1. DAnklaud's Avatar
    ........ since I last posted on that intentionally sabotaged thread you speak of.
    Yaa, sad but if we keep it technical and experienced in here sabatures/trollz will suffocate
    befor gettin a post off...., till i get battery guru i've just stuck withthe battery menu in my Zeam android launcher... 2 more weeks till payday
    kennyliu likes this.
    04-14-12 12:00 AM
  2. varunsain's Avatar
    Thanks for posting.. some basic stuff but pretty useful and the least you can do..
    zma15 likes this.
    04-14-12 12:10 AM
  3. DAnklaud's Avatar
    Hey Pete, does Battery guru work in portrait mode?
    04-14-12 12:18 AM
  4. peter9477's Avatar
    Hey Pete, does Battery guru work in portrait mode?
    Surely does... The final screenshot in App World used to show that but with 2.0 they buggered it up so I removed it for now.

    See attached image, if I've done this right... First time adding image from PlayBook....
    rotorwrench and DAnklaud like this.
    04-14-12 12:45 AM
  5. dmlis's Avatar
    ^^^ I just wanted to know if I am safe to assume that the power consumption doesn't go significantly down with the looped video test after the first 2.5 hours, that is, I making sure there is no downward slope in power consumption after the first 2.5 hours of the test.
    I run video loop tests (full brightness, full volume/headphones) on three units, until power off. Consumption was steady, graphs were straight lines.
    kennyliu likes this.
    04-14-12 06:01 AM
  6. kennyliu's Avatar
    Here are my preliminary results. Ran the exact same test with the looping HD "turtles" video as Rotor did, under the same conditions:
    - Wifi on
    - Screen at 50% with auto dim off and zero ambient light
    - Showcase mode, Battery Guru on with Keep Awake
    - BT off
    - NO SOUND

    I ran the test for only one hour straight and the average power consumption throughout the test was 2.71 W with the battery percentage going from 50% to 34% (see the chart attached, note I opened Battery Guru a few minutes before firing the video). I have checked my wife-s PB - very similar results. Called a friend who's got a PB and asked him to run the test for a half an hour, he also got 2.5-2.7 W. I have the CSV file if you need.

    The only explanation our three PBs have so much more power consumption is that they probably have incandescent bulbs for the display backlight

    I will get a hold of all three PBs and will shoot a video with the power consumption on all three.

    Last edited by kennyliu; 04-14-12 at 04:40 PM.
    peter9477 and DAnklaud like this.
    04-14-12 04:32 PM
  7. rotorwrench's Avatar
    That's almost a full watt/hr more than my average. It would be good if you could go a few more hours for a fuller average. Can't explain it. But like Peter said and ours at work, some consume more than others under same conditions. Like I was telling you earlier, we have two out of the seven at work that average two hrs less than the other five. Those other five seem to stay within 1hr plus or minus of my personal PB. I'm testing the lower performance two next week. My daughter's iPad gets 20% less than my wife's iPad.

    I do know that not all same batteries will maintain same capacities, regardless of conditions. I've had OEM backup batteries for my phone get hours less than the other.

    I would like to see a longer test though, as you had some spikes that I'm not sure the cause if you weren't doing anything else with the PB.
    kennyliu likes this.
    04-14-12 06:11 PM
  8. peter9477's Avatar
    Testing with WiFi on seems like it may complicate things, since the test you're doing does not involve WiFi, but we know there are issues with WiFi depending on email account settings and just with certain units.

    kennyliu, can you turn WiFi off as well, and run for another 5-10 minutes under the same conditions just to confirm that it wasn't influencing this? (That is, just check the BG power display a couple of times towards the end of that period.)

    Also, I don't see in the described test conditions anything that says what's actually visible onscreen during the test. Are you running with Battery Guru fullscreen, or with it thumbnailed and, if the latter, is it centered (so that only half the video is showing next to it) or is it off to one side and the thumbnailed video player is the one in the centre? (I don't know that it makes any difference in the results in this case, but in my original testing fullscreen video used less than non-fullscreen so it's possible it will affect things.)
    kennyliu likes this.
    04-14-12 06:29 PM
  9. peter9477's Avatar
    I do know that not all same batteries will maintain same capacities, regardless of conditions. I've had OEM backup batteries for my phone get hours less than the other.
    The battery capacity wouldn't be affecting this particular test though, since we're observing power consumption directly (reported by BG).

    I've just been running the test here (but with WiFi off), periodically alternating between fullscreen-BG with video running in background (I always use Showcase mode) and minimized apps with the video player in the centre. No major difference, apparently... about 2.89W the one way, 2.93W the other way, which probably means they're about identical.

    Also way, way higher consumption than rotorwrench! Dang, why'd I write this stupid app anyway. :-(

    Extrapolating based on my battery health (92%), this unit would manage only 6.3 hours doing this before it ran out of juice...

    You know, it occurs to me we maybe shouldn't be picking 50% brightness for a comparison. We have no idea what the actual light level is on these units, so 50% on mine might be twice as bright as 50% on rotorwrench's.

    Also, for anyone else thinking of running this, it seems it would be best to do it always with Battery Guru fullscreen, to avoid any effect from the colour of your wallpaper affecting the consumption if the apps are minimized. (If you missed it elsewhere, I posted how an all-white screen may use more than 0.5W extra power over an all-black screen, so it can definitely affect the results.)
    kennyliu and rotorwrench like this.
    04-14-12 06:48 PM
  10. Chaddface's Avatar
    I gave it a try this way:

    Sample video looping
    WiFi off
    Screen 0% auto dim off
    Guru fullscreen- keep awake
    2.26W
    Turn off the video and went down to 1.69W

    It just occurred to me that I'm must be bridged because I never turned WiFi back on. I'll see if that makes a difference. I should have done airplane mode.
    kennyliu likes this.
    04-14-12 08:38 PM
  11. kennyliu's Avatar
    Testing with WiFi on seems like it may complicate things, since the test you're doing does not involve WiFi, but we know there are issues with WiFi depending on email account settings and just with certain units.

    kennyliu, can you turn WiFi off as well, and run for another 5-10 minutes under the same conditions just to confirm that it wasn't influencing this? (That is, just check the BG power display a couple of times towards the end of that period.)

    Also, I don't see in the described test conditions anything that says what's actually visible onscreen during the test. Are you running with Battery Guru fullscreen, or with it thumbnailed and, if the latter, is it centered (so that only half the video is showing next to it) or is it off to one side and the thumbnailed video player is the one in the centre? (I don't know that it makes any difference in the results in this case, but in my original testing fullscreen video used less than non-fullscreen so it's possible it will affect things.)
    I'll give it it a try without Wi-Fi and zero brightness.

    The video was full-screen.

    I gave it a try this way:

    Sample video looping
    WiFi off
    Screen 0% auto dim off
    Guru fullscreen- keep awake
    2.26W
    Turn off the video and went down to 1.69W

    It just occurred to me that I'm must be bridged because I never turned WiFi back on. I'll see if that makes a difference. I should have done airplane mode.
    Chad, can you try the test at 50% brightness, please? I just wanted to make sure your results are comparable to what I and Peter are getting. Thanks.
    Last edited by kennyliu; 04-15-12 at 02:37 AM.
    04-15-12 12:22 AM
  12. rotorwrench's Avatar
    The battery capacity wouldn't be affecting this particular test though, since we're observing power consumption directly (reported by BG).

    I've just been running the test here (but with WiFi off), periodically alternating between fullscreen-BG with video running in background (I always use Showcase mode) and minimized apps with the video player in the centre. No major difference, apparently... about 2.89W the one way, 2.93W the other way, which probably means they're about identical.

    Also way, way higher consumption than rotorwrench! Dang, why'd I write this stupid app anyway. :-(

    Extrapolating based on my battery health (92%), this unit would manage only 6.3 hours doing this before it ran out of juice...

    You know, it occurs to me we maybe shouldn't be picking 50% brightness for a comparison. We have no idea what the actual light level is on these units, so 50% on mine might be twice as bright as 50% on rotorwrench's.

    Also, for anyone else thinking of running this, it seems it would be best to do it always with Battery Guru fullscreen, to avoid any effect from the colour of your wallpaper affecting the consumption if the apps are minimized. (If you missed it elsewhere, I posted how an all-white screen may use more than 0.5W extra power over an all-black screen, so it can definitely affect the results.)
    Based on your post, I ran same set up as before, on wife's PB, (mine is occupied) wifi on, screen 50%, video loop, but this time with BG full screen, Fridays test being with split screen and her's and my wallpaper being the black with silver logo BB wallpaper that we got off this forum. After about 30min I was averaging 2.10. Full screen video is averaging 1.91. I believe it's as you're thinking, darker wallpaper with split screen and video centered is lowest consumption for me. Full screen BG is highest due to lighter screen I think. Full screen video is in between. Screen brightness seems to have the largest effect.

    I'll try full screen for several hours tomorrow on my PB and see what a longer average comes out to.
    Last edited by rotorwrench; 04-15-12 at 03:26 AM.
    peter9477 likes this.
    04-15-12 03:12 AM
  13. alnamvet68's Avatar
    Posted here because I was unable to post in that "other" thread...after 7 days on standby, the PB is now at 22%. Amazing....or would that be phenomenal. Oh wait, I hope no one takes this post as a positive and serious endorsement of the PlayBook...I don't want this thread to be locked down because of the lack of negativity in my post; sorry OP.
    Chaddface and rotorwrench like this.
    04-15-12 05:09 AM
  14. Chaddface's Avatar
    If you want to test battery life it would probably be best to try Peter's drain test.
    The video player doesn't seem to add that much to the consumption. As I said before I watched a long movie (3:16) via HDMI with the screen off and only dropped a few percent. That's fantastic in my opinion.
    04-15-12 06:19 AM
  15. peter9477's Avatar
    Chaddface, actually in this thread I think the focus had become actually comparing consumption (power drain) rather than battery life, since it now seems clear that under the same conditions there is a significant difference in some units.

    If we can refine the test and gather more data, we may find this is a "bimodal" distribution, where there are the old units with higher consumption and newer units with lower consumption. Also possible we'll simply find there's a wide range, and many units with results spread through the middle of it.

    It may be useful, if nothing else because people would obviously prefer units with lower consumption under the same conditions... maybe this will affect resale value for some people. I know, assuming what we're seeing is confirmed "real" and significant, that I'd show a preference for units with extended life through lower consumption if I were to buy another one...
    04-15-12 07:33 AM
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