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Zune HD specs fill in the blanks on video format support, battery life and more
Now that everything Zune HD is official and available for pre-order, Microsoft has seen fit to loose official specs, putting to rest -- at least until we can do a full hands on -- questions about what to expect from the OLED touchscreen packing device. From dimensions (52.7 mm x 102.1 mm x 8.9 mm, 2.6 oz) to battery life (24 hours for music with wireless off, up to 4 hours of video) and charge time (3 hours, 2 hours to 90%.) While the official site (incorrectly) currently lists max video res at barely-better-than-DVD 720 x 480, we contacted Microsoft and received the official specs on video support, and if for some reason you needed to hear it again: the Tegra chip is a beast. Ready for HDTV playback when it's plugged into the AV dock, the Zune software supports up to 1280 x 720, 30 frames per second at a max 14 Mbps bitrate for WMV HD and h.264 sources. Confirmed still a bummer? No wireless video streaming from the Zune Video Marketplace, though the specs do indicate that purchases and rentals will work across all three screens, PC, Zune and Xbox 360. Check the corrected specs after the break, now all that's left is getting some alone time with one.Update: Microsoft has hit us with the corrected & updated spec list with a slight change to battery and charge specs: 33 hours of life playing music with no wireless, up to 8.5 hours of video. 3 hours to charge from PC, 2 hours via AC adapter. Hopefully that's long enough to cover your one man rave in the woods far away from A/C outlets. Check the PDF for yourself, but beware, as Microsoft has informed us one typo remains, as the Zune HD can hold up to 22 / 48 hours (16GB / 32GB) of video optimized for the device, no matter what the official sheet says.
Zune HD specs fill in the blanks on video format support, battery life and more - Update: now with more, better!
Now that everything Zune HD is official and available for pre-order, Microsoft has seen fit to loose official specs, putting to rest -- at least until we can do a full hands on -- questions about what to expect from the OLED touchscreen packing device. From dimensions (52.7 mm x 102.1 mm x 8.9 mm, 2.6 oz) to battery life (24 hours for music with wireless off, up to 4 hours of video) and charge time (3 hours, 2 hours to 90%.) While the offical site (incorrectly) currently lists max video res at barely-better-than-DVD 720 x 480, we contacted Microsoft and received the official specs on video support, and if for some reason you needed to hear it again: the Tegra chip is a beast. Ready for HDTV playback when it's plugged into the AV dock, the Zune software supports up to 1280 x 720, 30 frames per second at a max 14 Mbps bitrate for WMV HD and h.264 sources. Confirmed still a bummer? No wireless video streaming from the Zune Video Marketplace, though the specs do indicate that purchases and rentals will work across all three screens, PC, Zune and Xbox 360. Check the corrected specs after the break, now all that's left is getting some alone time with one.Update: Microsoft has hit us with the corrected & updated spec list with a slight change to battery and charge specs: 33 hours of life playing music with no wireless, up to 8.5 hours of video. 3 hours to charge from PC, 2 hours via AC adapter. Hopefully that's long enough to cover your one man rave in the woods far away from A/C outlets. Check the PDF for yourself, but beware, as Microsoft has informed us one typo remains, as the Zune HD can hold up to 22 / 48 hours (16GB / 32GB) of video optimized for the device, no matter what the official sheet says.
Limited-color OLEDs could operate with 40 percent less power, look just as stunning
You know that fancy flat-panels can display more colors than the human eye / mind can even interpret, right? Thanks to our hard-wired limitations, a certain facet of boffins across the way are developing a method that would scale back the amount of colors used in an OLED screen in order to shave energy usage even further. Johnson Chuang of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia has worked with colleagues in order to conjure up sets of colors that "slash the power consumption of an OLED panel by up to 40 percent, with minimal effect on how people perceive an image." In theory, at least, this breakthrough could lead to longer battery life in cellphones, PMPs and all manners of portable devices. As Chuang puts it: "Say you're running low on battery and you want to use Google maps to get home; switching to an energy-aware color set could make your battery last longer." Don't pretend that doesn't interest you.
Singing the iPhone battery blues
"My iPhone's been draining awfully fast since I installed 3.0," I commented to a fellow TUAW blogger just a few days after the release of the iPhone 3.0 firmware. At first, I wanted to think it was my phone. But, my iPhone 3G wasn't even 90 days old at the time of the observation and I'd been able to keep it on standby for several days before it needed a charge. Now, I could barely make it through a 10-hour workday before rushing out to the car to hook it up to a power source. Aaron Vronko of RapidRepair says that this isn't an isolated incident. The iPhone 3G may now deplete its energy supply in roughly two hours, and the first generation iPhone lasts less than a day. Vronko tells Macworld that the cause is most likely push notification placing a drain on the battery's reserves. The issue has also led to complaints on Apple's support forums. I've definitely noticed the difference. If I leave myself logged into BeeJive IM while I'm at work, my phone drains much faster than it does if I'm logged out. Regular push mail notification from MobileMe doesn't affect the battery level all that much, even with the high volume of e-mail I receive through TUAW. So, to save on the battery for now, I'm avoiding the push applications as much as I can if I don't have a charger within reach. Vronko believes that the 3.1 release will solve the battery issues. [Via MacNN]
AMD proposes new laptop battery life metrics, Intel is like "whatevs"
AMD has struggled of late to produce anything akin to a "good idea," but we've got to give a serious high five to senior VP and CMO Nigel Dessau on this one. While pumping gas one day and thinking about the low / high MPG ratings on vehicles, he began to wonder why laptops are being left out of that scheme. Handsets have talk time / standby time, PMPs have separate longevity ratings for audio and video -- so why on Earth are we generally given just a single figure for laptops? Testing has shown that almost always the quoted figures from laptop makers aren't even close to what users get in the real world, so Dessau is suggesting we implement a "guide rail" system that explains a maximum and minimum life expectancy. As for Intel's take? "There are many ways to measure battery life. We believe the best way to determine how to measure battery life is by making proposals and debating it in industry consortiums and not via a blog post." Oh Intel, could you possibly be any more corporate?[Via HotHardware]Read - AMD's takeRead - Intel's take
MSI Wind U115 rated at 15 hours of battery life, torn apart for its trouble
MSI's never been a slouch when it comes to its Wind series, but this new U115 seems to be something else entirely. In tests done by the folks at Eee-PC.de, the laptop ranged from 5.5 hours to 15 hours of battery life, based on level of usage. Even 5.5 hours is good for continuous use, but we could imagine all sorts of happiness with 15 hours of battery -- like camping. The laptop gets some of its battery mojo from its hybrid storage system, which allows the laptop to run entirely off of its 8GB of SSD memory, with the 160GB hard drive spun down to save power. The SSD is user-replaceable, if you don't mind a little warranty voiding, and the folks at nvision have thrown caution to the wind in ripping apart their U115 for our viewing pleasure.[Via liliputing]Read - Eee-PC.deRead - nvision
Ask TUAW: Recovering pictures, updating Facebook, iPhone battery life and more
Once again, it's time for another edition of Ask TUAW: the place where we try to answer all of your Mac and Apple-related questions. This week we're taking questions about recovering pictures from corrupted compact flash cards, Twitter for the iPhone, extending iPhone battery life and more.As always, we welcome your suggestions for this week and questions for next time. Please leave your contributions in the comments for this post. When asking questions, please include which Mac and which version of OS X you're running. If you don't specify, we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac. Okay, let's get to it!Nick F. asks:I've got some pictures I need to recover from a corrupted Compact Flash card. What's the best, preferably free, software to do it on my Mac?This is one of those questions that can get frustrating if you're a Mac user. On the Windows side, there are a few good (and free) pieces of software that can help you accomplish this task. For the Mac, you're choices are mostly limited to pay applications -- at least if you want good results. Fortunately, these pay applications are very good.For my money, the piece of software that works best when you want to recover pictures from a bad CF or SD card is Klix ($29.95) from Joesoft. I've used it quite a bit with clients, and on my own bad cards, and each time it performed flawlessly, recovering every lost picture from the card. Other alternatives for the Mac include CardRaider ($19.95), PhotoRescue ($29.00) and Data Rescue II ($99.00). I realize that $29.95 for a piece of software might seem like a lot to some people. But if the software is easy to use and works as advertised, I think it's a worthwhile investment in the long run. Besides, it would cost far more to go back and take those vacation pictures you lost on the card again when you could buy Klix and recover them from your bad card instead. Given that, a program like Klix is actually a bargain.If you've got Windows running on your Mac (either through Boot Camp or virtualization) and you've had good luck with one of the tools from the other side of the fence, let us know in the comments.
TUAW Tips: Maximize battery power for GPS apps
You know from reading a lot of my earlier posts that I am a real fan of iPhone GPS apps. I regularly use RunKeeper, TrailGuru, and Geocaching to keep track of my wanderings or find geocaches, but I've found that those apps usually suck my iPhone batteries dry very quickly.Jason at FitnessKeeper let me know that one of their forum users, Valter, had tweaked various settings on his iPhone and was able to get a tremendous amount of battery life while still keeping both the iPhone's A-GPS and EDGE connection active. Those are the requirements for most GPS apps. What were Valter's secret settings? Wi-fi: off Push: off 3G: off Bluetooth: off Brightness: set at minimum (Note - I also turn off Auto-Brightness) iPod: off Your mileage may vary, but the RunKeeper forum users found that they were able to improve battery life drastically. One reader had 70% of battery capacity after a two hour run with RunKeeper tracking his run, while Valter's personal tests showed 50% capacity after a 2 hour 45 minute run. For other GPS apps like Geocaching, your battery life will most likely be less as brightness will need to be set so that you can actually read the screen.What are your optimum iPhone power settings for uses other than GPS apps? Leave a comment below.
10-inch Aspire One's battery downgraded after reviewers have their fill
In most industries there's a long and sordid history of manufacturers giving cars, motorcycles, computers, and just about any other consumer product a little something extra to make sure they perform well for the media. Asus seemingly got caught doing just that to its Eee PC 900 last year, installing batteries with additional oomph for reviewers, and now we seemingly have a case of Acer following its competition's tracks straight into a bad PR situation, saying that it "inadvertently" shipped the first batch of 10-inch Aspire One netbooks (the ones sent to reviewers) with six-cell batteries rated at 5800mAh. Most consumers, however, will receive packs rated at just 4400mAh, which should shave two or three hours from its overall battery life. Those who've pre-ordered may get lucky and get the larger batt, but, like some lithium-laced Cracker Jack box, there's no way to tell what's inside until you open the package and have a look-see. Best of luck.
Student's tech promises 12x the battery life in your iPhone, BlackBerry
Feeling the hurt of endlessly dying batteries on your BlackBerry (or iPhone, if that's what you're into)? Atif Shamim, a PhD student at Canada's Carleton University might have the medicine for that pain of yours. He's cleverly hacked such devices, removing all the wires that connect the electrical circuits to the antenna, and developed a module for the connection to operate wirelessly. The result, he estimates, is that his modified devices use almost 12 times less power than they normally do -- which of course means longer battery life. A paper about the device has won an award at the European Wireless Technology Conference, and Shamin has filed for a patent in both the US and Canada. There's no indication of when we might start to see tech like this on actual commercial devices, but we're pretty sure plenty of companies are going to want to get a hold of this technology like, yesterday.
Samsung's low-end E1410 candybar goes 22 days strong
It still can't hold a candle to Philips' Xenium 9@9 line, but 22 days ain't nothing to scoff at. Reportedly, Samsung is prepping a low-end E1410 candybar that'll last up to 22 days on standby, and better still, it can support up to 11.5 continuous hours of yappin' before calling it a night. The stout battery life is joined by a lackluster 128 x 128 display (1.63-inches), a simple phonebook, GSM connectivity and 4MB of inbuilt memory. Clearly Sammy's not kidding around with "low-end."
Energizer to debut new, longer-lived Zinc Air Prismatic battery at CES 2009
Energizer's set to unleash a new battery -- dubbed the Zinc Air Prismatic -- at CES in January, which they say will offer three times the juice of similar alkaline and lithium-ion batteries. Promising more runtime for smaller devices, they'll also supposedly be the same size as current, comparable batteries. It's a little vague right now, and we don't have any specifics on life times for specific examples of devices, but it all sure sounds great. We take exciting claims of battery power with a grain of salt, especially from the companies that make them, so we'll just have to wait and see. Then again, we're inclined to take companies with mascots that look like they've marched out of a hallucinogenic nightmare at their word. Conundrum.
iPhone gains battery life, camera flash, loses sex appeal with FastMac's iV
Why yes, FastMac -- we want 24 hours of talk time, 72 of audio, 20 of video, and 31 days of standby on our iPhones and iPhone 3Gs. Throw in a camera flash that doubles as a flashlight, and the ability to charge a USB device like a Bluetooth headset right off the phone, and you've got a deal on this iV charging kit of yours! Oh, there's a catch? It's a wee bit bulky, with an aesthetic similar to that of mophie's Juice Pack? Hey, it could be worse. This largification -- along with $79.50 -- is apparently the price you pay for digital endurance.[Via Macworld]
HP's longevous EliteBook 6930p gets reviewed, liked
HP's ridiculously long lasting EliteBook 6930p just got done with a fresh round of torture testing from the savages over at PC Mag, and while their review unit didn't have the optimal processor for pulling an all-nighter (followed by an all-dayer) without even a lick of the AC outlet, critics did find the unit to be fairly impressive in most every other regard. It should be pointed out, however, that the review crew sure showed a lot of love to the ThinkPad T400, noting that Lenovo's machine deserved a "super-elite" status if the 6930p was worthy of being "elite." Comparisons aside, they were impressed with its performance in all-around computing and the "sleek yet rugged" design, but it still came up one red dot shy of a perfect score. Is it a fit for you? Depends on your needs, but chances are you'll have a much better idea after digesting the writeup in full down in the read link.
Willcom D4 Ver.L comes with extra longevous battery
Not quite sure what happened of late, but extra long lasting batteries are all the rage now. With netbook manufacturers offering up extended cells left and right, it's only fair that Sharp toss out a Willcom D4 with a super longevous battery, too. The Willcom D4 Ver.L (L stands for Long, loony) reportedly arrives with a lovely CE-BL58 extended battery as a standard accessory, and while the resource-demanding Office application isn't included, that helps keep the price at ¥97,700 ($901). A fair trade for the hardcore traveler, we suppose.[Via Pocketables]
Sony exec takes it back, says PSP-3000 battery life "equivalent to current PSP"
We're not sure which part of "you can buy a new, larger battery from Sony to extend your gaming time" John Koller didn't mean, but evidently we (read: the world) had it all wrong. In a recent posting from the Director, he "clarifies" things by asserting that "the new PSP will have equivalent battery life to the current PSP, about 4 to 6 hours for games and about 4 to 5 hours for UMD videos." He continues on to affirm that the new, brighter and altogether lovelier display does suck down more power, but Sony's dutiful engineers apparently managed to "reduce the power consumption of the overall system" in order to counteract that. At this point, we'll just wait for real world battery tests before believing anything.[Via Joystiq]
PSP-3000 battery life diminished by new screen, Sony suggests buying a bigger battery
According to a GameSpot interview with Sony's US director of hardware marketing John Koller, that new PSP-3000 screen may look a bit better... but it's going to cost you about 20 minutes of battery life. Luckily for you gamers with endless pockets out there, Koller assures that minor wrinkle will be offset because, "We're going to have the extended life battery that's still available for consumers, so we're still going to get the eight-to-ten hours out of that battery." So just to make that clear, the regular battery life will be diminished, but you can buy a new, larger battery from Sony to extend your gaming time. Got that? Good. Watch him say it for real in the video after the break.[Via T3]
Wanted: An iPhone power miser app
While Guy Kawasaki might be able to get 36 hours of standby life out of his iPhone 3G, many of the rest of us are struggling with having enough power to make it through a day. Mike Davidson, CEO of Newsvine in Seattle, came up with a great idea for any iPhone developers in the TUAW audience. He'd like to see an iPhone power miser application that could turn off 3G, location services, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and push e-mail with one tap (low drain mode), then turn on all of the same services with another tap (full power mode). Davidson explains that it currently takes him 15 steps to disable the power-hungry features of his 3G, and another 15 steps to turn those features back on. Whether or not those features are something that the average NDA'd iPhone developer can actually control is one big question; if they aren't, this would be a great app for Apple to develop -- quickly!Me? I'm waiting for "The Clapper" version of the power miser app -- "Clap On! Clap Off!"
Fujitsu's U2010 goes for 11 hours strong with extended battery
Fujitsu's cute-as-a-button U2010 (or U820, for you USers) was shown off over in Japan at a company event, and while most of the specifications were already hammered out, one particular tidbit at AkihabaraNews took us by surprise. With seemingly every other netbook out there getting blasted for lackluster battery life, the U2010 will reportedly support an extended cell that offers up 11.1 hours of run time. We've no idea if that's a "maximum" number based on "optimal" usage, but no matter how you dice it, it sure beats the (also respectable) 5.3 hour rating given to the standard battery.[Via BoingBoing]
Ask Engadget: Best PMP for long flights?
It's Thursday evening -- do you know what that means? Besides being the unofficial start of the weekend (party people, what's up?), it's time for another round of Ask Engadget. This week we've got a college freshman who's scared to death about 8-hour flights between his hometown and his new school... without gadgets. "I'm about to start college all the way across the country from my hometown. What this means for me, other than unprecedented freedom, adulthood, etc. [and a dose of this thing called the "real world," might we add] is lots of long flights back and forth. I'm looking for a device to entertain me during these trips. Is there anything out there that the readers can find that can play DVDs (ideally from any region, but that's not a deal-breaker) along with my AVI files and maybe some audio formats, too? The biggest issue here is battery life. I'm willing to spend $300 - $400 if I have to. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!" We're not so sure there's a portable DVD player / PMP hybrid out there that's extra longevous, but you can always get those discs onto a vanilla PMP with a little work. So, jet-setters -- what's the best solution here? Video playback really takes a toll on handheld battery life, but are there any hidden gems that just keep going and going? Hook a brother up, and then send in a question of your own to ask at engadget dawt com.
