14 gadgets we wish would be unveiled at CES

Everything about smartphones keeps getting better -- screen displays, camera performance, call quality, hardware design -- except for batteries.

"Battery life" is a hard benchmark to pin down, since it varies so widely by use case, but even the best of today's smartphones typically dies after 5 to 8 hours of heavy hammering. Toss in the strain of switching between 4G LTE and older cellular networks -- something anyone who roams around has to deal with -- and you might be lucky to scrape out half a day before you're left scrambling around for a charge.

An all-day battery is the Holy Grail, but we want a real all-day battery: One that can go a full 24-hour cycle of moderate-to-heavy usage without hitting the dreaded 0% mark. Psst, Microsoft (MSFT): Make that happen and you'll finally have a Windows Phone killer feature. - SC

Speaking of which...

NEXT: A solar-powered smartphone that works