Foleo battery life: Power for the long haul?
August 31st, 2007
I've been reading quite a lot of discussion on the Foleo recently, and I've noticed a common hope winding through the threads covering the Foleo's battery life: Without the WiFi or Bluetooth radios turned on, and with the display a couple of notches down from its brightest setting, the Palm Foleo should run a lot longer than five hours before needing to plug in the power supply. There are various estimates of what that life may be. Ten hours. Eight hours. Two days of average use. One fellow hopefully tossed out a guess of fifteen hours, based on his experience of how WiFi alone affects the battery life of his Dell laptop.
I plan to use my Foleo more as a writing machine than an Internet machine (or even a smartphone companion), so I'm interested in figuring out the Foleo's battery life under low-power tasks. I don't pretend to know much about what kind of power requirements the Foleo has, or the amount of juice that can fit in its tiny form-factor, but I do know this: Every laptop I've tried has had much longer battery life when the WiFi was turned off. Palm advertises a 5-hour battery life with both radios on, and the people who've gotten their hands on the Foleo seem to think that is an accurate guess. So it would make sense that one could get 7 or 8 hours of life out of the Foleo if the radios are turned off.
Lest I raise your hopes too high, please do remember that most of the time, tech companies have a tendency to exaggerate the battery life of mobile devices. But reviewers have suggested that Palm has been admirably conservative in their Foleo estimate, so there is some reason to hope.
Thoughts?
August 31st, 2007 at 4:29 am
I was talking to my engineer buddy the other day and he has been following the Foleo, too. He said that a 2.5 pound device with the Foleo’s processor should get somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 hours with the WiFi/BT radios off. I guess we’ll see soon enough.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:59 am
What I want to know is how easily you can pop in another battery. A couple spare battery packs and the Foleo will run for the longest overseas flights.
Not that you need a computer the whole time.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:40 pm
The battery cover is held in place with screws, though the developer guide suggests a coin as a substitute for a screwdriver, which suggests they’re not tiny screws! So, not as easy as a Treo, but much easier than a Palm PDA. I already have a USB battery pack which works with any USB-chargeable device (Foleo, Treo, etc), so I’m not that bothered about a second internal battery.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Redfox, I hadn’t seen yet that the Foleo could be charged over USB. Good news if you’re right. Do you have a link?)
Thanks!
August 31st, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I have to believe that if battery life were anywhere near 8 hours with radios off, that would at least cause Palm to raise their marketing estimate. Unless they’re being really conservative.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:20 pm
For what it’s worth, my Sony TX laptop is rated at 4-10hrs of battery life. With the most conservative settings in-place (and low-level usage) I’ve seen the meter consistently boast over 7.5hrs of battery life remaining.
I’ve yet to figure out how to get closer to 10 hours, but the point is that the power consumption in an 11-inch laptop ought to be a decent measuring stick for that of a 10-inch Foleo.
So, by all means, get your hopes up. You’ve good cause.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Strange.
Palm’s site says that the Foleo has “Up to five hours of battery life” [emphasis-mine].
I’ve almost always had the impression that it offered at least five hours of battery life. Early talk from folks who’ve used the Foleo or seen it on display (and powered-on) suggested that some have gone six or more hours at a stretch.
I’m surprised Palm would downplay this particular spec. I’m really not sure what to make of this.
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Yeah, I’ve been encouraged by the early reports on batt life, but it’s definitely something I want hard facts on before getting out my credit card.
Or maybe it’s another wacky thing with Palm’s marketing.