Toms Hardware Article

[Grench]

Well, Tomshardware picked up on the Engadget article from Pandorapress and threw in their own bits...

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Pandora-PC-Linux-Handheld-Gaming,9310.html

"The little rig also supposedly offers over ten hours of battery life, but we're betting that's only on standby."

So, should someone let them know that the battery life really is 10 hours of game play, 100 hours of MP3 (screen off) and a week+ on standby? I'm assuming that the numbers that have been thrown around are still the 'right' numbers?

Starting to hit the mainstream press - best get things sorted for the 2nd batch as soon as the first one finishes shipping out. I have the odd feeling that the 2nd batch may have to be more than 4,000 units.

 

[Exophase]

The pessimism regarding a 10 hour battery life is not very surprising, since most mobile devices out now are using a battery that has 1/3rd or lower the capacity of Pandora's.

100 hours of mp3 is totally unsubstantiated. TI claimed it, but it relies on software that doesn't at this point exist for Pandora. It's far from what you'd get running mp3s on the Pandora as it is now. You'd probably get a lot better than ten hours, though.

 

[craigix]

The pessimism regarding a 10 hour battery life is not very surprising, since most mobile devices out now are using a battery that has 1/3rd or lower the capacity of Pandora's.

100 hours of mp3 is totally unsubstantiated. TI claimed it, but it relies on software that doesn't at this point exist for Pandora. It's far from what you'd get running mp3s on the Pandora as it is now. You'd probably get a lot better than ten hours, though.

It does depress me about battery life claims messing up the Pandora (real) claims.

Maybe we should start putting 20 hours*

*with shitty crippled settings.

 

[Grench]

Now that there are a few MP OpenPandora consoles running about - has anyone put together some more concrete numbers around battery life expectancy?

 

[craigix]

Yes, 10 hours

 

[Grench]

The pessimism regarding a 10 hour battery life is not very surprising, since most mobile devices out now are using a battery that has 1/3rd or lower the capacity of Pandora's.

100 hours of mp3 is totally unsubstantiated. TI claimed it, but it relies on software that doesn't at this point exist for Pandora. It's far from what you'd get running mp3s on the Pandora as it is now. You'd probably get a lot better than ten hours, though.

It does depress me about battery life claims messing up the Pandora (real) claims.

Maybe we should start putting 20 hours*

*with shitty crippled settings.

Maybe someone official (hint) should politely respond in the Talkback to correct the errors in the article and note that the battery life is real? Might be good to pre-empt the trolls before they get there. Just a thought.

 

[Exophase]

Battery life claims are a touchy subject no matter how you approach it. Unless you totally max out the CPU usage the entire time you can only say that you're representing some "typical" usage which is completely non-repeatable. Then you have to take into consideration how much other peripherals are used, what clock speed things are at, what brightness level the screen is at, if sound is playing and at what volume and over speakers or headphones, etc.

I'd like to see if and how much things have changed since the first test forever ago running SNES emulation (presumably not frame-limited) at 500MHz, lasting about 8.5 hours. If that's 10 hours then that number can be used with decent confidence, although it doesn't reflect usage at the maximum of 600MHz. I think what would really dive battery consumption is if that DSP was actually used for a change, and at full capacity, in conjunction with everything else.

 

[Grench]

Yes, 10 hours

What would be funny, almost pointless but still funny, would be to have someone make a time-lapse 1 frame per 10 seconds or so video of playing a Pandora for 10 solid hours. No other company with battery life claims would dare to.

Talk about marathon gaming - might have to do it like a relay race. lol

 

[craigix]

10 hours should be from 'normal' use, that is using it for emulators, some web, some messing about with apps.

If you maxed it out with wifi on all the time you are going to drop it to probably (under) 6 hours.

On the other hand, if you minimum-ed it out you would probably get 15 hours.

So I think 10 is a good and fair number, I don't think anyone will be disappointed with the battery life (unlike they would be for certain other devices).

 

[Luminous]

Now that there are a few MP OpenPandora consoles running about - has anyone put together some more concrete numbers around battery life expectancy?

+1

 

[craigix]

Now that there are a few MP OpenPandora consoles running about - has anyone put together some more concrete numbers around battery life expectancy?

Could someone bite the bullet, take one for the team, be a trooper and do this work so we can really know the facts, since we pre orderers are unable to do such things?

We have, numerous times, it's about 10 hours.

 

[mali]

Battery life claims are a touchy subject no matter how you approach it. Unless you totally max out the CPU usage the entire time you can only say that you're representing some "typical" usage which is completely non-repeatable. Then you have to take into consideration how much other peripherals are used, what clock speed things are at, what brightness level the screen is at, if sound is playing and at what volume and over speakers or headphones, etc.

+1

 

[MiniSinisterMinister]

Do you know the Area 5 video podcasts? They have a new commercial sponsor, a notebook maker I cannot recall the name. In the commercial it is claimed that their laptop can run for 12 hours with 3G internet on.

 

[Esn]

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

 

[Luminous]

thanks Craig, OP Team is top notch supporting us customers, I appreciate it. I am in particular interested in its battery life if I use it strictly as an MP3 FLAC player In any case I've been loving the updates and I know the mass production is near to start, less than Two Months away, too! lol

 

[Yoyobuae]

Yes, 10 hours

What would be funny, almost pointless but still funny, would be to have someone make a time-lapse 1 frame per 10 seconds or so video of playing a Pandora for 10 solid hours. No other company with battery life claims would dare to.

Talk about marathon gaming - might have to do it like a relay race. lol

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: ).

 

[mafia-man]

Tom's a cucking funt!

 

[GPJosh]

Do you know the Area 5 video podcasts? They have a new commercial sponsor, a notebook maker I cannot recall the name. In the commercial it is claimed that their laptop can run for 12 hours with 3G internet on.

Area 5's Co-Op (and the 1up Show before it) are great shows It's the nokia booklet 3g, and that battery number of 12 hours on a traditional netbook always seemed high to me as well.

 

[kagato]

What would be funny, almost pointless but still funny, would be to have someone make a time-lapse 1 frame per 10 seconds or so video of playing a Pandora for 10 solid hours. No other company with battery life claims would dare to.

Talk about marathon gaming - might have to do it like a relay race. lol

I think it would be a pretty kick-ass video, actually
Film it outside, maybe sitting on a nice scenic hill somewhere, starting late morning (with a clock in the corner). Play straight through, tag-teaming as necessary; maybe watch a (CC-licensed) movie while everyone eats some pizza for dinner; all while the sun sets in the background and night falls...

 

[Dead1nside]

The battery life was one of the main selling points to me, so I think somebody should correct them.