Longer battery life has been the Holy Grail of power-hungry electronics devices from cell phones to laptop computers. In an effort to achieve improved battery performance, Samsung has been working on ways to rid customers of traditional lithium-ion batteries in favor of DMFC (direct-methanol fuel cell) technology.

Its latest prototype battery, recently showed off on a Q35 Samsung laptop in Korea, can reportedly run for up to eight hours a day for one month, without any recharge. The fuel cell contains an energy density of 650Wh/L and total energy storage of 1,200Wh.

While the design looks less clunky than another prototype shown in December, the rather large box that contains the fuel cell was nearly as wide as the notebook and roughly twice as tall. No commercial release date has been set, as the design is still undergoing further safety tests, but Samsung has previously said the technology could become available by the end of 2007.