How long does the batter last?

[cr_mmurillo]

How long does the batter last?

[Gadfly2317]

How long does the batter last?

After I make pancakes, I usually throw out the left over batter. . . it doesn't store well.

I have not seen what I think are honest reports of the PsP battery life. The DS supposedly has "6 to 8" hours battery life, and though I haven't stop-watched, I don't think I'm getting more than 4 or 5, and I don't even crank up the volume all the time.

I don't see how that bright widescreen system that also has to use its batterys to run a motor spinning a disk can really last the "3 to 4 hours" Sony is claiming. If 3 to 4 hours is the companies claim for MAXIMUM battery life, then I'm pretty damned sure it falls well short of that.

[T.Tashi]

After I make pancakes, I usually throw out the left over batter. . . it doesn't store well.

I have not seen what I think are honest reports of the PsP battery life. The DS supposedly has "6 to 8" hours battery life, and though I haven't stop-watched, I don't think I'm getting more than 4 or 5, and I don't even crank up the volume all the time.

I don't see how that bright widescreen system that also has to use its batterys to run a motor spinning a disk can really last the "3 to 4 hours" Sony is claiming. If 3 to 4 hours is the companies claim for MAXIMUM battery life, then I'm pretty damned sure it falls well short of that.

If the game is really graphic extensive for extended periods, you're looking at around 2 hours, or so I've read.

[theWacoKid]

If the game is really graphic extensive for extended periods, you're looking at around 2 hours, or so I've read.

Forget it, they've already torture tested a game like Ridge Racers with everything cranked including wifi on, and it still got 3 hours and you're talking a game with voice work, constantly streamng from the disk, etc.

Battery consumption on movie playback is high not because of disc access as much as because of the mpeg4 decoding process. Then you're talking for umd movie playback, 2 hours and change.

For games like lumines, a puzzler, people are getting 6 hours.

[Gadfly2317]

Forget it, they've already torture tested a game like Ridge Racers with everything cranked including wifi on, and it still got 3 hours and you're talking a game with voice work, constantly streamng from the disk, etc.

Battery consumption on movie playback is high not because of disc access as much as because of the mpeg4 decoding process. Then you're talking for umd movie playback, 2 hours and change.

For games like lumines, a puzzler, people are getting 6 hours.

Forgive the skepticism, but I won't believe "6 hours" until I see it myself. Sony's specs say 3 to 4; are these people playing lumines with the sound turned off?

I much more inclined to believe the 2 hour time Tashi cited.

[joquito]

The Nyko PSP charger case should take care of battery life when on long trips. It claims to extend battery life by 3 times. For $59 bucks, if it doubles the battery life, its worth its weight in Krispy Kreme doughnuts for PSP owners.

[theWacoKid]

Forgive the skepticism, but I won't believe "6 hours" until I see it myself. Sony's specs say 3 to 4; are these people playing lumines with the sound turned off?

I much more inclined to believe the 2 hour time Tashi cited.

You find me where sony specifies 3 to 4 hours in the first place. Go ahead, I'll sit back and have fun when you search and come up with a big fat nothing. If anything sony has been very vague on the whole issue.

Here's IGN with a battery journal for you to peruse.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/572/572563p1.html

Key paragraph.

So we've at last played our way through a full battery charge cycle. In case you don't feel like counting, the battery died after about four hours and fourty-five minutes of five different games and one hour of MP3 play. We didn't use the WiFi features of the system at all during this time.

So, what they did, was use the psp in various capacities, playing games, transferring files, etc, simulating real world use except for wifi play which will definitely shorten the battery life. Sorry, gadfly, but Tashi's two hour bs is straight from nintendo's pr disinformation campaign. Let's put this to rest once and for all.

The achilles heel of the system right now is load times. Some of the games feature frequent and long loads. Not good.

[T.Tashi]

You find me where sony specifies 3 to 4 hours in the first place. Go ahead, I'll sit back and have fun when you search and come up with a big fat nothing. If anything sony has been very vague on the whole issue.

Here's IGN with a battery journal for you to peruse.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/572/572563p1.html

Key paragraph.

So we've at last played our way through a full battery charge cycle. In case you don't feel like counting, the battery died after about four hours and fourty-five minutes of five different games and one hour of MP3 play. We didn't use the WiFi features of the system at all during this time.

So, what they did, was use the psp in various capacities, playing games, transferring files, etc, simulating real world use except for wifi play which will definitely shorten the battery life. Sorry, gadfly, but Tashi's two hour bs is straight from nintendo's pr disinformation campaign. Let's put this to rest once and for all.

The achilles heel of the system right now is load times. Some of the games feature frequent and long loads. Not good.
Actually the source was a website I came across that offered translations of interviews some Japanese gamers. Btw, I don't work for Nintendo.

[Gadfly2317]

The Nyko PSP charger case should take care of battery life when on long trips. It claims to extend battery life by 3 times. For $59 bucks, if it doubles the battery life, its worth its weight in Krispy Kreme doughnuts for PSP owners.

How does the Nyko charge case work?

I was leaning towards picking up the Pelican Power Brick. It is only $19 dollars. It's like one of those external things you can charge up a car battery with. Basically, its a big external rechargeable battery that can recharge your PsP a couple times.

I'm not worried about size either; I shlep around a backpack full of books,magazines, games and mood enhancers everywhere anyway, so an extra external battery is no biggie.

The main thing is, if I'm really in the mood for a lot of gaming, after my PsP dies I'll switch over to the DS. My god the DS has a LOT of must have games for me in the next 12 months.

[joquito]

How does the Nyko charge case work?

I was leaning towards picking up the Pelican Power Brick. It is only $19 dollars. It's like one of those external things you can charge up a car battery with. Basically, its a big external rechargeable battery that can recharge your PsP a couple times.

I'm not worried about size either; I shlep around a backpack full of books,magazines, games and mood enhancers everywhere anyway, so an extra external battery is no biggie.

The main thing is, if I'm really in the mood for a lot of gaming, after my PsP dies I'll switch over to the DS. My god the DS has a LOT of must have games for me in the next 12 months.


What makes it cool is that its a carry case as well its only looks to add about an inch more all around. I believe I saw another similar charger/ case that had speaers built in. I haven't looked in stores for these items but just on the web.

Here is the Nyko charger:

http://www.nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=48

[T.Tashi]

Well now I can say from experience... it depends.

The unit itself keeps track of the time, and it maxes at 6 hours. The manual says 3-6, and apparently the screen brightness and volume matter too and whether you use headphones. I haven't timed any actual usage and I won't. 3-6 is good enough for me. I'm still a little disappointed after being spoiled by the SP. I got 8-10 out of it consistently.

[theWacoKid]

Depends on what you do with it. Today, I took it to the mall, at starbucks broke it out, and played some ridge racer, probably 15 minutes worth. Switched to mp3 playback, shut the screen off and controlled the unit with the remote. Listened to a full cd of pat metheny about 45 minutes at least. Total time, 1 hour, let's say. Turned the unit on and the battery read 93% charge left.

So, playing mp3 files with the screen off is going to yield some decent battery life. I had the headphones on at about 70% volume. The battery life is better than I thought it would be. I don't think battery life is going to be the big issue.

Right now, long loads on some of the games seems to be a bigger problem. Then again, the DS has some major problems, like numerous games being unforgiveably short. Hopefully, both systems will work out their respective problems.

[T.Tashi]

Depends on what you do with it. Today, I took it to the mall, at starbucks broke it out, and played some ridge racer, probably 15 minutes worth. Switched to mp3 playback, shut the screen off and controlled the unit with the remote. Listened to a full cd of pat metheny about 45 minutes at least. Total time, 1 hour, let's say. Turned the unit on and the battery read 93% charge left.

So, playing mp3 files with the screen off is going to yield some decent battery life. I had the headphones on at about 70% volume. The battery life is better than I thought it would be. I don't think battery life is going to be the big issue.

Right now, long loads on some of the games seems to be a bigger problem. Then again, the DS has some major problems, like numerous games being unforgiveably short. Hopefully, both systems will work out their respective problems.
I'm really stunned... I didn't use a stopwatch, but for sure I I'm getting close to 7 hours worth. I did various things with it. I downloaded some Dave Chapelle vids and some Japanese game vids and messed around with those, showing friends, played some games, some music, and played Untold Legend thru ad hoc... one feature that's hella sweet is the sleep mode. It lets you pick up right where you left off and is a great battery saver... but surely the unit was on close to if not 7 hours alltogether and it still functioned though the light was blinking. So, I'm impressed. Seems Sony undersold the battery life... for whatever reason, but I'm happy about it. I agree with the load times though. But at least Untold Legends has huge levels. So those long load times aren't really all that frequent.

[theWacoKid]

Sony has some improved battery technology on tap that will yield 30% more battery life. Hopefully, we'll see that on tap sometime this year. Playing a disc intensive game like Ridge Racer will cut into battery life. I played a solid 2 hours last night and it chewed up about half the battery. Still, 4 hours for ridge racer with the highest brightness setting and 70% volume for the headphones is still pretty good in my book. Considering how small and lightweight the battery is, I'm amazed at the life it gets.

[Gadfly2317]

Depends on what you do with it. Today, I took it to the mall, at starbucks broke it out, and played some ridge racer, probably 15 minutes worth. Switched to mp3 playback, shut the screen off and controlled the unit with the remote. Listened to a full cd of pat metheny about 45 minutes at least. Total time, 1 hour, let's say. Turned the unit on and the battery read 93% charge left.

So, playing mp3 files with the screen off is going to yield some decent battery life. I had the headphones on at about 70% volume. The battery life is better than I thought it would be. I don't think battery life is going to be the big issue.

Right now, long loads on some of the games seems to be a bigger problem. Then again, the DS has some major problems, like numerous games being unforgiveably short. Hopefully, both systems will work out their respective problems.

Sony has done an astonishing job, or the early rumors were just lies. Overheating? Not been problem for me. Disk popout? Only that one time I dropped it. Battery life? I get 4, I'm happy. It's better than I expected, and that's always good.

Shortcomings: It's unacceptable for 2 of 3 screens to be flawed. But then, this is MASS pumping out these screens. I've compared my LCD TV before, but I'm sure a little more time can be taken than on a mass market item. Still, it's a consideration, and a reason to hold off a year for a price drop, better priced games, and more consistent screen quality.

Overall, I have very little, almost no---complaint. I still worry about developing disk read errors and the thumb stick wearing out, but what can I say, except the PsP as it is now, functioning in my hands, is a marvel. Those "if" concerns. . . not much I can do except to game the hell out this thing, and then use the PrP if my fears turn out to be correct.

[theWacoKid]

Biggest concern for me still remains load times. Ridge Racer and Lumines, the two games I bought are all right in this respect. Metal Gear Acid was also okay, But, Ape Escape on the Loose should be retitlled, The Monkey Loading Screen game. Load after load after load. Very sloppy programming. The system has 32 megs of memory. Ape Escape is a psone game but they just ported the game over complete with various levels broken into section instead of making it seamless. The loads are awful, the camera is dreadful in the game. Not recommended.

Other games with long and frequent loads based on media reports. Tiger Woods Golf, NFL street, Untold Legends.