How come backup batteries are so weak? Why aren't CR-2032 batteries used any more?

Q: What's the point in having capacitors or very small batteries as backup "batteries" lasting only a few dozen seconds/minutes/hours (depending on the PDA model) instead of ones that could power the PDA for days when the main battery is completely depleted/removed?

A: This is a frequently asked question everywhere. There're many reasons for PDA manufacturers to abandon the old CR-2032-based backup batteries:

- Size, as opposed to current, definitely smaller (especially if you take into account the additional space taken up by the battery door/ electrodes) solutions
- If CR-2032's are depleted, they must be exchanged, as opposed to capacitors/rechargeable backup batteries currently used in recent PDA's
- The newer solutions can still power the RAM (that's what backup batteries are all for) for the time you (quickly) swap your battery. (Or not. My iPAQ 2210, which has a capacitor as a backup battery, can only power the RAM for about 30 seconds. I've had, therefore, some 2-3 hard resets because of this – I just wasn't quick enough at swapping batteries, especially because the HardCE second battery I used to use was pretty unreliable and sometimes it needed 2-3 reinsertations to start working.)
- New batteries don't need to be manually removed if you don't plan to use your PDA for more than a week and, therefore, remove the main battery from it. (Removing backup batteries from PDA's cause pretty much additional work, especially if you have several old(er) PDA's like me.)

The clear advantage of the CR-2032 batteries is the ubiquity of them (you can get them in almost any shop for really cheap) and the ability to power a PDA for days in case of complete main battery depletion, unlike newer backup 'battery' solutions, which, in general, don't even survive more than a few hours at most. (This is why you can see so many "my PDA has committed a spontaneous hard reset while I was sleeping", "the battieries in my PDA have completely depleted during the night and all my data is gone " posts. Unfortunately, these are the side effects of switching to backup battery solutions that store far less charge than the old CR-2032-based ones.)