data such as passwords – are concerned. I just hope that, should the unthinkable happen, your family members would be able to work out what to do with those fragments to unlock your digital archive!
I have a memory card hidden in my house containing a VeraCrypt drive containing a KeePass database