Do I really need a second battery

[Unregistered]

I'm planning to take the plunge and upgrade from Handspring Visor to NZ90.

With all the repeated discussions on battery life, it sounds like the appropriate conditioning will evenutally yield sufficient life for typical usage, but I'm used to going weeks on alkalines, and the Visor does not take pictures, record voice messages or play MP3's.

What do all of you think about the need for a spare battery, and what is your usage pattern so I can correlate that to your answer.

I plan to get a boxwave cable so that I can recharge at work via my laptop, but I usually keep my PDA in my pocket at all times.

Thanks,

OaklandZ

[oaklandz]

I guess I wasn't logged in when I posted the above item.

OaklandZ

[costa rhu]

It would be nice if Sony came out with a new/replacement battery that "fixed" the battery problems. Then you could keep the original as a back up.

[dks99]

If you right from the start admit to the fact that this is NOT a camera with a PDA attached to it, but rather a PDA with a camera attached to it, then you should be fine with one battery.

I use my clie on and off (quite often with wifi surfing) for about 1-2 hours every day. I usually have about 80% battery still available at the end of the day which means that I still can take a few photos (too be honest, I had this thing for 3 weeks now, and the camera came in handy only TWICE... of course its nice to know its there when you need it. )

Yes, I did take a lot of snap shots for fun, but only really used it with a purpose twice.

For everything else I use an Olympus SLR digital camera. Its much better, roboust, last longer blah blah blah, basically its a digital camera not a PDA.

I think that this clie has an EXCEPTIONAL battery for the amount of stuff it does. I list to MP3s, play puzzle games and watch videos from MS cards for hours at a time and when the battery says it has 25% left... it still means a few more hours of play... :)

I had a e740 Toshiba PPC that used to give me warnings about low battery when it reached 45% !!!... which usually was about 1 hour after I charged it ;)

As long as you don't use the camera too often (I would say 5-10 pics at the most per charge) then you should be fine... (if you need to take more than 10 pictures per day than I would suggest buying a real digital camera )

so taking in to consideration the above, no you don't need a second battery...

now if you think this is a camera with a nice little PDA built right into it... why don't you get 4 extra batteries while you are at it ...

:)

i hope this helps :)
later,
dks

[oneeyesquare]

If you charge nightly a second battery shouldn't be needed for most users. If you want to take lots of pics (over 10 is a good number to start with) early in the day, you might want the second battery. I would wait til you've had a several weeks with it and have established your usage patterns. First week doesn't count playing with your new toy!!!

[n2ifp]

Consider 3 battereis if you want to take 30 or more pictures, otherwise get a real camera :).

[oneeyesquare]

It'll take 30 pics but odds are your gonna hit your flash warning and start the "flash disable " dance. I've knocked out 30 pics with flash in a sitting just for kicks. Most pics I ever take at once is around 6 . I've usually covered my subject pretty well by then.
I did order an extra battery. As soon as I get a "man purse" to carry all my gear with me, I'll be all set!!! I remember the good ol' days when my jackknife and a $5 bill got me thru the day...

[greg elmassian]

the ability to have a second battery was instrumental in my decision to buy... but, if you take the battery out, you can see it will be hard to recharge outside of the nz.... i'm working on a solution... did the same thing for my toshiba e740

[seven]

i bought my 2nd battery the week after i got switched to NZ from N760 (about 3 weeks ago). i dun use the camera function very often but with about a couple of hours of reading on it, the battery drops as much as to <30% from a fully charged one. i was pretty stunned about that coz with N760 i can just leave it there uncharged for a few days and the battery would still stay "at the safe level". however, in the past 2 weeks i've only used my 2nd battery for once or twice since i charge it daily. so i think it's fine for daily usage with just one battery and it's nice to have a "backup" one. just in case, like ya gotta shoot a handful of photos with flash...

[Eduardo]

My opinion about the subject shares most of the feelings of everyone above with one particular difference.

1 - (not yet the difference) you have to work with the NZ90 a lot of time to "break in" the battery. It takes a couple of cycles to really explore the battery limitations.

2 - The amount of photos you will be able to take with the camera is high with one charge. Much higher than the number expressed by the collegues before. This is my experience. I can do easily enough for a day (say 80 or more) in fact, I have not got the the limit of the battery.

It all depends, on the other hand, the way you operate the camera in the PDA. I do it quickly and do not let it on if I am not targeting the photo to press the buttom.

When you leave the camera world within this PDA, the battery behavior is just wonderful compared to the market.

Eduardo

[the_iceman]

Oklandz,

I migrated from a Handspring, as well, to the NZ. You will see a huge difference in battery drop. I have a NZ.... but previously I used (and still have) a HandSpring Visor, Handspring Pro, and Handspring Edge.

The batteries in the HandSprings last quite a long time with use. The Visor has, as you mentioned, temporary battery life. A couple AA Batteries and you are off and running again. I used my Handspring Pro quite a bit and I found I could go 5-6 days easy between recharges on it. That would only drop my Battery down to somewhere around 70%. I utilized it heavily for meetings (averaging around 12 or so per week) with sounds and whatnot. I also used it heavily for database functions.

You won't see nearly that kind of battery life with the NZ for some of the following reasons:

1> You are upgrading from a 16mhz processor (HandSpring Visor) to a 200mhz Processor. The faster the processor.... more Juice it needs to fly through the applications.

2> You are now running a COLOR Screen instead of a Grayscale LCD Screen. This will consume much more battery life in it of itself.

3> Your Screen's resolution is increasing tremendously. You are migrating from 160x160 (25,600 pixels) to 320x480 (153,600) resolution. More Pixels to keep drawing... more battery life it will take.

I'm not even talking about things like the Camera... or voice recorder... or even the MP3 Player for Battery life. Basically .... for PIM functions and everyday usage.... I would bet I would go through 5% a day with my HandSpring Pro. With my NZ, and doing just the same things.... I can chew up 25% without any problem (some days go up to 40% of the battery charge). You will almost find it necessary, I would imagine, to have to ensure you are charging your PDA every day or every other day if you use it heavily. If you don't use it very much.... maybe every 3-4 days.

If you start to really use the Camera.... MP3 Player .... Voice Recorder.... BlueTooth.... WiFi.... Video Recorder ..... I'd count on charging it every day to every other day. If I'm out taking pictures of one of my girls at their soccer practices or games.... I chew through 20-30 pictures without any issue... but I do ensure I charge it by the following day... just to make sure there is enough juice in it for my PIM Functions and whatnot.


Again... All depends on your usage of it. But it is very hard to compare the HandSpring Visor Battery Life to the NZ's Battery Life.

You will love the NZ.... well worth the money for it! IT ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[costa rhu]

Is there a way to charge an extra battery - without putting the battery in the Clie and charging?

[oaklandz]

Thanks for all the input. I think that I will forgo the extra battery for now. I hope this thread helps others as well.

[YTTAN]

as long don't use with flash it sould be easily last you for a full day usage with mp3 for 2hours travel to works + 2 hours of use in applications in office or site + shoot about 10 shots + clients + products + sites + voice record 30mins in meeting + reading storybk or news before sleep.

[vansouza]

I gave it some consideration but chose not to. I just do not take enough pictures to need it but I did spend some funds on an extra power suppy for work... using my NX60s connection thingie...

[YTTAN]

See my report ion what is your battery life? 's thread. The answer is no need to buy.