Maybe someone else already commented on this, but I believe that the ability to browse the web, i.e. use the data connection and talk at the same time is dependent on whether you have a 2.5G/Edge connection or a 3/3.5G connection at a particular time.

Short version:

2.5G connection... it's an either/or, one at a time (data or voice) situation.

3.5G connection... you can do both (data and voice) simultaneously.

Of course if the connection drops from 3.5G to 2.5G while you're on the phone, you may lose either connection.

install power kernel/settings und cpu freq. then use ###IDEAL###-preset

you will have a much more smoother fun + a lot more battery power!

mine lasts now on

LOW user: 48 HOURS !!!
AVERAGE use: 24 HOURS !!
High use: 10 HOURS !!!

just perfect now!

I'm using the "3G/2G/Dual Mode" widget to shift the cell phone down to 2G mode most of the time, and that seems to help quite a bit on battery time for me. Then again, I'm kinda used to always keeping my battery powered devices plugged in -- I've got both an old iPhone and an older iPod, so I'm not used to a world where you can replace batteries that no longer hold a charge.

There is a wiki page with tons of power-saving tricks:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Make_your_battery_last_longer

Thanks for the correction! Yeah, I was using 3G when I tried it out earlier; I just tried 2G, and it worked just as you describe. Which, actually, is kinda odd to me; one of the most highly advertized features of the first-gen iPhone (a 2G/Edge only device) is that it did have the ability to talk and browse at the same time...

I did a little test recently to see if keeping my N900 on 2G would save battery power. After 6 hours, the % decrease was the same as every other day, when I have it set to 3G. I think the power decrease with using 3G is only when you're actually using it for calls/data. If it's being used for other stuff, well I didn't see any difference really.

I'm only really using the phone for texting and internet browsing in the school and the battery seemed to drain pretty quick after being fully charged this morning.

I'll do love this phone however the downside to it is battery life and I wont have the space to carry round an extra battery.

Also does the amount of windows I have opened?

it's mostly when i keep instant messengers connected on mine that it dies, but if you're using it a lot the screen itself would be a big draw. honestly, if you're at school, you must have a bag you can throw an extra battery in? it's a good $10 investment. i always bring a spare when I go to parties or whatever so I don't get stranded anywhere with no phone!

Try reading up on the overclocking, and set your phone to run around 805 mhz with one of the ideal or ulv profiles, and try enabling smartreflex. It doesn't work for everyone, but now is the time to mess with that stuff, when the device is new, so any problems don't erase too much if something gets messed up. That should reduce battery usage though, and is pretty safe.

Hmm, if you've got a lot of programs running, that will certainly draw more power. And, when browsing the internet, some web pages do things that are quite cpu-intensive. The downside of a device that can do anything Linux can do, is that it can end up doing a lot more work than something more constricted (like an iPhone)...

Yeah, I guess I've really only kept track of the 2G/3G power drain when I'm stuck away from any Wifi source. That's probably why I've seen such a difference in battery usage. (When I'm near Wifi, I'm also usually near a power outlet... )

Not all N900s are stable using the ideal profile, I know mine isn't (it would run okay anywhere from 30 minutes up to 2 days then it would reboot), well one of mine at least, I haven't tested the second one I have.

Also with PR1.3 the N900 is pretty good at conserving power when idle, I've left it overnight (~6 hours) unplugged and the battery level typically drops just 3%, thats when it is freshly charged say from 92% to 89%, it did seem to drop more when it wasn't fully charged, maybe 5-6% then, I think the difference is the battery level reading not being terribly accurate so it calculates different losses at different levels. Still at these rates it should last at least 3 days idle, if I actually left it alone that long.

Those figures for how long your battery lasts don't mean much without defining what low, average and high usage mean. I'm not sure my battery life is any worse with a relatively clean PR1.3 versus what I had running ideal profile, but in mitigation I may have had something installed that was affecting battery life then.


I haven't noticed significant battery drainage just being in 3G mode, but it probably depends on how strong the signal is where you live, if you have a week signal where you are then your phone will boost its transmit power to keep in contact with the base station, which will drain your battery quicker. Using 3G for browsing though does seem more of a drain than wifi.

Browser windows being open won't affect battery life much at all, MicroB by default pauses javascript after 15 seconds if the window is inactive, so they won't be using any CPU, but I'm not sure if it does anything with Flash. I use adflashblock-css to stop Flash autorunning and get rid of ads, but be warned the ad blocking may break a few site, most have been okay, but I have noticed a few download links disappearing with it. Other programs may use the CPU when not active however.