Can't we just admire the simplicity of this without starting all the MS-bashing? PLEASE?
Seriously, this is ridiculous. Whatever this is, it is an improvement over the current style. Hell, you know what, label the battery slots with an arbitrary direction if you're so worried about "confusing the user" - and then work in other ways, too.
But all this hating is completely out-of-line with the hacker/engineer spirit. How hard is it to just appreciate a nifty hack when you see it? No matter who it comes from?
While this is great design in isolation from the rest of the world, it will only add more confusion unless it is ubiquitous.
Currently you just have to look for labels like + and - in the battery slot, and with such devices there may be no such labels at all, or instead some text that says "put batteries any way you want", or, even worse, some cryptic graphic that attempts to say it. More processing power required != good.
Disclaimer: not a Microsoft hater, just my thoughts.
This is interesting, but will it work in practice? It seems that this merely relies on the little bump on the plus side of a battery to differentiate between the positive and negative end. But this would make the clearances very small, so I am not sure it will work in practice with different batteries and people jamming them in and out, etc.
This is so obvious, simple and powerful. Bravo Microsoft!
I wish they could rent out Jonathan Ive to show the world how brilliant it is. 63 years of people struggling to read scratches on plastic have past before someone focused on how to make this common but not-often task better. I can't wait to see it deployed in devices.
"The AA battery size was standardized by ANSI in 1947 but had been used in miniature flashlights and electrical novelties for some time before formal standardization." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery
Interesting that it's a mechanical design and not an electronic solution, which was my first intuition.
One interesting thought: is the lack of battery installation diagram going to cause consternation in consumers who are by now very accustomed to battery installation diagrams?
That was the first thing which came to my mind as well. I thought they've probably got a bridge of schottky diodes for every battery. The mechanical design makes it seem very elegant.If it were a schottky bridge, it'll still have a forward drop of ~0.3 - 0.45 volts, which is pretty big for 1.5 volts batteries.
While this does do away with one more modal interface in side-by-side battery arrangements, judging only by the pictures, it looks extremely shock-sensitive. It would seem suitable for office/home use as long as it's not in a small child's toy or something like an RC car.
Additionally, "idiot-proof" mechanical contacts like this are commonplace, going as far back as '80s, in high-amp "industrial" battery chargers.
As Seth Godin once said, the layout of batteries is broken and the obvious solution is to very simply rearrange the wires so that both batteries face the same way. Have a gigantic + and - to indicate the correct direction. There's no need to add all the extra parts so the batteries can fit both ways and label the solution InstaLoad.
I'm very surprised there's no prior art here. It seems like something I've seen before, although I can't think of any specific examples. (I've definitely seen old flashlights designed for those big square 6V lantern batteries so that, as long as you put the thing in with the contacts facing up, they would always work...)
If there's no prior art in the wild, then my tendency is to wonder why not -- I find it pretty hard to believe the guys at Microsoft are the first to think of this. I wonder if some poorly-manufactured batteries would short out the contacts, and that's why other designers have shied away from doing it?
It seems like something you've seen before, because it is. There are lots of devices that require batteries to be inserted.
Perhaps there's no prior art, because it's an unobvious advancement to battery technology. Is that so hard to believe? Why do you find it hard to believe the guys at Microsoft were the first to think of it? They create lots of battery operated devices like mice and keyboards and microsoft has a ton of geniuses working for them to boot.
I've never seen anything like this before. I wish all batteries were as easy to insert as this invention makes them.
A flashlight doesn't care which way current flows through the lightbulb. As long as you insert all batteries the same way (or, at least, not insert them in equal groups each way) it will work.
It depends on the design of the AA or AAA cell. I am not sure how reliable this will be.
Basically by trying to make it simpler, they're making it harder. Not only do you have one more part to break, but the first question people immediately ask when opening up a battery compartment is "which way do I insert the batteries?"
Now, there is going to need to be a disclaimer stating clearly that they don't need to put them in any particular way. Next, the user is going to be forced to digest this message. Then, with some unease, put the batteries in without regard to their direction, despite the fact that the hundreds of other times they've used batteries they've had to do this.
Microsoft has introduced another branch in the decision tree: "does this device require I insert batteries in a certain direction?" To answer this, I still will probably have to rely upon information printed on the device, since remembering which device fits this criteria will likely not be memory I can trust since I change batteries rarely. (And, if I mis-remember it, I could break an expensive device, so I will have to check to be sure.)
So, what Microsoft in the end is saving here is not the need to check the indicator on the device. It's still necessary for me to check until the entire world uses this in every device. All they've done is make it so I don't have to physically rotate the battery in my hand (50% of the time :)) after doing so.
Additionally, troubleshooting now becomes harder if the device does not turn on. If it doesn't turn on, are the batteries dead, the device broken, or did the magical asymmetric battery compartment break?
I think this is quite a stretch. It seems like a pretty nice idea and someone that goes to the trouble of buying the battery before it is widespread will probably not be confused, and even if they are as long as they put in the battery somehow it will work just fine.
Why is there a need to put a label on the device? If it doesn't have a label, you can put it either way. If it has a +/-, use that as indicators. It doesn't have to be as complex as you're describing.
Yeah, oddly, the intro text says what the problem is:
Users do not have to search for a hard to read diagram to determine how to insert the batteries.
Make the diagram easier to read. Don't make the diagram in thin raise lines embedded into the plastic at an angle that it's hard to shine light on them and look into the device at the same time.
But really, I like it when batteries are keyed so they only go in one way. No directions at all.
I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't an active voltage-sensing solution. If it works well with all batteries (even cheap ones) then I guess it's a good hack though.
It would take me way too long to stop looking for the +/- instructions to insert the batteries in the first place. This would only confuse most people who already know how to insert batteries. I have never had any sort of problem, nor have I found inserting batteries a non-intuitive action. Until all batteries can be inserted in a haphazard style, this does not solve a problem.
Faced with this problem my first reaction would have been to simply make the battery diagram more legible and high contrast but this is a bit more elegant. Maybe there's a language barrier here too. Is the classic -/+ diagram widely understood around the world?
If +/- is idiomatic is an interesting question. But then, does it need to be? It's a matter of lining up the shapes on the device with the shapes on the battery. You don't need to know what the shapes mean, just what their relative position means.
Some people seem to be unable to get the batteries in the right way reliably. My wife (masters in a science from a top N university) has a significant failure rate on battery changing. Not having to worry about it would be better.
Maybe we could liken it to polarized plugs (for those of us in 110v AC land). We could have labeled plugs with + and -, and then told people to match them to the outlet when they plugged in a device, but over all, redesigning the equipment was more likely to work.
cool, it doesn't care........... wait... on second thought the only time I've hit the problem this solves is when a device has poorly labeled the contacts.
Pretty sure this is more expensive/waste of components versus a big clear [+] icon on one side.
Guess it could help devices for the blind?
Or devices where you have to _throw_ the batteries in from a distance :)
This will cause greater confusion than Apple's one-way both-batteries style, or even how most devices are now (through conditioning). I hope they have a good way of explaining "any direction is fine". I would stare at it in disbelief for a few moments.
Maybe, but have you thought that it's not because there is something wrong with the invention, but rather because you have been trained so far in your life to look for the +ve and -ve terminals.
If this catches on, in a few years maybe people will get so used to this that the current way of doing things will seem oh-so-primitive.
This seems like a classic disruptive technology, so simple but so useful.
This can pose some serious problems if the device gets spoilt at some time. However, Microsoft has done an excellent work in creating this totally innovative and ingenious solution to a problem which was more like a way of life than a problem.
This is all fine until kids grow up with a few devices that don't care - then they get a device that's not willing to pay the royalties so the kids try to shove the batteries in the wrong way anyway and damage the device.
Aren't people getting a mini-science lesson to learn +/- anyway?
What happens the first time the kid needs to jump start his car?
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|15 years ago|reply
Seriously, this is ridiculous. Whatever this is, it is an improvement over the current style. Hell, you know what, label the battery slots with an arbitrary direction if you're so worried about "confusing the user" - and then work in other ways, too.
But all this hating is completely out-of-line with the hacker/engineer spirit. How hard is it to just appreciate a nifty hack when you see it? No matter who it comes from?
[+] [-] raquo|15 years ago|reply
Currently you just have to look for labels like + and - in the battery slot, and with such devices there may be no such labels at all, or instead some text that says "put batteries any way you want", or, even worse, some cryptic graphic that attempts to say it. More processing power required != good.
Disclaimer: not a Microsoft hater, just my thoughts.
[+] [-] hristov|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adolph|15 years ago|reply
I wish they could rent out Jonathan Ive to show the world how brilliant it is. 63 years of people struggling to read scratches on plastic have past before someone focused on how to make this common but not-often task better. I can't wait to see it deployed in devices.
"The AA battery size was standardized by ANSI in 1947 but had been used in miniature flashlights and electrical novelties for some time before formal standardization." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery
[+] [-] qeorge|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] woodrow|15 years ago|reply
One interesting thought: is the lack of battery installation diagram going to cause consternation in consumers who are by now very accustomed to battery installation diagrams?
[+] [-] woadwarrior01|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] schn|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bonsaitree|15 years ago|reply
Additionally, "idiot-proof" mechanical contacts like this are commonplace, going as far back as '80s, in high-amp "industrial" battery chargers.
[+] [-] patrickk|15 years ago|reply
See: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4101280286098310645...
[+] [-] vilda|15 years ago|reply
I see similar concept in Minolta Z3. It's used for protection only though - placing batteries in wrong position just disconnects the circuit.
[+] [-] Kadin|15 years ago|reply
If there's no prior art in the wild, then my tendency is to wonder why not -- I find it pretty hard to believe the guys at Microsoft are the first to think of this. I wonder if some poorly-manufactured batteries would short out the contacts, and that's why other designers have shied away from doing it?
[+] [-] jacksoncarter|15 years ago|reply
Perhaps there's no prior art, because it's an unobvious advancement to battery technology. Is that so hard to believe? Why do you find it hard to believe the guys at Microsoft were the first to think of it? They create lots of battery operated devices like mice and keyboards and microsoft has a ton of geniuses working for them to boot.
I've never seen anything like this before. I wish all batteries were as easy to insert as this invention makes them.
[+] [-] rbanffy|15 years ago|reply
It depends on the design of the AA or AAA cell. I am not sure how reliable this will be.
[+] [-] rbanffy|15 years ago|reply
I have seen a huge variety of different ones and I am not sure none of them will short the terminals and ruin the other battery in the process.
[+] [-] gfodor|15 years ago|reply
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000059....
Basically by trying to make it simpler, they're making it harder. Not only do you have one more part to break, but the first question people immediately ask when opening up a battery compartment is "which way do I insert the batteries?"
Now, there is going to need to be a disclaimer stating clearly that they don't need to put them in any particular way. Next, the user is going to be forced to digest this message. Then, with some unease, put the batteries in without regard to their direction, despite the fact that the hundreds of other times they've used batteries they've had to do this.
Microsoft has introduced another branch in the decision tree: "does this device require I insert batteries in a certain direction?" To answer this, I still will probably have to rely upon information printed on the device, since remembering which device fits this criteria will likely not be memory I can trust since I change batteries rarely. (And, if I mis-remember it, I could break an expensive device, so I will have to check to be sure.)
So, what Microsoft in the end is saving here is not the need to check the indicator on the device. It's still necessary for me to check until the entire world uses this in every device. All they've done is make it so I don't have to physically rotate the battery in my hand (50% of the time :)) after doing so.
Additionally, troubleshooting now becomes harder if the device does not turn on. If it doesn't turn on, are the batteries dead, the device broken, or did the magical asymmetric battery compartment break?
[+] [-] yesimahuman|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joecartano|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] melvinram|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thwarted|15 years ago|reply
Users do not have to search for a hard to read diagram to determine how to insert the batteries.
Make the diagram easier to read. Don't make the diagram in thin raise lines embedded into the plastic at an angle that it's hard to shine light on them and look into the device at the same time.
But really, I like it when batteries are keyed so they only go in one way. No directions at all.
[+] [-] dnewcome|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrinterweb|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mhb|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsz0|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cstuder|15 years ago|reply
I like their idea.
[+] [-] thwarted|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jws|15 years ago|reply
Maybe we could liken it to polarized plugs (for those of us in 110v AC land). We could have labeled plugs with + and -, and then told people to match them to the outlet when they plugged in a device, but over all, redesigning the equipment was more likely to work.
[+] [-] jarin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] astrange|15 years ago|reply
Seems like you should be able to just handle batteries put in either way, though.
[+] [-] fizzfur|15 years ago|reply
Pretty sure this is more expensive/waste of components versus a big clear [+] icon on one side.
Guess it could help devices for the blind?
Or devices where you have to _throw_ the batteries in from a distance :)
[+] [-] ww520|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perplexes|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yumraj|15 years ago|reply
If this catches on, in a few years maybe people will get so used to this that the current way of doing things will seem oh-so-primitive.
This seems like a classic disruptive technology, so simple but so useful.
[+] [-] r3570r3|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joseakle|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ck2|15 years ago|reply
Aren't people getting a mini-science lesson to learn +/- anyway?
What happens the first time the kid needs to jump start his car?