Handhelds/PDAs - Palm vs Zaurus vs others - Opinions? Experiences?

[Ben Scott]

On 3/22/07, Brian Chabot <brian at datasquire.net> wrote:
> "Browsing time: up to 3 hours"
>
> What's up with PDAs, UMPCs, and even laptops these days and the severe
> lack of battery life?

  Partly increased CPU and RAM to run the latest bloatware.

  Mostly the display backlight and radios.  That backlight sucks juice
like crazy.  It's a big lightbulb.  Leave a flashlight on for three
hours and see how it works.  And then the radios.  Some of these
gadgets have a multi-band cell telephone radio, an 802.11 radio, and a
Bluetooth radio.  It's a wonder the room lights don't flicker from the
RFI.

> I can use (yes, USE) my Handspring Visor for days before the battery
> goes out.

  Back in the days of the original Palm and Handspring units, which
had 16 MHz processors and normally unlit screens, I could go a month
or two on a single pair of AAA (?) batteries.

-- Ben

-- 
"One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / And the next it's rolling over me"
                                                  -- Rush, "Far Cry"