Update on truly amazing battery life of TH55...

[andrewcoffin]

The French site Clie and Co has posted an update on their hardware review of the TH55. They continue to be very impressed with the stamina of this unit's battery.

Here's the link (look towards the bottom of the page):

http://www.clieandco.com/00clieandco/03tests/Clies/prez_TH55_hard.html

And here's a poor AltaVista translation:

Another experiment of electric consumption: within the framework of Fanny' S Party 5 which took place Wednesday February 11, I introduced to the TH55 "crowd is delirious about it";-)). More seriously, it was the occasion to carry out a test size-nature of the TH55. Arrived on the place of Fanny' S (the Djoon restaurant, 22 data base Vincent Auriol-Paris 13e) towards 17h50, hardly 10 minutes had occurred that first "the one evening old tester" seized new Clié. PIM Clié Organizer, screen with retro-lighting 100%, of the beaming you in here are want some, of the photographs with gogo (they succeeded in filling me one ms 128 Mo in one evening), of the screenshots with gogo, the plays with GTS Racing and Zap! 2016.... brief see it to you a use which one cannot any more but intensive. Clié TH55 thus passed from hands in hands all the evening - thank you to all the people present this evening to have taken some great care. As 1h00 of the morning arrived, Clié still turned to full mode. My small eyes seriously starting to tire, I begun again "of force" the TH55 to start the way of the return towards the arms of Morphée. And there Ô surprised, the gauge of battery posted 16 more %. Yes, yes, you read well: 16 % after 7 a.m. "the handle in the corner" as George would say, alias "Troylee" on the PDAFrance forum, and Clié still went.... a true rabbit Duracell this Clié! For indication, Sony gives the following values in its Instruction manual (between brackets values quite as official provided for Clié UX50 - apparatus based on the same processor). 24 h30mn (16h):Lecture of MP3, screen éteint.(10) 19h30mn (11h): Recording vocal memos - REC, screen éteint.(9) 07h30mn (5h): PIM, screen lit without retro-éclairage.(8) 07h30mn (5h): Video reading, screen lit without retro-éclairage.(7) 07 h00mn (3h): Reading of MP3, lit screen and éclairé.(6) 04h30mn (3h): PIM, lit screen and éclairé.(5) 06h00mn (3h): Recording vocal memos - REC, lit screen and éclairé.(4) 06h00mn (3h): Bluetooth communication, lit screen and éclairé.(3) 05h30mn (2,5h): Wi-Fi communication, lit screen and éclairé.(2) 04h00mn (2,5h): Video reading, lit screen and éclairé.(1)

[joejoe]

In brief, the unit was used for 7 hours during a party at the Djoon Restaurant in Paris (great shots of the party, BTW, on their forum !) with full backlight on. There was: beaming, photos taken (128 MB MS was full by the end of the evening), screenshots, games (i.e. GTS Racing & Zap). Since the TH55 was the highlight of the party, it was in constant use.

Result at the end of 7 hours of intensive use, 16% battery life remained !

Pretty damn good, non?:)

[LupeValenz]

That battery life is incrediable...I must have this!

[depret]

Thanks for the inform on battery life it is very important to T665C user with dying batteries.

BTW, no red TH-55 in Europe and USA (rough translation).

[joejoe]

Originally posted by depret
Thanks for the inform on battery life it is very important to T665C user with dying batteries.



I seriously considered buying the T|3 because I had waited so long & so patiently for VG. Even once the SD card-frying issue was resolved & the memory loss with reset addressed, I still couldn't get over the fact that the battery life would be worse than any Palm PDA I'd ever seen.

We all have to make our own choices based on our needs. For those who simply *must* have a lightening fast device, the T|3 definitely wins. But for those who are willing to forgo cutting edge speeds for a battery which chugs on & on, the TH55 presents an exciting option.

BTW, isn't there anyone who remembers the days when one of the many advantages of the Palm over the PPC was its battery life?

[mdlsimpson]

As far as speed goes, I have a UX50 and it has the same processor as the TH55 but power management on my device is not as good as it appears to be for the TH, but speed-wise, my UX is as fast as any Palm powered device I have owned (and I have owned many, including the NX80 which had a 200mhz processor) Just my 2cents.....

[joejoe]

Well, I'm coming from a T615, 33 MHz. The change for me will be dramatic.

Personally, I was totally delighted that the TH55 was using the same variable speed processor as the UX series for when I was considering the T|3 I had visions of autodimmer & underclocking apps dancing in my head! Hey, my backup computer only runs at 333 MHz - do I really need that kind of speed & more for a PDA?

Not yet, anway. ;)

[lostether]

I have searched quite a bit but have been unable to find out the size of the TH battery, anyone here know?

[EdFrmBrighthand]

When I was testing the TH55 for my review (http://www.brighthand.com/article/Sony_Clie_TH55_Review), I found that it averages about eight hours of typical use on a single charge. This is far better than most handhelds I've tested recently.

When I say "typical use" I mean I used it as my primary handheld for several days. I kept track of my schedule, did a good bit of Web surfing, checked my email, read an ebook, that sort of thing. This wasn't some kind of torture test.

[lostether]

Still have not been able to determine the capacity of the battery. This will say a LOT about how efficient the machine is. If we are looking at a 1500mA battery the life would not be that unexpected.

[jumpyg]

I have searched quite a bit but have been unable to find out the size of the TH battery, anyone here know?

Did you try emailing Sony?

[depret]

Originally posted by lostether
Still have not been able to determine the capacity of the battery. This will say a LOT about how efficient the machine is. If we are looking at a 1500mA battery the life would not be that unexpected.

Check out the following image.

http://www.clieclub.jp/review/rev_th55tj37/images/IMGP0055_JPG.jpg

It clearly shows 5.2V = 1A.

The back of my PEG-T665C has 5.2V = 800mA therefore it is probably 1000mA on the TH55.

Another related topics.

Ed: How do you resolve 8 hours battery life versus what the manual states? As I have said in another thread, we should only expect 7.5 hrs (backlight off) and 4.5 hrs (backlight on max) based on manual page 81 and 82.

As you have stated before, you have not done a torture test. A test would resolve the question, does the TH55 meet the battery spec in the manual?

Believe me I love hear about the great battery life.

[EdFrmBrighthand]

depret, my real-world test came up with much better numbers than are given in the manual. (There's a first!) I have no idea how Sony came up with those numbers. Did they leave Wi-Fi on all the time?

[depret]

2.5 hr with WiFi on and Backlight full on.

Either reviewers are getting super charged units or Sony Engineers missed estimates by a mile.

I agree, A FIRST IN THE PDA SPACE.

[Rossi]

Originally posted by EdFrmBrighthand
When I was testing the TH55 for my review (http://www.brighthand.com/article/Sony_Clie_TH55_Review), I found that it averages about eight hours of typical use on a single charge. This is far better than most handhelds I've tested recently.

When I say "typical use" I mean I used it as my primary handheld for several days. I kept track of my schedule, did a good bit of Web surfing, checked my email, read an ebook, that sort of thing. This wasn't some kind of torture test.


Hi,
I just saw this post and decided to throw my 2c. I own a Clie 760C and have been evaluating an upgrade. Right now I'm comparing the TH55 and the UX50.

Eight hours does not impress me. I'm used to take long flights and use my 760C to play games, update to-do lists and write memos for hours and hours and only recharge one a week or even less if I travel less.

Reading some complaints on the UX50 battery life gives me the impression that Sony downgraded the battery capacity or did not upgrade it accordingly to the new processor requirements.

By the way... I'm still undecided on which of the two. The Bluetooth on the UX seems very interesting because of compatibility with my Sony-Ericsson 610, but I can also use the Wi-Fi hot sopts in the airports for free. :-) But then the battery issue comes back... :-(

What about the movie playing? I read in Sony's website that the TH55 only plays MPEG1 whereas the UX50 seems to play MPEG4. Is it true?

Cheers!

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by depret


Check out the following image.

http://www.clieclub.jp/review/rev_th55tj37/images/IMGP0055_JPG.jpg

It clearly shows 5.2V = 1A.

The back of my PEG-T665C has 5.2V = 800mA therefore it is probably 1000mA on the TH55.

Actually, I think it refers to the specs of the DC input, indicating a 5.2V input at no less than 1A for plugging into the charging connector. This doesn't mean the battery is 5.2V - DC input is voltages are generally higher than the battery's voltage. Also, batteries don't have amps as a measurement - they use Amp-Hours - (aka Ah or mAh).

For example, my T720 phone has a 3.6V, 900mAh battery, and uses a 5.9V, 350mA charger. In other words, the charger delivers up to 350mA of current at 5.9V (i.e. it will deliver no current if the battery is charged and the phone is off).

However, the battery only delivers the current needed by the phone. If I am using the phone, and it draws 450mA while in a call, I could talk for 900mAh/450mA = 2 hours. If the phone was on standby and only needed 9mA, the battery would last for 900mAh/9mA = 100 hours.

Phew - there's my battery primer for the day!


EDIT - sorry, the whole point of this is to show that we have no clue of the mAH rating of the batter unless sony tells us/someone opens the unit and reads it off the sticker/someone gets creative with their TH55 (not me!)

[Unregistered]

I have seen a recharging devoice that looks like a flat rectangle and you just toss your device -PDA, phone, etc.- on it and it charges up. Does anyone have experience with this?

[Lucky Bob]

I'm not sure if they've begun selling those yet.

[depret]

Originally posted by oogabooga


EDIT - sorry, the whole point of this is to show that we have no clue of the mAH rating of the batter unless sony tells us/someone opens the unit and reads it off the sticker/someone gets creative with their TH55 (not me!)

If someone installed BatterTIME, PalmBenchmark or Uptime would the program tell us?

Just a thought and sorry for the mis-info.

[Spiral]

i don't think so, most battery program just report volts.