Pocket PC Battery Life

[JAmerican]

I was with my friend one day and he had his Pocket PC. He bought an extended battery that was 2000mah. Which is more than my EB40. But I noticed that his device was draining quickly. I was wondering why that was happening then realized that his processor although set to powersave was killing his battery. His device was at 200Mhz. My device has a max of 123Mhz. I was surfing the web via Bluetooth. Then I listened to music and recorded some video clips of some of my friends. By the time I was done and going home, I looked at my device, it was at 38% and that was my extended battery, not my internal. When I let my device rest, it went back to 68%. I then remembered that SONY's new processor inside my device changed the battery power usage on my device. My internet usage brought it down but when everything was stopped, my device's processor must have went to 8Mhz allowing my battery to retain more battery life. I have decided to stick with PalmOS. Even though I was only using the Pocket PC for a few hours, I felt that the high processing speed would overcome the battery life. I also had trouble setting up a Bluetooth connection with my friend's device that had a WM2003SE on it. While it was soo easy to set up on my PalmOS. Although I said I wanted a PPC, I've decided to stick PalmOS. I'll goto PPC if SONY does and they bring their handheld engine with them and OLED screens.

JAmerican

[JackAxe]

My Dell Hole only lasts about 2 hours for games and if I'm lucky about 4 hours for general use. :rolleyes:

*Grumbles* I thought $299 was a great price, but know now that $150 would've been more reasonable. Dell is cheap and this wasn't cheap enough, but on the other hand it is when it comes to quality. ;)

<]=)

[mike p]

i like my dell with my 2000mah batt, i just wanted a oda with wifi, and dad said dell only ( he was buying so i dint argue)

[JackAxe]

If your pops is buying then Dell it is. ;)

I've only bought one thing from Dell and once was enough.

<]=)

[Spiral]

I was with my friend one day and he had his Pocket PC. He bought an extended battery that was 2000mah. Which is more than my EB40. But I noticed that his device was draining quickly. I was wondering why that was happening then realized that his processor although set to powersave was killing his battery
What is the mah rating of the EB40? I've read it increases battery life 2-3x, and the UX50 has a 1000 mah battery, so the total is anywhere from 2000 mah to 3000 mah. On an extended battery, you aren't augmenting the original battery, you're replacing it, so you have to factor in the battery of the UX50's built-in. Also, there are also other factors besides processor speed, like screen brightness and the size of the screen. The UX-50's 3.2" screen is small, so it doesn't take that much energy to lit it, also I think i remember people said it was dimmer than the NX models. Also the type of wireless use.

Btw, for comparison, my Asus A620 (1300 mah) gets 9 hours mp3 playback when the cpu is set to autoscale with the screen on and backlight set to the lowest (but still on of course).

[mike p]

If your pops is buying then Dell it is. ;)

I've only bought one thing from Dell and once was enough.

<]=)


ill admit, my dell isnt the greatest but for 300 bux,,,

[NJL!2016]

I can surf with WiFi and play evil WMAs for a couple of hours and the battery is still between 80-85%

[foghead]

Battery life is always an interesting discussion.

My recommendation is to figure out your usage, find out what works for you and then ignore what people say. Personally, I would rather have a small, fast device with a great screen and wireless connectivity that might need to be charged more often.

Currently I am using the Asus A730W as my daily machine. In reviews, it has been uniformly criticized for poor battery life. There is even some justice here since it has a very small battery for a VGA, Wi-Fi device. At 1100 maH (same as Dell X50v), it could be definitely be bigger.

But I don't think that I have ever run the battery below 50%. This is because from the time that I got my first rechargable PDA (Palm V?), I have made a habit of charging at home overnight and charging at work when I am at my desk. This is partly to not run out of power, but the 'at work' part is to make sure that my data is always up-to-date. I use it in meetings. I check email or news on the web when I am away from a computer for any length of time. I read ebooks during lunch. Sometimes I listen to music, but mostly use my iPod for that. When I travel, I use battery extenders or extended batteries for plane flights.

Based on my usage, I seldom need more than an hour or two of battery life. I suspect that this is also true of most people. When I hear about people using their PDAs for multiple days without charging, what I hear is people going multiple days without synching their data - scary.

When I get home at night, PDAs go on the charger - no fuss, no muss.

I'm not implying that my usage habits are right for everyone, just that you shouldn't blindly fall into the 'all batteries must be huge' trap. Figure out how much battery life you need between charging opportunities and get an appropriate device.

[JackAxe]

That works great for my Clié, but since Dell took the cheap route with my PPC and used a non-rechargeable backup battery, even with regular charging of the main battery, the backup POS dies. If my PPC had a reasonable battery life like the Clié and didn't annoy the freak out of me, because of a message stating the backup pooo is deeed, then I wouldn't mind.

Tis what I get for buying a cheap Dell. :rolleyes:

I should've spent a few more on a HP, I'm sure my PPC experience would have been a happy one. ;)

<]=)

[JAmerican]

My EB40 says 1600mA and my device says 1A or 1000mA, which is a total of 2600mA. I don't have any problems with power. The Media Launcher uses the built-in DSPs to play audio and I get upto 2hrs of play time before my device moves from the 100% mark. This is only when I set my device to Mhz unknown to the PPCs, 32Mhz.

Look here, this below is a test of how long my internal (1000mA) battery will last with music playing and screen off (HOLD mode) at 32Mhz...

http://jamerican.net/1src/UXbattlife1.jpg
This image shows my device's playtime at 32Mhz without stopping or recharging.

http://jamerican.net/1src/UXbattlife2.jpg
This image shows my device's playtime at 32Mhz without stopping or recharging.

http://jamerican.net/1src/UnderClocker.jpg
This image shows my device's current set mode.

As I said, I don't worry about power because Sony's new handheld engine has made it so I get power back after the processor has slowed down. My PPC friend was amazed when I told him my device was at 38% then later told him it shot up to 68%. I love my PalmOS5 and its low processor speed that doesn't kill my battery. I'm able to play games that are similar to StarCraft and WarCraft (talking about WarFare Inc.) at great speed and leave it knowing my battery will shoot back up again.

JAmerican

[neogin]

wow what program is that you were using for mp3 ..

i stopped using my clie for a year already .. get tired of my clie .. it's just too big ..

i still think that .. clie's battery life is great to compare with ppc ..

but i have seen many new cell phones that can do normal tasks as organizer, game, etc so far .. cell phones will replace ppc and pos soon .. in 5 yrs ..

[mike p]

ill take ur clie

[JAmerican]

wow what program is that you were using for mp3 ..

i stopped using my clie for a year already .. get tired of my clie .. it's just too big ..

i still think that .. clie's battery life is great to compare with ppc ..

but i have seen many new cell phones that can do normal tasks as organizer, game, etc so far .. cell phones will replace ppc and pos soon .. in 5 yrs ..

I'm using the Media Launcher from the VZ. I translated it for English UX/VZ users. Seeing as it is a landscape app, but with the landscape/portrait utility coming out. It should work for most recent CLIE models. The Media Launcher has 3 tabs as you can see for Movies, Photos and Music. The best looking one is the Music tab due to the Vizualization. If you want to learn more or how to obtain a copy of the Japanese version (Goto the VZ forum and look for the VZ90 applications thread). For English, (Goto the UX forum and look for the Translated Media Launcher for UX) The cool thing about the Launcher is that it connects all your media apps into one launcher, which allows you to shortcut it with one hardware button. :D

JAmerican

[mike p]

arrr, i be using pocket tunes 3.0 bundle


<]=)

[JackAxe]

I saw that you sig thief!!! :p So how is Pocket Tunes?

<]=) <-------------------Mine. :p It's a happy Viking and unless you're of scandinavian decent, then it wouldn't fit. ;)

[mike p]

arrrrr, i got scurvey me thinks

<)=]

[JackAxe]

Use this sig instead Mike.

(|=)

It's you with a special helment. *Kidding* :D

<]=)

[mike p]

its suppose to be a pirate arrrr

[JackAxe]

Pirates are cool, glad to see you converted. :)


>)=) *Look it's a pireate happy.*

<]=)

[mike p]

arrr i been stealing softwarez before arrr


i just found the perfect avatarrrr

[SamuraiCatJB]

arrr i been stealing softwarez before arrr


i just found the perfect avatarrrr

not a good joke... you have software developers on this site....

[Cyker]

Just a quick note - The 38%->68% thing is a bit misleading - The battery getting it's life/charge back by some magical means, it's just a side-effect of the way the battery's capacity is measured (i.e. by output voltage)

The upshot of this is that when the battery is drained and under heavy load, it can't provide that voltage any more, so the voltage sags and you get the drop. If you lighten the load on it, it doesn't have to put out so many watts of power, so the sag goes away and it will appear to 'rise' again.

If you resume the load, it will quickly drop back to the lower % figure.

And I got better bragging rights. My TH can do that WITHOUT an external battery pack :p

Only CliePet and his damned VZ can out battery-life meeee! :D

But gawd, imagine a TH55 with a 5Ah power sled which had a built-in HotSyncy/SatNav/WiMax thing. You could go on an arctic trek and back and still have charge :D

[zackepceo]

My TG lasts for 4 hours with the screen brightness at max, browsing the web via Bluetooth at 300MHz.

[Spiral]

But gawd, imagine a TH55 with a 5Ah power sled which had a built-in HotSyncy/SatNav/WiMax thing. You could go on an arctic trek and back and still have charge :D
Well artic temperatures are well outside optimal temperatures for Lithium ion, so probably not that long or it'd break down.

[JAmerican]

Just a quick note - The 38%->68% thing is a bit misleading - The battery getting it's life/charge back by some magical means, it's just a side-effect of the way the battery's capacity is measured (i.e. by output voltage)

The upshot of this is that when the battery is drained and under heavy load, it can't provide that voltage any more, so the voltage sags and you get the drop. If you lighten the load on it, it doesn't have to put out so many watts of power, so the sag goes away and it will appear to 'rise' again.

If you resume the load, it will quickly drop back to the lower % figure.

And I got better bragging rights. My TH can do that WITHOUT an external battery pack :p

Only CliePet and his damned VZ can out battery-life meeee! :D

But gawd, imagine a TH55 with a 5Ah power sled which had a built-in HotSyncy/SatNav/WiMax thing. You could go on an arctic trek and back and still have charge :D

What you fail to see is that my device has an external and internal battery. Although the internal is crappy, I could replace the external with several batteries. My device also has a keyboard which makes messaging way easier, then to use a graffiti that turns your screen into 320x320 :P I can use my full 480x320 while inputting info. Also my screen is landscape, which makes web viewing easier and natural. I've never seen a portrait monitor before LOL. I also don't need to turn my device to watch videos. I can take personal and pics of friends with my 300 degree camera. Unlike the TH55. I have more Int. Media then the TH55 as well and a built in Movie Player, that you probably got from a UX, if you have one. I have the Landscape VZ Media Launcher that looks sooo cool. Sad it can only run on 480x320 screens. On the road, I can use my Built-in Bluetooth, which is easy othe battery. So who
has the bragging rights?

JAmerican ...does

[mike p]

yea well i got u beat!


2000mah battery ( might buy a second if ot goes on sale again)
portait and landscape
bigger screen! (ha!)
sd slot (ha!)
624mhz (ha!)
multitasking (ha!)

[JAmerican]

yea well i got u beat!


2000mah battery ( might buy a second if ot goes on sale again)
portait and landscape
bigger screen! (ha!)
sd slot (ha!)
624mhz (ha!)
multitasking (ha!)

I have a 1600mah and a 1000ma to equal 2600mah in total (ha!)
A utility is coming out for portrait mode for my device(ha!)
High processing speed equals less ppc life

Remember I also have a built-in keyboard (ha!)

JAmerican

[foghead]

I have a 1600mah and a 1000ma to equal 2600mah in total (ha!)
A utility is coming out for portrait mode for my device(ha!)
High processing speed equals less ppc life

Remember I also have a built-in keyboard (ha!)

JAmerican
You shouldn't try to make a virtue out of a liability like a crippled processor and limited memory as a means to get a longer battery life. I can always get bigger batteries, but your device will always be a slow pig no matter what you do, If it meets your requirements than you can be happy. Just don't confuse it with reality.

For example:

Let's look at my iPAQ hx4705. The main battery is 1800 maH. I have an extended battery that is 3600maH. This means a total of 5400 maH. More than enough to pass your battery life. It should even pass yours at 624 Mhz so I don't have to put up with a limited processor.

The HP has more memory, more expansion (SD and CF), and a VGA screen. The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are built-in so I don't have to use an expansion slot for either of them.

I guess if I needed more power, I could count my Socket Mobile Power Pack that plugs right in to the bottom of the iPAQ and gives another 7200 maH of power. That gives me a total of 12,600 maH.

But I have never even run the 1800 maH battery dry except on long airplane flights. So the others are just backup for travel.

I could get similar totals with a number of other PPCs that I have, but this seemed like the most outrageous.

BTW - if I wanted a keyboard (I don't), I would just pick up the clip-on from HP.

Thanks for playing and enjoy your toy PDA. :p