1. q649's Avatar
    The only indication of battery life I've seen is the original number
    from Engadget:

    BlackBerry PlayBook review -- Engadget

    "We looped a standard MPEG4 video clip with WiFi enabled and screen brightness at about 65 percent, managing seven hours and one minute"

    Would looping the demo HD video at 65% brightness be a fair comparison?

    Anyone try it themselves?

    I think I might give it a go this weekend; if anyone else is willing to give it
    a try (starting from a full charge, no other apps running) I'd be curious
    what your time-to-shutdown results are.
    Last edited by q649; 06-13-11 at 06:27 AM.
    06-10-11 12:23 PM
  2. q649's Avatar
    So I ran a battery test by playing a loop of the HD demo video.

    PlayBook ran for 6 hours, 26 minutes until auto-shutdown.

    OS version 1.0.5.2304
    Brightness at ~65% (left on auto-dimming, doh)
    Volume off.
    Wifi On.
    Bridging On. (forgot to turn it off, I expect the influence was minimal)
    No other apps running.
    06-13-11 06:33 AM
  3. howarmat's Avatar
    i would think it would be higher since the OS has gotten more time to bake. You did use the HD promo vid though
    06-13-11 07:19 AM
  4. IndubitablyMe's Avatar
    I would think that a 1080p video would drain the battery a bit faster than a standard MP4, but I may be wrong. Does anyone know what codec the demo vid is, btw? I'd actually be a little interested to see the results of a test where all variables remained the same, except for bluetooth - turn it off. I suspect that the PlayBook battery drains quicker with BT enabled (which is why I've been turning it off recently whenever I don't need bridging capabilities.
    06-13-11 09:41 AM
  5. nomi1978's Avatar
    So I did this test yesterday Sunday. After I updated to the newest OS. I also ran the demo HD video.

    It ran for 7 hours, 42 minutes approximately before it shutdown. Took it off the charger at 9:11 AM and 4:54 PM it auto shutdown.

    OS version 1.0.5.2351
    Brightness at ~65%
    Volume off.
    Wifi On and connected.
    No other apps running.
    06-13-11 10:03 AM
  6. Steve Rizla's Avatar
    How would you ensure that one man's 65% is the same as another man's 65%? The meter doesn't show numbers. It makes more sense to test it with brightness all the way up, or all the way down.

    I would help test but I need to use mine after work.
    06-13-11 10:49 AM
  7. yzf.shaun's Avatar
    What's that volume when conducting the test? I guess this would have an impact.
    06-13-11 11:11 AM
  8. Schlymer's Avatar
    I am going to try this test this weekend as if on a 13 hour flight to Canada. I will turn the screen brightness to about 20%, bluetooth off, wifi off and with headphones, with the volume at 10 out of 15 clicks, to account for the background noise of the airplane. I am looking for 10 hours or more. I will update here when I have the result. The bluetooth and wifi really eat into the battery and on a plane both would have to be shut off.
    Last edited by Schlymer; 06-13-11 at 12:08 PM.
    06-13-11 11:58 AM
  9. Blacklac's Avatar
    I think @ 65% brightness, my retina's would be burnt. Indoors atleast...
    06-13-11 12:25 PM
  10. peter9477's Avatar
    So I did this test yesterday Sunday. After I updated to the newest OS. ...

    OS version 1.0.5.2351
    Really? You have 1.0.5.2351?
    06-13-11 06:48 PM
  11. donbalaan's Avatar
    Slightly different test i did today was i turned off wifi and BT and left it alone after a full charge with no apps running. My PB is running 1.0.5.2342

    After 10 hours it drained 5% (95% remaining)

    My question is what's processing when its in standby with no radio...??? Its not like a cellphone... should QNX be smart enough to detect you got no comms and no apps running to sustain battery life?
    06-13-11 07:48 PM
  12. howarmat's Avatar
    if you turn the radios off (wifi, BT) then it should last a very long time in standby because it cant do anything really. Same with phones. If i put it in airplane mode and then let it sit all night it loses like 1 -2% since it isnt really doing anything.
    06-13-11 07:58 PM
  13. peter9477's Avatar
    When you have all the radios turned off, and it's sitting in standby, it's still doing some work. It's not really shut down, just in a low power state. The CPU is still doing some processing, and there are coprocessors (e.g. the micro that watches the touch panel) running. The device still uses about 50mW even when completely idle, and that will gradually drain the battery. Losing 5% in 10h isn't bad... that's a standby time of about 8.3 days.

    By the way, "1-2% over night" is probably incorrect... even assuming you had a brand new 5400mAh battery that, contrary to how they really come from the manufacturer, actually gave full capacity, that would give you about 17.3 days standby, and I don't believe anyone here is getting that. If your night is 8h long, 4-5% is going to be typical and matches the measurements I've been doing.
    06-15-11 09:45 AM
  14. howarmat's Avatar
    When you have all the radios turned off, and it's sitting in standby, it's still doing some work. It's not really shut down, just in a low power state. The CPU is still doing some processing, and there are coprocessors (e.g. the micro that watches the touch panel) running. The device still uses about 50mW even when completely idle, and that will gradually drain the battery. Losing 5% in 10h isn't bad... that's a standby time of about 8.3 days.

    By the way, "1-2% over night" is probably incorrect... even assuming you had a brand new 5400mAh battery that, contrary to how they really come from the manufacturer, actually gave full capacity, that would give you about 17.3 days standby, and I don't believe anyone here is getting that. If your night is 8h long, 4-5% is going to be typical and matches the measurements I've been doing.
    that was not a PB, that was PHONES.
    06-15-11 09:52 AM
  15. peter9477's Avatar
    that was not a PB, that was PHONES.
    Ha! That explains it. I missed that key point... also the fact that PlayBook doesn't have an "airplane mode" toggle, as far as I've seen.
    06-15-11 11:08 PM
  16. howarmat's Avatar
    Ha! That explains it. I missed that key point... also the fact that PlayBook doesn't have an "airplane mode" toggle, as far as I've seen.
    i am curious to see if it gets one when they release the 4G/3G versions
    06-16-11 07:11 AM
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