PocketMatrix

If I go to a long meeting with my Asus, I have to make sure its fully charged, and I either bring the spare battery or my AA battery adapter, and more often than not a spare power cord.
I use it to take notes using a BT keyboard. I also check/send emails using wifi during the meeting. And I use the camera to take pictures of the white boards.
The two hour rule is accurate for the Asus in this scenario. I also usually drop the CPU speed down to low, as I don't need the speed for this. The extended battery is not an option, as then its too big for my pocket.

Playing games kills the battery. If I am waiting for something (doctor, son's activity, etc), the battery will drop 30% in about 15-20 minutes. This is with speed set to standard and screen set to 3rd notch. (2nd notch is way too low for me, and turbo just eats the battery up). When I am out like this, I don't carry the spare battery or cords. I want the ppc to be small, to fit in jeans pocket, as my ipaq 3970 was too large (but the battery lasted well over a day of high use). I really doubt you could get through a whole movie on this thing.

My friends dell 50 has similar dismal battery performance, plus he soft resets a few times a day.

If you take the back cover of the 730 off, you can see lots of wasted space. The stylus slot is too big, the full size back cover takes up quite a bit of space, and the bottom lip of the battery slot could be smaller and a drop in type instead of slide.

I love the screen, all the features, and I use them all fully. Its just the battery kills this thing. I just do more work than it can provide power for.
Maybe I should cut down

oh, and I have every intention of still keeping and using my Asus

Justin... Calm down. You're overreacting, and it doesn't do your credibility a whole lot of good.

The fact is, the A730W's battery life is very poor, even compared to other batteries the same size. If you look at the table under the Battery section on the included link, there's a comparison of three VGA PocketPCs using the same testing methods. The Asus doesn't compare favorably.

http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=2401

Again, a guest posting... if you guys want to hide behind a screen of anonymity, you really should go somewhere else. Bargain PDA has yet to do a review that came close to impressing me and for that to be a good review and Pocket Matrix's maybe isn't... I think that is a direct aim at the credibility of Matt Keys and his reviews.

To start... Those battery readings are BS..... both on the low and hide side for the 730w atleast. I haven't heard one person tell me that the dell screen came anywhere near to the quality and brightness of the 730's...nor the wireless range as long. Hence the much lower readings at full brightness and with wifi on.

On the other side...... with both units set to 50% brightness and an "active process" (meaing in the same program it should be scaled to the same speed)... 50% backlight on the 730 is not the same as 50% on the Dell.

The best test to compare "the battery" would be to run the dell and the asus with the screen off, at the same speed..... and come up with a number. They will be the same if not slightly better in Asus' favor. There is a reason the dell is less expensive.. and it has a lot to do with the components they use.

Justin