Poll: Real-life battery lifetime experience

[igorsk]

You can recharge anytime.

[Aprilbeginnings]

Originally Posted by igorsk

You can recharge anytime.

Thanks. That is how I pretty much took it with that last link someone posted.

[nerys]

over 20 hours easily so far and have not even lost a bar on the batt meter yet :-) I figure I should get at least 6 months to 8 months on a charge and most of that will be standard battery self discharge.

I might run it dead a few times a couple times a year by playing mp3's JUST to exercise the battery a bit (since that too can kill it) or with some audible books (I convert all of them to mp3 anyway so it should work fine though not sure if I can bookmark an mp3 in the reader ? guess I will have to try it and see what happens.

I really wish they had stuck with AAA's 3 AAA cells could have fit inside there without making it ANY bigger. real pitty.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

[Aprilbeginnings]

I am a person that would prefer the battery as they have it. I don't want to be messing with AAA's all the time, but then that is my preference. Same with my digital camera, like the rechargers and not carrying around batteries.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by nerys

... not sure if I can bookmark an mp3 in the reader?

Not bookmarks, as such, but when you 'stop' the player, it really pauses, so it holds your place automatically, which is pretty much the same thing.

[nerys]

well actually that does not work either. if you turn it off and or remove the SD card (probably the latter) it loses this information :-( Alas this makes it completely useless for audio books :-( damn I was looking forward to that dual functionality. Hopefully we can convince them to add this.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

[nerys]

also AAA's would be better in this application. Think remote control? would you use rechargeable's in remote ? no they run so long its annoying. in this the AAA's would run EVEN LONGER than the lithium battery pack. You would have to change the batteries MAYBE once a year if that. and for this benifit you NEVER have to worry about a "non easily removable" impossible possibly to replace battery pack dying on you rendering your otherwise perfectly good gadget useless.

In something like a PDA where you have to charge it sometimes DAILY or a cell phone FINE but in something like this rechargeable is counter productive. It runs sooo darned long that it silly not to use simply long lasting alkalines.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nerys

In something like a PDA where you have to charge it sometimes DAILY or a cell phone FINE but in something like this rechargeable is counter productive. It runs sooo darned long that it silly not to use simply long lasting alkalines.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

Don't forget that people who use the Reader as an MP3 player probably are re-charging daily - or close to daily. AAA's probably wouldn't work well in that scenario.

[RWood]

I once had a phone that played mp3s and it would last until noon before it needed a recharge. After a week I removed the mp3s. I returned then phone within the first month.

[bob_ninja]

My vote is for 3 x AAA batteries. When travelling most trips don't last more than 2 months so you don't need a charger unless listening to music. Of course, MP3 players these days are so cheap and small, why would I bother with the bulky reader???? In the worst case you can always purchase Alkaline AAA just about anywhere in the world.

Ideally, you will use 3 AAA NiMH (rechargable) batteries. You can still plugin the reader to recharge as now. You can even use the newer low self-discharge types such as Eneloop which can sit unused for months and still retain most of the charge. The key difference here is that if/when they become old and you need to replace them it is trivial. If/when you don't have any charging options available you can always grab regular cheap AAAs as a temporary replacement.

As it is now there are few options. You need to open it, which is easy but not every day type thing - takes half an hour as it must be done with care. Then you need to locate a new replacement battery. That can be difficult as it is not a standard format, hence few suppliers will offer them. Concordantly they will demand a higher premium, markup. Here is an example of a very similar battery for my PDA:

http://www.tangshop.com/palm-zire-71-battery.html

Price: $24.95

By the time I pay for shipping and other fees, it will be minimum $30. I could probably purchase 3 Eneloop NiMH AAAs for at most $10 at a local store. They will last just as long if not longer. They'll offer a similar performance. etc.

[HarryT]

Having a "non replacable" battery certainly doesn't seem to have done the iPod any harm. Why mess with the design for the sake of something that's probably a complete "non issue" for the overwhelming majority of users?

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Having a "non replacable" battery certainly doesn't seem to have done the iPod any harm. Why mess with the design for the sake of something that's probably a complete "non issue" for the overwhelming majority of users?

Actually it is an issue for most working class people. Have you tried sending your iPod back for repowering? You're left without the use of your device for a fairly long time and with the added costs of mailing it is quite an expensive proposition; almost half of the original lower model's price. What I hate most is that when I deprive my family of part of the communal income for my extravaganza, I expect the device to at least last.

Some people will just dump their gadget on their less fortunate friends. Here we call that a poisonous gift because they are the ones caught with the after expenses.

That brings me to an other partly related thought. Who buys old used cars?...poorer people. When gas becomes really expensive, only rich people will be able to afford those hybrid cars. Then, who'll be stuck with the old guzzling SUVs?

[bob_ninja]

Harry,
I think you neglect significant differences between iPod/music and Reader/books. For starters, the physical format of iPods is much smaller, making more compact LiIons an obvious choice. iPods are designed to be carried around, in a pocket, etc. Chances are higher that you'll drop iPod (as I drop my MP3 player once in a while) compared to the Reader which is clearly not designed to be carried any place. Readers will generally going to receive a much better care than iPods. Hence iPod lifespan is going to be limited to not much beyond battery lifespan. Moreover changing styles, preferences, etc. will also prompt iPods users who often care about styling and such to change sooner rather than later.

Reader meanwhile has nothing to do with styling. It is just a plain black tablet. It will be abused less and has few moving parts, so should be able to last much longer. As it performs a rather mundane task of displaying text, there is much less room for improvement. We want have the next reader displaying videos of whatever, and adding bling, etc. It will display the latest books in 10 years just as well.

The other difference is the content. Music preferences change often and so do player preferences. With books it is the opposite. Once you go through the trouble of copying a bunch of content into a Reader, then changing to a newer model is a hassle you'd rather avoid. Books are longer lasting and people sometimes wish to return to a book, maybe read it again, etc.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bob_ninja

Reader meanwhile has nothing to do with styling. It is just a plain black tablet. It will be abused less and has few moving parts, so should be able to last much longer. As it performs a rather mundane task of displaying text, there is much less room for improvement. We want have the next reader displaying videos of whatever, and adding bling, etc. It will display the latest books in 10 years just as well.

I take your point about the fickleness of style, Bob, but I think that there's huge room for improvement in the Reader, and that it will be regarded as "outdated" just as quickly as any iPod when newer devices with colour screens, higher resolution, etc, come along in a year or so. I don't personally believe that the supposedly "finite" life of a LiIon battery in the Reader is any more important than it is on the iPod.

I may very well be wrong - time will tell!

Consider, though - when was the last time that you say any new electronic device that used AA or AAA batteries? They all seem to use LiIon batteries now, and I don't think that's a trend that's going to be reversed.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I take your point about the fickleness of style, Bob, but I think that there's huge room for improvement in the Reader, and that it will be regarded as "outdated" just as quickly as any iPod when newer devices with colour screens, higher resolution, etc, come along in a year or so. I don't personally believe that the supposedly "finite" life of a LiIon battery in the Reader is any more important than it is on the iPod.

I may very well be wrong - time will tell!

Consider, though - when was the last time that you say any new electronic device that used AA or AAA batteries? They all seem to use LiIon batteries now, and I don't think that's a trend that's going to be reversed.

Right about that Harry! Big outfits rarely take out a product without an aftermarket thought. And you can also bet that each battery is different. Can you say Babelbattery?