Battery life on newer Palms

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

I am looking for a straight answer. On a typical color Palm such as the
T5, or Palm Zire, how long of battery life can you get? I hear that on
many PPC's you only get 3-5 hours if even that. Is this the case with
the color Palms? I suppose since the Palm Os is not as feature bloat as
MS the battery life would be better.

On my monochrome Palm I get 1 month of usage if not more at times. This
is a reason why I am hesitant to upgrade to a color unit. I use my Palm
as a tool. I have a laptop for multimedia uses. Is it really that much
better on a PDA? On the other hand I think serial is slow. Do newer
units sync that much faster over USB? It takes me about 7-8 minutes to
sync everytime. I use Avantgo ane PocketQuizken. Pocket Quicken always
has to backup all its file on every sync. This is a problem with the
software not my Palm.


John

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

In article <41c0ab1f$1@news.qgraph.com>, "JD" <joeydba@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I have the T|E and I can usually go almost a week before charging. True, I
> don't have it on all day every day, but I do use a bit every day.
>
> My USB normally syncs within a 1-1/2 minutes.
>
>
> "John" <johnw_94020@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1103126684.5166634b7ff0906766619142b6717f7a@teranews...
> > I am looking for a straight answer. On a typical color Palm such as the
> > T5, or Palm Zire, how long of battery life can you get? I hear that on
> > many PPC's you only get 3-5 hours if even that. Is this the case with
> > the color Palms? I suppose since the Palm Os is not as feature bloat as
> > MS the battery life would be better.
> >
> > On my monochrome Palm I get 1 month of usage if not more at times. This
> > is a reason why I am hesitant to upgrade to a color unit. I use my Palm
> > as a tool. I have a laptop for multimedia uses. Is it really that much
> > better on a PDA? On the other hand I think serial is slow. Do newer
> > units sync that much faster over USB? It takes me about 7-8 minutes to
> > sync everytime. I use Avantgo ane PocketQuizken. Pocket Quicken always
> > has to backup all its file on every sync. This is a problem with the
> > software not my Palm.

The battery life is affected greatly by the display so 3-5 hours of
continuous use is about right. Now, 3-5 hours a day is a big part of the
day ... although probably not unusual for MP3 junkies.

Don't know what you mean by multimedia uses. If you mean, does a color
display make a difference, I'd have to say yes.

Yes, USB syncs are faster, especially when there's lots of data to sync.
If your serial sync is only a few seconds, then USB probably won't make
that much of a difference.

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

"John" <johnw_94020@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1103126684.5166634b7ff0906766619142b6717f7a@teranews...
> I am looking for a straight answer. On a typical color Palm such as the
> T5, or Palm Zire, how long of battery life can you get? I hear that on
> many PPC's you only get 3-5 hours if even that.
<snip>
> On my monochrome Palm I get 1 month of usage if not more at times.

Straight forward answer:

I've used all three Palms the same amount each day, which is quite a lot:

- My first Palm was a B/W m125 Palm, had it for about 3 1/2 years. It took two AA batteries, and they lasted a month
or more.
- The second was a color m130, had it for 3 months, and it took two AAs. I switched to recharagables, since the
batteries didn't last as long, but they were NiMH, 800 mAh each, so lasted maybe a week. I think I returned the m130
to the store.
- My current Tungsten E has a terrible built-in Lithium-Ion battery pack, around 800 mAh.
I get about 4 hours use from a full charge, and keep it charging each night. I don't let the charge get too low,
but that doesn't seem to help.

I'd much rather have the option of using regular alkaliine or recharagable batteries with a separate charger. Then I
would use two sets, and have one set ready to install when/if needed. I do this for my digital camera.

It was a big shock to go from one months use to 4 hours use. Palm made a backward step there. Even though the T E
offers great resolution and features, if I can't use it say on an airplane flight, or away from a charger, it's not
really useable.

Stay with your monochrome, if battery life is important, and use your laptop.

USB sync is MUCH faster, but important only if you need a fast-syncing Palm.
What model is you mono Palm?

- Dugie

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

Here's my experience.
I started my palm life with a 3x. Then graduated to a 3xe.
I must be a very heavy user. Even with brand new Duracel or other
brand name batteries I never got more than a week's use out of them
before they had to be replaced.
I have many reminder alarms that go off daily. I'm a night person so I
use the back-light a lot.
Because of the large turnover of batteries I switched to nimh
rechargeables.
They would last perhaps a day before needing to be recharged.
I've recently moved up to a TE.
The battery life varies. I've had it only be down to 70 or 75% by
day's end and I've had it where I needed to recharge before the day is
over.
As a result of the above I always invest in more than one charging
adapter and I always buy one for my car. I'm religious about plugging
it in.
When I drive in the car it's always plugged in. Likewise when I'm at
home doing desk work.
The TE will charge back to 100% very quickly so even if it's discharged
heavily I don't have to wait long for it to get back up to speed.
I agree with the one poster. I will trade battery life for a clear,
beautiful color screen.
If I ever go anywhere where I know I cannot be near a charging source
I'll just take my 3xe and a minimum amount of data.
For me, the biggest problem is not the battery life, it's the general
quality control of the TE.
When I began using an electronic daytimer, some 10-15 years ago, I used
an el cheapo sharp unit. When it crashed and lost some of it's memory
I moved to Psion and then to palm. I always buy two units so when one
dies I am only down for a short time.
Yeah, it's an expensive habit but I've not lost data since that one
time.
Both of the TE units I bought have significant problems.
The one has a speaker that is intermittent. This is a problem, of
course, because I can miss alarms, but worse, the palm sits there in an
"on" state waiting for the alarm dialog to be answered and the
batteries just drain away. I usually catch it in time but it has, I
think twice, drained to nothing. Fortunately I just put it back on the
charger and it was ok. Not even a need to restore data.
The other palm is worse. Gradually the recognition of the grafitti
area became more and more sporadic and now it doesn't work at all.
Of course the generous 90 warranty from palm ran out several months ago
and they will want a set $125 to fix it. Being a starving musician I'm
pretty much screwed at this point.
I'm tempted to tell palm to fix it or shove it, sell it, and buy Sony
or something else.
I'm pretty disapointed, so, even though the screen on the TE is
stunning, I would recommend buying Sony. They seem more well built to
me.

My usb hotsync is way faster than serial.

Good luck!

shawn

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

> > Do newer units sync that much faster over USB? It takes me about
> > 7-8 minutes to sync everytime.
>
> I use Plucker to sync over 8 megabytes of news sites to my T3 several
> times a day, and it takes about a minute to transfer all that. Using
> things like avantgo will make your internet connection and Avantgo's
> site the bottleneck rather than your palm.

Not bad!! It takes me so much longer, but then I use Avantgo over a
serial connection. I wonder if this other software would work on my
Palm VIIx, Mac OS 9.1 combo.


>
> The clarity of the screen and the extra potential of the device far
> outweigh the limitation on the battery life for me, as the limitations
> don't really impact much at all unless you start reading books,
> browsing the internet and so on.


Yeah guess it depends on what you do. I think I'm going to stay with my
current unit for the time being. I dont necessarily need a PDA to
replace my laptop just yet. Besides the laptops screen is so much
bigger, so for watching movies its an advantage. I hear you can watch
movies on a PDA (not sure about Palm) but then you'd need to convert
them and have a large SD card. Dont think SD goes as large as CF. But
the screen is so dinky, its hard to see the action.


John

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

I found a couple of apps that really help out. lightspeed lets you set the clock
speed of apps. not all apps need full speed. like ereader works fine slowed way
down the only thing that is slower is when you open it up or open a new book.
it's not really a problem. on the TE a app that lets you turn the screen down
lower then you can with the built in control.
between these two I get about 3 times the runtime out of my TE.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes
Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices
See http://www.knight-toolworks.com For prices and ordering instructions.

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

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 18:31:36 +0200, no@spam.wanted wrote:

> Is it really 1-month to 4 hours? I mean ,was it 1 month constantly on? is it
> 4-hours PDA usage, or is it used now for other stuff as well?

For it to be 1 month constantly on the 2 AAA cells would have to
be replaced with something a bit larger, on the order of 2 D cells,
maybe even F cells. My old IIIx usually got 45 to 50 hours out of a
pair of fresh AAA alkaline cells. Depending on usage, some people
would need to change batteries weekly, while others might go a month
or two between changes.

--
"YMMV"

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

On 2004-12-16, John <johnw_94020@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Its not compatible with OS 9.1. I'll stay with Avantgo. Yes
> Avantgo uses the Palm to connect to the web with my Mac, a nice
> feature and downloads over a 57600 connection or is this not true?
> My Mac is on a T1 at my University, but my Palm can only connect at
> 57600 baud.

I still use AvantGo from time to time, because unlike Plucker you can
connect directly to the internet from the Palm itself to sync the
docs, although it can be unreliable. I use bluetooth to my phone (I
used a bluetooth card in the m515 before getting Tungstens) when I'm
working away from home and have boring meetings coming up ;-)

> No you cannot. But I think I'll stick with my current Palm for
> awhile it works well. Yes I cannot view videos, play music, and
> browse the web, but for this I have a desktop OS.

Yep, such things are a waste of time.

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert

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

<Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz> wrote in message news:1103183887.271717.257250@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
<snip>
> but worse, the palm sits there in an
> "on" state waiting for the alarm dialog to be answered and the
> batteries just drain away. I usually catch it in time but it has, I

I use the alarm many times a day as well. Why not set your E to power off after 1 minute? I do this, and the screen
turns off when the alarm goes off, then sounds again 5 mins later, turns off, etc.

<snip>
> The other palm is worse. Gradually the recognition of the grafitti
> area became more and more sporadic and now it doesn't work at all.

I've had the same grafitti recognition problem with my first TE. Zellers exchanged it after 6 months (I live in
Canada). The 2nd unit seems to be doing the same thing, even using the supplied screen protector.

I may return it as well and consider a Sony. Data transfer from the Palm to Sony is the main problem for me. I have
4 years. :-)

> I'm tempted to tell palm to fix it or shove it, sell it, and buy Sony
> or something else.

This sounds so tempting! Palm is similar to Microsoft in their product and customer support.

<snip>
> shawn

- Dugie

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

John wrote:
> I am looking for a straight answer. On a typical color Palm such as the
> T5, or Palm Zire, how long of battery life can you get? I hear that on
> many PPC's you only get 3-5 hours if even that. Is this the case with
> the color Palms? I suppose since the Palm Os is not as feature bloat as
> MS the battery life would be better.
>
> On my monochrome Palm I get 1 month of usage if not more at times. This
> is a reason why I am hesitant to upgrade to a color unit. I use my Palm
> as a tool. I have a laptop for multimedia uses. Is it really that much
> better on a PDA?

I doubled the use-between-charge time by doing the following three
things:

1) Install Dimmer. It will go to a settable "dim" screen after a
settable number of seconds. I set it to 10 seconds. The bright color
screen is a big power hog.

2) Install LightSpeed. Set all applications to lowest possible speed.
Exceptions might include photo display apps and other apps that require
the speed. The slower processor speed helps reduce power consumption.

3) Turn off the infra-red receive in your prefs.


On my TE I went from having to charge every night to every other night.

I had an m125 but after using this marvelous bright color screen I just
couldn't go back. And the charging is no big deal. Since there is no
cradle for the TE you can easily charge it from any computer with a USB
port. You can also buy an inexpensive Samsung (cell phone) in-car
charger that works perfectly with the TE (about $10). Also, taking your
tiny TE wall-plug charger with you is easy compared to the big, heavy,
clunky cradle of other units.

Regards,

-Doug

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

"Tad Davis" <taddavis@ucwphilly.rr.com> wrote in message
news:taddavis-BBC580.13181918122004@nycmny-nntp-rdr-03-ge0.rdc-nyc.rr.com...
> In article <1103126684.5166634b7ff0906766619142b6717f7a@teranews>,
> John <johnw_94020@yahoo.com> wrote:
<snip>
> (My brightness slider is set at about the half-way point and my infrared
> beam-receive is off.)
> Tad Davis

I've set my screen brightness to the lowest, and beam is off as well.
Having a month from 2 AAAs was a treat!

- Dugie

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

<no@spam.wanted> wrote in message news:41e3s05jieehb47o9qaj9u56ln3mf5f3mc@4ax.com...
> "Dugie" <d_fren@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote:

> >It was a big shock to go from one months use to 4 hours use. Palm made a backward step there. Even though the T E
> >- Dugie
>
> Hi,
> Is it really 1-month to 4 hours? I mean ,was it 1 month constantly on? is it
> 4-hours PDA usage, or is it used now for other stuff as well?

Apologies! Your comment is valid. I've realized my error. :-(

It's a one month to one day, sometimes less, then the batteries need to be changed/recharged.
My usage is similar with both the m130 and TE.

I hope that's a clear explanation.

- Dugie

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

"Tim Harbison" <timsh@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:ennxd.679$gZ4.649@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> Can't say from personal experience how the E is, but I have a T|3 and have
> no major complaints. I consider myself a heavy user. Have the brightness
> set at about 1/3, beam receive on, games on and off throughout the day while
> on the phone, etc. notes in meetings, reading books & avantgo stuff at
> lunch, etc. I never get below about 60% by the end of the day.

What type and mAh specs of battery? This sounds very good. It must be more than the 800 or 900 mAh my TE lith-Ion
has..

- Dugie

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

"Rolf Arne Schulze" <raskall@gmail.com> wrote in message news:slrncsctnj.mb6.raskall@topof.ronningveien.net...
> On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 22:33:49 GMT, Dugie wrote:

> My wife has a Tungsten E and is very happy with battery life. She uses
> the unit for playing games, listens to music, takes notes and normal
> calendar/contacts-use. She charges the TE once a week when she listens
> to music a lot and perhaps once every two weeks when not listening to
> music.
>
> Sure there's nothing wrong with the batteries in your TE?

This is the 2nd TE I've had, and both kept a poor charge.

There's no way I could charge my TE the way your wife does. Sure there's nothing exceptional with the batteries in
her TE? :-) It sure seems like it. I've heard numerous comments on the TEs short battery life.

Is she able to run it for, say, 4 hours constantly? What happens if she does? I can't, the battery gets very low,
and since it's harmful to deep discharge a lith-ion battery, I've only tried it once, weeks after I'd bought it.

- Dugie

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

Just the stock 900mAh (I believe) battery.

I do have to admit that I keep the sounds off in most if not all games as
it's easier to be seen as taking notes rather than playing bejeweled in a
meeting that way.

Today was an especially heavy day. According to battery gauge, it was
actually on for 2 hours 46 minutes, and got down to exactly 60%.

The types of games you play will make a big difference. For example,
Solitaire takes far less CPU cycles and consequently uses far less power
than bejeweled 2. Doing anything off of an SD or MM card will use far more
power than using things installed in RAM. Reading books or avantgo stuff is
easy on the power as well.

Of course, YMMV, but I find it's plenty for me. I do have a palm Power To
Go sled for recharging when I'm traveling and get 2 to 3 recharges out of it
without a problem.

We had an office lunch and I didn't spend much time reading, and a good
chunk of the juice was consumed either playing solitaire during an unending
conference call or actually taking notes and working. Not bad overall.
It's extremely rare that I've ever gotten it down to the point where I felt
the urge to recharge during the day, and I've absolutely never gotten a low
battery warning before I finished off the day and put it in the cradle or on
the sled if traveling.
"Dugie" <d_fren@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:SIrxd.198349$Np3.8183215@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
> "Tim Harbison" <timsh@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:ennxd.679$gZ4.649@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
>> Can't say from personal experience how the E is, but I have a T|3 and
>> have
>> no major complaints. I consider myself a heavy user. Have the
>> brightness
>> set at about 1/3, beam receive on, games on and off throughout the day
>> while
>> on the phone, etc. notes in meetings, reading books & avantgo stuff at
>> lunch, etc. I never get below about 60% by the end of the day.
>
> What type and mAh specs of battery? This sounds very good. It must be more
> than the 800 or 900 mAh my TE lith-Ion
> has..
>
> - Dugie
>
>

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

"Julian" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
>a total [battery] on-time of anywhere between 14 hours
>(if I'm doing a lot of WiFi) up to over 18 hours
>if I'm mostly reading ebooks (off the memory card).

Most reviews give this model around 8 hours battery life in average use.

>personally I don't find the relatively slow CPU (128MHz)

Actually it runs down to as low as 8 MHz according to specs.

>any problem at all.

But apparently many did find problems with the sluggish rendition of many
programs, again per reviews.

>If only PalmOne could match this achievement.

Palm is probably happy they didn't. Sony is gone now (here anyway) - apparently
their models didn't sell so well. Palm on the other hand is still hanging on...

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

"Dugie" <d_fren@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote:

>One way would be to return to powering with 2 AAAs,

Here is why AAA batteries are a poor choice for high current electronics:

http://store.yahoo.com/greenbatter [...] tml#normal

>which allows the use of much higher mAh batteries.

Here is a chart that show what happens to alkalines under heavy load:

http://store.yahoo.com/greenbatteries-store/chart.html

An example shows that a 3000 mAh alkaline battery may supply less than 700 mAh
in a digital camera. It's conceivable that with wifi/bluetooth, video, mp3, and
a bright screen going that a PDA could approach or exceed the current draw of a
digital camera.

>Or, use rechargeable AAAs and supply the appropriate charger.

The supplied Li-ion is more efficient than rechargeable AAAs:

http://www.mygift.com/universe/batinfo.html

>Or, increase the mAh of the present battery, even if it means switching to nmhi from lith-ion.

The supplied battery *is* a Li-ion.

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

I have a Sony NR70 which has excellent battery retention. I listen to music on a 2hr flight whilst playing games on it,
and it will reduce to 90% full at worst.
I also have a new IPAQ. The above use on this would latten it in 1.5hrs - absolutely hopeless.
So I can recommend the Sony for decnt resolution & excellent staying power

Andy

Dugie wrote:

> "John" <johnw_94020@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1103126684.5166634b7ff0906766619142b6717f7a@teranews...
> > I am looking for a straight answer. On a typical color Palm such as the
> > T5, or Palm Zire, how long of battery life can you get? I hear that on
> > many PPC's you only get 3-5 hours if even that.
> <snip>
> > On my monochrome Palm I get 1 month of usage if not more at times.
>
> Straight forward answer:
>
> I've used all three Palms the same amount each day, which is quite a lot:
>
> - My first Palm was a B/W m125 Palm, had it for about 3 1/2 years. It took two AA batteries, and they lasted a month
> or more.
> - The second was a color m130, had it for 3 months, and it took two AAs. I switched to recharagables, since the
> batteries didn't last as long, but they were NiMH, 800 mAh each, so lasted maybe a week. I think I returned the m130
> to the store.
> - My current Tungsten E has a terrible built-in Lithium-Ion battery pack, around 800 mAh.
> I get about 4 hours use from a full charge, and keep it charging each night. I don't let the charge get too low,
> but that doesn't seem to help.
>
> I'd much rather have the option of using regular alkaliine or recharagable batteries with a separate charger. Then I
> would use two sets, and have one set ready to install when/if needed. I do this for my digital camera.
>
> It was a big shock to go from one months use to 4 hours use. Palm made a backward step there. Even though the T E
> offers great resolution and features, if I can't use it say on an airplane flight, or away from a charger, it's not
> really useable.
>
> Stay with your monochrome, if battery life is important, and use your laptop.
>
> USB sync is MUCH faster, but important only if you need a fast-syncing Palm.
> What model is you mono Palm?
>
> - Dugie