9. Battery Runtime

The battery test integrated in the PDA benchmark determines how long the pocket PC requires to reach the critical 30-percent limit of remaining battery capacity. Microsoft has stated that data integrity cannot be guaranteed below this threshold. The test performs a virtual pen movement on the display every five seconds so that the pocket PC doesn't shut off. The device's status is logged in a report file every 60 seconds. To keep results consistent, the display brightness of each pocket PC must first be set to the same value (30 candelas per square meter).

The Pocket Loox desperately needs to have its power management improved. Asus' MyPal A600 shows that PDAs don't have to be wasteful.

Practical Test: Synchronizing Contact Information

In this practical test, we synchronized the Contacts folder on the PDA via its USB cradle with a Contacts folder on a PC that held 1,800 contacts. We used Outlook 2002 under Windows XP Professional as a PIM.