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Re: They may indeed have used alkalines

My experience for toys and other high-drain devices is that you need your head examined if you don't use rechargeables. And with today's low self-discharge varieties that argument extends all the way into "pretty low-drain" territory too.

Re: sell by?

Mystic Megabyte, I think you mean self-discharge rather than internal resistance.

I bought a cheap set of Keter electronic kitchen scales from Argos some 20 years ago, which I use a couple of times a week. The four "Tesco Extra Long Life" alkaline AAA cells they contain, in a natty black and gold colour scheme, have a best before date stamp of June 2001, and the low battery indicator hasn't come on yet...

solar cells

AC you've obviously failed to engage your brain today before putting your keyboard warrior hat on, as a simple search for "solar parking meter" will show you. The cells are quite large so "some dirt" or "a piece of paper" is not a trivial solution to apply, and the meters' internal storage means they will work for ages even with the cells blocked - certainly long enough for the sort of amateur vandalism you suggest to be remedied by the wardens who enforce the parking regulations.

Re: It's also a phone!

...because otherwise you'd need to carry a Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth headphones with mic or wired headphones with mic?

Re: paper cone piston

Yes, I agree with most of that, apart from bit rates - lossy compression is usually tuned down to the level where the effects are audible.

And as for Bose, well although most of it is doubtless brand engineering, I have to admit I was amazed at the amount of bass you get out of a Soundlink Mini. They really have done something clever there.

Re: Beats headphones?

You think that multiplex managers have control over the sound level?

Re: Yup

@Alan Brown: Don't you mean the bit depth rather than the sampling rate? More bits per sample are generated by the multiplications and additions of mixing, which need to be dithered away rather than chopped off; more samples per second are not.

Re: Pono Player

@ I ain't Spartacus: "Sadly for Neil Young, I can probably get a Moto G or cheap Nokia Lumia for £100 - and put a 128GB SD card in that."

You'll have difficulty putting an SD card in a Moto G.

How long will it be?

About as long as it takes for it to stop raining permanently and for the earth to be covered in fine dust. In which case we'll have more important things to worry about than how much power our solar panels are producing.

Re: Are ALL THE MATHEMATICIANS DEAD?

As any fule kno, there is no such thing as a 60% efficient solar panel, so the figure cannot be referring to the proportion of solar energy being converted to electrical energy. Instead, perhaps it's referring to the proportion of power being generated compared with what was expected? In which case, it's now even better than what was expected.

Re: Strong winds

Then presumably the thing will sit there comatose until there are more moderate winds which blow the dust off the panels again. Let's hope the thing shuts itself down before the batteries are discharged beyond repair!

Re: You want to loose weight?

If you're prone to "loosing" weight you'd be advised to wrap yourself in a protective silicone sleeve like a Wii Remote.

PS

We are still just about the United Kingdom - there are Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish here too.

Re: Larger Body@AC22:04

Interesting theory but I fear the real reason is much more mundane: fashion. With little to distinguish between phones in the show-off department, manufacturers will tap in to a "mine's bigger than yours" mentality. And once the market's saturated with unfeasibly large phones, they'll start getting smaller again, tapping into a "mine's smaller than yours" mentality.