Battery

[SprSaiyan8]

I like the new ux50 but I Think the battery is to much $$$$$

[hausman]

Are you sure you'd need it?

[SprSaiyan8]

No but if i did WOW it a lot of money

[Medcat99]

Buy one, try it out, if you need the battery, buy it second hand later at a discount.

[hausman]

An external battery (that looks decent and hugs the case) isn't even an option for most PDAs...I'm just happy it's available. Often, when you buy a second battery (if you can get one), it's something you have to carry around and switch in and out, which means you have to be careful carrying it, etc. In this case it just clicks onto the bottom and off you go.

[SprSaiyan8]

is this battery smart Lithium-Ion Polymer rechargeable battery, so No memory effect so you can charge at anytime.

[hausman]

Sony's web site says Lithium ion polymer for the internal and lithium ion for the external. I'm not sure if there's a difference and/or if the omission of the word "polymer" is just a web site mistake. There might be more info on the Japanese web pages.

[SprSaiyan8]

you would think it was for the money nz Battery is only $79.99 and it is a smart Lithium battery for No memory effect it would be funny if it was not more money for less

[hausman]

Actually I think no lithium ion technologies have a memory effect - I just thought I remembered reading something about there being a difference between LIon Polymer and LIon (but I may be imagining that). :) I don't think anything since NiCd has a memory effect...

[greg elmassian]

internal battery is lithium polymer, you can tell from the picture of the clear case, they come in silvery bags, and you can see the reddish-orange of the flex cable that supplies power...

this is very expensive, so when they have a bit more space, they use regular lithiums, a bit cheaper, and usually in cylinderical cells....

actually, the energy density of regular lithium ion is slightly higher than lithium polymer, but you can make lithium polymer much thinner, so it fits behind the screen..

no typo on the site...

greg

[hausman]

Interesting! Learn new stuff every day. Thanks greg!

-greg (also)

[SprSaiyan8]

Yes thanks Greg

[jaimejr66]

The fact that Sony created an external battery does not bode well for Battery life on the UX.

As I posted elsewhere, a real world test, Maybe by our Buddy Ed from Brightand. Comparing Battery life against an NX-70 and NX-80, with and without the External battery would be nice.

[n2ifp]

Well, the NX80 definitely has better battery life than the NX70, especially when wireless. I believe the increase is the result of Intels new pxa263 processor's thrifty power requirements. Physically the battery is no bigger in the NX80 than it is in the NX70.

[greg elmassian]

i would give sony credit here that thier power saving will be much better than an nz... my guess is that they think people might really surf the internet for an extended time (since wifi is built in, not an option) and they want to give a "laptop-equivalent" experience....

greg

p.s. the reason i know about batteries, is that i led a project for Xircom shortly before they were bought by Intel, and were were designing with one of the first lithium polymer batteries... also the engineering director at xircom was the former project manager for the compaq ipaq...

[SprSaiyan8]

Originally posted by greg elmassian
i would give sony credit here that thier power saving will be much better than an nz... my guess is that they think people might really surf the internet for an extended time (since wifi is built in, not an option) and they want to give a "laptop-equivalent" experience....

greg

p.s. the reason i know about batteries, is that i led a project for Xircom shortly before they were bought by Intel, and were were designing with one of the first lithium polymer batteries... also the engineering director at xircom was the former project manager for the compaq ipaq...
Cool

[AWS]

FYI,

I think when Sony batteries are designated "Smart", it means there is a chip in the battery that allows it to communicate with the device (such as a camera) to provide an accurate feedback to the user and let them know how many minutes of battery life remains. This is how all my Sony video camera and digital cameras work. My experience is that it is very accurate.

As far as I know, the NZ is the only Clie that uses a "smart" lithium ion battery.

[nauta]

According to the FCC Website (http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/) (Grantee code ak8 Product code PEG), the UX-50 only gets "14 days" (30 minutes a day) with the backlight off, using just the date book and with "power saving mode" enabled (it backs up data to the non-volatile memory every time you shut down, which I imagine would take a while).

This, IMO, is rather rediculous. That seems like a lot (seven hours), but unless you want to wait several minutes every time you shut it down, and want to deal with not having backlight (which I've learned from my SJ-30 is near impossible), the battery lasts a palid 5 days/30 minutes per day (2.5 hours) with the backlight on, using just the datebook, without "power saving mode".

Furthermore, using WiFi or playing mp3s makes the battery life even more abyssmal. Sony quotes 2.5 hours continuous use with WiFi. Doing what, letting it sit there? I highly doubt there's enough juice to use the UX-50 with WiFi and mp3 playback for a full day without running out of power.

And I'm not about to spend *another* $120 for a bulkier external battery just to get respectable battery life out of this thing.

Learning this, makes me want to just get an iBook with a five hour battery.

[ksjenkins]

I'll be very curious to see what the Reviews of the UX-50 find. pdagal over at pdabuyersguide said that they would be getting review unit's a couple of weeks after the initial announcement July 17th.

Still using my trusty old N760 as a guide, I get about 6-9 hours of use per charge depending on what I'm doing. If I can get around 7 hours use from the UX then it will fit my needs. If it's really worse (which I doubt, most manufactures are conservative on these things) then the OPTIONAL battery pack is always an option!:)

[nauta]

Would anyone like to tell me why in the manual, it says that for continuous WLAN access time, the battery lasts 2.5 hours, while on the SonyStyle website, the Clie flash demo says for continuous WLAN access time, the battery lasts 4.5 hours?

[sonicboy]

this is straigt out of the UX50 manual:

Battery life

Operating PIMs (Personal Information Management applications):
Approx. 9 days (when PIMs, such as Date Book, are operated for 30 minutes per day with the backlight off)
Approx. 5 days (when PIMs, such as Date Book, are operated for 30 minutes per day with the backlight on*)
Approx. 14 days (in power saving mode) (when PIMs, such as Date Book, are operated for 30 minutes per day with the backlight off and your CLIÉ handheld is turned off in Power Saving mode)

Playing audio files
(in continuous mode):
Approx. 16 hours (in HOLD mode)
Approx. 3 hours (not in HOLD mode and the backlight on*)

Recording movie files
(in continuous mode):
Approx. 1 hour (not in HOLD mode and the backlight on*)

Viewing movie files
(in continuous mode):
Approx. 5 hours (with the backlight off)
Approx. 2.5 hours (with the backlight on*)

Recording voice memos
(in continuous mode):
Approx. 11 hours (in HOLD mode)
Approx. 3 hours (not in HOLD mode and the backlight on*)

Performing data communication
(in continuous mode with the Bluetooth® function):
Approx. 3 hours (with the backlight on*)

Performing data communication
(in continuous mode with the Wireless LAN function, for PEGUX50 only):
Approx. 2.5 hours (with the backlight on*)

The battery life span varies depending on
the temperature and conditions of use.
* The brightness level of the backlight is
at the highest when the backlight is on.

[nauta]

Originally posted by sonicboy
Performing data communication
(in continuous mode with the Wireless LAN function, for PEGUX50 only):
Approx. 2.5 hours (with the backlight on*)

So, Sony's "Clie Demo" figure of 4.5 hours with the backlight on is BS?

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by nauta


So, Sony's "Clie Demo" figure of 4.5 hours with the backlight on is BS?

At FULL brightness. The asterik points to a foot note.

[nauta]

Hum. Full brightness vs. minimum brightness gives a two hour battery yield? Interesting.