Monday, October 25, 2004
Dell Axim X50/X50v/X30 Battery Life Tests
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 07:00 AM
UPDATE: I've updated my test results with some older test data I did for the X30 and X3i.
Given Kati's post on Saturday, I figured I should publish the results of the battery tests that I've been working on. For all of the tests below, I set the backlight to "medium", which is four notches above being turned off. This is the setting that I used my X30 at in day to day scenarios, so it seemed like a fair place to start. I don't think anyone who is concerned about battery life would ever use their device at full brightness all the time. The CPU was set to AUTO for all these tests. Unless otherwise noted, these times are until the device shut off due to lack of power. Here are the test results...
Dell Axim X50v
X50v, Standard Using: 3 hours and 38 minutes - This Spb Benchmark test opens up File Explorer, then opens a Word document, and repeats that process over and over. This is meant to simulate an average PIM workload.
X50v, Active WiFi: 2 hours 10 minutes - The standard Spb Benchmark WiFi test turns on the WiFi, but doesn't actually transfer any data, so to me this test isn't realistic. So what I did was create a test page that had 35 KB worth of text on it and 65 KB worth of graphics. The page refreshes every 30 seconds - the goal here is to emulate an average Web surfing experience of downloading a page, reading it, then downloading another one. I should note that in this test, it was 2 hours and 10 minutes until the WiFi was turned off due to lack of power. It lasted another 59 minutes after that just remaining on with no data transfer. When I ran this test again, and overrode the automatic WiFi turn off, the device lasted a total of 3 hours and 38 minutes before it died.
X50v, Active WiFi: 2 hours 15 minutes - As above, test #2. This test is difficult to get 100% accurate results for because the pop-up window that warns you WiFi is about to be turned off has no auditory warning, so it shuts off the WiFi silently (I'd love to see Dell add a beep). The I noticed WiFi was turned off at 2 hours 24 minutes, so I estimated when I saw it was last working successfully.
X50v, MP3 Playback: 8 hours 43 minutes - this Spb Benchmark test turns the screen off and loops the same MP3 file. I had headphones plugged in and the volume turned up to maximum.
Dell Axim X50, 520 Mhz Model
X50, Active WiFi: 3 hours 35 minutes - WiFi stayed on until battery was down to 24%, then it turned off automatically.
X50, Active WiFi: 3 hours 18 minutes - Tested again, same test as above.
X50, Standard Using: 5 hours and 37 minutes - Same test as above.
Dell Axim X30, 624 Mhz Model
X30, Standard Using w/Backlight on Maximum: 3 hours 17 minutes
X30 with Extended Battery, Standard Using w/Backlight on Maximum: 7 hours 7 minutes
X30, Zero Utilization, Backlight Off, Extended Battery: 28 hours 7 minutes
X30, Standard Using w/Backlight on One Notch Above Off: 7 hours 2 minutes before first low power beep, 11 hours 17 minutes before complete shut off
X30, WiFi Test, 50% brightness: 2 hours 25 minutes - This was one of my early WiFi tests, using 128 KB HTML + graphics, on a 10 second refresh.
Given Kati's post on Saturday, I figured I should publish the results of the battery tests that I've been working on. For all of the tests below, I set the backlight to "medium", which is four notches above being turned off. This is the setting that I used my X30 at in day to day scenarios, so it seemed like a fair place to start. I don't think anyone who is concerned about battery life would ever use their device at full brightness all the time. The CPU was set to AUTO for all these tests. Unless otherwise noted, these times are until the device shut off due to lack of power. Here are the test results...
Dell Axim X50v
X50v, Standard Using: 3 hours and 38 minutes - This Spb Benchmark test opens up File Explorer, then opens a Word document, and repeats that process over and over. This is meant to simulate an average PIM workload.
X50v, Active WiFi: 2 hours 10 minutes - The standard Spb Benchmark WiFi test turns on the WiFi, but doesn't actually transfer any data, so to me this test isn't realistic. So what I did was create a test page that had 35 KB worth of text on it and 65 KB worth of graphics. The page refreshes every 30 seconds - the goal here is to emulate an average Web surfing experience of downloading a page, reading it, then downloading another one. I should note that in this test, it was 2 hours and 10 minutes until the WiFi was turned off due to lack of power. It lasted another 59 minutes after that just remaining on with no data transfer. When I ran this test again, and overrode the automatic WiFi turn off, the device lasted a total of 3 hours and 38 minutes before it died.
X50v, Active WiFi: 2 hours 15 minutes - As above, test #2. This test is difficult to get 100% accurate results for because the pop-up window that warns you WiFi is about to be turned off has no auditory warning, so it shuts off the WiFi silently (I'd love to see Dell add a beep). The I noticed WiFi was turned off at 2 hours 24 minutes, so I estimated when I saw it was last working successfully.
X50v, MP3 Playback: 8 hours 43 minutes - this Spb Benchmark test turns the screen off and loops the same MP3 file. I had headphones plugged in and the volume turned up to maximum.
Dell Axim X50, 520 Mhz Model
X50, Active WiFi: 3 hours 35 minutes - WiFi stayed on until battery was down to 24%, then it turned off automatically.
X50, Active WiFi: 3 hours 18 minutes - Tested again, same test as above.
X50, Standard Using: 5 hours and 37 minutes - Same test as above.
Dell Axim X30, 624 Mhz Model
X30, Standard Using w/Backlight on Maximum: 3 hours 17 minutes
X30 with Extended Battery, Standard Using w/Backlight on Maximum: 7 hours 7 minutes
X30, Zero Utilization, Backlight Off, Extended Battery: 28 hours 7 minutes
X30, Standard Using w/Backlight on One Notch Above Off: 7 hours 2 minutes before first low power beep, 11 hours 17 minutes before complete shut off
X30, WiFi Test, 50% brightness: 2 hours 25 minutes - This was one of my early WiFi tests, using 128 KB HTML + graphics, on a 10 second refresh.
