I think Firmware 1.4 charges zune faster. Time 2 test.

[Aden]

Ok. Now decharging my zune fully. I will then fully charge it from 0% power and time it to the nearest second.

Then i will compare it with previous firmware results and we will see if it does actualy perfom faster.

Current Progress:
Draining Battery - 100%
Charging - 25% Paused.

[lpxxfaintxx]

Nice, this will make a good article if its successful.

[Aden]

Hope it does. Down to 3/4 Battery so far.

[lpxxfaintxx]

What method are you using to drain it?

[Aden]

Full volume, wifi on, full brightness, backlight always on, listen to lots of tunes.

Down to half zunage juice so far.

[kingkill33]

I don't think you can know if it charges faster with the new firmware, it might charge faster because the battery is worn out a lot unless its new.

[Aden]

no usually when a battery is worn out it charges slower, and i have charge about 5 times a week since xmas, so it shouldnt be too used or unused. We will see once i get results.

[lpxxfaintxx]

A faster way would be watching a movie instead of playing a song. It'll die pretty quickly then.

[MasterShake]

ok, ill say the update could have been better but i admit, my zune is faster.

when i used to play music and look at pics it would have to load every few pix, but now it pretty much instant. i think my zune being almost full accounted for the slowness too.

*edit* is it just me, or does it take longer for the zune software to reconise it?

[crimsonwolf]

Try watching a movie, rewinding and fastforwarding and messing with the volume a lot, when I do that my battery goes down faster than I would ever want it to.

[jessy]

yea videos kill it fast with the wifi feature and max volume and brightness

[Aden]

8-42 - Ok, its completely decharged. I have started charge and i am timing.
9-11 - Its charged 1/4 so far.
9-39 - Pausing charge, because going out.
13-08 - Coninue Charge
13-32 - Paused Charge Almost full battery.
15-54 - Continue Charge
16-24 - Charge finished.

Total Charge Time - 111minutes, so 1 hour 51 minutes, from 0% battery ot 100% battery.

How i need to find a zune with firmware 1.3 to test again....

[Pierce28]

I hate to say it, but your test is not sound.

Why?

That time that it just sat there for a few hours - it uses battery juice to keep it alive while asleep, and if you turned it completely off, then it uses extra juice to turn everything on. To have an accurate test, you need to charge it from 0% to 100% with no interruptions.

[cleako]

Yeah!!!! (Pierce is my brohter!)

[ACE]

How would firmware affect how fast a battery charges? Isn't the charge time a function of energy to the the battery cells? How would firware affect that?

[thefadednight]

well it could of replaced features that drained the life quicker.

[Pierce28]

Originally Posted by thefadednight

well it could of replaced features that drained the life quicker.

Right, or updated them a little. When the Zune is asleep or doing a set function, it is still running other things in the background. To run these things, it takes battery juice. If Microsoft made these background things a little more efficient or told certain ones to stop at certain times, then you would see that increase.


Now, the question is: Aden - do you use shuffle and/or keep it on? Having to do the "random" number algorithm to do the shuffle takes juice. Since Microsoft changed the way the shuffle worked in 1.4 to become more efficient, then it may also make it be less of a drain on battery use.

If so, then you will see both an increase in battery life and a decrease in charge time. (Remember, if the Zune is on and charging, it still takes juice to keep it on, so less energy from charging goes directly to the battery reserves)



I know personally, I keep my shuffle off since I like my play list, and as such, I haven't seen a difference. I think this calls for a new test.
Go to Settings > Music > And turn shuffle ON
Drain Battery to 0%, then charge without interruptions
Record time

Then turn shuffle OFF
Drain Battery to 0%, then charge without interruptions
Record time

This will give a good idea on how much juice the shuffle takes, if any at all. Now to get a good comparison, we'd need to find someone with Firmware 1.3 to see if all this is true.

[z_9876]

hhm seem sintresting. is it ok 2 drain teh battery all teh way or charge it when it has teh low battery sign. i think i read somewhere that if u fully discharge it that it culd take longer than normal 2 charge and maybe even a day. i just wana kno if its true or not.

[Pierce28]

I'm not sure if it would take longer, but I think it would be a more relevant test for users like me who wait until the Zune is just about dead before charging it.


Also, I'm not sure about Lithium Ion batteries, but I know some types of batteries can get "memories" of the last you charged it. This means that the battery pretty much lowers its maximum charge because it "expects" to be charged at that certain level. This only happens if you do it a bunch of times, however, so you shouldn't really worry unless you do this all the time, and even IF the Lithium Ion battery does this. Once again, I know some batteries do, but I'm not certain whether or not Lithium Ions do or not.

[z_9876]

ok thanks. so shuld i let it die all teh way or charge it when its low.