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I've read a few posts on HTC Wizard battery life and I'm trying to quantify what I'm seeing (which is hard given varying conditions under which the device can be used and what features are active but I'll attempt that here). I'd really like to hear what other pepole are experiencing under similar conditoins.
I’m getting about two days worth of battery life before the unit is warning that the device needs to be recharged. Here’s what I’ve done with it over the past 2 days:
· 47 minutes time spent using the phone. I get the full 4 signal bars just about everywhere I go, including and the office and at home. I have not used the speakerphone at all.
· About 1 hour of PDA use
· Bluetooth and WiFi have been off. There was no GPRS use during this time.
· The screen brightness is set to the lowest level possible, one setting above the backlight being completely off.
· When on battery power, the backlight automatically shuts itself off after 30 seconds and the device turns itself off completely after one minute.
· I’m running Windows Mobile 5.0
The battery currently reads 18% after 2 days.
Is this in line with what other people are seeing?
I used to drain my wizard to about 50-60% in one day (from morning to evening), when I still let it go to standby, so that seems about right. It goes down a bit faster now because I always leave it on (just let the backlight go off of course) so agile messenger will stay online...
I'm pretty sure this battery life is pretty good for a pda phone though, you can't compare this to a regular phone.
I always connect it to the charger at night so it's no problem for me, and I bring a very small usb cable (like 15 cm) when I don't sleep at home. Usually there's an opportunity to connect the wizard to a computer somewhere so it'll charge, the computer doesn't need to recognize the wizard for that.
I need to charge my Wizard evry night, if it's friday with party etc alot of calls i need to have my samsung d600 with me becuase the qtek goes empty around 23.oo :/
Just done a typical "intensive" day, and I'm really pleased of that thing. Here's what I've done:
~50 min on the phone
~2h30 MP3 playing with TCPMP, LCD off of course
~30min e-mail and internet through wireless
obviously a bit more PDA use, cause uptime meter says 4h39 :wink:
I still have 54% battery at the moment.
Useful to mention, forgot to turn off wireless after browsing, so it stayed on for like 1hr with device off, and that still drains juice.
Backlight is set at the middle.
Once again, my BA would be dead by now. I had ~4h PDA use at standard clock settings, 2hr with wireless on. The Wizard just doubles both these figures. I definitely understand why they've dropped that guzzling XScale... wish there could be an optimised version of TCPMP soon though, video playback is the only thing where i see a real difference in speed, haven't managed to have a video playing smooth without hangups yet.
Skype doesn't run well, but it didn't either with the BA without overclocking it at the maximum it would hold, giving a stunning 1h30 battery life (with wireless on obviously). The device was really hot while doing this, and the standard charger would not give enough current even to power the device, battery was still going down when connected. Had to use a 2A Axim adapter to charge while skyping :shock:
So definitively a GREAT improvement.
I used my MDA Vario the other day and it went down to 18% in approx 4 1/2 hours.
Screen was at max brightness and on for the whole time,
Tom Tom running.
Bluetooth on
About what I'd expect. I don't think my Treo 650 would be much better in similar circumstances.
I just updated the other thread about the battery that up till now its been fine but two days ago the dreaded issue started with me too
I've just lost 20% in 3 hours without doing anything (its been off since)
AKU2 rom gives a definite improvement, I can have 85% left after a day of normal use.
meschle said:
AKU2 rom gives a definite improvement, I can have 85% left after a day of normal use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which AKU2 rom. T mobile hasn't released one for my phone yet, to my knowledge.
The qtek rom, many vario users are using this rom out of frustration for t-mobile not releasing theirs.
meschle said:
The qtek rom, many vario users are using this rom out of frustration for t-mobile not releasing theirs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Hey if you upgrade the ROM you should run some tests before installing any applications. It would be a definite advantage to make sure it's not some buggy app that's causing your battery drain.
agreed... I think that is my issue too that it could be a memory leak somewhere in one of the programs
can only put it down to registrywizard, uptime, or resco, the latter i doubt very much though
I upgraded my vario to the newest imate rom and would totally recommend doing so.. my battery life is about double what it used to be now (may have installed something dodgy that was draining it though)
Its also much faster in operation and seems to be a lot more stable too (I suffered a lot from the random reboot problem previously)
what did you upgrade from?
and what rom version are you running? the ones on the ftp for kjam are numbered a bit strange and can be confusing
The numbers are confusing for me as a noob to WM5/wizard.
What is the difference between the Qtek & the Imate roms?
kilrah said:
... Useful to mention, forgot to turn off wireless after browsing, so it stayed on for like 1hr with device off, and that still drains juice.
Backlight is set at the middle. ...
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Click to collapse
WiFi doesn't drain battery when the device is turned off, cause the WiFi module will also be turned off automatically - just test it: leave WiFi on and press the power button - after a few hours look at the effect on the battery... :wink:
I usually recharge my Vario every 3-4 days. Although I don't use WiFi and I also don't make many long calls I usually use GPRS always on to receive my mails. I also use BT quite often to listen to music over my A2DP headset - maybe one hour per day on average...
So there must be something wrong with the devices of some of the people posting here... :!:
What is the average battery life most people are getting from their devices? The reason for asking I beleive that my battery life has reduced drastically, I'm averaging 36hours. I do not use it as a phone, the Wifi & bluetooth is switch off, the unit is used for push email only and I receive about 20 emails per day, very little WEB browsing.
I'm sure my battery life was a lot better when I took delivery of the unit.
a18041967 said:
What is the average battery life most people are getting from their devices? The reason for asking I beleive that my battery life has reduced drastically, I'm averaging 36hours. I do not use it as a phone, the Wifi & bluetooth is switch off, the unit is used for push email only and I receive about 20 emails per day, very little WEB browsing.
I'm sure my battery life was a lot better when I took delivery of the unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmmmm.. well I'd consider 36 hours fantastic but then it sounds as if I use mine a lot more for wifi, surfing, phone etc. than you. Perhaps an hour to hour and a half per day and charge once per day but will usually have 40/50% charge left I did see a post from someone saying with reasonably heavy use they could only get 8hrs.
Mike
i use mine mostly for data.. in a 3G area i average about an 9.2% loss per hour.. in a edge area i am averaging about 1.7% loss per hour... these are all estimates since the battery meter only goes by 10's
I am fairly certain that the 3G is eating power. I get a full days work out of it with a lot of phone calls, push email, BT always on, and occasional WiFi usage. I am almost always in 3G, I very rarely lose it and only when at a clients far away.
Later, Lew
BTW, A full days work for me is 9am to 3am.
3G is the problem. Consider switching to 3G via MortScript as described in another thread. Personally, I use the GPRS only setting for normal use. PushMail would consume a lot less energy with GPRS and the speed isn't such an issue for mails in my opinion. Whenever I'm willing to browse the net a bit more, I switch to 3G before doing so (takes ca. 15s via the script) and when done, I go back to the less battery eating and more reliable (for taking phone calls etc.) GSM only mode.
You will definately at least double the runtime of your Hermes. I can do 5 days (phone on at night, little use) by doing so.
Well I can confirm that 3G is the cause, as suggested I've switched to GSM and battery life is a lot better.
3rd charge i managed to get nearly 2 days, had a 4 hr gprs web session last night on minimum brightness and still had 30% battery this morning.
if the battery goes to 0% what happens? data loss or just turns off?
jonr said:
3rd charge i managed to get nearly 2 days, had a 4 hr gprs web session last night on minimum brightness and still had 30% battery this morning.
if the battery goes to 0% what happens? data loss or just turns off?
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Other than any document/application open at time of shut down you should be ok, not like my old Clie that looses everything that's not screwed down on the storage card. In fact quite often I deliberately remove the battery for a while if I reckon it may help with a lock up (normally due to some rubbish downloaded freebie!!). All saved programmes to Device memory and card remain in tact.
Mike
Using my TYTN for email (check every 30 minutes), newsgroups (check every 30 minutes) and reading both every 2 hours.
Also using the phone for lots of browsing.
And i am also using my phone for making some phonecalls over the day (with and without bluetooth carkit), i get to use my phone for about 16 to 18 hours without need for a recharge.
[OT]
How do you enable auto email send and receive?
Cant find the option anywhere
[/OT]
if you add an email account to your tytn you get the option advanced at the end of the settings. if you click it you will get the option to send/receive at a standard timeperiod.
I use UMTS for email and web browsing continuosly for 2 hours and I'm down to 10% after a full night charge. It's pathetic.
Your device is broke, or your battery is defective. Seriously, if you have a warranty, act on it.
Later, Lew
lewcamino said:
Your device is broke, or your battery is defective. Seriously, if you have a warranty, act on it.
Later, Lew
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i dont know about that.. everyone seems to be getting around the same battery life... i would bet that if i used mine on umts continously for 2 hours i would be close to the same drain, UMTS sucks alot of battery
shogunmark said:
i dont know about that.. everyone seems to be getting around the same battery life... i would bet that if i used mine on umts continously for 2 hours i would be close to the same drain, UMTS sucks alot of battery
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Click to collapse
that's true and umts sucks a lot of power. i am using mine on umts in tokyo and i can only get 10 to 12 hours. i use it mostly for push email (about 80 emails), an hour of browsing and some phone calls a day. i've ended up purchasing mugen's 3000mah one to get through the day without recharging.
lewcamino said:
Your device is broke, or your battery is defective. Seriously, if you have a warranty, act on it.
Later, Lew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly doubt it as I have two 8525 and both of them will be at 10% with 2 hours of continuous use.
Well I'm on my 2nd battery.First one was replaced under warranty as I was getting about 8hrs with very little usage.
I'm on my third charge with the new battery. The first & second charges have given me about 15hrs.
Agent said I should be getting 4hrs talk time and if the second battery is also [email protected] then they will replace the phone. So I'm monitoring until next week.
Quad said:
Well I'm on my 2nd battery.First one was replaced under warranty as I was getting about 8hrs with very little usage.
I'm on my third charge with the new battery. The first & second charges have given me about 15hrs.
Agent said I should be getting 4hrs talk time and if the second battery is also [email protected] then they will replace the phone. So I'm monitoring until next week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may not apply to you (as you probably know it already!), but Windows Mobile does not shut down programmes when you click the x in top right corner. To ensure you are not unknowingly running lots of applications in the background you need to use a programme that really shuts applications down properly - e.g. Magicbutton or HTC X Button. This can save considerably on both battery power and performance.
Mike
Mike, I'm using Magicbutton and make sure all apps are closed all the time. I've read a lot about the UTMS connection on all the time draining battery. I've just downloaded this app: http://www.gb-soft.cz/XDAII/product_gprs_tweak_wm5pe_en.htm
See if this works and extends battery.
Quad said:
Mike, I'm using Magicbutton and make sure all apps are closed all the time. I've read a lot about the UTMS connection on all the time draining battery. I've just downloaded this app: http://www.gb-soft.cz/XDAII/product_gprs_tweak_wm5pe_en.htm
See if this works and extends battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had a quick look at your link and yip, looks good going to try it as well.
Mike
I have a T-Mobile MDA Vario II with WM 6 (Black IV Shadow). I have the following problem: When I charge it, it first shows a red light which then turns to yellow. I have read the "red light"-issue in the wiki, but that is not the same problem as mine: When it is charged, it says the battery has a 100 per cent (the light, after all, turns yellow after some time). Still, it just doesn't last more than a day.
I may add that the Hermes fell on the ground once and was slightly damaged: The power and camera buttons do not work anymore, but everything else does (at least that's what it seems to be like). Can anybody help me to pinpoint my problem:
1. Charging device: Is the charging device possibly damaged? How could I figure that out? Is it possible to use a different device with the same socket (I have got an MP3 player, Creative Zen Micro, and another mobile phone called "OGO" whose charging devices have sockets that fit). Then again, I have read in a different forum that even though the sockets are identical, charging with a different device can be dangerous.
Anyways, how can I find out if there is anything wrong with the original charging device?
2. Battery: Is there any possibility to measure the battery's capacity? I could imagine there might be a program to control it. I would rather not disassemble the device just to find out if there's sth wrong with the battery.
3. Other possible solutions: Is there anything else I could or should think of?
Many thanks in advance for your hints.
Best wishes
Michael
Less than one day with reasonably heavy use would not be uncommon. When I use GPS for example it does not last long. So to know if it's excessive we'd need to know what you are running.
Mike
Also what radio version are you running - different versions can have significant impacts on your battery life...
Smiffy.
Thank you for your replies:
1. I do not use it intensely at all. I never connect to the internet, use bluetooth, GPS, Wireless LAN or the like. I even switch the phone off whenever I can. I doubt whether this is the reason. Still, thank you for your hint.
2. I am using Radio Version 1.05.02.00. Would you suggest upgrading?
Here's a tip, going all the way back to the PocketPC 2002 days but it's still relevant now, especially in power conscious devices like phones:
Go to SETTINGS/CONNECTIONS/BEAM and deselect "Receive all incoming beams"
It was (and is) IMO completely wasteful having the IRDA port constantly transmitting/receiving and being polled by the system. It's probably the least power sapping of all of the various wireless technologies in the Tytn but I don't feel that's a good reason to leave it on all the time.
YMMV, but who the hell uses IRDA anymore these days? I've been a power WinCE user for a decade and I've only used IRDA once or twice as a curiosity.
michaelbarrero said:
Thank you for your replies:
1. I do not use it intensely at all. I never connect to the internet, use bluetooth, GPS, Wireless LAN or the like. I even switch the phone off whenever I can. I doubt whether this is the reason. Still, thank you for your hint.
2. I am using Radio Version 1.05.02.00. Would you suggest upgrading?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not an expert by any means, but I can flash with the best of them...and yes I do recommend you flashing your radio to a more updated one. Check in the wiki for extracted radio roms, go to their respective threads and see if anyone in you geographical location and with your service tier has mentioned anything about the radios. Or (my personal fav) start with the highest number (1.47 I think it is now) and flash it...if it works better for you great, if not then maybe take a step down until satisfied. The 1.05 radio is really old. Good luck...be sure to read Mr. Vanxs guide on flashing if you have not flashed before! PS- what os/rom are you using?
I get 3-4 hours onmine unless I have a car charger. But I am ALWAYS using data.
wpbear said:
I get 3-4 hours onmine unless I have a car charger. But I am ALWAYS using data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you on 3g or Edge?
ajmoncrief said:
Are you on 3g or Edge?
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Click to collapse
3G. When I am on Edge which also means not at work so I use less data, I can get 10 hours.
Me personally:
I am in the Charleston, WV (AT&T) area...I have been using radio 1.41, although I am now trying 1.47. My area uses Edge, I have configured my 8525 to always be on Media Net edge connnection, my email accounts are check every 5 minutes. I surf the web very sparingly but use email, various games w/out sound and ms office frequently throughout the day. I run roughly about 12-14 hours before the battery is somewhere around 10%-20%.
I have brightness turned down to the notch before the lighting is off.
I also have an extended battery that I picked up for about 20 bucks from ebay that very easily double or triples those results.
Wow- 12 to 14 hours using 5 minute polling of email! I'm also in an edge area running the 1.40 radio on Cingular network and am lucky to get about 8 with moderate phone usage and minor surfing but also with 5 minute polling of email - pop and Exchange 2003.
However, I do run my backlight timer at 2 minutes and power at 5 minutes...
yeah i'm pretty satisfied...I only pack along my extended battery for trips. Oops, I failed to mention that I am not a big talker...maybe 30 min a day. I use my office line at work. I have the screen timeout for something like 30 seconds and 1 minute as well.
michaelbarrero said:
Thank you for your replies:
1. I do not use it intensely at all. I never connect to the internet, use bluetooth, GPS, Wireless LAN or the like. I even switch the phone off whenever I can. I doubt whether this is the reason. Still, thank you for your hint.
2. I am using Radio Version 1.05.02.00. Would you suggest upgrading?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've already upgraded to WM6, then yes, go for it - it's a really old radio version but if you're still on the ROM that shipped on your phone, for warranty or whatever other reason, then you might want to be a little more reticent before upgrading your radio as it will almost certainly void it.
It still sounds like something is eating you battery life up though, or your battery is duff. i remember a long time ago I used a screensaver thingy on my phone and it took me ages to realise that it was that which was halving my battery life. What else have you got on your phone?
Oh, and just in response to the beam thingy above - it also switches off your ability to receive files over bluetooth...
Smiffy.
If the battery lasts less and less, don't overlook the obvious: The battery. My Hermes was down to 2 - 3 hours a day. I decided I need a second battery to get through the day. Turned out that the new battery lasted all day. Threw away the old one.
Well I get about a day. But I have Direct Push on, 200+ e-mail, about 1hr checking news, 1hr 30min of calls average etc.
maybe try this
if you know someone else with the same phone, swap batteries for a day. that will tell you if it is your phone or battery causing the problem.
its the UMTS that eats your battery. when you get the fone its on auto and coverage changes constintly, so when you not using umts rather deactivate it by your fone settitngs
Mr_GTI said:
its the UMTS that eats your battery. when you get the fone its on auto and coverage changes constintly, so when you not using umts rather deactivate it by your fone settitngs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, but that shouldn't happen since I'm in an EDGE only area right? Or should I still lock it down to EDGE? The nearest 3G/H area is 2.5 hours away...
i assume it searches for the 3g coverage all the timne, so yeah rather just leave umts on for when you need it
Wow - can't believe what a difference it made just locking it to EDGE made. Battery lasted until 10pm last night even with 1 hour of mono audio, light calling, some internet use, direct push all day and BT connected all day!
I just order touch hd , and waiting for it. but I wonder how about battery drain on touch hd.
I got diamond one and it terrible on standard battery.
better than diamond thats for sure ما شاء الله
with extensive outdoor usage (gps running, wlan enabled but home wlan unreachable) my Blackstone is drained in less then 4 hours.
regards
bla3603 said:
with extensive outdoor usage (gps running, wlan enabled but home wlan unreachable) my Blackstone is drained in less then 4 hours.
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm almost have to recharge my Touch every single day! And in mine opinion I don't use it very extremely. Didn't have that issue with my TyTn!
luckyuser said:
Didn't have that issue with my TyTn!
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With my TyTN II (Kaiser) I have the same bad experience, drained in less then 1/2 day. Same with some other devices. But I think this is typical for this device class. With some directives the battery power can be saved:
- disable WLAN when going outwards
- reduce display brightness
- disable/shutdown GPS apps if not used
- buy a car kit ;-)
In my opinion WLAN and the display are the most power consuming parts.
regards
thanks for the advice, normally i have recharge pda-phone every single day with normal usesage. hope to not worry about battery like a normal cellphone ;/
Don't have any problems with drain, even after steady use I still had 3 bars left :O
iDaemon said:
normally i have recharge pda-phone every single day with normal usesage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome. I am still playing with my new Blackstone, but I think with "normal" usage the operating distance will be 2..3 days.
regards
Had a problem trying to charge it in my car for the first time. On a 3 hour journey with about 1/4 battery level left and running pocket player and TomTom when I got home still only 1/4 (or maybe even less) battery power left. I charge it through the USB port in the car stereo. Never had that problem with Polaris under same conditions. Seems ok at home running the same programmes and charging through the mains.
Any one else having trouble charging in a car?
I hope it stands more than one day only. Xperia has better values, my friend told me, it lasts two days more...
friend of mine just got a Xperia. will catechize him...
with heavy usage but turning off WiFi outdoors battery life has been pretty good lasts a day and a half.
In 3G mode, only with two full charges and a bit of heavy usage, cause I only have my HD from last friday, it's been lasting for about 1,5 day. I'm going to test it about one more week and then I'm going to test it in normal GSM mode.
With heavy usage lasting about a day.
2 hours movie
1 hr mp3
30 min calls
10+ text messages
1 hour internet through wifi
12 hrs standby
5 minutes google maps
Maybe 1 hr playing with my new toy (screen lit)
Probably about 2-3 days when my usage goes back to "normal".
I've charged my HD @ 15 o'clock and now is on 72% of battery
opps sorry wrong section, ment to be in the dream not blackstone how do you delete posts?
I have usually a heavy use on it (i.e. too much talking over BT headphone, regular wifi email exchange, rss update etc.).
I used to see it drain easily until I used the advance configuration to fix sd management, connection management etc. For some reason everything was off on mine.
Now with (fairly) regular use it can go one and half day almost.
bla3603 said:
With my TyTN II (Kaiser) I have the same bad experience, drained in less then 1/2 day. Same with some other devices. But I think this is typical for this device class. With some directives the battery power can be saved:
- disable WLAN when going outwards
- reduce display brightness
- disable/shutdown GPS apps if not used
- buy a car kit ;-)
In my opinion WLAN and the display are the most power consuming parts.
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, no need for WLAN to be on when on the move. It's the most power consuming antenna in your phone. You can set it to disable if it can't find an access point for 1 minute. Bluetooth is also a killer... These phones are stuffed with radio's, don't turn them on all at once.
Oh, and my phone easily lasts a day, and I tinker with it all the friggin time, and use it quite a bit. But I only activate stuff when I need it, such as wifi, bluetooth, direct push. I rarely use GPS, yes of course this drains your battery in 4 hours, just like when you would place a call or watch a video or browse the web for 4 hours. Anything that uses a lot of radio activity or a lot of screen on-time will drain your battery fast.
I optimized power saving modes with schaps advanced config and turn the thing off at night.
Push email on winmo or apple phones is a joke. The way it requires to keep a GPRS connection alive is ridiculous. Blackberry understands this a lot better.
If you don't use it, you might as well turn GRPS auto attach off using schaps advanced config tool since that too will save a lot of battery time.
Recharged 20 hours ago. Normal use. GPRS Data Connection on, e-mail push each hour (i have flatrate) and i have 85% of battery left.
I've just bought a slightly used Mda Vario II,
but i have some troubles with the battery. i fully charged the battery (i suppose 15 hours)and when i checked the led was green. so i began to use my new device. but after 4 hours the battery was empty.
i'd remove the battery and placed it back in the device. and it boots.
with 20% battery and it lasts for i suppose an hour. then it shuts down again and if i do the same it starts again with 10% good for a half hour.
is this a common problem? is my battery dead? does someone has a solution?
Depends what you do with it. If you are using it a lot, depending on what you use, it could be normal. If its in standby with minimal use, a few calls/txt/mms/email, then it may be the battery needs replacing.
Charging the battery should only take 2-3 hours, NOT 15 unless you are using a non standard charger, even then 15 hours is excessive (unless you mean you left it overnight).
I'd look at replacing the battery, if you know someone with the same phone you might be able to borrow their battery to test. Test your battery in theirs and their battery in yours.Only thing I could think to try...
Cheers...
Thanks for the fast respond,
i am using 3g the whole day. automatic recieve email every 5 minutes.
furthermore i'm an average user i think.
how many hours can you use your tytn?
From what I hear 3G eats a lot of power. 4 hours sounds pretty good if you are having it on all the time. A 3G iPhone doesn't do better! I don't use 3G on mine but I am a heavy user. Data connection (EDGE) on all the time, Bluetooth always on, use it as an mp3 player, take about 3 hrs of phone calls, and surf the web. I don't let mine drain all the way down (leave it plugged in the car and at my desk) and I carry 3 batteries as spares. I'd say a battery might last about 9-10 hrs. if I didn't plug it in. I'm sure if I had 3G, it would be about 4-5. Of course it depends on your battery size as well...
If you aren't actively downloading/surfing the web, why not just turn off 3G until you need to use it?
Also need to remember that its not good tolet the battery discharge lower than 10%. People have had problems where the phone then doesn't recognise the battery is plugged in when trying to recharge. If you are gonna keep downloading emails on 3g all the time, it might be worthwhile to invest in another battery or two as vwkess does.
I tend to get a day or 2 out of my battery but I download my emails through activesync when at home or the office. Gives my battery a longer life and is easier and cheaper as Oz doesn't have unlimited data plans that are "reasonable".
Also would suggest getting a Larger capacity battery if lugging around a couple of extra batterries is too much of a pain. Though depending on what size you get it can make your Hermes larger. I have a 1650 Mah but you can get 3000 Mah batterries. Its up to you...
Cheers...
Thanks for the reply's!
I have a original 1350mAh battery.
And EDGE isn't supported in the netherlands.
Is it possible to switch between 3G and GPRS?
So i can set the phone to GPRS when i'm not using internet.
Will a 1500mAh battery last longer? or is it better to pick a even larger battery?
Yes, you should be able to turn off 3G in the Comm manager and just turn it on when you need it. 1500 will last a little longer, probably a couple of hours depending on usage.