Strong Dell Axim X5 Battery Life

[Jason Dunn]

I'm in the midst of running my battery tests on the Axim, and while it's too early to make any firm conclusions about the run time of the Axim X5, I'm impressed so far - when the backlight was set to the lowest setting, the Dell stayed on for 14 hours before shutting off (I run them into the ground). For comparison, the Jornada 565 lasted 8.8 hours, and the iPAQ 3870 lasted six hours. Not bad Dell, not bad at all. 8)

[enemy2k2]

What Dell has on it's side is sheer brute force, 1440mah battery, nice :wink: Probably the biggest PPC battery yet :!: Let's not forget the optional extra large battery coming out soon. I just can't wait to get my hands on one of these things :D Without even having it yet, and knowing the simple minor complaints and gripes people have with them (malcontents :P ), I'd have to say this is the best bang for the buck out their in PDA land, ever :D I should be receiving mine tomorrow for sure 8)

[Boxster S]

A better comparison would have been with the 39xx which uses a transreflective screen and has the best battery life of all PocketPCs

[heov]

i agree about the 3900 test- doesn't it also have a 1400, or maybe 1500 mAh battery?

[Pat Logsdon]

What Dell has on it's side is sheer brute force, 1440mah battery, nice :wink: Probably the biggest PPC battery yet :!: Let's not forget the optional extra large battery coming out soon. I just can't wait to get my hands on one of these things :D Without even having it yet, and knowing the simple minor complaints and gripes people have with them (malcontents :P ), I'd have to say this is the best bang for the buck out their in PDA land, ever :D I should be receiving mine tomorrow for sure 8)
I dunno - my Casio e-125 has a 1440 mah battery, and it doesn't last NEARLY as long as the numbers that Dell is achieving. I'd say it's good engineering and power management, rather than brute force. :)

Needless to say, I'll be glad of the extra time I'll get with my Axim!

[Jason Dunn]

A better comparison would have been with the 39xx which uses a transreflective screen and has the best battery life of all PocketPCs

If someone wants to send me one, I'd be glad to test it. :D

[Daniel]

If someone wants to send me one, I'd be glad to test it. :D

Send me one too, I'll "test" it for you...

Daniel

[jngold_me]

What Dell has on it's side is sheer brute force, 1440mah battery, nice Probably the biggest PPC battery yet

The Jornada 560 series also boast a 1440 (or 1400) mah battery. The Dell most likely benefits from a less power-intensive Transreflective display and x-scale processor.

Cheers!

[Sslixtis]

I've noticed much better battery life with my Axim 400Mhz as opposed to my iPaq 3955. Some of it i'm sure has to do with the fact that my iPaq screen is brighter than my Axim screen, however, I think alot of it also has to do with the auto-scaling of the CPU on the Axim. It only shifts to 400Mhz when I need it otherwise it stays down at the power saving 200Mhz speed. 8) WooHoo Dell!!

Cheers!

[szamot]

I concur, I run my X5 playing MP3's screen off full 400MHz, 3 hours and only used up around 20% of my battery. So far so good the battery is really impressive, I am not sure if I needed the extended battery.

[Programmer]

Am I mistaken? I thought the Axim didn't have a replaceable battery. How do you add an extended battery?

Or am I thinking of the Viewsonic?

Robert

[Roosterman]

Am I mistaken? I thought the Axim didn't have a replaceable battery. How do you add an extended battery?

Or am I thinking of the Viewsonic?

You must be thinking of the Veiw sonic. The Dell has a removeable battery.

[Duncan]

Sslixtis,

Auto-scaling is actually a function of the XScale full-stop! However - how well it is implemented is another matter.

I'm convinced that battery management on PPCs isn't a science - it's pure voodoo!

[toshtoshtosh]

Jason, are we going to get to see the results of all your battery tests?

[Xaximus]

Oooh, sexy! :D

[Sslixtis]

DuncanSslixtis,

Auto-scaling is actually a function of the XScale full-stop! However - how well it is implemented is another matter.

I'm convinced that battery management on PPCs isn't a science - it's pure voodoo!




I agree that is how the Xscale is designed, I do not however believe the all OEMs have been taking advantage of this properly and some of them seem to have geared there Xscales to always be 400Mhz, perhaps in trying for speed. At any rate it is nice to give the user this control over the CPU. You now have the option to go 400Mhz all the time, 200Mhz all the time or Auto where it decides what it needs and adjusts accordingly.

And I have to agree with the battery management being VooDoo, I think Dell might just have saved the life of the chicken I had prepared for the battery extention ritual! 8O :ninja: :lol:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I concur, I run my X5 playing MP3's screen off full 400MHz, 3 hours and only used up around 20% of my battery. So far so good the battery is really impressive, I am not sure if I needed the extended battery.
That's really compelling experience. That's better than my iPaq3835 WITH a PC Sleeve attached (playing MP3s w/ screen off).

Just curious, were you running the MP3s off RAM, SD, or CF?

[jizmo]

Someone really ought to do a comprehensive battery testing on the most common PPC devices out there.

I thought I knew all there is to know about the PPC's after using both iPAQ 36xx and 37xx series. And I did. But I really thought that all of the PPCs suffer from having a terribly short battery life, just because the low-end iPAQ models did. :evil:

I was really impressed when I bought the Toshiba e310. It's so much slimmer, but the battery life really outshines 37xx iPAQ's. In many cases, it lasts twice or even three times longer before low-battery sign. 8O

/jizmo

[torring]

The Jornada 560 series also boast a 1440 (or 1400) mah battery. The Dell most likely benefits from a less power-intensive Transreflective display and x-scale processor.
Cheers!

http://www.pdamed.dk/valg/HP/side.jpg

The Jornadas have a 1200 mAh battery.

I did the tests that Jason describes when a testet a Jornada 568 a year ago: It did 7½ hours. Mind you I did not use it during the test, just low brightness and allways on. (It did 14 hours with backlight off).
My Ipaq 3660 did 4 hours with lowest backlight on).

My Casio E125 (1400 mAh) could do 7 hours under these conditions, but the brightness could not go nearly as low as the Jornada could.

The problem with the Jornada, in comparison to the Ipaq, is the fact that it drains its batteries far more before shutting down, which means it will not keep its memory as long afterwards, and it also wears out the batteries more to be drained so much.

My conclusion is that these tests are, unfortunately, not directly comparable.

You are left with the only option of looking directly at how many mAh’s the battery has, and even that has its limitations because it is not always true (the Ipaq 36XX-series is a good example).

Besides, the real problem, as I see it, the fact that a PocketPC uses a lot of Power in stand-by mode.
My Ipaq 3660 (which now only does 3 hours in the test) can take 6 days on the shelf after a complete recharge. After 6 days it will not turn on, and I assume it will loose data after 3 more days.
This is a very real problem that I think should be addressed. It is not nice to come home from a holiday to find your data gone (or at least only backed up).

[dbrahms]

NOTE TO ALL: the Dell is very entry-level. I played with it for a few hours yesterday. The screen is smaller and not as bright as the Ipaq 3900 series. The backlighting is not balanced/consistent. The audio is fairly week. This unit is larger than most. The price is Amazing for what you get though...It's the best PDA you can get for $269 after rebate and 10% discount. Just remember this is a very nice organizer that can do the same tricks as the other more expensive PPC's...it's just doesnt have the
"wow" factor that the louder, brighter, sleeker units have..

[cpoole]

Jason, how are you testing the battery life?

I have the expansion pack plus for my old 3670. It has the standard 920 mHa battery plus wahtever is in the IPAQ itself. Before the expansion pack, I was lucky if the unit would last for a evenings use. With the expansion pack, I can sometimes use the IPAQ for the entire weekend. I do not know how many hours of actual use this would be. I always use the lowest backlight setting.

I know that many people would say that the IPAQ with the expansion pack is a brick but I guess that I have a higher "brick tolerence level". I don't put it in my pocket, I use the IPAQ belt case... I suppose it looks more geeky but I enjoy the IPAQ and use it...

[Foo Fighter]

I have to admit, the Dell has really impressed me. Axim's battery life is the best I have ever experienced on a color handheld. The display is EXCELLENT...much better than the Tungsten, IMO. And the build quality is excellent. It doesn't feel cheap or "creaky". You really can't tell this is a $199 handheld. Overall size isn't too bad either...bordering somewhere between the iPaq and Casio EM-500.

The only thing I don't like about the design is the lame jog-dial. The scroll-pad is a little "mushy" to.

[BigCanoe]

I agree Foo, fix those items, even if you have to raise the price $10 and its still a deal :)