Battery Life

[dollardr]

Left my extended battery at work this weekend and have been using the the standard battery.

Don't know if I have a defective battery but the standard battery sucks. Haven't done any controlled testing but I am guessing I was lucky if I could get 2 hours of use between phone calls and Internet access. I haven't tested the bulky extended battery but the standard battery is worthless. Played with the power settings and I set the screen set to medium bright. Anything lower is barely viewable.

Right now I have the radio off with the screen setting at "low bright" and it shows my battery is charged at about 3/4 full. When I turn the radio on the power bar went to less than 50% full in about 30 seconds. Its like the battery indicator on your notebook that never gives an accurate reading.

Anyone else having "battery" issues? Am I being unrealistic? I can't imagine travelling with this phone for an extended time without having to recharge it every couple of hours. What's the point of being able listen MP3's or check your e-mail if the battery life sucks? Anyone know the battery benchmarks? I'm thinking if I wanted to fly from the east coast to the west coast could I make it if I made a few phone calls or checked e-mail during layovers and listened to music while on the plane?

Then again, I've noticed the battery life is awful with the iPAQ 4150 and steady use of the built in wi-fi. Why can't anything be done to improve battery life? Why have all of these features if you can't use them?

Okay, enough whining......curious to hear your thoughts.

[Macguy59]

2 hours of calls and web browsing with the standard battery is pretty good IMO. Certainly turning off the radio when using solely as PDA helps. I don't get that much with my 2210 when browsing via wi-fi card. But I prefer screen brightness at max :) My i600 is due tomorrow.

[dollardr]

I am trying to see how it goes with the extended battery. I guess I would just like to know what I can expect and am interested in hearing what type of battery life others are seeing.

[encece]

talked an hour on the phone one day and listen to some mp3s and the battery was almost dead (standard).

I've been using the extended ever since and have gotten used to it's thinkness.

[Macguy59]

"listening to some MP3's " is not very informative. How long where you listening to MP3's?

[encece]

ooops.....for about an hour. Ask alittle nicer next time.

[dollardr]

Been listening to MP3's all night while trying to catch up on e-mail on my notebook - extended battery on phone is about 50% after about 3 hours - I am impressed if this means anything. Stopped Media player and the battery bar increased? I wonder what would happen if I started using the phone - too bad all of my friends are asleep right now like normal people.

My guess is that any activity that involves the radio is what drains the battery. Sorry, just don't have the time to perform a controlled test of the battery life. Have had many PDA's, and I think any radio activity (i.e. WiFi) puts a hit on battery life. Also, its hard to know what to expect unless put into a real life scenario.....like travelling, flight delays, listening to music on the plane, taking care of problems at work over the phone, checking e-mail.

As a side note, can we make this the best forum for the i600 phone? I am tired of bouncing around to different sites trying to find out more information. Afterall, Pocketpcthoughts is the best site for PDA news, views, rants and raves.....let's give Jason some props for running both sites.

[Macguy59]

ooops.....for about an hour. Ask alittle nicer next time.

Sorry.Wasn't trying to be mean.

[encece]

:wink:

[Macguy59]

As a side note, can we make this the best forum for the i600 phone? I am tired of bouncing around to different sites trying to find out more information. Afterall, Pocketpcthoughts is the best site for PDA news, views, rants and raves.....let's give Jason some props for running both sites.

Here here. You just have to remember that it was released only a week ago. As more people purchase them the more insight and information can be obtained. I think the specialized Handango section is an excellent start.

[dollardr]

Byteme....any experience with the Treo? How does it compare to the MS Smartphone OS? I am getting one for one of our VP's....like the hardware and keyboard but can't stomach the Palm OS.

Regarding this site, it has the best interface and will hopefully grow!

[Macguy59]

ooops.....for about an hour. Ask alittle nicer next time.

Ok, so about an hour of calls and an hour of MP3's. That would seem about right to me for the smaller capacity battery. The talk time in that scenario was largely responsible for the battery drain. I wonder how the XDA's and the i700 does with battery life?

[Macguy59]

Byteme....any experience with the Treo? How does it compare to the MS Smartphone OS? I am getting one for one of our VP's....like the hardware and keyboard but can't stomach the Palm OS.

Regarding this site, it has the best interface and will hopefully grow!

I played around a bit with the Treo 600. I liked that it was using the newer Palm OS 5, but did not like the form factor nor the built-in thumboard.

[greenmozart]

I saw the Treo at Best Buy this weekend and held it in my hand for a few seconds - that's all it took for me to realize the thumbpad buttons are WAY too small for my fingers. I couldn't just press one button at a time! It's a good idea but I think PalmOne is stuck in no-man's land - you can't comfortably fit a keyboard into the size of a cell phone without significant trade-offs. You either have a phone that's too big or a keyboard that is too small to use. I like the concept of this kind of convergence but to me it seems fundamentally flawed.

[Macguy59]

I saw the Treo at Best Buy this weekend and held it in my hand for a few seconds - that's all it took for me to realize the thumbpad buttons are WAY too small for my fingers. I couldn't just press one button at a time! It's a good idea but I think PalmOne is stuck in no-man's land - you can't comfortably fit a keyboard into the size of a cell phone without significant trade-offs. You either have a phone that's too big or a keyboard that is too small to use. I like the concept of this kind of convergence but to me it seems fundamentally flawed.

Exactly. [See Kyocera 7135]

Plus I have a personal preference for clamshell/flip style phones. I don't like having the mic halfway between my ear and mouth.