I-mate PDA2 Short battery life issue.

[popalzai]

i have just purchased imate pda2(equivilent to O2 xdaIIi) and with a very minmum use after the full charge all the battery drains in just 8 hours ..Is this the normal battery life or its the fault of battery?
ROM version=1.11.00 WWE
ROM date 01/27/05
Radio Version=1.02.00
Protocol Version=1337.42
ExtROM version =1.11.144 WWE

Battery is PH17C 3.7VDC 1300mAH

I am confused about ROM size my hadware info shows..RAM 128mb Flash size 64mb....

does flash size means ROM?

but there is written 128mb ROM on booklets but it shows 64mb why>?

kindly help :shock:

[omniwolf]

I just recently bought a PDA2 as well, and experienced the same battery life problem. after running it down to less than 10% battery, then charging it back up to 100% a few times tho, the battery life appears to have strengthened a bit.
although i had a relapse last night, it was on 34% battery, i turned on flight mode, and then put it into standby mode. i woke up 7 hours later to find it on 9% battery! on my old XDA II, it would lose maybe 1% battery overnight with flight mode on. I'm going to keep testing this though.

as for the rom, as far as i know, rom = flash. the pda2's only have 64mb of rom or flash, whereas the xda IIi's have 128mb. as far as i can tell, this is the only hardware difference between the two devices.
hmm.. i just checked out the PDA2 website (http://www.clubimate.com/t-DETAILS_PDA2.aspx), and you're right, it says 128mb of rom. i've read elsewhere that it was only 64mb of rom tho, and thats what it says in my device information page as well... and i could have sworn that the above page used to say 64mb of rom..... very strange

[Southern_Man]

I just recently bought a PDA2 as well, and experienced the same battery life problem. after running it down to less than 10% battery, then charging it back up to 100% a few times tho, the battery life appears to have strengthened a bit.
although i had a relapse last night, it was on 34% battery, i turned on flight mode, and then put it into standby mode. i woke up 7 hours later to find it on 9% battery! on my old XDA II, it would lose maybe 1% battery overnight with flight mode on. I'm going to keep testing this though.

as for the rom, as far as i know, rom = flash. the pda2's only have 64mb of rom or flash, whereas the xda IIi's have 128mb. as far as i can tell, this is the only hardware difference between the two devices.
hmm.. i just checked out the PDA2 website (http://www.clubimate.com/t-DETAILS_PDA2.aspx), and you're right, it says 128mb of rom. i've read elsewhere that it was only 64mb of rom tho, and thats what it says in my device information page as well... and i could have sworn that the above page used to say 64mb of rom..... very strange

The perils of assuming the same radio stack works correctly across the globe with all operators!

Case in point - Xda II 1.66 rom worked brilliantly in UK, and sucked the battery dead in 8 hours in Germany. Why? because the german network had different settings for paging the handset

I'd say you've got a valid case to:
- Tell Imate to f*cking fix the problem
- Downgrade the Radio stack to another build and see what happens

:wink:

[stevep]

Guys

I've been having really big problems with my battery too on my XDAIIi. You might care to look at the log I kept of the battery over the course of a day here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=22468&highlight=

[omniwolf]

I just recently bought a PDA2 as well, and experienced the same battery life problem. after running it down to less than 10% battery, then charging it back up to 100% a few times tho, the battery life appears to have strengthened a bit.
although i had a relapse last night, it was on 34% battery, i turned on flight mode, and then put it into standby mode. i woke up 7 hours later to find it on 9% battery! on my old XDA II, it would lose maybe 1% battery overnight with flight mode on. I'm going to keep testing this though.

The perils of assuming the same radio stack works correctly across the globe with all operators!

Case in point - Xda II 1.66 rom worked brilliantly in UK, and sucked the battery dead in 8 hours in Germany. Why? because the german network had different settings for paging the handset

I'd say you've got a valid case to:
- Tell Imate to f*cking fix the problem
- Downgrade the Radio stack to another build and see what happens

:wink:

well i had flight mode ON, which means the aerial is turned off.. so i don't really see how the operator settings will affect it...?

i checked how i went last night, again turning the phone off (flight mode on), and sleeping for about 8 hours. my battery life had only dropped 3% which is much better, it went from 81% to 78%.

its an interesting thought about the paging settings though, when i finally sort out my login to the i-mate forums, i may have a look around for that.

stevep, yes i remember reading your thread a few days ago.. unfortunately it doesn't seem like you came across any sort of solution..

[stevep]

Hi all

You're right, there was no solution. I had the device replaced three times and the battery twice. I can conclude that it's definitley a feature of the device. :( I don't what's draining it (nor do o2). I had the problem escalated at o2 and although they were very helpful, they didn't really come up wiuth a solution, which is disappointing! My main issue was mostly about how long it took for o2 to admit it's a problem. The normal 'change this', 'hard reset', deinstal/reinstal everythig' etc etc just seemed to be their way of 'getting off the hook' (sorry o2) and concluding that it must be something that I've installed on the device

I was getting to the point of thinking about reporting it tomTradining Standards here in the UK because 8 hours or less (to me) doesn't make it 'fit for purpose'...but in the end I didn't because it felt that it wasn't a strong enough case to argue. Now I just carry a spare charged up battery

Steve

[omniwolf]

i work an office job, so i have mine cradled most of the day, but the weekends is where it gets tested. we'll see how it goes this weekend. on the xda II i usually had about 30% battery left on sunday night.. last weekend (the first weekend i had it, i got it the thursday before) it barely lasted one night.

[popalzai]

So whats the solution? ....This much less battery time does,nt serve the purpose for me ....i always have my nokia handset with me bec pda2 battery goes dead in 6 hours when i am at work...i am seriously thinking to sell PDA2...it would have been better that i should have purchased PDA2k.i post a query to imate technical support they replied that give a hard reset to ur device and see ...but nothing happened..the guy said he is forwarding my query to technical deptt lets see what they say....
In short i am really disappointed after spending so much money what i got?...if the battery time is less pda2 is of no use for me.

:cry:

[stevep]

Hi all - After long conversations with O2, I conclude that there is no solution (apart from always carry a spare battery). I'm really disappointed too! More so, because O2 constantly said my PDA was 'not right' and they kept swapping it out for anew one...

[Southern_Man]

Hi all - After long conversations with O2, I conclude that there is no solution (apart from always carry a spare battery). I'm really disappointed too! More so, because O2 constantly said my PDA was 'not right' and they kept swapping it out for anew one...

just a thought, have you turned turbo omode on? because that will definetly suck the battery?

also, turn down the backlight settings....

[stevep]

Hi SouthernMan

Yep Turbo off and backlight set to minimum (plus all the other tweaks that drain the baterry are 'off' or set to their lowest

[omniwolf]

right now im hoping they're going to release a new ROM that will magically fix everything.. because i can't see it as being a problem with something we're doing.. it must be the device.

[stevep]

Hi OmniWolf

I agree 1000% That's what I kept telling O2, but they insisted

1. it was the device (changed it twice, made no difference)
2. it was the battery (changed it three times, made no difference)
3. It was some software I was running (took all progs off one by one, took ages, made no difference

:(((

S

[omniwolf]

well hopefully they'll get enough support calls that they start looking at the problem seriously

[stevep]

I REALLY hope so! it's a great device...but I can't get through a business day without having to recharge it. Mainly that's not as problem, but just occasionally, I have to work a day when there's no access to any charging facilities...and if you couple that with going out after work for a few drinks, the PDA is completely dead by the time I get home

I found that mine was draining at a rate of 8-10% per hour

:(

[MugenPower]

Dear All,

Battery usage time is really one of the big concern for heavy duty user.
But O2 seems don't have any solution for the buyer. Buying a spare battery seems to be the only one solution....

[Calvin337]

I know you recommended buying a spare, but a more powerful battery that get you through the business day is a better solution in my book!

Hey I saw from Blue Angel thread you guys (Mugen) have battery for IIs.
So.... do you have higher capacity batteries for XDA II and IIi?
From myxda site I think they use the same battery.

[omniwolf]

think i might invest in sprite backup actually..

[popalzai]

Atlast after getting no reply from imate customer support(they just said give it a hard reset which had no effect on battery life) i sold my pda2 which had 4 hours of total call time at a loss of 180$...there is no big market for pdas in pakistan.
I was never expecting a well reputed device costing 800$ with such a major flaw... imate and o2 should be questioned in court y they bought a pda in market with a major flaw.