If you followed my reviews of the Nokia N9′s older brother, the QWERTY slider N900 last year, you will remember that I found it an excellent device. Its main sore thumb, however, was poor battery life.

As such, one of my apprehensions concerning the N9 was this very issue: how well would this new kid on the block manage battery power?

As a rule, the N9 takes me through a full work day of email, web browsing, Twitter, calls, SMS and a few others. I hardly ever have to worry about running out of juice, and often go over 30 hours on one charge.

It really is amazing, considering that I had to move on from the N900 primarily because of its poor battery life.

The guys at GSMArena have also setup a new battery performance test for devices. Incidentally, the N9 was the first device to be subjected to this new test, and here is the verdict:

That gives the Nokia N9 a final score of 39, meaning that the smartphone will need to be charged every 39 hours if you do 1 hour of each of the three activities described above [3G voice call, web browsing, video playback - Editor]. So reasonably heavy users should expect to get about a day and a half from the N9.

As you can see, GSMArena’s tests seem to be in sync with my own average daily usage.

In a nutshell, the Nokia N9 seems to be one of the most power-efficient smartphones in the market at the moment. This dude keeps pulling surprises!

Since the release of Apple’s most advanced mobile operating system, the iOS 5, some users have experienced significant reduction in the battery life of their idevices. It appears a bug in the software constantly tries to access the location-based data.

Apple has officially released the version 5.0.1 upgrade which addresses that issue. Right now, the beta version is only available to individuals with Developer Accounts. The final version will be released once further testing has been completed on the beta version.

If you’re experiencing this battery drain issue, a quick fix would be to turn off ‘Location’ in the Settings app. Most users have experienced significant improvements with location settings  turned off.

It is fast becoming the age of the smartphone. Smartphones are selling like hotcakes and taking more bites out of phone sales statistics. Still, one sore issue that is observed is that of battery life.

What do we expect? 4-inch touchscreen displays, always-on data, multi-tasking, +1GHz processors and a host of other features all mean that there is a greater demand on our smartphones’ batteries.

Android OS is one of the greatest culprit in this regard. Apparently, we need to make our robots more energy-efficient. Those droids simply guzzle power like mad.

Another power-inefficient mobile OS at the moment is Windows Phone. I have used two WP7 devices, and they both suck badly with regards to battery consumption.

Another battery sucker is Maemo (evolving into MeeGo). As much as I loved the N900, I had to let it go because of the battery life.

I also owned and used a Palm Pre running WebOS, and it was disastrous, battery-wise. It certainly was the worst case of poor battery life that I had ever encountered. Whether this is a WebOS trait in general or it was an isolated case, I have no idea.

The Winners
It is no news that Symbian has remained legendary with regards energy efficiency. That old horse just can’t be beat. Devices running Symbian keep going long after the average Android, Windows Phone and Maemo toy has given up.

Sadly, Symbian is on the way out, though not until 2016. I will repeat – Symbian OS is too good to dump. It does so many things well and has improved so fast and markedly that it should be retained. It doesn’t seem to make much sense dumping it now when it’s just getting better and better.

PS: In adopting WP as a primary smartphone platform, do we take it that there should be a secondary? Why not? Retain Symbian as secondary, and problem solved.

Anyway, life goes on. Moving away from Symbian, there is only one other major smartphone OS that delivers exemplary battery life that I am aware of. Yes; iOS.

iOS has come a long way in terms of battery life. The first generations of iPhones had piss-poor battery life, but things have changed dramatically.

With more features now, iOS has been optimised to deliver even better battery life across both iPhones and iPad ranges.

For those that want to stay truly mobile i.e. Not tied to carrying a cable around and looking for something to plug their smartphones to by mid-day, you are better off looking in the direction of Symbian or iOS. That’s just the way it is. For now.

Hopefully, we shall see better power optimisation on other platforms in a little while. In the meantime, if I had no Symbian device that meets my needs, and I had to look elsewhere right now, I am afraid it would have to be in the direction of Steve Job’s reality distortion field. Battery life is at the top of my mobile requirements. It just doesn’t matter what a mobile device can do if it doesn’t let me do it away from a charger.

Your thoughts, guys?

When I purchased my Nokia N8, I had a serious challenge with the battery. I even returned the phone to the vendor for repairs because I thought it was faulty. The battery discharged completely every 5 hours after a full charge. It was a serious challenge, and I began to have regrets for buying the phone. A brief research showed that I was not the only person with this problem.

I read through what others did and applied the information. Now I can use my phone for 2 days before needing to charge it. The following suggestions are rather extreme but the could go a long way to save your battery power.

Like obtains on many modern smartphones, there are many features on your Nokia N8 that increase the demand on battery power and reduce the battery life time. The idea is to manage those features in order to conserve your device’s battery charge.

1. Always charge the battery fully (until the battery full notification is seen or the battery status bar stops running and stays in full position and charging indicator light is off).
2. Activate power saving mode. Press the power key, and select Activate power saving.
3. Change the synchronisation frequency for your mailbox. Select Menu > Applications > Mail, your mailbox, and  Options > Settings, and the relevant sync frequency settings.
4. Mute unnecessary tones, such as key tones.
5. Use wired headphones, rather than the loudspeaker.
6. Deactivate the background animation effects. Select Menu > Settings >Themes > General > Options > Theme effects > Off.
7. Deactivate the Big clock screen saver. Select Menu > Settings > Themes > Screen saver > None.
8. Features that use Bluetooth technology, or allowing such features to run in the background while using other features, increase the demand on battery power. To prolong the operating time of your device, turn the Bluetooth technology off when you do not need it (Menu > Settings > Connectivity > Bluetooth > Bluetooth = Off).
9. Features that use wireless LAN (WLAN) increase the demand on battery power. WLAN on your Nokia device switches off when you are not trying to connect, not connected to another access point, or not scanning for available networks. To further reduce battery consumption, you can specify that your device does not scan, or scans less often, for available networks in the background. WLAN switches off in between background scans. When Menu > Settings > Connectivity > WLAN > Options > Settings > Show WLAN availability is set to Never, the WLAN availability icon is not shown in the standby mode. However, you can still manually scan for available WLAN networks and connect to WLAN networks as usual.
10. If you have set Packet data connection to When available in connection settings, and there is no packet data coverage (GPRS), the device periodically tries to establish a packet data connection, which causes increased demand on battery power. To prolong the operating time of your device, select Menu > Settings > Connectivity > Admin.settings > Packet Data > Packet data connection > When needed.
11. The Ovi Maps application downloads new map information when you scroll to new areas on the map, which increases the demand on battery power. You can avoid the automatic downloading of map data by downloading the needed map data via PC to your device.
12. If the signal strength of the cellular network varies much in your area, your device must scan for the available network repeatedly. This increases the demand on battery power. If the network mode is set to dual mode in the network settings, the device searches for the UMTS network. If it is not available, the device uses the available GSM network. To only use the GSM network, select Menu > Settings > Connectivity > Network > Network mode > GSM.
13. The backlight of the display increases the demand on battery power. To change the timeout after which the backlight is switched off, select Menu > Settings > Phone > Display > Light time-out. To adjust the light sensor that observes the lighting conditions and adjusts the brightness of the display, in the display settings, select Light sensor
14. The notification lights can be turned off to save the battery. Select Menu > Settings > Phone > Notification lights and disable the breathing light in Breathing light and adjust the light settings for different events in Notification light menu.
15. Leaving applications running in the background increases the demand on battery power. To close the applications you do not use, press and hold the menu key, swipe to the application in the list and close it by selecting X.
16. Pay special attention that you don’t leave applications running in the background which are using GPS or network connection, for example Maps, if you are not using these applications.
17. Home screen widgets may periodically connect to internet if the home screen is in online mode. If you are not actively using the widgets, the automatic connection can be disabled by selecting Options > Widgets to offline mode on the home screen.
18. Installed 3rd party applications may consume extra power. Uninstall the application if you have noticed that power consumption has increased after the application was installed and if the application is not needed any more.
19. The AMOLED display in your device consumes more power with white color. Therefore the themes with a lot of white colors (e.g. in wallpaper image) may consume more power than the other themes.
20. When connecting to the internet, use a WLAN connection, rather than a packet data (GPRS or 3G) connection.
21. When you are listening to music, and do not want to make or receive calls, activate the offline profile.
22. It is recommended that you use the Nokia battery charger (AC-15) that was included in the sales package of your Nokia device. This charger is optimized for your Nokia device’s battery.

I will start this article by quoting something that someone has said about the Nokia N8:

You get the iPhone and are immediately wowed, and with time you start to notice the shortcoming and get frustrated. On the N8 you keep liking it more, the more you use it

This has been pretty much my experience with the N8 too.

Forget everything that Nokia/Symbian haters have said and be sure to use an N8 for a significant period before you pass judgement. Excuse my language, but very soon you’ll agree that it is one helluva device.

So, what are the things that I like about the Nokia N8?

1. The Hardware
Yes; that hardware is solid and well-built. You see, hardware cannot be updated, so it better be good.

2. The User Interface
The new Symbian UI is hundreds of miles better than what s60 5th edition is. I have never owned an S60 v5 device, but my friend Dayo has and I have had plenty of time with it. As a matter of fact, we did a detailed side-by-side comparison and found the difference great indeed.

3. The 12 Megapixel Camera
This camera re-defines what the word “cameraphone” means. You don’t have a cameraphone if you don’t have an N8. Simple. Whether it is still shots or HD video, the N8 rules without controversy.

4. Battery Life
I had doubts about the N8′s non-removable 1200mAh battery. All doubts have since been discarded. Let me put it straight – the Nokia N8 is the only touchscreen smartphone that I have used in 2010 that I didn’t have to worry about the battery dying out on me mid-day. Many times, the battery pushes beyond 24 hours effortlessly.

And that is after 15-minute email syncs, Facebook and Twitter, hours of web browsing, calls, awesome 12 megapixel shots (I have gotten addicted to taking pictures now), among others.

5. The Display
Indoors, outdoors, low light, burning sunshine, the display is visible, clear and sharp. And responsive. The homescreen’s customisation works well too, turning your display into a highly informative and dashboard.

6. Ovi Store
While the Ovi Store does not have as many apps as Android or iOS, it has more than enough. But beyond that, the store works fine and looks to me like it measures up to the Android market.

7. Game On!
Oh…. Let’s start with Angry Birds, just because the world has gone Angry Birds crazy. its there and sweet. But, move over, Angry Birds, and let’s burn some rubber with Need For Speed Shift!

Gameplay is smooth and sharp. The combination of that 680 MHz processor and graphics accelerator works wonders – whatever it is that Nokia did to it. The N8 certainly does not need a 1GHz processor.

Watch out for my N8 gaming review.

8. Onboard Photo and Video Editor
Rotate, resize, crop, insert clipart, draw, add bubble text, frame, remove red eye, stamp, tune, add special effects to your images.

Make a stylish slideshow from your pictures, create a video from your video clips and photos, merge videos, add background music, text, and split your clips.

What you have here is your own mini multimedia studio.

9. Ovi Maps
Free drive and walk license. Pre-loaded maps, so you conserve network data, and more. GPS fix is fast too. Review coming up soon.

10. Google Sync via Exchange
The ability to keep my phone contacts and calendar in sync with my Google contacts and calendars is very handy.

11. USB-on-the-Go
I can leave my netbook at home and not worry about running into a client who has something on a flash drive that he wants to copy for me. The Nokia N8 handles it just fine. I call it mobile computing approaching new frontiers.

12 FM Transmitter
Being able to play my favourite music through my car speakers is just cool. Need to rock the party with a track that you have on your phone? Not a problem.

I’ll stop at 12 for now. There is much to like about the Nokia N8, and attempting to list everyone of what endears me to this device in one article might result in a burnout. Keep on the lookout for those reviews.

I have had the new E-series smartphone from Nokia, the E5, with me for a while and used it extensively. I have come off with very positive impressions of the device, and when I think of a summary of the E5, it is that here is a sensible smartphone.

It is sensible in the sense that nothing major is missing, and its usability is one of the best out there in its category. Here are a few quick points:

1. the E5 has a very good battery life. I get over 24 hours of intensive use – always-on 3G mode, email client checking mails every 5 minutes, active Bluetooth earpiece connection, web browsing, calls, music, etc. With less intensive use, the E5 chugs on for about 2 full days.
2. the QWERTY keyboard is the most user-friendly I have seen yet in its class. Characters like comma, full stop, the @ sign, and question mark require one key press, instead of a combination of two keys on other candybar QWERTY and BlackBerry devices. The keys are also well domed, making them easy to use.
3. one-handed use of the device is tops. It is almost like using a regular phone – except that the QWERTY is there for when you need to really crank out text
4. good build quality
5. good music and video playback
6. very good web browsing
7. good (not superb) 5 megapixel camera

I could go on and on, but the summary is that the E5 does everything you want. It won’t win any awards for any groundbreaking feature, but it is a sound decision to make when you want a sensible device for everyday use.

While there are real issues with the Symbian S60 5th Edition interface, I don’t see what people are complaining about the non-touch version (3rd Edition) as it is today. Everything looks lovely and works well. I am able to customise the menu to my taste and there are subtle effects implemented by Nokia.

The Web browser supports multiple tabs, javascript and Flash, and handles everything that I need well, so no issues there at all. With 256mb RAM and a 600 MHz processor (same specification as the N900), it is no wonder that I hardly encounter anything slowing down or freezing up on the E5.

Web browsing is also super friendly with keyboard shortcuts that enable you to zoom, go back, switch between tabs, reload a page and more.

Email Issues – again.
One thing that I do still have issues with is Nokia’s implementation of email on their smartphones. The interface is lovely, but for some reason, there are periods that the email client is connected to the server but does not download any fresh mails. There are days I go to bed and for the 7 hours that I am asleep, the E5 does not download any mail until I pick it up and select the option to “Send and receive now“.

Not good. What is wrong with Nokia and email? My mobile history is checkered with clashes with Nokia’s email clients on smartphones, whether we are talking Symbian or Maemo.

Email management is made user-friendly though with keyboard shortcuts too. Users can delete mails, mark mails read or unread, and carry out a number of various actions via keyboard shortcuts. Now, if only Nokia can fix the auto-retrieve issue…

Conclusion
Besides the email auto-retrieve issue, I have no other complaints about the E5. It is a device that almost anyone will love and find handy.

My verdict: I rate the E5 a 4.75 out of 5.

Back in May, I published my review of the N900′s battery life.

While an awesome device, the N900 has been somewhat crippled by the smaller capacity battery (1320 mAh) that Nokia fitted it with. It is passable, but somewhere along the line, it will get to you.

In my extreme test, the N900 shut down after two hours.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see how well the HTC Touch Pro2 with its 1500 mAh would do. I left home at 6.45a.m. with a 95% battery charge, and kept a Bluetooth headset connection active all the way on a 2-hour journey to Ilaro. The Bluetooth connection was also active on the return journey of another 2 hours.

Meanwhile, the TP2 was connecting to my email server every 5 minutes. I managed three calls and a handful of SMSs. At Ilaro, I also took 18 pictures.

On return to Lagos, I headed straight to church and then to my sister’s place. I didn’t get home till after 5p.m., and I had 30% battery power left. Running the N900 with 5-minute email connections alone would have killed the battery hours before this time. To get through the day, I had to make do with setting the N900 to connect every at intervals of 15, 30 or 60 minutes, depending on the circumstances.

This morning, I gave the TP2 an extreme test – with 5-minute email connections over a 3G network, 10 SMSes, two calls running into 10 minutes, plus watching a 1 hour 37 minute movie, Unthinkable, on the TP2.

Well, after all that, I still had 40% power left. Thereafter I had to dash out. Certainly, the TP2 battery life is looking very good compared to the N900′s. Not bad for a device with a 3.6-inch display and very loud speakers.

Modern smartphone users want larger, brighter and crisper displays, and more powerful processors that power fluid user interfaces and a long list of features. In addition, we want our phones to stay connected to our email servers and social networks round the clock, and via 3G broadband too.

While the wishes of users in terms of hardware and features have been granted, unfortunately battery technology has not kept up with the pace of development of displays, processors and other features.

As such, the internet is littered with complaints of “crappy” battery life by owners of such devices as the 3GS, HD2, Nexus One, Satio and the like.

But what were we expecting? All the above-listed devices and others in their camp – including my own N900 – have a minimum of 600 MHz processors and vibrant 3.2-inch displays. Add always-on 3G or Wifi connections, and you have a recipe for relatively shorter power cycles.

Modern smartphone users simply cannot eat their cake and have it. At least not until some revolutionary battery technology shows up.

In the meantime, let me say here that battery life on those devices are really not as “crappy” as most of the complainants want you to believe. Most of them are actually capable of lasting much longer even under moderate to heavy use.

For example, I read a smartphone user’s complaint about how he cannot get 6-8 hours out of one of today’s cutting-edge mobiles. Yet, with a little knowledge and sensibility, he would easilly get 20-30 hours out of it.

Many times, people who complain of terrible battery life on their devices are doing so from a point of ignorance. With a few tips, smartphone users can easilly get an extra 10-12 hours per charge from their devices.

Amazing, right? Now that I have your attention, here are a few tips for getting better battery times out of your shiny new smart toys.

Charge your battery for at least 6 to 10 hours the first time
Yup, the first time you charge your phone, keep it connected to the mains for between 6 to 10 hours at a stretch. Ignore that “Battery full” notification that you get after 2 or 3 hours. The battery is NOT full, so keep it connected. Trust me.

If you don’t do give your battery this initial extended charge, it will take longer for it to reach it’s full potential – or it never will. Once it gets used to not being fully charged that way, the rest is history…

Cycle the battery through a few times from discharge to full charge
For the first few charging cycles of your smartphone, let your battery run out completely till the phone shuts down. Switch it back on and then immediately plug in the charger till it is fully charged. Again, ignore that “Battery Full” notification. Keep it charging for an extra 30-45 minutes to get a full charge.

Thereafter, repeat this process about once a week or more to get maximum usage.

If you don’t need an application running in the background, shut it down
It is foolishness to do things just because you can. Simply because your super smartphone or mobile computer can run 60 apps simultaneously does not mean you should. The more apps you leave running in the background, the more your battery life will suffer.

My car can do 180 km/hour comfortably, but I have never ventured that far, because I understand the consequencies. Its called wisdom. If however armed robbers are after me one day and I have the highway, you bet…. Until then, I’m hovering at 100 km/hr max.

Reduce your data sync schedule
Take a second look at applications that connect automatically to the internet and determine if you really need them to connect that often.

Do you really need your RSS reader to refresh every 30 minutes? Unless those feeds are work-related, you need to get a life. Again, with all the noise about PUSH email, do you really need your email to arrive on your device in real time? Again, unless work-related, modify the sync schedule. Many times, a 1 hour schedule is okay. For a lot of people, even a once-a-day schedule is fine.

How about those social networking applications – Facebook, Twitter, et al? Do you really need to know what some guy halfway across the world just had for dinner? Right now?

When you do not need broadband speeds, stick to 2G and turn off Wifi
You know that you don’t need 3G speeds all the time. Some of you have internet access at the office. What do you need always-on 3G for? Turn it off when you don’t need it, or get an application to automate the network switching.

Wifi is also one of the greatest power hogs, so keep an eye on it like a hawk. Turn it off when its not needed.

When not needed, turn off GPS
Simple: if you are not using it, do turn it off.

Reducing the backlight
The display of modern (especially touchscreen) smartphones are huge power consumers. As such, having the brightness set to the highest option means that your battery drains much faster. If you do not need your display backlight that bright, turn it down a few notches and enjoy a few more hours of power on your phone.

Check that homescreen/desktop
The more widgets you have running on your homescreen, the more power is consumed, especially with widgets that refresh often to keep up-to-date.

Also, some of those homescreen apps e.g. Sense on HTC devicee, and Timescape on Sony Ericsson devices, among others, are huge power guzzlers. Disable (or replace) them and you might be surprised at how many extra hours of battery life you get on your smartphone.

Conclusion
Have you noticed that even people who drive SUVs avoid the bad sections of the road as much as possible? And to think that SUVs were built to handle tough terrains, right?

Bottomline, condition your battery, especially with the first couple of charging sessions.Thereafter, be sensible with your mobile usage. Just because modern smartphones are all-powerful does not mean that you must run them at full power all the time.

Battery life on a smartphone is important to me. Afterall, the idea behind mobility is that one should be able to use his or her device out and about without it dying out in a short time.

Yes; I know you have read that from me several times on MobilityNigeria. Still, I cannot mention it enough. As such, I must scrutinise the Nokia N900 by this same standard. The question is: Does the N900 offer good enough battery life?

The N900 ships with Nokia’s BL-5J battery, specified at 1320 mAh. It is the same battery in the Nokia 5800, X6, and X6 16GB.

Having used the N900 for a few weeks now, here are my thoughts based on real-life usage patterns.

On a typical day, my N900 delivers between 24 and 30 hours of power. A typical day for me includes the following:

• 15 to 20 SMS messages (sent and received)
• 10 – 20 minutes of phone calls
• 1 hour of web browsing (includes RSS reader)
• 1 hour of e-Book reading
• Mail client auto-connecting to the server every 2 hours and management of up to 20 emails
• Several manual connections to the mail server
• 2 hours of Bluetooth headset connectivity
• 15 minutes of other on-device activities

Note that the phone is almost always locked to a 3G network, and Wifi off (I hardly ever, ever use Wifi), and I easilly get over 24 hours of power. This is quite adequate for me, though I wish that Nokia had put in a 1500 mAh battery instead of the 1320 mAh that the N900 ships with.

More intensive use can mean a drop all the way down to about 10 to 15 hours of battery life.

On the whole, I find that I have no need to carry around a charger for the N900 when leaving home each day – except on occassion when I foresee the need for more intensive use of the device.

The battery performance of the N900 seems quite similar to what I experienced with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. Going to bed with a fully charged battery on the N900 means that the battery charge is usually hovering between 90 and 95% when I get up in the morning.

These are my thoughts based on my usage so far. Now, it is up to you to decide whether the N900′s battery performance is good enough for your needs. Happy considerations.

Update 19th may 2010:
Just to see the shortest time in which I can kill the N900′s battery, I put it to this rather extreme test:

1. network mode: 3G
2. mail client connecting to server every 5 minutes
3. RSS reader refreshing every 15 minutes
4. Facebook application left running
5. display backlight set to brightest
6. wifi radio switched on
7. watched a movie for about 10 minutes
8. played some music for about 3 minutes
9. connected to Yahoo and Gtalk messaging services
10. used the camera application a little
11. set volume to loudest
12. bluetooth on and connected to stereo headset
13. SyncML synchronisation with Google
14. running Application Manager to download and install apps
15. 2 SMS conversations and 1 phone call

Rather harsh; right? Well, that was the idea. The battery was on 72% when I started this test. I wish I had the opportunity to do this from a full charge, but I live in the real world too.

Anyway, from a 72% battery charge when I started, the N900 hit zero and switched off in 2 hours. What do you think?

Seriously, not doing anything fun on your phone is the number ten way to make your cell phone battery last longer, according to a column in today’s edition of The Punch.

And here are the full details from the article:

If you have fun on your phone, your battery life will dramatically decrease. Accessing the web, playing games, navigating via GPS and capturing photos or video are not things to do while you’re in the middle of nowhere without a charger. Do these when there is a guarantee for your charging source.

We get playing games and capturing photos and videos, but since when did accessing the web and navigating via GPS become classified strictly as fun?

What if you are in the middle of nowhere and your spouse calls about a medical emergency that requires urgent funds – and you need to use your mobile web browser to effect an online transfer? Would that be classified as fun?

We can think of a number of other serious uses that someone could need web browsing for when in the middle of nowhere without a charger.

As for GPS, one would think that the primary purpose of GPS is for navigating especially when you are in the middle of nowhere.

We do think that this number ten point should read: “Don’t do anything not necesarry on your phone“. That sounds better.

Or are we nitpicking?

Battery life on a smartphone is important to me. Afterall, the idea behind mobility is that one should be able to use his or her device out and about without it dying out in a short time.

Windows Mobile phones have not generally had a good reputation with respect to battery life. I have used a few, and all of them ran out of juice quickly. In comparison, my Symbian devices over the years (including my most recent, the E75) have performed excellently with regards to battery life. I just never really had to worry about carrying a charger about with those.

One of the 10 Gripes I had with the T-mobile G1 was battery life as well. The G1 simply had the worst battery life on any smartphone I had used in years. I carried the charger with me to the office, to church, when visiting my parents, and all the way back home.

I have had the Xperia X1 with me for a week now, and I must say that it has the best battery life of any Windows Mobile phone I have ever used. I haven’t had to worry about carrying a charger around, and even after a full day’s use, there’s plenty of juice left on the phone.

I have the email client connecting to my mail server every 30 minutes, I play music and video files for a few minutes daily, among other things, and the X1 has been impressive all through. Add to that the fact that it runs the Touch Flo 3D user interface panel and has been tweaked to improve performance using 3rd party apps (which should increase power consumption some), and you can perhaps understand why I am really impressed.

With the G1, going to bed with a fully-charged battery meant that I would have to charge it again before leaving home the next morning. With the X1, going to bed means the battery charge is usually hovering between 97 and 99% when I get up in the morning.

Believe me when I say that it is a sigh of relief I breathed after watching the power indicator for the first few days and found out that there was no need to watch it so closely. Deliverance!

Here’s hoping to see more WinMo devices that stand out with respect to battery life – especially those upcoming devices from Samsung.

PS: Which manufacturer is going to deliver an Android-based device with good battery life as well? Word on the street is that even the spectacular-looking HTC Hero performs badly in this area.