Ever heard of a smartphone that is capable of working for a full week on a single charge? Never, because it doesn't exist. But it could, one of these days, if Microsoft gets its way.

Potential users will have to purchase a Windows Phone device to get a taste of the new tech.

Hey, we're going to come out and say it; this is crazy and probably won't happen for a long time. We say this because of our skeptical minds and the fact that we've rarely seen a company attempting to solve the most profound issue plaguing smartphones today.

What's interesting here is that Microsoft is not working on a bigger battery or some alienlike battery technology. In fact, the company plans to use what's already available with just a few changes in the hardware design. For example, instead of fitting a single battery in a smartphone, the company is considering splitting that battery in two pieces.

What then?

Splitting a single battery into two could allow Microsoft to optimize one piece to deliver a high dosage of energy in an efficient manner, while the other will be used to deliver a smaller amount of energy for when the smartphone is in idle mode.

How will this work?

We have no idea, and we doubt Microsoft is certain since this idea is currently in the early stages.

Making tweaks to current hardware offerings isn't the only thing Microsoft is looking into to boost smartphone battery life. The second plan is to optimize software to use less energy, and we've seen some of this in the company's Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system.

The software optimization is a safe bet since batteries don't convert some of their stored energy in an efficient manner. In fact, batteries lose a lot of energy to heat, and that is why the longes- lasting laptops, tablets and smartphones usually have a battery that runs cool.

What Microsoft is doing is still in the research phase and would likely take years before anything is proven. Still, we are glad to see that at least one of the tech companies is taking the battery issue in a serious light because battery life has not improved over the years.