Dell Axim X3i - Amazing Stand-by Battery Life

[Jason Dunn]

This is so crazy I can hardly believe it: I received a Dell Axim X3i from Dell on October 18th, and it was fully charged before I left on October 19th. I brought the charger with me for the Pocket PC Summit/CTIA, but I didn't plug in the device. My usage was very light - I had the device powered up for a total of perhaps two hours over that week doing demos of a forthcoming Spb application. Since returning from Vegas, the Dell X3i has been turned on perhaps half a dozen times, WiFi used here and there. Today I powered it up, half expecting it to be dead, and was shocked to find that it still had 36% main battery power and a full backup battery. That's over three weeks of standby time! This certainly wasn't a scientific test, but I've seen similar (though not quite as good) battery performance from the X5 I have. I don't know what voodoo magic Dell's ODM (Wiston?) did to get these devices to have such awesome standby time, but they should share some of that mojo with HP - anything based on the classic iPAQ design has a standby time of days rather than weeks, which has always irked me (the 2000 and 1900 series are much better).<br /><br />Kudos to Dell for making battery life such an important part of their Pocket PC design!

[Skoobouy]

Hmm... I've heard much drearier stories from other places.

[Jason Dunn]

Hmm... I've heard much drearier stories from other places.

Really? Like what? Remember, I'm talking about standy battery life not day to day runtime battery life.

[Kati Compton]

With maybe 3 hours of usage on my X5, I got about a week of standby time before the battery (and backup battery) drained completely...

[bbarker]

I haven't done any formal tests, but my Jornada 568 seems to have very long standby time. I have used Jornadas for years and Casios before that. Standby time has never even come up as an issue.

Of course, because of pride, HP's iPaq team has disavowed knowledge of the Jornada and its technology.

[Marc Zimmermann]

Actually, it seems that anything but an iPAQ has good to excellent standby time. The high drain of the iPAQs has been and still is my major gripe with the Compaq/HP hardware.

[AZMark]

Other than PPC drain many other things can effect battery life...

Type of battery
Quality of battery
Age of battery
Devices installed in PPC
Ability of charger to fully charge the battery
Software???

I've got Dell X5 now and it's been great, unless I forget to remove the WiFi card. My old iPaq seemed to be good at first, but quickly fell off with age, then with the upgrage to 2k2, myself along with many others started reporting decreased battery life.

[maximus]

With maybe 3 hours of usage on my X5, I got about a week of standby time before the battery (and backup battery) drained completely...

Battery life is one most important aspect that pulled me toward axims. I run running voice GSM from 6 am to 10 pm nonstop (with screen off), run mp3s for hours, play some games, a lot of ICQ messaging, etc. and I never have the battery dropped below 40% at the end of the day. 3400mAH battery is simply marvelous.

When I am using the regular 1400mAH battery, I can still run running voice GSM from 6 am to 10 pm nonstop and do a lot of ICQ, but I have to cut down a bit on mp3 playing and games.

Axim rules ! :mrgreen:

[foresscum]

Sorry dont mean to be impolite. But when you say standby time, do you mean that the machine was off with no communication devices open? If so I think most PDA can do that. Unlike a cell phone a PDA does not have to have radio turned on, so standby time is really off time.

[Jonathan1]

Sorry dont mean to be impolite. But when you say standby time, do you mean that the machine was off with no communication devices open? If so I think most PDA can do that. Unlike a cell phone a PDA does not have to have radio turned on, so standby time is really off time.

Not really since you, at minimum need a slight charge to the RAM to keep from losing all your info. Until reciently Pocket PC's have not had a good track record when it came to standby batt life.

I think in the future any review should include standby time in addition to your more traditional batt life reviews.

[Jason Dunn]

Sorry dont mean to be impolite. But when you say standby time, do you mean that the machine was off with no communication devices open? If so I think most PDA can do that. Unlike a cell phone a PDA does not have to have radio turned on, so standby time is really off time.

As someone else explained, that's not the case - PDAs don't have an "off" mode. They go into standby mode, because the RAM still needs power. One of the things that you can not do with an iPAQ 5555 for instance is charge it up and put it in a desk drawer for two weeks - it will be completely dead after two weeks if you do.

Trust me, this is a bigger deal than you think. :wink:

[bbarker]

One of the things that you can not do with an iPAQ 5555 for instance is charge it up and put it in a desk drawer for two weeks - it will be completely dead after two weeks if you do.
I don't remember specifically doing this with my Jornada 568, but I also have never experienced losing everything no matter how long it was turned "off."

[Jason Dunn]

I think in the future any review should include standby time in addition to your more traditional batt life reviews.

I agree completely, but measuring this is very tricky - Spb Benchmark doesn't yet support measuring the battery in this way, and doing it manually is difficult.

[Kati Compton]

and doing it manually is difficult.
Right. Because if you turn it on to check it, you're using more power than if you'd left it off, thereby shortening the standby time...

[Ratel10mm]

Standby time is crucial, I agree. BUT...

Why do current PPC's not have back up batteries, like my old Casio E11 did? :?: At least then, if your main battery goes, you have some time before you lose all your data! :?

[Ed Hansberry]

Actually, it seems that anything but an iPAQ has good to excellent standby time. The high drain of the iPAQs has been and still is my major gripe with the Compaq/HP hardware.
The iPAQ 36/3700 you are right. I don't use my 3900 as much now that I have a 2215 and it has been left for two weeks uncharged, unused and had over 60% battery life when I plugged it in for a refresh. My poor old 3600 can't even make it a week anymore without dying, but hey, it is 3 years old, has had 3 OSs on it and countless ROMs. Time to put her to rest I think. :cry:

[Ed Hansberry]

Standby time is crucial, I agree. BUT...

Why do current PPC's not have back up batteries, like my old Casio E11 did? :?: At least then, if your main battery goes, you have some time before you lose all your data! :?
Devices that have removable batteries do have backup batteries to keep the RAM charged when you swap batteries. Devices that have integrated batteries don't do this. They don't need to. A sectoin of the built in battery is relegated to this. Once the battery gets to X% charged (say, 10% or less, sometimes user configurable) the device won't power up until you plug it in in an attempt to maintain RAM contents.

Trust me, the Casio backup battery is nothing magic. My EM500 died within 48 hrs of the mains dying. You can configure an iPAQ 3900 to last 72-96 hrs in this preservation mode once the battery gets to a low level.

[Ratel10mm]

Hello Ed

I've come across this system, but one of my collegues has a 3970 which keeps losing all his data, regardless of his backup settings. Perhaps it's a fault with his unit, but it does put me off IPAQ's a bit. That's why I wondered about having a seperate backup battery. From your reply, I guess that no PPC's have seperate backup batteries now. Please excuse my ignorance. :oops:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Devices that have removable batteries do have backup batteries to keep the RAM charged when you swap batteries. Devices that have integrated batteries don't do this. They don't need to. A sectoin of the built in battery is relegated to this. Once the battery gets to X% charged (say, 10% or less, sometimes user configurable) the device won't power up until you plug it in in an attempt to maintain RAM contents.
Yeah, I actually prefer devices that use the main battery as the backup battery since you don't have to worry about replacing or monitoring backup batteries and you have full confidence that your virtual backup is always fully charged whenever you charge your device.

It's a bettery solution IMO.

[Kowalski]

i think this is ability of the new pxa 263 processor. i read some information on this chip and according to intel this chip is very power efficiant when it comes to standby times

[Pat Logsdon]

From your reply, I guess that no PPC's have seperate backup batteries now. Please excuse my ignorance. :oops:
You're not ignorant. The Axim X5 has a separate coin-cell back up battery, and I believe the X3 does as well. I'm not sure how long they last versus a built-in battery, but I'm kinda glad to have it user-accessible. If it gets low for some reason, I can always go to Radio Shack and pick one up for a few bucks.

[Ed Hansberry]

From your reply, I guess that no PPC's have seperate backup batteries now. Please excuse my ignorance. :oops:
You're not ignorant. The Axim X5 has a separate coin-cell back up battery, and I believe the X3 does as well. I'm not sure how long they last versus a built-in battery, but I'm kinda glad to have it user-accessible. If it gets low for some reason, I can always go to Radio Shack and pick one up for a few bucks.
I think today, just about all of them have coin-type backup batteries because they almost all now have removeable batteries, which is a good thing. A year or two ago, it was just the opposite. At one time, it was only Casio that did.

[Ratel10mm]

Hmmm. I've got a 5550 on order at the moment. :onfire: It'll be interesting to see if it has a seperate back-up battery or not. So far I don't recall seeing anything about that. If it doesn't, I guess they'll have some sort of high duty capacitor (or some such) to protect your data when you swap the main battery. Another thing to play with when I get my new toy! :D

[Jason Dunn]

I think today, just about all of them have coin-type backup batteries because they almost all now have removeable batteries, which is a good thing. A year or two ago, it was just the opposite. At one time, it was only Casio that did.

But if they almost all have coin backup batteries, wouldn't they be user accessible like they are on the Dell Axim units? No, I think they have a small secondary battery inside the unit that is rechargable. On the newer iPAQs, you can see the backup battery recharging when you're coming back from a flatline...

[Ed Hansberry]

I think today, just about all of them have coin-type backup batteries because they almost all now have removeable batteries, which is a good thing. A year or two ago, it was just the opposite. At one time, it was only Casio that did.

But if they almost all have coin backup batteries, wouldn't they be user accessible like they are on the Dell Axim units? No, I think they have a small secondary battery inside the unit that is rechargable. On the newer iPAQs, you can see the backup battery recharging when you're coming back from a flatline...
I think you are right, and I'm glad. Messing with those dumb coin batteries is a pain. I still need to replace the one in my EM500. Keeps yelling at me everytime I turn it on. :?