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Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus
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james_s:

--- Quote from: rdl on April 26, 2020, 10:00:39 pm ---I thought I read recently that about 40% of people in the US lacked a smartphone, but a quick check now indicates it's probably only 25% or so.

--- End quote ---

That's actually a bit shocking. I've been trying to think of anyone I personally know who doesn't have one and I can think of one who didn't for a while but now I don't know whether he does or not. Even my 70 year old parents have them and my partner's nearly 90 year old grandparents. I'm amazed that more than 1% of the population over about the age of 8 doesn't have one.

The link someone else posted said it was 22% in 2018, so it's got to be under 20% now two years later. I'm still blown away by this but maybe some parts of the country have much lower penetration? Given I live only a few miles from Microsoft, Google, Amazon and numerous other tech companies it's likely this area has a higher penetration than most. I can't think of the last time I saw anyone using a non-smartphone, it's been years.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on April 26, 2020, 10:00:06 pm ---
--- Quote ---Having Bluetooth on constantly is going to kill the battery fast too.
--- End quote ---

My phone has BT enabled permanently (talks to a smartwatch which samples my heart rate at least every 10 mins, amongst other things). Also has GSM on permanently (though not data). Battery lasts 3/4 days on the phone, 3+weeks on the watch.

OTOH, turn on 5GHz wifi and you can watch the battery drain before your eyes. Lucky if it lasts a day.

--- End quote ---

I get about 3 days life out of an old Galaxy S5 here (modded with a bigger battery).  Bluetooth does shorten that down a bit, but I haven't measured the effects.
Bud:
This shit may quickly become weaponized... Say, airlines may deny you boarding the flight if you do not have the app installed.
SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: SilverSolder on April 26, 2020, 10:17:26 pm ---I get about 3 days life out of an old Galaxy S5 here (modded with a bigger battery).  Bluetooth does shorten that down a bit, but I haven't measured the effects.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, any modern Bluetooth chipset will not draw too much power on 'idle'.

But in this case, if you're frequently in areas with many people, Bluetooth communication will happen frequently and draw significantly more, even though it's apparently using BLE, so that's just unfrequent and small packets.

But between BLE and the required OS, that suggests the app will require minimal hardware & OS version to run - which is likely to further limit the % of people with an adequate smartphone.
SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: Bud on April 26, 2020, 10:22:31 pm ---This shit may quickly become weaponized... Say, airlines may deny you boarding the flight if you do not have the app installed.

--- End quote ---

Yup.
It may not be made mandatory from your government, but private companies MAY make this a prerequisite for accessing their services...
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