Newbie vario 2 any good? - 8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General

Hi everyone.
Im looking at getting the vario 2. Is it any good? I did try a mda compact2 and the original vario, but thought they were pants. My nokia 6630 opened apps faster. Along with battery life on the vario, it needed a nuclear power cell. In the end gave it a miss.
So whats improved and is the vario2 deaf on the wifi side? Is the going to be an mda pro 2??? Worth waiting or take the plunge or just stay clear of the vario 2. Is the pro a better unit?
Thanks for your time
Paul

The battery life on the Vario 1 was unheard of in the realm of pda/phones. It was very very good.
The Vario 2's battery life is not as good, probably due to the faster processor and faster data rates.
So if you thought the vario 1 was pants due to battery life (which is surprising statement), you can forget the vario 2.

jamijam said:
The battery life on the Vario 1 was unheard of in the realm of pda/phones. It was very very good.
The Vario 2's battery life is not as good, probably due to the faster processor and faster data rates.
So if you thought the vario 1 was pants due to battery life (which is surprising statement), you can forget the vario 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from a nokia, the battery life or lack of in comparison, was quite shocking. To be fair, what ever phone I use, its constantly searching for phone transmitters due to nature of my job. Nature of the beast I suppose.
I did feel the compact2 and the original vario were very slow in operation.
Is the vario 2 a big improvement speed and power wise though?
Cheers
Paul

Related

Battery life

Hello,
I am considering the i-mate Pocket PC / XDA II (among other devices), but I must say I am a bit disappointed at the battery capacity of this device. It seems to be only around 2.5 - 3.5 hours of talk time, and compared to other competing combo devices (HS T600, SE P900, etc.) this is a relatively short time. But, then again, I know the stated specs are not the same as real life usage.
So thus, I ask; does anyone here have any comments/personal observations regarding this ?
Btw., specs can be found here:
http://www.carrierdevices.com.au/products/imatepocketpc/factsfigures.htm
Thank you for your time.
As it is phone, and also got a large screen, it consumes battery relatively fast.

I-mate PDA2 Short battery life issue.

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:
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, 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
omniwolf said:
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, 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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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:
'scuse me for butting in...
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=
Southern_Man said:
omniwolf said:
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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..
battery XDAIIi
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
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.
IS THERE ANY SOLLUTION??
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.
The solution
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...
Re: The solution
stevep said:
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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just a thought, have you turned turbo omode on? because that will definetly suck the battery?
also, turn down the backlight settings....
Battery
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
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.
Battery
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
well hopefully they'll get enough support calls that they start looking at the problem seriously
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
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....
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.
think i might invest in sprite backup actually..
A disapointing end with pda2
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.

Is the Atom Life really that bad?

Hi Guys,
I currently own a HTC Prophet and pretty much use it to the max. I have the latest WM6 ROM flashed and find that it's generally a good device when it works but when it's bogged down and slow, it can be a very annoying device.
I'm considering getting an Atom Life since the cost is low and it has a really fast processor but everywhere I search on the net, I see tonnes of complaints about stability and battery life and what not... It's weird cause spec wise, this device seems really good! Fm tuner, fast processor, tonnes of ROM... the only bad things I can see is that it doesn't support GSM 850 which is used in my area and it doesn't have the best battery life.
1) Is the Atom Life really that bad?
2) Are most of the issues resolved by flashing to WM6?
3) Are there any good extended batteries that fit in the standard case?
Just looking for some reassurance before I buy another WM device that doesn't live up to my expectations...
Thanks.
i don't want say its bad, yes battery issue is there. coz of fast prosessor. others r realy nice to me with WM6.
1) Is the Atom Life really that bad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Usually those who complain about the Atom Life are
a. have too much expectation -> when some should-have-been-expected problems appear, they complain
b. know nothing about Windows Mobile phones -> someone actually told me "matter-of-factly" that WM6 is not more stable than WM5
c. just have bad luck
2) Are most of the issues resolved by flashing to WM6?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I got mine pre-flashed to WM6 and have not seen any problems.
3) Are there any good extended batteries that fit in the standard case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. There are extended batteries but they come with a bigger case to fit the larger size. There are many tricks to save battery though. Like I set mine to automatically use the lowest CPU profile at night, even set it to flight mode (cuz I receive no business call at night) and set everything back automatically in the morning.
The main poblems are related to the battery. Get a battery on eBay, and you'll be fine. I bought a 1600 mAh battery there, and that hasn't got the restrat on incoming call problem I had with the original battery. And another thing: After a few months the Atom Life may start giving you trouble, like locking up and not turning on when a call is coming in. Then you do a full hard reset, and everything will be OK again. I used a backup program to make a full backup when I had set it up the first time, and now I just restore that backup, and I have another couple of months of no problems.
And of course, most of the complainers think a phone should be problem free and without bugs. Yeah, sure. That happens the same day Windows, Mac and Linux are bug free. Of course you can make a bugfree phone, but then you're back a functionality level of an old analogue phone!
Thanks for all the advice guys!
Mastiff said:
And of course, most of the complainers think a phone should be problem free and without bugs. Yeah, sure. That happens the same day Windows, Mac and Linux are bug free. Of course you can make a bugfree phone, but then you're back a functionality level of an old analogue phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd have to disagree with you here. I've gone through my own set of issues with the HTC prophet and I have a pretty high tolerance for "buggy gadgets". It's not too much to expect a phone to not crash when you do stuff like take a call. It does sound like the Atom Life does have some fundamental Hardware issues which is very disappointing.
just ordered one on ebay to play around with since I'm down a phone now.
I am happy with this phone, I really am. I wish it had 850 on it, but what can you do? The fact that it has 1900 for 3G makes up for it.
Too be honest, my battery life really isnt all that bad, not any worse then any other WM6 Professional phone I own.

is atom life so bad?????

hi guys i want to buy a atom life but the reviews by users are so bad!!!!!
is atom life so bad really??????
plz advice!!!!!
Atom life is very good for the price you can buy it !
But... MWG support is so bad, I bought my atom-life less than 1 year ago and it became to have problems with the speakers and the microphone... So I sent it to MWG for fixing it because it's still under the warranty.
They said me that I opened the cellphone by myself before, which brokes the warranty. But I never opened it !!! They are wrong and now I have to pay 270€ (~$400) for fixing it or 35€ ($50) for sending it back to me !
I bought it here : http://www.expansys-usa.com/p.aspx?i=164358
As you can see they ask me to pay more than the price of the atom life !
If you want a smartphone for less than one year maybe it's a good deal, otherwise don't buy it or you will have to pay if something goes wrong.
O2 xda atom life
ayaskant12 said:
hi guys i want to buy a atom life but the reviews by users are so bad!!!!!
is atom life so bad really??????
plz advice!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
--------
hi. i have been using this phone for a over a year now. there are some minor bugs in this phone. but i just got used to these bugs. never tried to get them fixed or complained. the only thing which is a disadvantage is poor battery. it just manages to last a day, sometimes only 18 hours in the day - i keep my phone on 24 hours and talk time is about 1 hour average.
if you willing to do that, then this phone is a great buy.
from the other forum for atom, i have downloaded ROM update by TranMinhMan and it has done wonders for my phone.
was planning to change, but after this ROM update, i have no plans.
i love this phone.
ayaskant12 said:
hi guys i want to buy a atom life but the reviews by users are so bad!!!!!
is atom life so bad really??????
plz advice!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
atom life huv strong processor and huge ram, eat battery power to keep live a life.
Have been using 1 for almost a year now.
Pros: Fast processor, 1Gb internal storage, ~850MB user accessible. 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, SDHC expandable (I use a 16GB Sandisk card), WOW speakers
Cons: Battery Life (the only 1 as far as i'm concerned)
I still use the MWG's latest ROM. With MS set to release an update to WM6 soon, i'm sure it won't be long before we get our hands on another cooked ROM. That's when I'll upgrade.
Typical daily usage: 30 mins voice calls, 20 text messages, 10 mins Wifi in the morning to download mails from 4 accounts, 25 mins 3G use for traffic and weather (HTC Home PLug-in and Windows Live), emails and surfing, and a few games in between. 1530 Mah OEM battery would almost be dead by the time get home at the end of the day. I know covering the 2nd contact in the OEM battery would give you about 2 days but got myself a 3000Mah Mugen battery. And now it lasts 4 days without covering the contact.
The Atom Life is one of the most responsive devices I've used. Even better than some pure PDA's.
At about $200, it's a great deal. But I'd get a great replacement battery.. I'd recommend Worcell and Mugen.
been using it for a year. MWg brand 6.0 rom
Love the phone capabilities, design and specs( luv the 1GB rom ).
64 RAM is okay only probs when heavy browser and GPS program( i use bluetooth gps)- i need to clean the ram/temp
At the time of purchase best deal on spec and $ paid( was either this or asus p535). Today price drop by only 25$ pdaplaza.com
Dislike the following:
- battery is rather weak- lasts 30 hours if no calls- I will upgrade to MUGEN 1850 battery soon- should be much better
- chrome paint on camera ring, side buttons is weak- extended contact will dull/rust, good news about this is that its grey dark plastic underneath on the side buttons, so its ok. In general glossy black paint will fade/tiny scratches if u are not careful - I pamper mine ( i use screen protector too- cut it from nintendo DS pack)
- camera i could be better as always with 2.0 megapixels. MACRO mode is useful
- wifi.... not good for my phone - but I dont use wifi alot so its cool ( long story- search my username- a ROM upgrade should fix this from what I read )
so to wrap it up- baby this phone and you will not regret it.
If you cant baby it look for a different phone.
It is my first WM device and i do not regret it. Cheap and capable.

HD2 battery test...

I am having problems with my battery life on HD2.
Currently I use ROM Duttys Leo V2.2 with radio 2.06.51.07, but I tried atleast 10-15 different ROMs and radios (Miri/Laurentius26/Xanny/Sternas ROMs and others with all bases from 1.66 up to 2.10).
I made several tests with tbattery and logged the results, this is what i get (Current values):
- screen off -> -13
- screen on 10% -> -83
- screen on 30% -> -102
- screen on 100% -> -214
The tests were made on 2G connection with max signal, with no data connection.
My battery usually barely lasts 2 days with very light usage, with moderate usage i have to charge the phone every day. Maybe this is normal, I just hope it's not...
Can someone throw up some comparison numbers please? I already wanted to bring the phone back and demand a new one but I am not sure if something is actually wrong with it.
BTW, I use MTTY for flashing and always do a hard reset after the first full boot. Tests were done with a clean ROM install, with no aditional processes running.
verry much like this
anyway its normal im affraid of with moderate use and the end of the day i have about 40% left.
Yes, perfectly normal battery life, sorry to disappoint but that's how it goes with smartphones
It is running a computer spec, that, not even 8 years ago, had to rely on mains power. Not to mention the internet router, the screen, the GPS device, and not least the phone which are all inbuilt. I think running it for a day on a battery is pretty impressive personally.
Thanks for the info guys, I feel much better after reading that battery post from kilrah...
I was sure there is something wrong with my device, but when I look at it from rp-x1's point of view, I guess it's not that bad...
mafijozo said:
Thanks for the info guys, I feel much better after reading that battery post from kilrah...
I was sure there is something wrong with my device, but when I look at it from rp-x1's point of view, I guess it's not that bad...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to put a downer on you, but its the way I look at it. I know it isn't the biggest capacity battery, which does have a bad effect on battery life, but unfortunately it is a computer with a phone, rather than the other way round.
My previous phones:
Nokia 3310 (basic phone) - a week
Nokia 7610 (one of the first proper mainstream "smartphones" by Nokia) - 3 days
Nokia E90 Communicator (their flagship smartphone) - 2 days - at a push
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 - 1.5 - 2 days - at a push
Blackberry Bold 9000 - a few days, if I don't actually use it.
HTC HD2 - 1 - 2 days (dependant on usage)
It seems to be the norm for a smartphone/pocketpc to be around a day to a couple of days on a charge.
To add a bit of perspective, my colleague has an iPhone, and it lasted a whole 3 hours on a single charge when using Exchange Push-Mail. It usually only lasts a day too.
At least on the HD2 you can change battery and go on
kilrah said:
At least on the HD2 you can change battery and go on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you have a point there, when I had my iPhone and used it as much as i use HD2 last few weeks the battery was about the same...
mafijozo said:
Yes you have a point there, when I had my iPhone and used it as much as i use HD2 last few weeks the battery was about the same...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so true i bought a battery from ebay ( was only €4 and its almost as good as the original one, it only fits a bit too tight..) i always have a spare fully charged one in my wallet

Categories

Resources