For all those commenters in our recent
Palm Pre feature wondering just exactly what kind of battery we could expect to see in the device, wonder no more. According to Dieter Bohn over at the newly christened
PreCentral, the phone will use the
exact same battery as the Treo 800w and the Centro -- a 1150mAh model. Apparently Palm reps were happy to snap the back off the device and show the source of its juice off. That same size battery is used in the G1 as well, and Dieter notes that there's an aftermarket 1350mAh version which could offer more power. Certainly such a small battery -- a size which we know leaves a lot to be desired in a next-gen phone like the G1 -- isn't music to our ears, but since we don't know how the Pre handles power consumption, there's still plenty of questions to be answered. And hey, you
could keep a spare around, right?
Update: Jenn at Pocketables tells us that the battery is 1200mAh as told to her by a Palm rep at CES. We've just gotten word from Palm that this actually isn't set in stone yet. In their words: "We're still doing some final development and testing various user scenarios as part of carrier certification."
[Via
Palm Infocenter]
posted January 16th 2009 2:00AM
Hey, at least it's replaceable... I really would LOVE it if I could pop another one into my iPhone when it dies at 3pm.
I take it you have an iphone?
did him saying so give it away?
I hope they didn't go with a smaller battery & then claim they did it cause it has removable battery, first good lithium ion batteries are not cheap & 2nd not everyone carries batteries in their pockets. Am really surprise your iPhone battery keeps dying on you cause the iphone has a usage meter and my unit always goes over 5+ hour of continues heavy use, and up to 2 days when i don't browse the web that much. Palm has a great device i hope they don't killed it
@Regular Salad
Perhaps you should change your screen name to Mr. Obvious.
My Motorola Q has a 1130 mAH battery, but it also has a 300-or-so MHz processor, and I have to charge it daily with moderate use. I would assume the Pre has better power management than my Q, but still, I'm sure it's cpu is significantly faster, and probably draws at least the same amount of power if not more. I don't mind charging my phone every night, but if it's going to die before the day is over I'm going to be very disappointed.
Take this with a grain of salt as I don't own the device nor did I research it, but an owner friend of mine told that the Q's processor is able to execute more instructions at a time than most similar ARM processors. However, it also uses more power in the process than similar ARM processors.
At idle, the OMAP3 will draw a lot less power than previous ARM SoCs, but its peak consumption will be slightly higher. Battery life is going to be highly dependent on how quickly Palm gets the CPU to idle.
LOL. My Treo 800w has the same crap battery. I must say recently, the battery doesn't die because I decided to stop using the device for power-intensive apps like GPS, Web browsing and music.
The Pre's processor has a special low power state in which its pretty much halted entirely when idle and uses almost no energy. However, the real concern is all of the radios, which use up the most power. I'm especially concerned about that on a device such as this, designed to be connected to the web all the time.
So do other mobile phones.
This is the one weak spot of the Pre. It's not THAT bad, I suppose. If there's an optional high capacity battery, the weakness is gone. Can't say the same about the faults of some other mobiles.
Oh, my Nokia 5800 lasts a really long time if I'm just listening to music most of the time, and talking occasionally. I think the Pre would give you only 1 hour 45 minutes of talk-time, but it's hard to say. Perhaps the power management is really advanced, although I doubt it.
hopefully theres apps with a one click radio off function like previous palms
Why would you say that this phone is designed to be connected to the web all the time? Just because it uses HTML to interface with the Linux back-end does not mean it is to be connected to the web all the time.
I have the same crappy battery in my 800w, and I need to charge this device in my car twice per day just to make it work all day.
Can this phone get any better
dude, i LOVE the pre. i mean REALLY love the pre. but you're just asking for a flame war. there's ALWAYS somebody who will find SOMETHING...
Built-in battery is for now, portable wireless powering is the future. by wearing our company's POWER (portable omnidirectional wireless electricity radiator) jacket, you can keep every gadget near you powered. it's cheap, easy and fun, you just have to wear that totally unfashionable jacket, that's all.
iphone battery does drain quicker than your average cell. but your average cell doesnt have a 3.5 inch superbright ambient light sensor multitouch touchscreen. i guarantee this will suck up juice on pre ,but having to go out n buying another battery for $70, no thanks. remember global recession. palm pre sales numbers will be all that is necessary to measure its success. starting with usa ,first market in which it will launch.i cant wait to see if palm sells 1 million pre in first 72 hours of release, in usa. that will be first test in order to achieve the coveted title.,
i mean if imperfect iphone did it with all its flaws,palm pre should be able to sell that many with no problem. especially cuz it has copy/paste,mms,push,multitasking n ohhh the most important feature ,the secret to success a removable battery.all features the imperfect iphone does not have..,
give it a rest and put down the kool-aid.
lol shugg.... i dont think palm has a cult leader/following, so it might not eclipse the numbers for a phone that was overhyped, and took 3 years to reach the useability it should have released at. You tout the iPhone now, but i'm looking forward to seeing the Pre / android phones once they have 3 years to mature and grow, and for the companies to fix their mistakes..... oh wait.....
My kingdom for a longer lasting battery to power these devices! Give me hardcore 24 hour batter life in my Laptop and my PDA on the go, someone!
replace-able. PASS.
non-removable. FAIL.
I have a serious question for every single blogger. Honestly, which one of u carries around 2 cell phone batteries???
I do. Tho my phone is cheap and small, unlike many PDAs, and the battery costs AU$20 at local asian phone store. Saves me on several occasions. PSP too; spare battery. DSLR too, spare battery (2 in fact, which, given how much I have used it lately, is overkill). Compact cam, too (copious spare AAs, which are used for other devices, too).
There are few things more annoying to me than seeing the low battery indicator when I want to use it. Carrying a spare is tiny; far smaller (and cheaper) than solar chargers, external battery appendages and so forth. Removable batteries ftw.
I do. My Samsung Instinct came with two batteries in the box. When you consider how tiny these batteries are, I barely notice the spare in my pocket.
I have two. It's useful when I was out camping, or when I was backpacking and only had time for sporadic recharging of my battery.
i have a treo 800w with seidio 2600mah battery
it goes 2+ days per charge
i leave the gps, wifi and bluetooth on all the time
i would say i am a heavy user, 2+ hours/day of im, 50-75 sms messages/day, 1+ hour/day web and 1+ hour of phone talk time/day.
buy the pre, wait for the big aftermarket battery, be happy
This gonna suck big time, for once do it right Palm and put a bigger battery in it. My Nokia E71 is smaller in size then the Pré and has a 1500mah battery.
Many people complained in the beginning of the Apple phone about battery life and now it should be ok to accept a device that don't last a day.
No matter how efficient WebOS gonna handle power management , its a fact that big screens and 3G radios drain battery fast.
These phones need a bigger battery to last long enough to be acceptable.
Hmm, same battery as the 800w, Centro, and G1. I wonder if HTC is still the contract manufacturer for Palm (such as with the 750 and the Pro).
Perhaps people will like to play with the touchstone too much to notice that it's actually charging the phone.
"hey, this palm never runs out of juice, i wonder why...." *places Pre on Touchstone and watch the magnets align the phone* *giggles like a girl*
You said "juice off."
since the pre is going to sprint, does that mean it'll have direct connect? ..you know, the "chirp" ??
i doubt it, the sprint phones and nextel phones are still pretty separate.
I'd much rather have the option of carrying a spare battery in my pocket or backpack (women could easily carry one in their bag/purse) than having NO replaceable battery (a la iPhone)!
and you KNOW there will be people with the touchstone at their work desk / car mount = more charging anyways :)
"More shots are after the break, including a fancy FCC diagram depicting a removable battery."
That was from the first day coverage of the Pre, and that text is still at http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/the-palm-pre/
However, that fancy diagram got pulled pretty quick and I haven't seen it since and no one wants to say anything about it. What gives?
On a side note, a Sprint rep who seemed very knowledgeable (as opposed to most cell phone reps) told me last night we should see the Pre in February. Please supply your own grain of salt to take that with.
I'd be hesitant to start swapping out the OEM for after market batteries if your using the wireless charger. I just have an inherent distrust of new technology, and batteries aren't exactly the most reliable products when it comes to explosions.
I had to laugh out loud on this. These batteries are horrid. They last about 5 or so months of normal use and begin to lose its capacity fast. It's akin to diving off a cliff. Fast and furious demise.
Even a new full capacity battery can barely get 4 hours out of it. You have to carry around minimum of 2 with you all day long. Perhaps Palm should have done for their so called iPhone killer what Microsoft does. You know "me too" M.O.
I have this battery in my Treo 800w, and it is the one major disappointment in this phone. It's not that big of a deal for me, because I sit at a desk for most of the week, but when I'm on the road, it's a bummer. Hopefully the new processor will utilize the power better.
I'm still getting the Pre on day one though. I haven't been this excited about a phone in a long time.
it's weird that they gave it the same battery as the 800w and not the treo pro (1500 mAh li-lon).
it's weird that they gave it the same battery as the 800w and not the treo pro (1500 mAh li-lon).
A smaller replaceable battery is a great solution. Would rather have a smaller handset and the ability to easily swap batteries than having to lug around a bigger battery/unit all the time.
Not having the ability to swap batteries and have this option is rather - insane.
With a battery the size of a Centro, they might have some trouble pushing these ;)
regaurdless of my screen name, if this phone had a mouth too, id make out with it. But i might have to brush my teeth afterwards because i dont want all that CDMA in my mouth.