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Palm Pre Battery Life

By Pre on Jan 16, 2009
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It may be awhile before we get some first hand reports on actual battery life of the Palm Pre, but the first key to unlocking that puzzle has been uncovered – the actual battery.

According to Pocketables.com, the battery is 1200mAh which is compareable to 1150mAh battery found in both the Palm Treo 800w and Palm Centro. These devices don’t have the longest battery life on the earth but I think itd be fair to label them “decent” at minimum. Especially when compared to the likes of the iPhone and G1.

But therein lies the problem… the iPhone, G1 and eventually the Pre will be running on much more complex Operating Systems that ask the device to do much more. From rendering beautifully bright and crystal clear screens with smooth animation to keeping track of always on GPS, status notifications on web browsing, there is a good chance that the Palm WebOS will use battery much quicker than other Palm devices.

Will a 1200mAh battery be enough? It’ll be interesting to see how well WebOS handles battery life… or rather how rapidly it consumes it. The 1200mAh should be treated as an educated guess at this point but the chances that it’s somewhere around that figure are pretty much definite given the size/shape and relation to others in Palm’s lineup.

So given the fact that the Pre battery life might not be amazing to say the least, will the cool TouchStone charger make you forget about that? Do you think the battery life will be better or worse than competing handsets?

Comments

102 Responses to “Palm Pre Battery Life”
  1. Jorge says:

    OK! I agree 100% about the poor life of the PalmPre battery. I Wonder if the creator’s of this beautiful phone are planning to created a battery with a capacity to provide enough energy for this machine???

  2. Battery life SUCKED so bad I was going to get rid of this really nice phone. So I did the following:

    1) I bought the 1350MA battery – about 20% better overall performance
    2) I bought the touchstone charger kit – cool – I leave it on the charger all the time at work.
    3) At work, I only get about 2 bars. This was sucking battery life. I use wi-fi anywhere I can, and that helps a lot.
    4) Turn off the gps/locator when not in use (almost all the time).
    5) I use the car charger whenever I’m in the car.

    Result: I never have a battery problem anymore. Never.

    Cool phone. Cool operating system. The only shortcoming is lack of apps. Hopefully we’ll get plenty of apps soon. Voice dialing and some better games would be great.

    • Robert Winslow says:

      So basicly you turn off al lthe features of the phone to make is usable.

      Ok, I understand.

      • Brett A. Dugue' says:

        Yeah and keep the Pre plugged in ALL THE TIME! I am NOT impressed with the Pre. Even the basic apps SUCK when compared to the BASIC apps of the Treo 700p I replaced! I already have a list of 30+ things that suck about the Pre and after about two months, that list is still growing! Many are software (can’t take video… WTF?!!) related but some are hardware related(battery life SUCKS!) or lack of hardware (no micro SD slot…WTF?! I mean W-T-F?!!!) On the web (with Web OS) I tend to use the Pre in Landscape mode so the slide out keyboard (I love actual keyboards) should slide out for use in the Landscape mode. This would also help when texting. Turn your monitor on its side right now and you will have a Pre! The portrait mode is good for phone calls, taking pictures, viewing pictures, etc.

      • Nicholas Sack says:

        No, what he is trying to say is that he actually remembers how to get places that he goes every day. Crazy eh? GPS is not really a need of anybody, its just a great feature to have for trips or finding hot spots on the weekend.

    • Dukeman says:

      I have just bought a Palm Pre and am now (5 days later) returning it. Back to a Blackberry for me.
      The Palm pre battery life is rubbish, the messaging and email apps are not ‘friendly’ and normal USB chargers and cables are incompatible. Wish I’d never bought it – live and learn!

  3. Ray Smith says:

    I haven’t had these battery issues. My Pre will last almost all day, and I came here looking for solutions to extend it to a full day. I found a website that recommended turning off the GPS, having the email checked less frequently, and couple of other tips. I tried those tips today, and instead of lasting the normal 12-15 hours, it’s still going strong with 43% left 15 hours into being un plugged. I unplugged it this morning at 8 am, and I have made about 15-20 calls, checked my 3 email accounts all day, and used several apps and the internet.

  4. Jason says:

    Does anyone have any tricks about the fastest way to “end a call” when you are done talking. I’ve noticed that when I complete a call sometimes its difficult to turn it off immediately. Also, I’ve noticed that you have to slide it open to “wake the phone up”…is there something I’m missing?

    • Jessica says:

      Wjen I bought the Pre, I was concerned about thw battery life being terrible since I had no intention on returning it. What I did read elsewhere is that the battery life does get better with time. I’ve had the phone for about three weeks and can attest to this fact. I’ve on 30 minute calls twice today, replied to e-mails and texts for most of the day and am at 70% battery power. Three weeks ago, the battery would’ve been dead. Turning off the extra stuff helps, along with turning down screen brightness, how long the screen stays on and watching when it roams (turn it to airplane mode or off).
      Also, I wouldn’t suggest ‘waking up’ the phone by using the slider. Use the power button. Just press it and the phone will light up with an option to unlock the phone. Using the slider like that could damage it… Or at least it did with the LG Rumor…

    • VVN says:

      u can just press the power button at the top once, lightly, and it will wake up the phone..instead of sliding it.. =)

    • Jules says:

      You do not have to slide it open, the on off button on the top right, You can just tap that and it wakes up the pre.

  5. Francesca says:

    I’m taking my Pre back today and going back to my Blackberry World Edition. the battery life stinks and even when it’s on the charger, it takes FOREVER to charge to 100%…my blackberry charged to a full battery in less than 15 minutes. the Pre is cute and cool but NOT practical!

  6. Evan says:

    I am having similar battery life problems. Only getting about 5 hours with wifi and bluetooth turned off. Being forced to leave it on charger most of the time. Gets very hot while charging and have the latest updates as well.

  7. EVAN says:

    if you want to maximize your battery life, you must turn off the email alerts. i bought this phone on sat. and had the same experience you all had. today i decided to test w/o the email app running. 4pm i took it off the charger and when to work (94%). i got a few txts throughout work but didnt use it much. i get off at 1030pm (65%). i plug it inot the charger while i listen to mp3 and wait for my ride. this takes 30 mins. i get home at 1130pm. i turn on the wifi, check some websites, then have an hour long aim convo. i put on the charger again at 3am with 18%. with the email function it would have been dead by 8pm…9 tops.

  8. Rob says:

    I have had my pre for a week now and have had no battery issues – even under heavy usage. I typically talk for about 30 – 60 minutes a day, peruse the web for atleast 3 hours, take a few pictures, and send several texts each day without running the battery dry. With the usage described above and the phone always on – I have to recharge about every 30 hours or so.

    As I have learned more about the os, ihave really come to LOVE the phone. Highly recommended.

  9. firedude says:

    I had to take my battery back too….once i did that my pre has given me all the battery life that I need…I will be getting the aftermarket battery but only because i like having the extra power…not because i think the battery is going to die on me….. i read all previous post before this one…You guy’s should have figured out by now that you had bad batteries…….first hint!!!!!!..excessive heat!!!!!….its a great phone.. I’m keeping mine.

  10. Phillycop says:

    Got the pre two days ago. I don’t like it. Battery life sucks. When I first got my instinct I laughed at the two battery thing. WOW who’s laughing now?

  11. Scott says:

    I was also having battery sucking problems but keeping the gps and wifi off when not in use, and setting the email to download every 15 minutes has completely solved my problem — battery is now showing 100% after a day of use. I don’t know how critical it is to turn off the wifi, WebOS may be idling it anyway.

  12. Robert says:

    The battery doesnt last 12 hours under normal use, but other than that I love the Pre

  13. Cia Romano says:

    So bummed! Have held out for Pre as a longtime Palm user. Left Tucson today for DC (a common trip for me) and my battery was dead in 8 hr after minimal use. Since my clients are East Coast, I can’t risk arriving with a dead phone (just when I need it, like today). So I hate to say that it’s going back, and I may be signing paper with AT&T. Someone convince me otherwise.

  14. pablo says:

    my palmpre just got 0% of batery now it wont turn on :(
    wtf!!! what i can do !!?

  15. Lacey H says:

    I agree. I am LIVID about the PalmPre. I have even gotten into a habit of powering it down half way through my work day AFTER NOT TOUCHING IT AT ALL when it’s down to 60% battery. the only thing is-the phone STILL dies while it’s turned off..in a matter of hours! this is completely illogical and ridiculous. i regret wasting money on this phone.

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