[allsportsfan]

Hi everyone,

I want to get some feedback on battery life. I typically have my PB bridged and reply to messages once an hour and delete some messages received first thing in the morning while also catching up on my BB newsfeeds which are pretty much thestock feeds which come with the app, nothing more.

I don't play games I surf the web and use the apps that way, ie. Producteev, E
�vernote, with the exception of docs to go on the PB.

In all I use it for 4 hours in the morning but my battery life has jumped down to approximately 42% most days which thought is pretty bad compared to what I've read from other users here.

Should I call BB support and ask if they should switch out my battery or am I getting the same battery life as other hardcore PB users.

Thanks,
Richard

[Talon88]

:::

Just Turn Down the Brightness of your screen,
You will then gain much more using time...!

:::

[pallav_gupta]

try doing a full discharge and then charge it. should last you much more than what you are currently getting.

[peter9477]

In all I use it for 4 hours in the morning but my battery life has jumped down to approximately 42% most days which thought is pretty bad compared to what I've read from other users here.

Do you mean simply that after about 4 hours of use, starting from 100%, it reads about 42%? That sounds pretty typical. The math works out to about 2.6W on average during that time. Compare with PlayBook: Power Consumption

(My Battery Guru app could be of interest to you, if you want to learn more about your battery consumption, how big an effect the brightness has, and so on.)

[allsportsfan]

:::

Just Turn Down the Brightness of your screen,
You will then gain much more using time...!

:::

Thanks that's what I already do, but thanks for the reminder.

[allsportsfan]

try doing a full discharge and then charge it. should last you much more than what you are currently getting.

First thing I did when I received my PB. Actually did it twice like my 9900. Thanks. What's your experience on battery life for usage like this?

[allsportsfan]

Do you mean simply that after about 4 hours of use, starting from 100%, it reads about 42%? That sounds pretty typical. The math works out to about 2.6W on average during that time. Compare with PlayBook: Power Consumption

(My Battery Guru app could be of interest to you, if you want to learn more about your battery consumption, how big an effect the brightness has, and so on.)

Just bought it and looks interesting to see what it will tell me about the usage. Thanks

[diegonei]

My PB is my main PC since my laptop died.

I charge it once or twice (depends if I play or not). Charges last anything from 5-36 hours. It is Bridged and over WiFi 100% of the time.

I don't really turn it down anymore, before going to sleep, I turn airplane mode on and set it on standby. Discharge is 2-4% over 8 hours.

[kill_9]

For the moment forget about the percentage and focus instead on actual clock time. Sometimes people loose sight of the fact that the battery charge percentage is an estimated value not an absolute engineering value. We have all experienced BlackBerry PlayBooks playing back a video for over 3 hours when the battery meter states 1% charge remaining. The best option in the meantime is to run Battery Guru continuously for a month and save the historical data for later analysis. I am sure Peter will assist you with the interpretation of the data.

[allsportsfan]

My PB is my main PC since my laptop died.

I charge it once or twice (depends if I play or not). Charges last anything from 5-36 hours. It is Bridged and over WiFi 100% of the time.

I don't really turn it down anymore, before going to sleep, I turn airplane mode on and set it on standby. Discharge is 2-4% over 8 hours.

Airplane mode that's a good point and good for use. I just think that this device should last longer than 6 to 8 hours a day before it dying. Maybe it's just me with high expectations, I pretty much like a lot of things about the hardware of the PB.

[kbz1960]

I use mine probably 30 to 40 minutes out of an hour and after 4 hours I'll be down to around 50%. 10 % loss an hour. My laptop would be dead in 3 hours with the same use.

[diegonei]

Airplane mode that's a good point and good for use. I just think that this device should last longer than 6 to 8 hours a day before it dying. Maybe it's just me with high expectations, I pretty much like a lot of things about the hardware of the PB.

Well that's the thing, if I don't play games, keep brigthess below 50% (which I need, since too bright hurts my eyes) and use airplane mode+standby for idle moments, I get way more than the 10 hours it is supposed to last.

[kennyliu]

I use mine probably 30 to 40 minutes out of an hour and after 4 hours I'll be down to around 50%. 10 % loss an hour. My laptop would be dead in 3 hours with the same use.

Most recent laptops actually run for 7-11 hours (and older ULV ones). LED backlight, Sandy Bridge and Win 7 power optimization are doing their trick.

Edit: I have a monster quad-core i7 15" laptop and easily get 8 hours on one charge (11 hours rated).

[xXBLACKBERRYXx5]

I use mine probably 30 to 40 minutes out of an hour and after 4 hours I'll be down to around 50%. 10 % loss an hour. My laptop would be dead in 3 hours with the same use.

honestly my laptop would be dead in like 1-1 1/2 hrs without being plugged in at the most lol. pb battery is alot better.

[swyost]

For the moment forget about the percentage and focus instead on actual clock time. Sometimes people loose sight of the fact that the battery charge percentage is an estimated value not an absolute engineering value. We have all experienced BlackBerry PlayBooks playing back a video for over 3 hours when the battery meter states 1% charge remaining. The best option in the meantime is to run Battery Guru continuously for a month and save the historical data for later analysis. I am sure Peter will assist you with the interpretation of the data.

While your primary point is valid, no we all have not experienced using Playbooks for over three hours with a 1% charge. That in an incredibly silly assertion to make. Some people have had that experience whereas others have had the device last as long as one would expect with a 1% charge. My Playbook gets light to moderate usage every day and never drops below a 90% charge. I would not, however, presume to tell people that should be everyone's experience.

[FSeverino]

something you may want to look into is turning off wifi or bluetooth when you arent using them.

I know that sounds so simple, but i realized that while reading for about 3 or 4 hours my battery would go down about 40%... turned off wifi and only goes down about 20% ... this is with 60ish% brightness, so you could get a lot better with less brightness

[v6pman]

with wifi on and surfing the internet, how long will this pb last?
im guessing 4hours MAX

its weird, according to battery GURU, my health was 92% couple days ago and now it jumped back up to 94%!

compared to the le pan tablet, this pb's battery is crap! le pan gets over 10hours easily through 'normal' usage

[peter9477]

Some background on power consumption, showing it has a pretty decent life under the right conditions. Just be sure to turn down the brightness from the default.

PlayBook: Power Consumption

I should repeat some of those measurements after 2.0 is out...

[Vorkosigan]

I understood that it was one of the draw backs of the smaller tablet size? That the battery was smaller and therefore couldn't hold as long a charge? I just assume i need to charge it every night and i keep the charger with me in case i have heavier than usual usage at work.

From what i can gather on the forums it doesn't hurt the battery at all to charge it everyday.

[kennyliu]

I understood that it was one of the draw backs of the smaller tablet size? That the battery was smaller and therefore couldn't hold as long a charge? I just assume i need to charge it every night and i keep the charger with me in case i have heavier than usual usage at work.

From what i can gather on the forums it doesn't hurt the battery at all to charge it everyday.

In fact, the Playbook has a very respectable high capacity 5300mah battery (two batteries). Besides, with smaller form factor comes smaller power consumption (smaller screen to backlight, less power hungry cpu, no cooling). I still think that 5300mah should be enough to power the Playbook for at least 10 hours, but I guess heavy reliance on Flash takes its toll.

[allsportsfan]

something you may want to look into is turning off wifi or bluetooth when you arent using them.

I know that sounds so simple, but i realized that while reading for about 3 or 4 hours my battery would go down about 40%... turned off wifi and only goes down about 20% ... this is with 60ish% brightness, so you could get a lot better with less brightness

Good point, thanks for the view. Looks like we might have about the same usage pattern and looks like you get about the same battery life.

Thanks

[allsportsfan]

Some background on power consumption, showing it has a pretty decent life under the right conditions. Just be sure to turn down the brightness from the default.

PlayBook: Power Consumption

I should repeat some of those measurements after 2.0 is out...

That's good to know. Does anyone here know what if RIM published what conditions those standard specs for expected battery life? That would be a good point.

[allsportsfan]

In fact, the Playbook has a very respectable high capacity 5300mah battery (two batteries). Besides, with smaller form factor comes smaller power consumption (smaller screen to backlight, less power hungry cpu, no cooling). I still think that 5300mah should be enough to power the Playbook for at least 10 hours, but I guess heavy reliance on Flash takes its toll.

I agree I would have thought with those 2 batteries it would get that much work time as well

[dbwoo]

Don't forget the PB has one of the brightest screens on the market. That will consume power. If you set it to the lowest setting, that brightness is similar to the Ithing and the Athing then you might get close to 10 hours

[kennyliu]

Don't forget the PB has one of the brightest screens on the market. That will consume power. If you set it to the lowest setting, that brightness is similar to the Ithing and the Athing then you might get close to 10 hours

Some A things and the Ithing also have very bright displays and nevertheless generally work longer than the Playbook. I also doubt that you can get 10 hours out of the Playbook. I have mine at the minimum and max I have gotten so far is about 8 hrs. That's with moderate use (no HD videos, no gaming). My battery is relatively new with the health at 94%.