Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

dumb phone user and recent linux convert. I want to keep learning linux which for me means having access to real linux and a command line where ever I go.

so my main concern really is not having 50000 apps, it is the battery life. I have read on this forum that battery life is not great but I don't really know how that compares to the other options such as the android phones on the market today. does anyone here own a newer android device and care to share how the battery life would compare?

I know I could get and android and use connectbot to ssh into my always on home machine so keep learning when I am away (using ubuntu and running centos in kvm if anyone cares), but I just can't get over the coolness factor of linux in my pocket. so...that is my long winded way of asking how decent the battery life is compared to the newerish android options that seem to be gaining in popularity every day. thanks for listening.

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

Battery life is directly connected to how heavily you use the device.

Keeping it constantly active and doing things will not kill the battery for some time unless it's heavy, cpu-pegging work (mainly the browser.) Activating the radios will cut it further, how much depending on which you use (with the most drain being done by WiFi with no powersaving.)

I sincerely doubt the battery life is much worse under heavy usage than ones like the DROID or Nexus One (though I don't know their battery capacities,) and even if it is shorter, for what you seem to want it's easily an acceptable trade off.

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

Battery life is totally dependant upon how you use it, I can get between 5 hours and 4 days on a charge, depends how much and what for when it comes to use.

Nokia are good at battery saving at an os level (once it matures)

some other phones have the 'luxury' of a huge battery, they will last longer if they have that feature.

check battery mah ratings to get a fair objective view

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

this week, we're still suffering from a few bugs that use excess battery power, by next week the next N900 firmware should resolve a few of them issues, batteries will last longer :)

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

battery life.. hmm.. its ok-ish nowadays with under voltage, but only on idle..
if I use the device normally, gprs+web on 3g/3.5g ..

i think, constantly using the device, i can get 4 hours maximum.. this is not even heavy use... i'll have maximum 3 apps open..

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

the way i use my phone, it lasts around 2-3 days on a single charge. when i travel i use a lot more battery but extra batteries are extremely cheap for this phone so battery life is never really an issue for me.

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

wow I like the fast response.

so say I am using the sprint service here in the us sitting on a park bench using the terminal to ssh into my home box to run commands, but am not using the browser (yea like that will happen once I have the internet in my hand lol), would that be a real battery killer or since it is a cli based app, not so bad even though I am on the sprint network?

also can I make bash my default shell? (I just bought a learn to program in bash book so I must ask that question).

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

lool im hearing next week since 2 months:p..

but really, comparing to other phones i had (htc hd and bb storm2 mostly), the storm battery lasted me nearly 4 days. that was heavy usage.. and data always on....
the htc hd battery was about 50% better than this one

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

Well, you'd be completely unable to make calls or use anything but WiFi if you're on Sprint :P

Doing SSH over 3G will be more battery intensive than say, 2.5G, and a text mode like that isn't exactly data intensive. You'll see usage go way up once you use an SSH tunnel and start VNCing over it like I do.

Default shell, no. System startup uses the default user shell to process scripts, and isn't compatible with Bash. You can install and start bash, I believe there are ways to have the terminal load Bash and not the default Busybox terminal.

I don't think comparing the battery life between two wildly different devices is in any way useful.

Re: Hi I'm a dumbphone user looking at my options
 

i would say 4-5 hours..... not more than this.. maybe less than 4