New to the NZ90

[rYcE]

Hi
Im goin to get a NZ90..... Im just wondering how good or poor the battery life is when you are taking pictures. :)

[DavidT.]

I've had my NZ90 for some time now. Though I enjoy it alot and the camera does take really good pictures, I get really bad battery life using the camera function (As do most NZ90 users). I probably snap about 10-15 photos with flash before my NZ90 aborts the camera function, I can snap quite a few photos w/o the flash but it's still shorter than it should be. Funny thing is, when you abort the camera mode and go back to it's PDA function, battery life is all the sudden great again.

[raven880]

I've had my NZ90 for some time now. Though I enjoy it alot and the camera does take really good pictures, I get really bad battery life using the camera function (As do most NZ90 users). I probably snap about 10-15 photos with flash before my NZ90 aborts the camera function, I can snap quite a few photos w/o the flash but it's still shorter than it should be. Funny thing is, when you abort the camera mode and go back to it's PDA function, battery life is all the sudden great again.


I've found the same thing to be true I do like the photos it takes....and I use a Sony F707 for most of my photography.....but you can't take many with the flash on. It's not really meant to be a full time camera like you'd take on vacation. It's just for quick grab shots when you're out and about. Battery life could be better but it's still a fantastic gem.

[anitanium]

AA battery adapter helps solve that problem, but it is very bulky to carry with the clie

[raven880]

AA battery adapter helps solve that problem, but it is very bulky to carry with the clie

I guess I ought to look into getting one of those before they disappear too. Kinda scary thinking that we can't replace our parts.
http://www.1src.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=653578# :eek:

[the_iceman]

On the Old ClieSource.com site there were a lot of posts in regards to battery life and Picture Taking (flash and non-flash).

Bottom Line .... there did seem to be some similarities with those who were not able to take many pictures and the series of the battery. It did seem to indicate the original NZ-90s (again not in all cases) with the original batteries did not seem to do as well in the amounts of pictures being taken as those NZ-90 models which came out 6-9months later.

I happen to be one of those people who had one of the first batch of NZ90s and did not encounter the same picture taking issues as many others. I've had my NZ90 now for around 1.5yrs and with my battery fully charged I've no problem taking 60+ pictures.

Since they did port over all of the discussions from ClieSource, you might want to search this forum for the battery threads and issues those encountered.

Some have found better success with picture taking after they purchased a new battery for it. Again not true in all cases but in some this seemed to help out.

I'd agree with previous posters ... in that the NZ-90 isn't designed to be a camera replacement. (especially if you want to do any kinda video with it). It is good for taking a couple pictures here and there.

Due to the large initial battery drain charging the camera and flash when you start the camera application, it would be best to keep your PDA's batter above 80% before starting.

Even with a fully charged battery... when starting the camera application you will probably see the battery drain down to 50% or so. You need to keep it above 30% in order to use the flash, I believe. That is why I wouldn't try and really use the camera if my handheld doesn't have at least 80% free. You can run into a few issues if it dips below 30%:

1> Flash doesn't work
2> Drained to low for Application to even run (safety mechanism built in)
3> can't write to the MS because the battery amount is too low.

Happy 'snapping' :)

[Steele]

It also helps to turn off the flash the next time you use the camera and save the setting so that it doesn't try to fire up every time. Alternatively you can set the flash to the low setting in preferences so that it charges less.

[rYcE]

ya
thx for the tips :)

[iamsondy]

how do you setup the flash, so it doesn't active the next time you start camera?
could we?

[PBM808]

i've said it many many times but everyone just takes it as a manufacturing error or defect.

NZ90's have the smartlithium batteries that tell you how long you have left to use your clie. when you're watching movies, your time left will be lower than when you're reading ebooks. the camera is the same. when you use the flash, the battery presumes that power drain is constant and will estimate your battery usage time as very short, thus disabling your flash or dropping in percentage. it also draws considerable power when your lens is open and the viewfinder is working. quit the cam app and back to launcher, percentage raises because the estimated time left is raised. hope that made sense.

[burnaby280]

Hi
Im goin to get a NZ90..... Im just wondering how good or poor the battery life is when you are taking pictures. :)

Battery life for pictures is not great...you more or less have to take the cradle with you, which is no hardship, but not much use halfway up a mountain...or in the local pub for that matter.


Friday I bought the NZ90 which is now down to £270 in Procom in the Tottenham Court Road, from £600 initial price...some initial impressions...

1/I also bought the NX70 a year ago, again down to £250 0nline from original £450....A lot of what they said about the NX was wrong about the NX b ut right about the NZ...

2/The NZ is a PDA that's been on a calorie binge with the inevitable problems that come with overindulgence...mobility is reduced and the body overheats, so that energy runs out fast...

3/The battery is one temperamental *****. Recharge it as often and as long as you can and forget about recharge cyclces...If you don't recharge it enough you won't get performance, if you do recharge it enough the battery will degrade, welcome to the world of win-win solutions....

4/Having said that the build quality is fantastic. The screen is even better than the NX (you can save battery by turning the brightness right down and still have a great screen). This thing is the Tiger Tank of PDAs: it will take lots of punishment and can do massive things but is low on juice and manoueuvrability...

5/It's a pity it's not compatible with any fold out keyboards (one of the great pluses of the NX is the great Sony KB attachable keyboard - bought separately). In fact the keyboard is disappointing, and some of the icons/buttons are hard to see.

6/I'll use the NX with the attachable keyboard for text entry and the NZ can come in the same backpack as a back up and also as a copier/scanner in libraries and archives..

7/I'd love to hear a tape of the original Sony planning meeting. How did the designers float their boat on the NZ project? As a camera with attached PDA?
As another experiment to maintain the Sony name for innovation?

Come to that there is much food for reflection in the whole Clie story: just what were they playing at?

Either way in the process they produced a true design classic in the NX70V, and an interesting Dreadnought battleship in the NZ...

[burnaby280]

Update: not that anybody's listening...I like my NZ90, which I got for around £270 (or was it £280?) recently. But I feel sorry for anybody who paid the original £600 price the year before last. It's really not worth that kind of money. The big pain of course is the battery: I'm now on the point of shelling out another £60 for a spare battery so I can make some use of this Goliath away from a plug... The cradle incidentally is crap, very fiddly and slapdash, the battery compartment lid is easy to break (like all Sony battery lids, from Vaios to miniature radios, and Picsel Viewer is all hype, it's very similar to a slide show piece of software that came with the old Sony C1VE - that's all it is - a glorified slideshow, and temperamental to boot. And what clown designed the housing for the stylus - instant drop and lose whenever you try to insert/remove it...And how in hell are you supposed to spend all that time and energy on making the music player work? One day the Clie line, good parts and bad, will be a case study in business schools....

Having said all that it's still a strangely compelling device, and I shall team it up with my NX70 to make the ultimare audio-visual office...

[Broose]

I too am fairly new to this unit. I have owned it for over a month now and am very disappointed with the battery power in photo mode.
I keep the unit charged fully, most of the time
Many times when I switch to 'Clie Cam S', I immediately get the Warning that there is not enough power for the flash which is then disabled. And then after maybe 3-4 shots the next Warning arrives advising me to charge my unit and the unit closes down 'Clie Camera S'. When I then switch to another application the battery recovers back to about 85%
I have put this down to the very cold weather we ar experiencing here in Wellington NZ. (winter here... brrrr) :(

I am really looking forward to using it in warmer weather
I often carry the unit in my jacket inner breast pocket (warmer) and have experienced slightly better battery performance.

The unit produces good clear snaps

I bought it to replace a Hewlett Packard HP200LX which has served me faithfully for over 15 years.. I am still fond of this unit because of its database & lotus123 applications which I have not yet found applications of to use in my Sony unit..

I dont want to put you off the Clie NZ90 cause I must admit it is growing on me.. Especially the Graphics Photo/Movie capability and backlit screen