Help: trying to duplicate SE's claim of 400hrs battery time

[CoffeeKid]

So I'm trying to figure out how Sony Ericsson can claim, with a straight face, that the P800 has 400 hours of "standby" time. How did they come up with that number, and more importantly, how can I achieve that amazing 16 days' of standby time... I had some thoughts:

a) leave phone on, but tie it next to a cell tower antenna, turn all indicators, sounds, connectivity (gprs, bt, etc) off, screen off.

b) put phone in flight mode, turn everything (screen, sounds, etc) off

c) just leave the damned phone turned completely off, and check to see if the battery depletes over the 16 days.

I'd probably guess C is how it was tested - how that can be called 'standby' time, I dunno.

:puppydogeyes:

Of course, this posting is a bit sarcastic - but to inject a serious tone, how the heck can Sony Ericsson get away with claiming 400 hours of "standby" time. Maybe they meant 40 hours but it was a typo.

Some day, all these electronics companies (eg laptop makers, pda makers, cell phone companies, digicam makers etc) will be called to the table (either through legislation or through major lawsuits) to put real (as in real world use, after the battery's been used for several months) power consumption numbers in their promo literature.

For me, I'm writing a letter (yes, snail mail) to Sony Ericsson asking them specifically how I can get 13 hours of talk time out of my P800, and 400 hours of standby time. Who wants to lay bets it will either a) not be responded to, or b) a bunch of marking BS will be sent back to me

Mark

I agree. My other cell phones at least get reasonably close to their claimed times, but the P800 is nowhere near close to 13/400 hrs.

[Accela]

I support thee, those "claims" are getting overboard.

[Delta737]

You guys are right, those claims are overboard.

I didn't expect that 400 hrs anyway, and I don't care either. I put it in my cradle every night and let it recharge. That's actually pretty nice, now I can turn off all power saving options and even can have the backlight on all the time.

And CoffeeKid. Option A would work probably, although you have to make sure that no-body calles you or send you a SMS...

[CoffeeKid]

Originally Posted by Delta737

You guys are right, those claims are overboard.

I didn't expect that 400 hrs anyway, and I don't care either. I put it in my cradle every night and let it recharge. That's actually pretty nice, now I can turn off all power saving options and even can have the backlight on all the time.

And CoffeeKid. Option A would work probably, although you have to make sure that no-body calles you or send you a SMS...

Just to clarify, I don't expect or want 400 hours of standby either, and I don't even expect 13 hours of talk time. In fact, I'm reasonably happy with the battery performance of the P800 - coming from an iPaq where I'd have to charge it twice a day, going 1.5 days with the P800 with reasonbly heavy usage is nice.

I'm just miffed at the way overboard marketing splooge that the SE Marketing Dweebs (tm) cranked out on this phone. It's patently false advertising, and I fear for a year or more we'll be deluged with the "why don't I get 16 days standby with this phone" posts in various symbian forums. I'm also equally miffed with other electronics companies that give wildly outlandish claims for battery life.

Here's what I'd suggest: when a company develops a new product, the 'geers in the company usually get the products first in preproduction and "gold" versions. Let them use the device for a month or two to get the battery "conditioned". Then do some real world talking on the phone - using BT, using speaker phone, using wired headset. Do this five times per engineer (5 full charges to depleted), and call that your "talk time".

Next, do five tests between charges, real world use (ie, making phone calls, using pda, screen on, gprs, mp3 playing, etc etc) mark the times, and quote that as the "real time use" number. Then leave the phones on, poling GSM networks, functions occasionally working (like monitoring an email account, etc), then call that your "standby time".

My guess if they did this:

- Talk time: 4 hours (which isn't too shabby)
- Real Use time: 30 to 40 hours (which is amazing when you compare it to many PPC platforms)
- Standby time maybe 80 hours with very limited maintenance access (email checking, tower changing as you move around, sms msg once per day, etc).

What do you guys think?

Mark

[Raven]

You do know what "standby" means right? That means that you should be able to get up to 400 hours without using the phone at all in ultimate conditions. I haven't actually tried that myself, but I think that leaving the phone untouched, in powersave mode, with no running apps, where network conditions are optimal, 400 hours is not at all impossible.

Originally Posted by Raven

You do know what "standby" means right? That means that you should be able to get up to 400 hours without using the phone at all in ultimate conditions. I haven't actually tried that myself, but I think that leaving the phone untouched, in powersave mode, with no running apps, where network conditions are optimal, 400 hours is not at all impossible.

Agreed. Car manufacturers do this all the time with Miles per Gallon, and performance stats.

It is entirely possible to achieve the 400 hours, but in reality people will be doing things that dont class as "stndby". I.e. Running applications, moving between cells.

I know these are all part of the point of having a phone, and indeed essential, but there you go!

I am also very happy with the performance of my battery, better than my 7650, and to be honest I still charge it every night... Force of habit.

[CoffeeKid]

Originally Posted by Raven

You do know what "standby" means right? That means that you should be able to get up to 400 hours without using the phone at all in ultimate conditions. I haven't actually tried that myself, but I think that leaving the phone untouched, in powersave mode, with no running apps, where network conditions are optimal, 400 hours is not at all impossible.

I challenge you to approach even half that in standby mode.

I've actually gone about 68 hours (just under 3 days) without a call - used the P800 for all of five minutes in that time (checking my schedule) but otherwise, it sat on the desk, no incoming calls, and the battery was at critical (>7%) when I picked up the phone and recharged it.

Mark

[Zoidy]

Well,

I can average 100 hours standby time on mine.

You have to remember that the phone uses more battery when it is searching for a network or has a weak signal. All phones do that.

Z.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by CoffeeKid

I challenge you to approach even half that in standby mode.

Mark

I am tempted to try it out, but not being able to use my P800 for two whole weeks....-NO WAY! :P

Anyways, using the P800 as a PDA one should compare it's battery life to the one of a PDA. Where I'm sure you all know who wins.

Using it strictly for calling and SMSing you should be able to get 100 hours with "normal" use. But the thing is that even if you leave it in flip closed mode and just use the phone functions, the entire screen will be lit when using these functions, and the big screen is the major battery-drainer here. So having the screen turned off and just using it as a phone, 200 hours is not at all impossible, which compares well to any new cell phone these days.

[J2theIZZO]

Best way to conserve energy is to not have a screensaver and put it powersave mode after 1 min or whichever is less....best i've managed is 4 1/2 days without a charge and not really using it at all. Which suprised me somewhat.

[CoffeeKid]

Originally Posted by Jordan

Best way to conserve energy is to not have a screensaver and put it powersave mode after 1 min or whichever is less....best i've managed is 4 1/2 days without a charge and not really using it at all. Which suprised me somewhat.

Jordan, that's what I'd call amazing standby time. I've never gotten that myself, and to be fair, my 68 hour drain was in my home over a weekend where my phone only gets 2 or 3 bars.

I want to reiterate I'm not complaining about the real-life battery times of the phone - I just want SE to put realistic battery numbers in their promo literature.

Mark

[J2theIZZO]

Yeah, they all do it, just a sales figure I suppose

[Jimbo9]

OK, I never believed 400 hour claim and I didn't even care about it since I do use my phone daily. But I'd really put SE marketing department on some kind of trial and let them prove 13 hours of talk time. Get serious.
My first P800 was sucking battery like mad - 50% in 4 1/2 hours without BT etc. I returned it and got another one. With this one I can get 1 1/2 days. Not as good as my previous phone/Palm combination but still I wouldn't want that back.

Jimbo

[marcnyc]

So did you ever get a response to that letter???

Also is there a higher capacity battery available from Ericsson for the p800??

Does the firmware have an influence on standby times?