Battery Life Comparison

[Menneisyys]

The battery on my iPAQ 3650 can only last 45 minutes without giving me a low battery sign

It's because of the battery's aging - you can swap in a new, giving you 2-4 hours of battery life.

[Menneisyys]

I don't think they comsume far more power, I think it's got to do with their batteries being a lot lower capacity.

This is why I've used the word "relatively"

If you do the maths:

90 minutes = 100% power consumption for a 1100 mAh battery (ASUS, Dell)
240 minutes = 100% power consumption for a 1640 mAh battery (Siemens)

then you see that the Dell and the ASUS indeed have engineering problems.

Where the hell'd you get those stats from?? They are horribly off.

You mean the Asus / Dell values? From postings and tests. A rexent post here in PM told web browsing over Wi-Fi reduced the charge level by 30% - that is, about 90-100 minutes are enough to completely drain the Asus. (If Wi-Fi doesn't switch itself off after reaching the "red zone").

[Tala]

90 minutes = 100% power consumption for a 1100 mAh battery (ASUS, Dell)
240 minutes = 100% power consumption for a 1640 mAh battery (Siemens)

These numbers are way off. I have both the Loox 720 and the Dell X50v. If i set the X50v to 520MHz the difference in runtime is about as long as the different battery size suggests.
Also for video playback the x50v wins, because it can use its hardware decoder, which apparently drains less power than the CPU. Also the video looks much better on the X50v due to hardware scaling and filtering.

Tala

ps. I cannot say anything about the Asus.

[spiral]

I just don't understand why the Dell / ASUS consumes (relatively) far more power than the Pocket Loox...

The loox also has a smaller screen, which saves battery power. And as mentioned several times already, the reference number you're using for the X50v/A730w is off. Every review I read (all performed under different conditions) reported ~2+ hours of battery life.

[Menneisyys]

I just don't understand why the Dell / ASUS consumes (relatively) far more power than the Pocket Loox...

The loox also has a smaller screen, which saves battery power. And as mentioned several times already, the reference number you're using for the X50v/A730w is off. Every review I read (all performed under different conditions) reported ~2+ hours of battery life.

I don't really want to debate on this because I have never tested these two devices.

A730W: The pdabuyersguide's test at http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ASUS_A730W.htm states:

"In our tests the unit lasted about 2 hours on a full charge in a mix of use with brightness set to 60%: access PIM info, working with Pocket Word and Excel, playing MP3s for 30 minutes, watching a five minute video, shooting 10 photos and playing games for an hour. If you have Bluetooth turned on, battery life will be reduced by about 30 minutes. Standby time wasn't terribly impressive either, with the unit losing 10% charge per day (standby means the unit is not used at all).

We tested the unit in Turbo mode for the results above, but found that Standard mode increased battery life about 25% while still offering good performance. Certainly if you're using WiFi which drains the battery significantly, you'll want to avoid Turbo mode. Using Turbo mode with Automatic power savings checked, we surfed the web using Pocket IE for 85 minutes before hitting the 30% power remaining warning. In Standard mode (also with Auto power savings enabled) we got 1 hour and 50 minutes. Even by VGA Pocket PC standards, these runtimes aren't very good. "

That is, it's only in Standard mode (meaning: significantly slower at task switching and stuff) that you will have significantly more battery life than 2 hours. In Turbo mode, about 120 minutes (O.K., not 90 minutes, I stand corrected - I didn't remember they only tested until reaching the 30% level, and not until really low charging level.)

Dell X50v:



from the test at http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/2004 ... 0v-10.html

[Registered]

That is quite possibly the worst battery life benchmark I have ever seen for the X50v. First, he sets the CPU mode to auto and then he doesn't even say what the device was doing for those 4 and a half hrs so you have absolutely no idea what the processor was doing (could be anywhere from 200-624Mhz) for those 4 and a half hours. Way to destroy your own credibility by relying on others' extremely poor credibility.

[niki]

I hope Asus will soon release a new VGA Pocket PC with better battery life; I could buy the X50v, but I have the feeling that this brand produces cheap things.....
May it's just a feeling, but..when I hear the name "Asus", I immediately think to a quality product.
Another reason that tells me not to buy the Dell is the screen quality: I've never heard someone amazed about its quality..the last PDA I bought I didnt care about the screen (Toshiba e310) and I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
But there's more about the X50v: Asus offers 2 years warranty, while Dell gives you only 1..be careful, this detail is much more important than u think!

On the other side,I have to admit the excellent performances of the X50v..

[spiral]

I could buy the X50v, but I have the feeling that this brand produces cheap things..... Another reason that tells me not to buy the Dell is the screen quality:

The X50v isn't produced by Dell. It's made by HTC, a taiwanese OEM, it's also made a whole bunch of smartphones and Pocket PC phones. I think the 1900 HP series was made by them. And the Dell screen quality is still far above an QVGA device, in some ways (I believe color reproduction), it is better than some of the other VGA devices. It's pretty subjective, because it depends on what elements of the screen you find most important (brightness, washed out, color reproduction, cool/warm)

[Registered_]

Yep, and let's not forget HTC makes the FSC 720s and IPAQ 4700s. The only thing Dell does is sell them, provide for them, and possibly manufacture the hold switch cause those things are real flimsy and shoddy, however it's a hold switch so it really doesn't matter in the least. Wouldn't want you guys (*cough* Menneisyys *cough*) to overanalyze another tiny flaw the X50v has.

[tomdon]

The X50V has a hidden contrast adjuster. It is possible to make it look like the HP which is meant to have the best vga screen around.

[spiral]

Yep, and let's not forget HTC makes the FSC 720s and IPAQ 4700s.

HTC makes the 4700? I think i heard they make the Loox 720 from a few places. But the boxy square design of the 4700 looks more like what Hp makes.

[Registered_]

Yep, and let's not forget HTC makes the FSC 720s and IPAQ 4700s.

HTC makes the 4700? I think i heard they make the Loox 720 from a few places. But the boxy square design of the 4700 looks more like what Hp makes.

I'm positive they manufacture the HX47xx's. You're welcome to try and find the FCC profile. Although I think the companies that sell the devices specify the design and (obviously) specifications they'd like. When you think about it, it's really Asus vs. HTC (Toshiba's really out of the picture...) in terms of VGA PPCs.

[PROPortable]

That is correct. No, it's basically HTC vs: Asus.