Toms Hardware Article

[droneb]

then i recall some Asus U series laptop going up to 14 hours, XD

OP Team should have claimed more since we've got 200mAh more (still 4000 mAh but hey it was tested, isnt it?)

 

[DaMummy]

we might as well say 1 week of batter life, even tho it is on standby....

 

[igboo]

Relay? Who needs stinking relay.

When I get my Pandora I'll gladly make the "sacrifice" of whatever amount of hours of straight gaming. Maybe a Zelda marathon, starting with NES versions, all the way up to N64 ones that work. (well maybe that'll be more than 10 hours with gameboy and N64 ones are included :lol: ).

Hmmm... just two words... Desert Bus

 

[Yoyobuae]

Hey, hey, take it easy. It's supposed to be 10 hours of fun, not torture.

 

[cobaltage]

As Craig mentioned, most portable devices (like the iPhone, Palm Pre, etc.) have a 1150 to 1450 mAh battery. Any of them would run for at least 10 hours (give or take) with the 4000 mAh battery in the Pandora. Tom's Hardware was just being a little lazy. In the end, if they write another article about the Pandora when it's released, they'll have to retract their skeptical statement about Pandora's battery life, which will be even better press.

 

[Exophase]

As Craig mentioned, most portable devices (like the iPhone, Palm Pre, etc.) have a 1150 to 1450 mAh battery. Any of them would run for at least 10 hours (give or take) with the 4000 mAh battery in the Pandora. Tom's Hardware was just being a little lazy. In the end, if they write another article about the Pandora when it's released, they'll have to retract their skeptical statement about Pandora's battery life, which will be even better press.

I think I was the one who mentioned that, although I'm not sure :B

 

[darien]

Funny, they describe the person who made the video as "a forum member of Engadget".

Journalistic Integrity at its best.

 

[Chip]

I think we need to cut Tom's some slack. Overall, it's a positive article. You can't expect someone who hasn't been following development closely for months to be as in tune to all the nuances of the product as we are. And honestly, without an independant 3rd party review of battery life, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that the 10 hour claims are as jacked up as every other manufacturer's claims. Lying about battery life has become such a standard, that it would be journalistically irresponsible to report that the claims are accurate without proof. The Pandora is a non-standard device from a non-standard company. It's going to take the mainstream blogosphere a while to figure that out. It's not their fault that they've become accustomed to the unfortunate status-quo.

 

[cosurgi]

... The Pandora is a non-standard device from a non-standard company. It's going to take the mainstream blogosphere a while to figure that out. It's not their fault that they've become accustomed to the unfortunate status-quo.

people will write about that on their blags.

 

[Tor]

Even my N900 (very similar OMAP3 setup as the Pandora), with its puny 1320mAh battery and way-too-much stuff crammed into it, can now last over the weekend before I feel I need to charge it. It's extremely dependent on how well the system lets the CPU alone. If something for some reason keeps spending 10-20% CPU it'll only last a night.

 

[mali]

Yep, it's the same on the Archos 5 Android IT. The most impportant factor is proper CPU and especially Wifi power management.

 

[Peri28]

The battery is fine.

8 to 14 hours is enough to make use of it.

Also, if spent, just recharged and ready.

Summary, the battery is fully to good use.

PS / Sorry for my English.

Greetings.

 

[cobaltage]

As Craig mentioned, most portable devices (like the iPhone, Palm Pre, etc.) have a 1150 to 1450 mAh battery. Any of them would run for at least 10 hours (give or take) with the 4000 mAh battery in the Pandora. Tom's Hardware was just being a little lazy. In the end, if they write another article about the Pandora when it's released, they'll have to retract their skeptical statement about Pandora's battery life, which will be even better press.

I think I was the one who mentioned that, although I'm not sure :B

I never know what I'm talking about anyway.

 

[Paradox]

with regard to battery life, how about making it so the wifi is only turned on when you launch applications that make use of it, and disable it when you close them. would be a pain to have to manually do it everytime if you want to conserve battery life.

 

[renegadechic]

interesting idea. i definitely think that could be incorporated into a minimal manager. a simple "go online" button that connects to the network and boots up a browser. i doubt you would use the minimal mode for instant messaging or anything, it would literally just need to be a very simple browser.

 

[mali]

Usually a good Wifi driver is smart enough to active/deactivate when in use/not in use. I don't know how advanced the current driver is, though. 6h with Wifi on sounds like power management is still missing.

 

[Vorporeal]

Usually a good Wifi driver is smart enough to active/deactivate when in use/not in use. I don't know how advanced the current driver is, though. 6h with Wifi on sounds like power management is still missing.

Really? I haven't heard of any devices that do that...

 

[mali]

Usually a good Wifi driver is smart enough to active/deactivate when in use/not in use. I don't know how advanced the current driver is, though. 6h with Wifi on sounds like power management is still missing.

Really? I haven't heard of any devices that do that...

You can leave N8x0's Wifi on, no problem. As soon as you use it, it activates itself.

Edit:
It's not off, but in some kind of sleep mode while keeping the connection to the hotspot. The hotspot has to support it also, afaik.

 

[marshal]

Usually a good Wifi driver is smart enough to active/deactivate when in use/not in use. I don't know how advanced the current driver is, though. 6h with Wifi on sounds like power management is still missing.

Really? I haven't heard of any devices that do that...

It's more power management than the wifi turning itself off/on. Basically with proper power management you're able to stay connected while using little power. Actually some access point are better than other with power management and the distance to the AP point will also play a role.

To give you an example the nokia internet tablet have great battery life with wifi on. You can basically leave it on the whole time. It will check if there is a known wifi network at a certain interval and connect to it automatically. And just staying connected won't drain the battery too much. Even with refreshing your RSS feed every half hour and checking your email it's really quite good. And it got "only" a 1500mha battery.

 

[nightwheel]

I think we need to cut Tom's some slack. Overall, it's a positive article. You can't expect someone who hasn't been following development closely for months to be as in tune to all the nuances of the product as we are. And honestly, without an independant 3rd party review of battery life, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that the 10 hour claims are as jacked up as every other manufacturer's claims. Lying about battery life has become such a standard, that it would be journalistically irresponsible to report that the claims are accurate without proof. The Pandora is a non-standard device from a non-standard company. It's going to take the mainstream blogosphere a while to figure that out. It's not their fault that they've become accustomed to the unfortunate status-quo.

I agree with you, I'm not surprised that he's weary of the battery life claims. And that it will take time for people to get used to it.