Awesome, good to know. Thanks you!
:) User real-world benchmarks (Surface 2)
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Awesome, good to know. Thanks you!
Well, I don't know a whole lot about batteries, but there are ways apparently to keep them in top condition:
How Often Should I Charge My Gadget's Battery to Prolong Its Lifespan?
The 64% may not be meaningful, either. I can't find the source now, but others have said that at least early on, the Windows battery indicator isn't calibrated to your use yet. I've also noticed that the battery indicator (in the other devices I've owned) will change wildly depending on what I'm doing at the moment when I mouse-over the icon. The battery cover is also coming "soon" and will be compatible with the S2. I don't know anything about external battery packs for these things, though, sorry. I'd say keep using the Surface and keep recharging it; the "usable time" max isn't useful with just a percent indicator, it's best to do a full day run until the thing really shuts down, and then you'll get your actual usable time. Between my tests and Engadget's, clearly wifi takes a good chunk of power, and so does screen brightness; you might try turning it down from 50%.
Anyway, since I did two full discharges to zero already in less than a week
eek, I'm going to wait a while until I do my "regular use" run.
kristalsoldier
Well-Known Member
Well, it has been more than 48 hours since I have had the Surface 2. I bought the device on Saturday evening and today (Monday) was the first chance I got to test the device under my normal work conditions. This is my report on that experience. And, since this is only the first experience, please treat this as provisional.
I took the Surface off the charger at exactly 11:00AM. By 11:30AM, I was at my workplace and had started using the device. At the time I put the charger back on to the Surface it was 11:14PM and the battery icon read 9%. This means the device has been off the charger for 12 hrs 14 minutes.
So, what did I do all day?
Between 11:30AM and 1:30PM, I was working on the device continuously. During that time: the Wifi was on (BT was off since I broke my Wedge mouse the previous night!); Screen brightness was around 40%; I had IE open with 4 tabs running continuously; Mail App was open and was constantly polling 3 email accounts; two Word documents were open and I was working on both simultaneously. During this period of time, I was receiving mails, but not responding to them.
Exactly at 1:30PM, I went for lunch, which lasted for 45 minutes. During this time, I had shut the cover of the device and I had closed the Mail App and IE. Wifi remained on and BT was off.
I returned to my desk at 2:15PM. I spent 15 minutes randomly surfing the Net (again Wifi was on, BT off). At 2:30 PM I was back working with IE (with 4 tabs) open; 2 Word documents open; Mail App open and polling the 3 mail accounts; SkyDrive open and actively being used. Between 2:30 and 4:00PM, I worked on my documents, used the 4 open tabs on IE consistently, SkyDrive was open and I used it consistently; received more mails and replied to about 4-5 of them. During all this time, screen brightness was at the same level as before. I also took two short breaks (5-7 minutes each) during this phase. During the breaks, I left the Surface open with all the apps running, and left the room.
At 4:00PM, I closed all apps, Wifi remained on, and left my workplace. It took me about 20 minutes to reach a café that I normally haunt. By 4:30 (after having ordered my coffee and having brought it to my table), I opened the device, connected to the free public wifi system that the café offers and resumed exactly what I was doing till 4:00PM at my workplace. I continued doing this till about 6:30 after which I shut the device by simply closing the open apps and closing the cover. Wifi remained on.
I walked around a little; met a person I was supposed to meet; went to the store and bought some stuff and was back home by 7:15PM.
On returning home, I opened the device, which had automatically connected to my home wifi network. I opened the Mail app, which continued polling the 3 mail accounts. I had a Word document open to which I was referring to while working on my desktop machine. But I did not actively use the Surface. This continued till 11:14PM at which time I checked the battery icon which, as I mentioned above, read 9% and I put the charger on.
So, the Surface 2 lasted me for 12 hours. Of these 12 hours, 5 hours 30 mins (+/- 15 mins) hours were spent actively working on the device along the lines mentioned above. The rest of the time, the device was on "connected standby" (I think I can call it that).
I think it was quite good, actually! Even if I had worked for another hour on the device - either at my workplace or at the café - I would have had about 7 hours good working time with the device lasting for about 11 hours in total before being put back on the charger. And, remember that this is the first time that I have actually drained the device down to what the battery icon reported (whether accurately or not) to 9%.
I will have another opportunity to test this under even more stringent conditions over the coming weekend when I will be on a 8+hour flight. At that time, I will post again. And, of course, a personal review is still pending - perhaps sometime next week!
Thanks for reading!
I took the Surface off the charger at exactly 11:00AM. By 11:30AM, I was at my workplace and had started using the device. At the time I put the charger back on to the Surface it was 11:14PM and the battery icon read 9%. This means the device has been off the charger for 12 hrs 14 minutes.
So, what did I do all day?
Between 11:30AM and 1:30PM, I was working on the device continuously. During that time: the Wifi was on (BT was off since I broke my Wedge mouse the previous night!); Screen brightness was around 40%; I had IE open with 4 tabs running continuously; Mail App was open and was constantly polling 3 email accounts; two Word documents were open and I was working on both simultaneously. During this period of time, I was receiving mails, but not responding to them.
Exactly at 1:30PM, I went for lunch, which lasted for 45 minutes. During this time, I had shut the cover of the device and I had closed the Mail App and IE. Wifi remained on and BT was off.
I returned to my desk at 2:15PM. I spent 15 minutes randomly surfing the Net (again Wifi was on, BT off). At 2:30 PM I was back working with IE (with 4 tabs) open; 2 Word documents open; Mail App open and polling the 3 mail accounts; SkyDrive open and actively being used. Between 2:30 and 4:00PM, I worked on my documents, used the 4 open tabs on IE consistently, SkyDrive was open and I used it consistently; received more mails and replied to about 4-5 of them. During all this time, screen brightness was at the same level as before. I also took two short breaks (5-7 minutes each) during this phase. During the breaks, I left the Surface open with all the apps running, and left the room.
At 4:00PM, I closed all apps, Wifi remained on, and left my workplace. It took me about 20 minutes to reach a café that I normally haunt. By 4:30 (after having ordered my coffee and having brought it to my table), I opened the device, connected to the free public wifi system that the café offers and resumed exactly what I was doing till 4:00PM at my workplace. I continued doing this till about 6:30 after which I shut the device by simply closing the open apps and closing the cover. Wifi remained on.
I walked around a little; met a person I was supposed to meet; went to the store and bought some stuff and was back home by 7:15PM.
On returning home, I opened the device, which had automatically connected to my home wifi network. I opened the Mail app, which continued polling the 3 mail accounts. I had a Word document open to which I was referring to while working on my desktop machine. But I did not actively use the Surface. This continued till 11:14PM at which time I checked the battery icon which, as I mentioned above, read 9% and I put the charger on.
So, the Surface 2 lasted me for 12 hours. Of these 12 hours, 5 hours 30 mins (+/- 15 mins) hours were spent actively working on the device along the lines mentioned above. The rest of the time, the device was on "connected standby" (I think I can call it that).
I think it was quite good, actually! Even if I had worked for another hour on the device - either at my workplace or at the café - I would have had about 7 hours good working time with the device lasting for about 11 hours in total before being put back on the charger. And, remember that this is the first time that I have actually drained the device down to what the battery icon reported (whether accurately or not) to 9%.
I will have another opportunity to test this under even more stringent conditions over the coming weekend when I will be on a 8+hour flight. At that time, I will post again. And, of course, a personal review is still pending - perhaps sometime next week!
Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for the report.
Yes, I think it's important to remember that even if a device "only" gets 8 hours of solid work use... The vast majority of human beings will require potty breaks and food and other such things where you would, practically, let it/put the device to sleep anyway. I believe this is why many Surface Pro users (certainly not all) felt fine with a 5-6 hour stretched battery life for their workday.
Plane flights are one of the best tests for device longevity, but for long flights I usually end up sleeping part of the time anyway...
Yes, I think it's important to remember that even if a device "only" gets 8 hours of solid work use... The vast majority of human beings will require potty breaks and food and other such things where you would, practically, let it/put the device to sleep anyway. I believe this is why many Surface Pro users (certainly not all) felt fine with a 5-6 hour stretched battery life for their workday.
Plane flights are one of the best tests for device longevity, but for long flights I usually end up sleeping part of the time anyway...
kristalsoldier
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the report.
Yes, I think it's important to remember that even if a device "only" gets 8 hours of solid work use... The vast majority of human beings will require potty breaks and food and other such things where you would, practically, let it/put the device to sleep anyway. I believe this is why many Surface Pro users (certainly not all) felt fine with a 5-6 hour stretched battery life for their workday.
Plane flights are one of the best tests for device longevity, but for long flights I usually end up sleeping part of the time anyway...
True, but I don't put the device to sleep per se. By this I mean that when I left the room for those short breaks, everything was on including the screen. The only time the device was at sleep was when I was either at lunch or when I was moving from one place to another (home to work; work to café; café via store back home).
I can't sleep on long flights. I read!
Oh gotcha, the screen never turned off--did you let it dim?
That's pretty good; must be much more efficient on idle, which is expected since people do idle.
kristalsoldier
Well-Known Member
Nopes!
Which is why I am impressed by this first round!
I suspect your reading of ebooks on the plane will give equally impressive results (probably more so) since that's more "idle" than actively using a wifi connection, especially if your books are stored locally. I don't know how apps like Nook work with books, whether they cache the whole book or download each page, though. (I like having all my ebooks off-line, otherwise what's the point? These days, I read a book when there's no wifi and internats.
)
kristalsoldier
Well-Known Member
I suspect your reading of ebooks on the plane will give equally impressive results (probably more so) since that's more "idle" than actively using a wifi connection, especially if your books are stored locally. I don't know how apps like Nook work with books, whether they cache the whole book or download each page, though. (I like having all my ebooks off-line, otherwise what's the point? These days, I read a book when there's no wifi and internats.
Ah...actually, I use an iPad 4 to read books!!!
Pft, I forgot. That whole screen ratio discussion. Well then, carry on. :cool2:
kristalsoldier
Well-Known Member
Yes...well...
Actually, I think it is going to be an interesting experience. My reference books are on the iPad. So, at some point in time on the flight, I am sure to have both the iPad and the Surface open at the same time. Writing on the Surface, referring to my books on the iPad! And, my Nexus 10 will be in the seat pocket in front of me when I want to take a break and watch a few episodes of Dexter!
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