Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

Hi!

I've had my T5 now for 2 weeks and I have to say that I am not very
impressed by the battery life (I come from an old IIIC).

I have measured the battery life with the runtime-tool and the most I
seem to get out of it is about 6:40 hrs of runtime (with bluetooth off,
minimal brightness, just ebook-reading and PIM).

Now I wonder is that really all you can expect or this my device
faulty?

Many thanks!

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

MHasenoehrl@gmx.net wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I've had my T5 now for 2 weeks and I have to say that I am not very
> impressed by the battery life (I come from an old IIIC).
>
> I have measured the battery life with the runtime-tool and the most I
> seem to get out of it is about 6:40 hrs of runtime (with bluetooth off,
> minimal brightness, just ebook-reading and PIM).
>
> Now I wonder is that really all you can expect or this my device
> faulty?
>
> Many thanks!
>

You can be glad you skipped some intermediate models: I saw a steady
decline from III via Vx to m515 - the T5 is actually an improvement
compared to the m515 (from battery life point of view - OS stability
is a different question ...).

///Walter

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

MHasenoehrl@gmx.net wrote:

>I have measured the battery life with the runtime-tool and the most I
>seem to get out of it is about 6:40 hrs of runtime (with bluetooth off,
>minimal brightness, just ebook-reading and PIM).

6:40 hrs of run time is pretty darn good for recent Palm devices. I imagine that
the new flash ram helps a lot. For ebook service I generally get 4 hours on my
Tungsten E (2 year old battery) and 6 hours on my Zire72 (1 year old battery).
It would actually be worse but to conserve power I run both screens below the
brightness stops at the 10% level using 3rd party dimmers. It's quite readable
at that brightness level, and in a dark room it's actually better since it's not
so much like reading a flashlight...

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

In article <1hpdd19dh1ajcac22juk15es9coml3mdg3@4ax.com>, AaronJ
<noemail@noemail.com> wrote:

> MHasenoehrl@gmx.net wrote:
>
> >I have measured the battery life with the runtime-tool and the most I
> >seem to get out of it is about 6:40 hrs of runtime (with bluetooth off,
> >minimal brightness, just ebook-reading and PIM).
>
> 6:40 hrs of run time is pretty darn good for recent Palm devices.

It's also pretty darn good for *any* PDA, Palm or otherwise.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

guy@ether.net (Guy Bannis) wrote:

>In article <1hpdd19dh1ajcac22juk15es9coml3mdg3@4ax.com>, AaronJ
><noemail@noemail.com> wrote:
>
>> MHasenoehrl@gmx.net wrote:
>>
>> >I have measured the battery life with the runtime-tool and the most I
>> >seem to get out of it is about 6:40 hrs of runtime (with bluetooth off,
>> >minimal brightness, just ebook-reading and PIM).
>>
>> 6:40 hrs of run time is pretty darn good for recent Palm devices.
>
>It's also pretty darn good for *any* PDA, Palm or otherwise.

Did you say *any* PDA???

I usually get over 30 hours ebook service on one set of AAAs with my m125...

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

In article <g9rdd11nqclo48rlrkt8g9151jbfkhau46@4ax.com>, AaronJ
<noemail@noemail.com> wrote:

> guy@ether.net (Guy Bannis) wrote:
>
> >In article <1hpdd19dh1ajcac22juk15es9coml3mdg3@4ax.com>, AaronJ
> ><noemail@noemail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> MHasenoehrl@gmx.net wrote:
> >>
> >> >I have measured the battery life with the runtime-tool and the most I
> >> >seem to get out of it is about 6:40 hrs of runtime (with bluetooth off,
> >> >minimal brightness, just ebook-reading and PIM).
> >>
> >> 6:40 hrs of run time is pretty darn good for recent Palm devices.
> >
> >It's also pretty darn good for *any* PDA, Palm or otherwise.
>
> Did you say *any* PDA???
>
> I usually get over 30 hours ebook service on one set of AAAs with my
m125...

Color screen?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk (KJ) wrote:

>Have you ever seen the Garmin GPSMAP 60C GPS? It easily runs 20+ hours
>featuring a color screen.

I have my doubts on this claim. A real constantly running color screen?

>Other non-color pda's that run significantly longer on a set of standard
>batteries are the Handera PDA and the HPLX computers.

Yup. If you can stand a mono screen. I still take my mono m125 camping and on
trips to avoid bringing the wall wart, but I hate the screen...

> In addition the fact that the batteries are not easily replacable, will
>eventually invalidate the unit. How can you live with that???

You can replace the battery when it wears out. It's not that hard. But by the
time that happens (my TE is 2 years old now and still gives 4 hours) the unit is
obsolete, and the new ones look so neat, that I *want* to buy a new one...

>and flimsy connectors,

Agree here. They had a good connection system for a short while (the Zires and
TE) with the standard USB port and the standard cell phone charger connection,
but have reverted to loose poor fitting connectors. Go look at the new TE2
charger connector... Sad.

>and loads of software bugs

I've not found that in mine but there seem to be a lot of T5 complaints here.

>and, lack of serial port

Obsolete technology. My laptops have been missing them for years. No loss.

>Today my favorite pda's are in order... my old an trusted retro HP200lx
>and the almost retro Handera 330. They NEVER fail to do the task, they
>almost never need even a soft reset,

Virtually all resets can be tied to 3rd party software. I never have to soft
reset any of mine now that I have all the software living together nicely.

>and after quite a few weeks when
>the batteries are worn outm I just replace them with new ones from the
>local drugstore...

Hopefully the new color screen technology I've been reading about will bring
this great feature back...

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

In article <1gzsey9.1bcmd0essyuf4N%news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk>,
news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk (KJ) wrote:

> Guy Bannis <guy@ether.net> wrote:
>
> > > >> 6:40 hrs of run time is pretty darn good for recent Palm devices.
> > > >
> > > >It's also pretty darn good for *any* PDA, Palm or otherwise.
> > >
> > > Did you say *any* PDA???
> > >
> > > I usually get over 30 hours ebook service on one set of AAAs with my
> > m125...
> >
> > Color screen?
>
> Have you ever seen the Garmin GPSMAP 60C GPS? It easily runs 20+ hours
> featuring a color screen. The screen is also much better for outdoor use
> than any pda screen I have ever seen.

Good for you! The Garmin is not typical. It's also bigger (2.4" x 6.1" x
1.3" ) and bulkier (7.5 oz) than most other PDAs.

> Other non-color pda's that run significantly longer on a set of standard
> batteries are the Handera PDA and the HPLX computers.

We're talking color screens. Color/monochrome, apples/oranges.

BTW, we all want better battery life. The fact is, 6.4 hrs is pretty good
in the *current* market.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

Guy Bannis <guy@ether.net> wrote:

> > Have you ever seen the Garmin GPSMAP 60C GPS? It easily runs 20+ hours
> > featuring a color screen. The screen is also much better for outdoor use
> > than any pda screen I have ever seen.
>
> Good for you! The Garmin is not typical. It's also bigger (2.4" x 6.1" x
> 1.3" ) and bulkier (7.5 oz) than most other PDAs.

According to the user guide the Garmin Legend C runs up to 36 hours on a
set of batteries. The size is 4.2*2.2*1.2 and it weighs 5.6 oz with
batteries. That is really not that bulkier than most pda's. I will give
you that the display is smaller and therefore takes less current though.

By the way, when do you guys learn that the SI-system is featuring cm's
and grams? :-)

> > Other non-color pda's that run significantly longer on a set of standard
> > batteries are the Handera PDA and the HPLX computers.
>
> We're talking color screens. Color/monochrome, apples/oranges.

I agree to some extend. But I still do not understand that you are
willing to accept todays battery life.

> BTW, we all want better battery life. The fact is, 6.4 hrs is pretty good
> in the *current* market.

As said above...

If they wanted to minimize the problem in the "current" market, they
could start adding options for using standard batteries like eg. Handera
did. They sold a li-ion cell but the battery compartment also accepted
standard AAA size batteries if the li-ion was empty.

At least they could provide optional extra li-ion cells for the pda that
you can use when on the move, but only a few pda vendors do, and they do
not include palmone to my knowledge.

KJ
--
http://www.cetusgps.dk

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

AaronJ <noemail@noemail.com> wrote:

> I have my doubts on this claim. A real constantly running color screen?

It is not a claim but a fact, and I believe I was conservative compared
to the running time they guarantee. But the backlight is not running all
the time, - not that it is a problem though, in normal daylight the
screen is crisp clear without backlight.

> >Other non-color pda's that run significantly longer on a set of standard
> >batteries are the Handera PDA and the HPLX computers.
>
> Yup. If you can stand a mono screen. I still take my mono m125 camping and on
> trips to avoid bringing the wall wart, but I hate the screen...

The screen on the Handera 330 (320x320) and the HPLX are so much better
than on the 125. Color is great, but I find that the lack of battery
lifetime in current pda's is not worth it.

> > In addition the fact that the batteries are not easily replacable, will
> >eventually invalidate the unit. How can you live with that???
>
> You can replace the battery when it wears out. It's not that hard. But by the
> time that happens (my TE is 2 years old now and still gives 4 hours) the unit
> is obsolete, and the new ones look so neat, that I *want* to buy
a new one...

Please direct me to a website where I can buy a new battery for my iQue
3600 (Palm OS). I have yet to find out where I can buy this in Europe
without paying a small fortune.

> >and, lack of serial port
>
> Obsolete technology. My laptops have been missing them for years. No loss

Maye not for you, but there are still loads of equipment running serial
ports only. Take outdoor gps receivers for an example. I use serial
equipment almost every day.

> >Today my favorite pda's are in order... my old an trusted retro HP200lx
> >and the almost retro Handera 330. They NEVER fail to do the task, they
> >almost never need even a soft reset,
>
> Virtually all resets can be tied to 3rd party software. I never have to soft
> reset any of mine now that I have all the software living together nicely.

As a Palm OS programmer I can tell you that Palm OS is certainly not the
easiest os to develop applications for, making mistakes that cause a
system freeze on one model but not on another is quite easy if you have
to approach lowlevel features like eg. serial communication. If wonder
how long time you have spent testing applications. In my experience it
is quite easy to find third party Palm OS applications that causes
problems.

> >and after quite a few weeks when
> >the batteries are worn outm I just replace them with new ones from the
> >local drugstore...
>
> Hopefully the new color screen technology I've been reading about will bring
> this great feature back...

Well I probably won't be getting a new pda before this happens :-)
Battery lifetime is so much more important to me than a color display.

KJ
--
http://www.cetusgps.dk

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

In article <1gztld3.1qe7j19z7e9tsN%news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk>,
news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk (KJ) wrote:

> Guy Bannis <guy@ether.net> wrote:
>
> > > Have you ever seen the Garmin GPSMAP 60C GPS? It easily runs 20+ hours
> > > featuring a color screen. The screen is also much better for outdoor use
> > > than any pda screen I have ever seen.
> >
> > Good for you! The Garmin is not typical. It's also bigger (2.4" x 6.1" x
> > 1.3" ) and bulkier (7.5 oz) than most other PDAs.
>
> According to the user guide the Garmin Legend C runs up to 36 hours on a
> set of batteries. The size is 4.2*2.2*1.2 and it weighs 5.6 oz with
> batteries. That is really not that bulkier than most pda's. I will give
> you that the display is smaller and therefore takes less current though.

Again, not typical.

> I agree to some extend. But I still do not understand that you are
> willing to accept todays battery life.

> > BTW, we all want better battery life. The fact is, 6.4 hrs is pretty good
> > in the *current* market.

>
> If they wanted to minimize the problem in the "current" market, they
> could start adding options for using standard batteries like eg. Handera
> did. They sold a li-ion cell but the battery compartment also accepted
> standard AAA size batteries if the li-ion was empty.

There are battery add-ons for pretty much every PDA ...

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk (KJ) wrote:
> I believe I was conservative compared
>to the running time they guarantee. [20+ hrs]

Garmins claim is for "intermittent use with backlight off". With the backlight
set to brightest that drops to 14 hours. Still not bad except that I found that
your GPS-60C has the following specs:

A dinky screen at 1.5 x 2.2" - get ready to squint big time.
Lousy color: Only 256 colors - not very good for photos.
Poor resolution - 160 x 240 - grainy image.

This color screen would be completely unacceptable for a PDA so to try to use it
as a comparison to a color screen equipped PDA is a bit unfair (ludicrous?).

>The screen on the Handera 330 (320x320) and the HPLX are so much better
>than on the 125.

Of course. Higher resolution makes for a better looking screen *and* a worse
battery life. Rocket science. That's perhaps one of the reasons why the m125
gets better battery life with 2 batteries than the Handera does with 4.

>Please direct me to a website where I can buy a new battery for my iQue
>3600 (Palm OS).

This was first on the list of several. Google is your friend.
http://www.tangshop.com/garmin-3600-battery.html

>Take outdoor gps receivers for an example. I use serial
>equipment almost every day.

Well, even if I think serial is obsolete, what do I know. The most recent Palms
Tungsten E2, Tungsten T5, and LifeDrive all have serial ports.

>Battery lifetime is so much more important to me than a color display.

That's the way I felt for a long time too. I actually read over 50 novels on my
mono Palms. But reading on a color screen improved the experience so much that I
finally had to marry a wall wart...

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

"KJ" <news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk> wrote in message

> By the way, when do you guys learn that the SI-system is featuring cm's
> and grams? :-)
>

Just for information:SI does not feature cm and grams.
The unit of length is the metre, that of mass is the
kilogram and that of force is the Newton.

Also since the S in SI stands (or at least it used to) for
System the "system" in "SI-system" is redundant.

RonL

--
"Something unknown is doing we don't know what "

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

Ron Larham <larhamr@necphelococcygia.com> wrote:

> "KJ" <news3@SLETMIG.bifrostnet.dk> wrote in message
>
> > By the way, when do you guys learn that the SI-system is featuring cm's
> > and grams? :-)
> >
> Just for information:SI does not feature cm and grams.
> The unit of length is the metre, that of mass is the
> kilogram and that of force is the Newton.

It is true that kg and meter belong to the base units, but But I believe
that my statement is also correct. Here is what nist has to say about
this...

"It is important to note that the kilogram is the only SI unit with a
prefix as part of its name and symbol. Because multiple prefixes may not
be used, in the case of the kilogram the prefix names of Table 5 are
used with the unit name "gram" and the prefix symbols are used with the
unit symbol "g." With this exception, any SI prefix may be used with any
SI unit, including the degree Celsius and its symbol °C"

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/prefixes.html

> Also since the S in SI stands (or at least it used to) for
> System the "system" in "SI-system" is redundant.

That is true, but I happen to speak danish as my native language, and
adding redundant words like in "SI-system" is quite typical in danish.
Therefore I forgot.

KJ
--
http://www.cetusgps.dk