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iPhone 3G extended battery options
Fellow propeller-head and all-around nice guy Joel Evans over at Geek.com let me know that they had published a short post about a couple of iPhone 3G extended battery options. Since the 3G has a tendency to suck battery power like a vacuum powered by a Pratt & Whitney PW-4000 jet engine, several vendors have come out with plug-in battery extenders to make sure your App Store browsing isn't cut short by a lack of juice.I've got one more to add to the list -- the RichardSolo Backup Battery for iPhone / iPod (pictured at right). If you are using your iPhone 3G as much as I am, you either need one of these extended batteries or have a really long extension cord.
SSD-maker responds to nasty report, says it'll do better next time
If you were shaken to your very core at the recent report that SSDs may not be as power-friendly as you'd been led to believe, drive-maker STEC wants to talk you down from the ledge. According to the company's Patrick Wilkison, the Tom's Hardware article which benchmarked (and gave failing grades) to power-consumption of the non-mechanical drives was flawed because, "They are using legacy drives, none of which will be used by any major PC OEM." According to Patrick (whose job, you might note, is to sell SSDs), new versions of the drives will / do have intelligent power management which circumvents the issues that report shed light on. Wilkison goes on to say that, "Drives will need to have very intelligent power management systems. Some of these SSDs will have them, and those (that) do not have such power intelligence will not be used (by PC makers)." So it's sort of like saying a car you buy in the future will get better gas mileage than the one you own now, provided the automaker cares about fuel efficiency. Small solace, we'd say.Update: We've gotten a statement from Micron concerning the report -- you can check it out after the break.
SSDs save battery power, right? Wrong.
If you just shelled out some pretty pennies for the a high-speed, low-power SSD, Tom's Hardware may have stumbled onto some findings that won't sit well. According to a rigorous benchmarking session, they discovered that not only do the drives not save you battery power... they eat more of it. How is this possible you ask? Well mechanical drives only hit peak drainage when the actuator has to move the heads, whereas SSDs use full power whenever they're in use, so the end result is actually a diminished efficiency. What that means is that the hype over "green" drives may be just that: pure hype. On the other hand, you're still getting a drive with no moving parts, which at least makes your data more secure, if not more eco-friendly.[Via Eeeuser; Thanks, Tony]
GamePro tests console controller battery life
GamePro got all scientific and decided to test the battery life of the current-gen wireless controllers. As we've learned over the last year, the hidden cost in this generation's consoles is the money spent on batteries and/or charge kits. For GamePro's testing it used only "out-of-the-box hardware" and followed various reasonable rules in its procedures. The results: PS3: The Sixaxis died after about 19 hours and doesn't have an auto-off feature. The upside is that the controller recharges through USB connection to the console and doesn't require purchasing batteries. Wii: The Wiimote lasted almost 37 hours, but depending on what games are played the rumble and audio within the controller can drain the battery faster. Although the batteries won't last as long, consider rechargeable batteries or the Nyko Wii-charge Station. Xbox 360: Lasting almost 57 hours the controller was the winner in the battery life test. Just like the Wii, consider getting the first-party Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit to save cash in the long run. All the controllers have their good and bad sides. Although the Sixaxis allows gamers to plug in and charge while playing, for those who have their PS3 more than a few feet from where they actually sit and go on gaming benders, it may be worth investing in a USB extension cable. As for the Wii and Xbox 360, investing in charge kits (or rechargeable batteries) will definitely save cash and avoid the awkward situation of a dead controller with no AA batteries in the house.
PSP Extended Life Battery Kit gets priced, dated
We talked to you a little bit yesterday about the PSP's Extended Life Battery Kit, but details were pretty limited. If you missed out, the kit contains a 2200 mAh battery that can double the new PSP's lifespan and two very fancy covers that, much like control top pantyhose, have been specially designed to cover the bulge. Now, Sony says that the kit will retail for $44.99 and will arrive in mid-December, just in time for you to be completely unable to explain it to your grandparents when they watch you open it at Christmas time. There's still one obvious question though: Where's the celebrity endorsement from Jay "The Juiceman" Kordich? Come on, more juice? It's a slam run! Heck, it may even be a home dunk! [Via PSPF]
Philips Xenium 9@9k offers up two months of standby time
We're still not entirely clear if Philips' Xenium 9@9k, you know, actually exists, but according to iDNES, this handset can last a whopping two months without needing a recharge. Granted, the Xenium line has traditionally boasted impressive battery life, but this particular iteration will purportedly last up to 1,440-hours in standby and 17-hours while yapping. Additionally, the tri-band GSM mobile sports an FM tuner, Bluetooth, a VGA camera and a microSD expansion slot. Beyond that, everything else gets lost in translation, but here's to hoping a few more manufacturers step up their game in the longevity department.[Via UnwiredView]
iPhone to feature eight hours of talk, new glass surface
Apple's tooting its own horn about some new spec upgrades to its imminent iPhone. No, it's not 3G, GPS or anything crazy like that, but we'll settle for a battery life upgrade anytime, and screen durability doesn't hurt neither. Apple claims that its preliminary estimates of 5 hours of talk time, internet use and video playback were a tad conservative, and the iPhone instead will be boasting of 8 hours of chatting, 6 hours of internet and 7 hours of video. Audio playback has been boosted from 16 to 24 hours, and standby is at a welcome 250 hours. Of course, Apple does have tendency to exaggerate slightly on the battery life front, but these are promising figures, and should manage to provide a day or two's worth of solid use out of the thing. On the screen side, Apple has upgraded the original plastic surface of the phone to some "optical-quality glass" to improve scratch resistance and clarity. Check after the break for a handy battery life chart.Update: Not sure how we missed this little snafu, but no Apple, you aren't the only one on that chart with WiFi. Update to update: Apple updated the WiFi on that chart, so it looks like that's sorted.
Battery life proving problematic in adding rumble to SIXAXIS?
It's unlikely that we'll be the only ones thrilled to see this fiasco finally reach closure, and even though the dust has somewhat settled, the PS3 faithful are still operating sans a first-party rumbling controller. Rumors may have suggested that such a device was indeed getting ready to launch in the not too distant future, but according to a blurb at Inner Bits, battery life could be holding things up. While it doesn't come without a tad of salt, Sony is reportedly "facing some difficulties with regard to battery life," as sources supposedly mentioned that "the rumble and wireless support" were causing the batteries to "drain too fast to be acceptable for consumers." Of course, there's always the third-party alternative if you're not picky, but those holding out for the real deal could be waiting a tick longer if this proves true.[Via Joystiq]
MSI's Bluetooth-equipped MS-5552 DAP goes 50 hours nonstop
Looks like Aigo's A215 finally has some decent competition, as MSI's recently announced MS-5552 digital audio player matches the purported battery life minute for minute, but requires just a single AAA battery rather than the more traditional AA cell. Additionally, the larger, more vivid screen sure helps the MSI's appearance, but we're fairly certain that activating the built-in Bluetooth will knock those hours down in a hurry. Still, the aluminum alloy enclosure, D-pad styled controls, and integrated wireless functions aren't anything to sneeze at, but unfortunately MSI isn't so willing to unveil pricing and availability details just yet.[Via FarEastGizmos]
Vista's Aero interface blamed for truncated battery life
Considering just how many copies of Windows Vista that Microsoft has moved, it's not too surprising that a few (potentially rightful) whiners are calling the new operating system out for glaring issues. Not too long after users were complaining over sluggish file movements and bogus ads, it seems that the Aero Glass interface is the latest target of concern. Reportedly, the battery life of laptops is being diminished by having the eye candy cranked up, all while Microsoft claims that the OS touts "improved power management capabilities." Of course, Core Duo users cried this same river when trading more horsepower for minutes, but engineers from HP and Lenovo have actually concocted their own power settings after finding the canned options unsuitable. Still, it seems to make perfect sense that flipping on a glitzy interface that obviously requires more juice to run correctly would negatively impact the battery life, but until we start strapping potent fuel cells into our portable machines, this unfortunate trend is likely to continue.
Fujitsu wants WiMAX handsets to last longer
Although WiMAX handsets have not made it out into the wild yet, Fujitsu wants to make sure those mobile WiMAX batteries don't die so quickly. To that end, the Japanese company has developed some tech to enhance the power transmission efficiency of upcoming WiMAX handset amplifiers. With WiMAX transmitters needing large amounts of power to transmit data, any gain in the power efficiency of amp design is going to be welcome, we suppose. Fujitsu claims a power output gain of one and a half times what normal transmission amps get now in mobile WiMAX-equipped handsets. WiMAX networks are probably hitting en masse in 2008 -- if not before -- and conveniently, that's the date Fujitsu has set to commercialize this new tech. Perfect timing, eh?
Motorola patents parasitic cellphone to text battery alerts
While those lusting for love may be enthralled about Motorola's newfound method of extended your chances on ProxiDate, the researchers behind the parasitic cellphone patent probably had more critical scenarios in mind. In cases where your battery life is running flat, situational demands may leave you wondering how you're going to contact your laundry list of emergency contacts with such little juice. The patent spells out an automatic shutdown feature that disables all non-essential functions (including accepting incoming calls), which allows the Bluetooth transceiver to search for "compatible proxy phones" nearby. The sputtering device can then use the proxy cellphone to "send a warning text message to everyone on your pre-arranged emergency list," alerting them of your predicament and that you can only receive SMS messages (for a limited time). Of course, this brilliant plan will only work if indifferent strangers leave their mobiles open for Bluetooth syncs (not likely), and then don't mind you racking up their monthly bill with costly text messages (even less likely).[Via NewScientistTech]
Stretching the Zune's battery life to 14 hours
Here at Engadget, we're all about squeezing every last drop of functionality from our gadgetry, and to be honest, Microsoft's Zune needs all the constringing it can get. While we've heard reports stating the average Zunehead could expect 12 hours of battery life when simply spinning through tunes, and 3.5 hours while watching their favorite YouTube masterpieces, new (unconfirmed) talebearing suggests that users can realize 14 hours of continuous audio playback should they follow a few (rather stringent) rules. There can be no activation of wireless functions, no skipping over tracks, and no usage of the built-in equalizer; additionally, the tunes must be ripped as 128kbps WMA files and repeated into perpetuity. Oh, and we almost forgot -- the backlight timer must be set to "one second," and no "other activities" such as viewing photos or scrolling through playlists are allowed either. While we suppose these carefully implemented listening guidelines can stretch the Zune's theoretical battery life to match that of its primary competitor, we'd probably recommend looking elsewhere if you're not down with daily recharges.
New Samsung Q1b to sport Via C7-M processor?
We've all come to accept the fact that the UMPC hasn't had the heroic launch Microsoft had originally intended, and a fair share of the blame seems to get placed on the (relatively) high price tags, but more costly is possibly the unbearably short battery life of many of these handhelds. Even though the momentous hype saw some of these bad boys initially sold out, it didn't take long for folks to start griping over the "standard" 2.5 hours of battery life, even though bulking up a "ultramobile" machine seemed a counterintuitive solution. Samsung has apparently went back to the drawing board, and is supposedly planning on swapping in a new, more energy efficient processor to preserve those precious minutes of life. If CNET UK is to be believed, Samsung's forthcoming Q1b will be the one to house a Via C7-M chip -- while speculation involving this move piqued our interest previously, bringing it to fruition is undoubtedly a smart move. Those energy-focused engineers at Samsung are also packing massive 32GB SSDs into future UMPC models (namely the NT-Q1-SSD); the Q1b will reportedly sport a 60GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM, which could make (somewhat) commendable strides in keeping the UMPC powered up longer on a single charge, but pairing the Via C7-M with an SSD would seem the optimal (albeit costliest) solution. Regardless, all this power saving definitely won't come cheap, and while we don't know what the Via-equipped Q1b will set you back (nor if it will eventually pack that swank flash hard drive), it should still be a slightly easier pill to swallow if it operates longer than an extended lunch break.[Via jkOnTheRun]
Aigo's A215 touts 50 hour battery life
There are those of us who want a portable music / media player that does it all, and lasts an unnecessarily long time on a single charge, but since that probably ain't happening anytime soon (without costing a small fortune), Aigo figured it might as well go all-out in one particular department for those who don't mind reaping the longevous benefits associated with simplicity. While the A215 can't play video clips, only sports a three-line LCD display, lacks an FM tuner, and can't be recharged through a USB port, this minuscule audio player does manage to outlast those feature-ridden competitors by pumping out the jams for 50 solid hours. The design here seems decent enough, and we're genuinely relieved that it doesn't borrow from the styling cues found on their MP3-playing (and opposite-gender-deterring) wristwatch. A notable limitation is the inability to play back any formats other than your basic MP3 and WMA files, though it apparently will play nice with WMA-DRM. Curiously enough, the spec sheet claims that legendary "50 hour" figure only applies when tapping your foot to MP3 files; if your collection happens to be in WMA, you can "only" count on 35 hours, for whatever reason. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a pocketable way to carry a few tunes around, and don't mind its sheer inability to do anything over and above play them back for an erroneously long time, the 2GB A215 can maximize the utility of that spare AA battery for £69.99 ($132).[Via MobileMag]
Engineering the DS Lite: 2 Nintendo hardware vets speak
Ever wonder what decisions go into a hardware redesign? Thanks to the latest edition of Nintendo's Japanese online mag, we finally get a portable peek into the DS Lite.Two Nintendo engineers who worked on the cuter DS sibling reveal how they pulled off the svelte new look while maintaining things like usability, battery life, and cost.Who knew that the new stylus was made "longer and wider to accommodate older users" (the Brain Age demographic who'd taken such a shine to the now shinier little system)? Durable, reliable hardware: it's what Nintendo does best. Let's hope they continue that trend with the Lite, as well as whatever other slicker iterations of the handheld that we're tempted to purchase -- or repurchase -- in the future.[Thanks, Princess Zelda; also via DS Fanboy]See also: Nintendo DS proven toilet-safe Playstation 2 goes silver (redux)
