Do Not Buy The T3!!!

[GolferX]

Do not get a T3 unless you want to charge it after using it for half an hour!!! I fully charged my T3 overnight, the next day I used it for about 1 hour of light use (no mp3s, BT, just apps) and at the end of the day it was down to 20% battery life....I am going to best buy to use my PSP and either get an hp 2215 or a hp1945 and a $100 store credit....F*** the T3

[n2ifp]

I am quite happy with my T3, although I agree that the battery life isn't the greatest. There are many posts describing that as one of the downsides of a otherwise fine PDA. I get at least several hours and with the clip on battery/charger pack from PalmOne, I can go all day with my T3. Palm chose to keep the T3 compact, fast, and lightweight, verses battery life. There are trade offs with everything. The other item is, what makes you think that the PPC's are any better? In my experience, their battery life was just as poor!

[noktoto]

yea, buy ipaq and have great battery life :)

[GolferX]

ok....yes the battery life on the 2215 is better then my T3, i know because i have owned a 2215....and the 1945 i am not sure about, but i think ANY pda can get more than 1-2 hours of light use on a full charge.....just this morning my T3 lost 10% battery life BY JUST SITTING THERE not used for about 15 minutes....Also, the fact that you have to use the slider to view the whole screen is awkward. Bye bye T3

[knowledge]

I get 3-4 hours with my T3. I would not epect the HP 2215 to better battery life. The T3 and the HP 2215 have 900mAh batteries.

Welcome to the wonderful world of handhelds. Better displays and bigger processors require bigger batteries. If you are really concerned about battery life, I would suggest the NX80. I get 6-8 hours of use per charge.

[GolferX]

I know that knowledge but the point I am trying to get across is that NO HANDHELD should get 1-2 hours of battery life.....MAYBE if I was using BT, listeing to mp3's and playing a very intense game. but not of light use like contacts, email and address...with the occasional bubble shooter game.
i know that if you want a good display and a fast processor, you will get worse abttery life, and I knew the T3 was sub-par when i first bought it, but i didnt expect it to be this bad....

[Peppy]

Sounds like GolferX got a defective Palm.

[Caffeine kid]

I can go 4 hours + per day. Usually more though.

[n0m0n]

Well I dislike the poor battery life that I am getting also...
BUT the size, weight, speed and nice screen visual all make the T3 a good investment.
I to purchased a PowerToGo battery pack hearing all the positive reviews on it.
So between the PTG, sync cable, auto charger, and a solar charger I think I am pretty covered...
Hmmmm, am I missing something???
Actually I probably wouldn't even realize that the battery life was so poor if I didi not own a NX80v...
Never should have gotten a Clie and well I would not have a Clue!!!!
Oh I should have also said that I get about 2 - 4 hours of usage between charges I could go longer, but hey I like seeing 100%.
Before trashing the T3 you should see if its a defective battery.
Probably BB will do that anyway before they allow you to use your PSP.

[wakatam]

Originally posted by Peppy
Sounds like GolferX got a defective Palm.

Seems like it. My old Sony CLIE N760C does much better in battery life than my T3 now, but that was of course with a 33MHz Dragonball Processor.

In any case, I can go through a day or two with normal PDA use (few games, few MP3s) before I really need to recharge.

But hey, anyone got any numbers on how underclocking (Lightspeed or PXAClocker) has improved their battery life?

[Vidge]

I have been using Battery Graph to track my usage. I'm getting about 3 hours and that's using BT to pull down my email every 30 minutes.

[PontiacVenom]

One bad apple attempts to ruin the entire bunch. Don't bash the T3 just because it sounds like you had a defective unit. I average about 4 hours of use before needing a recharge, and 80% of that 4 hours I'm using bluetooth to surf the net.

The T3 is one of the best PDA's on the market. Don't be swayed by on bad experience.

[dbump]

Vidge, Battery Graph looks great--just installed it. I'd been using RunTime, but it has some sporadic results. I'm hoping BG is more accurate.

GolverX, I'd agree with others--sounds like your battery has issues that would be covered by BB's PSP. That's certainly why I bought the PSP--get a direct exchange, if you like the other features of the T3.

I have yet to see my battery drop below 70%, and that includes using it frequently (albeit, no mp3's) over an entire weekend without charging. According to RunTime, I average 2 hours of use each day. Two of my coworkers have new iPaqs, and they _have_ to recharge every single day--without playing mp3's. My manager gets about 30 minutes on his when watching video on it.

So, if you like the features of a PPC, great--but if you are switching only for battery life, I'm afraid you'll be dissapointed.

[GolferX]

Ok, sorry I wasnt trying to spoil the whole bunch, but I am sick and tired of defective palms. I went through 3 Zire 71s for various reasons, 2 T|Ts and now this defective T3....I will see what BB does when I go in later today or tomorrow.

[pae]

Originally posted by Peppy
Sounds like GolferX got a defective Palm.

Seems like that to me too. I definitely seem to get better performance than that ... although I'm now in the realms of underclocking to 133Mhz and only noticing minor differences in speed and coming from a T625C I wouldn't say I'm stepping backwards in battery performance :D

But I'm intending to get car chargers and other charging devices as backups for those times when I'm away the cradle for many hours.

Paul

[pigburger]

underclocked to 200/133mhz, I got 5.5 hours with the screen brightness all the way down. for shites and giggles I overclocked to 588mhz and still got 4.5 hours with screen all the way down. I really can't complain either way. It's really not that much worse than my NX.

[Caffeine kid]

I love my T3. I wouldnt trade it for the world. It sucks that some units may have issues, but overall, it just rocks.

[Kaaeed]

Hi there Guys

for my 2 cents - Battery power is not brilliant but I can get 2 full working days worth without a charge which is more than enough for me personally.

I do believe the T3 is a great machine and unfortunately these forums get far more than their fair share of problems which at times can be a little disheartening. But overall a very happy T3 owner.

Back to the battery, I think the secret is that when you rest you let the PDA charge.

Regards

Kaaeed

[patrick ng]

Quotes from UK's PDA Essentials issue 17-
Using their Battery Benchmark test :- ( playing MP3's at full screen brightness)
1) T3, ran 3 hours then shut down
2) Mitac Mio 339, MP3 playback for 2hrs and shut down after 2hrs 35mins.
3) Sony Clie NZ90, 4hrs
4) Palm T C, 7hrs and 1min
5) Toshiba e750, 4hr 54min
6) iPAQ h5550, 1hr 55min on MP3 , battery death at 2hr 55mins

This above is a series of unbias battery test for reference.

I am using PXA clocker at 100Mhz but powerup may other apps to
588Mhz as I really like a blazing T3 where it makes a difference but yet to check out the battery duration. Will test it out and hope to get Pigburger's 4-5hrs!
So far a really wonderful PDA!

[dbump]

GolferX, I'm very curious about your experience with BB and their service plan--let us know how it goes!
In case they are uncooperative, you might load an app that monitors battery voltage and beam it to the store display model to compare results?

Anyone else have good/bad experiences with Best Buy's PSP? From what I've heard (word of mouth, brief google search) it varies quite a lot based on store, sales rep, and how aggressive you are.

[GolferX]

I have very good experiences with the best buy PSP up until now. I went in earlier today and told them my battery life was terrible. THey had a tech rep look over it and he played with it a lil while and he said "ok, go ahead and swap it out." SO i went back to the PDA section, got a 2215, and broght it upm meanwhile the tech rep is still playing with my t3. When i get back, after conferring with aout 6 BB emplyoyees, he says that he can only swap it for the same model because he cant see the problem, which makes abof__kinlutely no sense only playing with it for 5 mins. I said "So if I get another T3 and the battery life is still really bad, I should just keep coming in here until you let me get a new model? He said "If you still get bad battery life, come in here and we will do a more extensive test." Which means I will have to go without a PDA for at least a day, probably more. So i took my new T3 and as i left said "this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard"
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:


dbump-- I am loading battery graph up and I will show them the huge downward slant.

[PatrickS]

Doing without it for a whole day? Come on, GolferX.

If you have a problem with any other kind of product, such as your car, don't you have to do without it for a bit?

If you were BB, would you just allow anyone who bought a machine to just decide on their own terms when you had to provide a new item as a replacement? Apparently, all they would have to do is provide a problem description which needed time to verify.

That would be stupid of them and they'd go out of business. Give them a break for trying to be reasonable. They swapped you the first one with apparently little question.

[Peppy]

I think BB was reasonable, requiring a swap for the same model. My T665c stopped reading memory sticks so I took it back to Circuit City with my PSP plan. This was just a couple of months ago so the unit has been out of production for quite a while.

They made me send it in for repair. So I was without it for quite a while. I won't be buying their plan again! I thought it was like Best Buy's. The literature said it was, the clerk who sold it to me said it was. But when I threw that up they said that the clerks can't know everything about the plans and the literature I was provided was not the actual contract.

Best Buy's response to this problem seems appropriate to me.

[Vidge]

I still have my CC plan for my NR70V. Once I found out that it was like that, I was not a happy camper. I may buy another PDA from CC (after all, they let me trade in my 4-month-old 57" HDTV for a 65"!) but not the extended warranty.

[spdusek]

GolferX,

I gotta say that as a TungstenT3 owner, I am extremely happy with my purchase! I've been on a quest for several years for the perfect PDA for my useage... (Palm Pilot Pro, Visor Deluxe, Sony Clie T615, Sony Clie NX60, Tungsten T3) If there's one thing I've learned is that NONE of them is perfect. ALL units in Palmland are different, and each have tradeoffs... But I really have to say that the T3 comes closest to perfection for me.

I know you didn't like the slider, because you felt that you had to take an exta step to view the whole screen. Dude... Check out every other Palm OS handheld in the universe... they are all SQUARE. (with the exception of the excessively heavy/bulky Clie NX/NZ/UX series) With the T3 you have the same PalmOS screen as nearly everyone else, but you GET to slide it for BONUS screen area! Not to mention the brilliant color and resolution. If you look around the handheld market honestly, I think you will find that it is the most innovative piece of engineering out there. It is finally the answer to my desire for a large screen, but without the bulk of those huge Clie's.

Plus, having used a Sony Clie T615 for a year, the battery life of the T3 is absolutely wonderful! (I hotsync via bluetooth, and have often played around with BT web browsing.) Sure it can't touch the "months" of battery life that the earlier palms had, but of course you were talking about mono screens, and 8-bit processors, and ONE MEG of ram. (not to mention non-expandability.) Simply put, if you want more power, you have to pay the cost.

I think you're just going to be angry no matter what.

[FIA WRC]

Originally posted by pigburger
underclocked to 200/133mhz, I got 5.5 hours with the screen brightness all the way down. for shites and giggles I overclocked to 588mhz and still got 4.5 hours with screen all the way down. I really can't complain either way. It's really not that much worse than my NX.

It does sound like that GolferX's T3 has a bad battery. I'd exchange it for another. If you still get the same performance then I'd switch. Pigburger, were did you get that cool avatar? I like it.

[mxmcat]

I got a T3 and a HP1930 and battery life is nearly the same... difference comes from bluetooth use with my T3...

[mdemahy]

Where can I get a copy of Battery Graph? I looked at Palm Gear and could not find it.

Mike

[dbump]

I don't know why it's not on Palm Gear--I couldn't find it there either; googled for it and found it at:
http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/batterygraph.shtml

[n2ifp]

You never know if it's just a PPC user trolling...

[mdemahy]

Thanks Dbump for the link to the Battery graph software.

[Gazpacho]

Wondering, has the topicstarter installed the T3 patch? Seems like batterylife would improve after the patch because the Audio DSP wouldn't suck batteries anymore after stopping mp3 playback.

Next to that, seems to me that it is indeed a defective battery.

[He3eK]

I think your first T|T3 had f***ed battery.
I use my T|T3 for playing MP3, SMS, Browsing, Dial (BT) and it holds up all my day (aprox 11 hrs).
I have 1 hr trip to work every day, so I listen to MP3 & browsing the web (via BT) all the way to my work & back!
...There's a cath :) My T|T3 is underclocked with Lightspeed to ~100 mHz.. Tell you the truth I can't tell the difference...
I also use the palm during the day for notes, word, a bit of exel, databases, SMS & Phonebook entry dial via BT the battery stays alive all my day as I said before...
The PPCs are much worce with battery life!

I'd like to give up few tips how to save the battery:
Turn IR recive off.
Make the BT undescoverable (saves alot)
... and underclock it .. Does wonders to the battery!

P.S.
The T|T3 have issues.... But don;t we all? :)

[Caffeine kid]

I wont underclock my T3. Thats just wrong.

lol

[BMEngineer]

Does that means that you only have to underclock the T3 but not some of the applications, and i have to get the resgistered version of the PXA clocker to do this rite?

[Kaaeed]

BatteryGraph can best be found by doing a Google search using the name BatteryGraph.

regards

Kaaeed

[GolferX]

yes, i installed the patch, yes i turned off IR recieve and I will not underclock, But i did get a h2215, and it has alot better life.

[He3eK]

?? Explain to me why don't you underclock the T|T3?
What difference does it make? I already said I can't feel the difference.... I had T|T & T|T2 before it and it just works the same speed.....

P.S.
To underclock T|T3 you need LighrSpeed.... last time I checked PXA has no support for T|T3... Maybe things change.... :)

[ryber]

PXA has worked on the T3 for the past two versions. I have my T3 underclocked (with PXA) to 133 MHZ for the system clock, and have it clocked higher for the few apps that need it, like MMPlayer. Mine actually runs better clocked at 133 than it did when I had it clocked at 200. I can't tell a difference between 133 and 400 at all.

[RedBrown]

Since my TT3 goes about 2 hours and shuts down by itself, I've decided to do some experiments. I moved most of the apps to my 256MB SD card and see how long TT3 will go. Variables in these experiments are NOT strictly controlled but according to BatteryGraph, my TT3's battery life extends to over 4 hours and it still has 32% and 3790mV battery with the lowest screen brightness. During this experiment I check/edit my schedule, listen to music (for about 2 hours total), and turn on and off BT to check some email.

Before I measured the battery life I put TT3 on cradle, did soft reset, and charged it for about 2 hours.

During this experiment the followings apps are in TT3's RAM:
Analyzer
BatteryGraph
CJKOS
Crash
CutPaste5
DALauncher
FileZ
Speedy

Next thing I've done is to move some apps in SD to TT3's RAM and see if these apps affect TT3's battery life. The results are that when ZLauncher was installed to RAM in addition to the above apps, under similar condition with the first experiment the battery life didn't change significantly from the previous one (that is, TT3 went over 4 hours without charge).

Now Datebk5 is installed in addition to above apps. I haven't got result yet at this time but I'll try to post the results.

[goges]

Originally posted by RedBrown
Since my TT3 goes about 2 hours and shuts down by itself




i am wondering did u patch your TT3??


i have done 2 test

1) 4 Hours 40 Mins Continous use
Summary :
1 Hours 20 Mins 75% (With BT + VeriChat + MP3@SD)
2 Hours 58% (With BT + VeriChat + MP3@SD)
2 Hours 30 mins 49% (With BT + VeriChat + MP3@SD)
3 Hours 40% (with MP3@SD Only)
4 Hours 25% (with MP3@SD Only)
4 Hours 40 Mins 8% (with MP3@SD Only)



2) With BT (connect to my T68i) + VeriChat (background Mode) + Kinoma 320x480 (Movie@Ram)

1 ¤p®É 05 ¤À 80%
2 ¤p®É 10 ¤À 49%
3 ¤p®É 03 ¤À 33%
4 ¤p®É 00 ¤À 25%
4 ¤p®É 28 ¤À 8%