PSP Battery Journal

ayersrj writes "The folks over at IGN have started a "Battery Journal" in an attempt to provide us with some relevant information regarding the battery life issue on the PSP in a realistic playing environment. The first run: a little under five hours with no wi-fi. Not too shabby."

Not too shabby?

[theREALMcCoy]

I beg to differ. I don't want another device I have to remeber to charge every night if I want to use it the next day. My cell phone, palm, and laptop are enough.

Sony will no doubt release a better battery later.

[Anonymous Coward]

It makes no sense not to. Maybe the one the PSP comes with is the most cost effective solution.

It would certainly be a Sony thing to sell a higher capacity battery for a nice markup.

Not that Nintendo's business practices are any better. Release a handheld with a terrible screen, then after everyone buys that, release a better version with features it should've had to begin with (minus the headphone jack), and then release a completely different handheld that's backwards compatible.

We'll probably end up seeing a "sleeker, smaller" version of the DS in about a year or so. And naturally, the consumers will happily rebuy it for $150.

Re:Whine, Whine, Whine

[Neil Watson]

How long will the battery last in 6 months?

Less then 5 hours is "not too shabby"?

[Michalson]

And with one of the features turned off too.
PSP (like NDS and GBA SP) uses an internal rechargable battery. That means you can't replace the battery when it gets low, you need a power outlet and time to recharge. The old Gameboy (Pocket) offered about 8-9 on replacable AAAs. Gameboy Advance was near 14 hours (or about 9-10 using the rechargable battery pack).

Didn't anyone (at Sony) learn anything from Gamegear vs Gameboy? It didn't matter if your system was a monochrome sub-NES powered unit with a bezel speaker, it could still beat a full color portable that didn't give a full days use out of a charge. I'd say mistake #1 was even considering optical (mechanically read) media. Unless the whole dual screen/touch screen gamble flops, PSP will be going the same way as the Gamegear, in exactly the same way (large, high powered but battery killing unit that is mostly filled with ports from its larger brother)

And you trust... IGN?

[juuri]

Of course Gamespot [gamespot.com] says the battery life is a bit more variable than that.

For those not playing at home IGN has had some incredibly biased coverage in this recent round of handheld launches going so far as to "talk down" about the Nintendo DS on the actual DS portion of IGN. While both portable gaming systems kick ass, they do it in different ways, the rampant fanboyism at IGN is somewhat sickening, especially given than when it was first started, way back as Next Generation and even before then when the site was run off a college server it was known to being one of the first gaming sites to push honest opinions.

Re:Bias

[Ayaress]

Not laughing, actually. IGN isn't really high on my list of sites that I don't automatically assume are wrong. I've seen too many examples of them outright lying not to take this with a grain of salt. But it really has me wondering: Sony themselves were talking aobut FAR less battery life than IGN is reporting. That really sounds off. Sony is the last company to understate their products. If you could realistically expect 5 hours from the PSP, I would expect them to be talking about ten to fifteen hours, not two, one, and less like they have been. Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear about the moving parts issues. Battery life was the least of my worries. I feel very uncomfortable carrying something around in my pocket or bookbag that could be susceptible to shock damage, and I don't want to have to go and modify my laptop bag again to make a padded spot for one.

Re:GameSpot reports otherwise...

[adam31]

Ah, yes. Gamespot. The island of Truth in a sea of amateurish drivel. The pillar of Wisdom on which rests the integrity of an entire industry.

Seriously, are suggesting that this guy is lying? He has me quite convinced... I mean, I won't be reloading the article minute-by-minute drueling for the next update in the journal...

But when he says he gets 4.5 hours, I believe he's telling the truth at least.
I admit that it's almost unbelievable how accurate the "Time left" counter is... but maybe it really is that accurate?

And the thing is..

[PeelBoy]

People will be buying this thing mainly to play those graphically intense games. Right? I mean that seems like the whole point of this things..

Things are only going to get worse. New games will probably have higher and higher load times with more and more graphics and the battery lifes going to get worse and worse.

By what the gamespot article said it sounds like 90 mins was still with the wi-fi turned off.. Hmm

Re:Bias

[dbacher]

5 hours of playing MP3's, though. If you look at the diary, a lot of their time appears to be related to playing MP3's.

On my TapWave, I can listen to MP3's for a long time without running down the battery, because playing a MP3 requires virtually no processor time. I would guess that if you played a lot of MP3's and played fewer games, you could stretch the batter life a lot.

Re:GameSpot reports otherwise...

[SetupWeasel]

Considering that Gamespot used the most graphically intensive release game and IGN didn't, I'm more inclined to trust Gamespot's numbers. Gamespot said it depended what you were doing, so they used a graphically intensive game to get the low end.

IGN played freaking music files for one hour and played a puzzle game for one hour and forty-five minutes.

Going by what IGN said, they spent 2 hours playing games likely to drain the battery quickly and spent 2:45 doing things that aren't likely to drain the battery quickly.

I imagine that if you stick to the rigorous itenerary IGN gave precisely, you will get 4.5 hours. But if you want to play Ridge Racers single-player, you will get 1.5 - 3 hours.

Either way, it is a far cry from the 10 hours Sony promised us at E3.

Re:Whine, Whine, Whine

[Anonymous Coward]

I fly internationally often. In a trans atlantic flight, business class is at least a $2000 hike for a 5-7 hour flight. In the worst case scenario, you'll end up paying $1000 for a NY to Madrid trip, $400 if you find good dates on a major carrier. On the other hand, a business ticket goes for more than $3000 most of the time. 1st class, of course, is another couple thousand more.

I don't know about whoever pays for your trips, but my CEO won't take an extra $2000 per trip because I want to plug computer in.