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Originally Posted by jlp
I'm not so much talking about experience but rather facts.
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That's all fine and good, but the very reason for reviews to exist is to reflect the experience of the reviewer as to how the product performs in actual use. Many important facets of a product can't be adequately (or sometimes even accurately) portrayed by spec sheets.
OK, let's get beyond the comparisons of apples to oranges (battery life of different devices under completely different settings) and see if we can get a more comparable scenario.
I've been able to find 2 reviews that use the same test on the 2 devices. The test is the SPB standard benchmark (maximum backlight, standard usage). Here are the links:
T-break review of the 720
SoloPalmari review of the N560 - Babelfish translation of Italian to English
Now these results show the N560 to get just over 2 hours of battery life in this test, while the 720 gets 3 hours 12 minutes. Doesn't look good for the N560, does it?
However, the problem with this test and comparing across units is that maximum backlight is NOT a universal constant. And the fact of the matter is that the N560 at its brightest is significantly brighter (and therefore more power hungry) than the 720 at its brightest.
Here's the 2 at max brightness (N560 on the left):
I don't think anyone can contest the fact that the N560's screen is much brighter at max brightness. So how much can the N560's backlight brightness be lowered to make it comparable to the 720's maximum brightness (thereby making the load on the batteries due to backlight brightness more comparable between the 2 units)?
As you can see, the N560 is as bright (actually still a bit brighter) when set at 50% brightness as the 720 is at full brightness. According to SoloPalmari, when the N560 is reduced to 50% brightness with everything else the same on the standard test, the battery life increases to 2 hours 41 minutes. You can really go down one more notch on the N560 to gain even more time.
Pulling out my handy calculator, under these circumstances, the N560's battery life is 84% of the 720's. Not "half that of the 720 at best". And that's with a battery capacity for the N560 that's only 74% that of the 720 and a processor with a max speed that's 122% that of the 720, albeit with half the RAM to refresh. Overall, given the differences in hardware, I feel that these results show the N560 to be very competitive with the 720
when conditions are TRULY comparable. I found
exactly the same situation in real life usage... used in the same way, the N560 is just a tick behind the 720 in battery life, but it's almost too close to call. BTW, that's with 2 different batteries for the 720 that I rotated between, with comparable life for both, so a defective battery is highly unlikely. And my watch works just fine, thanks very much.
Given the T-break results, since the N560's battery life is such a great concern to you, if you stress the 720 with something like Wi-Fi, you're not talking much more than 2 hours of battery life there as well. We're talking mere minutes of difference in battery life here between the 2 units, not hours.
Regarding the suspend mode vs. the "off" mode, suspend is done with a "brief press" of the Suspend/Resume button, while the off mode is achieved by pressing the same button for more than 1 second. Per the manual, "All programs are closed and the Pocket PC is completely switched off. The Pocket PC does not use any more power. You can store the Pocket PC for several weeks." FSC's claim for standby time is 500 hours from a fully charged state. As for the practical application of this, since I use my N560 mostly for work, many weekends I don't use it at all (I still use my 720 for my personal business). I don't make any special attempt to turn it off in any special way on Friday afternoon. The first thing I do on Monday morning is to put the unit in the cradle to synch. And every time, the charge light glows steady, meaning fully charged, meaning it did not discharge at all over the weekend. So for me, this aspect of WM2005 works exactly as claimed. Under the same circumstances, the 720 was at about 90 - 92% and it started charging as soon as I put it in the cradle on Monday morning.
At any rate, it's clear that I like the N560 and you don't. Fine, opinions are what they are. The 720 is a fine unit (I still like mine a lot) and I have no intention of trying to convince you to buy an N560 instead. But that doesn't change the fact that the N560 is also a fine unit. But apparently not the unit of choice for you. Which is your right. You've made your point, that depending on your viewpoint and usage, some of the differences between the N560 and 720 may be show-stoppers. Others, myself included, have different demands on and expectations of a PDA and therefore disagree with you as to what constitutes a show-stopper. Which is our right. So let's agree to disagree on our overall assessments and move on. Let's grant each other the courtesy of accepting each other's positions, even if we don't entirely agree with them.