Battery Life

[Guest Hax]

OK - just wondering what sort of battery life you guys are getting out of your M500 (and equivalent model) phones.

I took mine off charge this morning at about 8:15. Since then, I have made about 5 minutes of phone calls, sent 4 text messages, used about 500KBytes of GPRS data, not used bluetooth at all and had media player (with screen and backlight switched off) running, playing MP3's from SD card for about 3 hours non-stop. My battery is now reading as only having 33% left.

Is this similar to the life the rest of you guys are getting? I kind of expected a little bit more out of it than this - maybe it won't be such a good media player for me after all :)

[Guest dan13l]

I took delivery of mine on Thursday of last week. I charged it Thursday night until it said the battery was full, then took it off charge.

I've not charged it since, but I've been plugging it into the PC now and then to install apps (its been connected for no longer than about 15 minutes two to three times).

I've sent several texts, made a couple of phone calls, played a few games of Jaw Breaker and ScummVM, done some bits and bobs in the calendar, taken some photos of my son, and recorded a couple of videos (and played them back a few times). Plus I've done a backup. I've currently got 58% battery left.

I'm happy :)

I've not used GPRS for anything yet, nor have I done much with media player, so perhaps I can't make the best comparison.

[Guest Jim81]

Hax, im not sure how long you have had it, but the lithium batterys need a good 5-10 full cycles to "stretch" and get their full capacity. The first charge is very important, keep it charging for at least as long as reccomended.

After that, its best to keep it as topped up as possible, dont wait till its low, charge it at every opportunity. :)

Edited July 18, 2005 by Jim81

[Guest Dade]

Hax, im not sure how long you have had it, but the lithium batterys need a good 5-10 full cycles to "stretch" and get their full capacity. The first charge is very important, keep it charging for at least as long as reccomended.

After that, its best to keep it as topped up as possible, dont wait till its low, charge it at every opportunity.  :)

I didnt think lithium batteries suffered from memory effect?

[Guest zippy172]

I didnt think lithium batteries suffered from memory effect?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...they don't. Neither to Nickel Metal-Hydride either (not that the M500 sports one of these cells, but...)

[Guest Hax]

The backup battery in the M500 is a NiMH

[Guest Jim81]

No, they dont have a memory effect, its just the first few charging cycles "condition" the battery slightly.

It may only be worth 5-10% but i have noticed that the phones/devices i have ripped out of the box and given an quick hours charge while messing around have had poor battery life compared to the ones i have fully charged properly the first say ten times. Its a bit like stretching a ballon a few time before inflating. :roll:

Old ni-cd's needed to be run flat, half charges lead to memory effect. Ni-mh are much better but not perfect.

Lithium batterys "like" being full of charge, fully discharging every time will lead to cell degradation. My phones and stuff go on charge every night. :)

[Guest zippy172]

The backup battery in the M500 is a NiMH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's interesting to note HTC didn't opt for the usual Lithium Manganese Dioxide coin cell....

[Guest Hax]

Well, I am of course assuming that the information given in the "Power" monitor is correct...

[Guest Dade]

Well, I am of course assuming that the information given in the "Power" monitor is correct...

Hmm, possibly! :)

[Guest zippy172]

I've yet to find out... that said, I have enough patience to wait until then end of August when I'm able to upgrade my C500 (complete with super dusty display) to the M500 :)

[Guest MitchellO]

I get about 3 days out of average use. A total of 3 hours use, plus all the phone standby, so I am happy :D better than my Ngage was :)

[Guest Hax]

Oddly (or maybe not) I've noticed that the capacity of my battery seems to have increased significantly over the last few days... Initially, when I took my M500 off charge, it would say that I had about 7:15 left on it. Then, Friday, I noticed it had crept up to 8:15. Now, today, it's at 9:15!

Whether or not this is a true value, I don't know - and maybe factors such as how much the phone has been used over the past couple of days get taken into account when working out that value...

[Guest MitchellO]

I think the battery's kind of have a "breaking in period".

[Guest Xenzo1990]

right, here is the problem. i got my m500 it had 90% battery, so i charge it till full, and 15 mins longer. i then played with it till the evening when it had 48% battery. i put it on charge over night, 10/11 hours. when i got up it was full.

now, last night i charged it overnight again, got up today, put it on gprs, its beeb on gprs for like 40 mins, and ive use 500kb, and the battery is on 92%.

ive never had a ppc before, is that good or Bad?

[Guest Pondrew]

@Xenso1990: Sounds pretty typical to me. Using GPRS increases the drain. Our Pocket PC Phones often struggle to last more then 2days with use...

[Guest Xenzo1990]

Ah, ok. I left it off over night, it went down 7%, is that normal?