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c|net Battery Test finds Zune 80 Lasts Half as Long as iPod |
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Written by ACE
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Tuesday, 27 November 2007 |
 Yes, you read the title right; the Zune 80, in a recent c|net Labs test, was found to only have 22 hours battery life (audio only) while the 80Gb iPod Classic came in with 45 hours. More after the break...
So how did they come up with that? Did they keep the screen on? Was the volume up? Well after some investigation, c|net does disclose how they test for battery life . In order to maintain a level playing field for comparison's sake, we
standardize any controls that could affect battery life. This includes
setting the backlight to turn off within 10 seconds, adjusting the
equalization to produce a flat response, using the player's bundled
headphones, and ensuring that each player is set to output sound at the
same comfortable listening volume, which we measure electronically to
ensure fairness and consistency in testing.
For players with rechargeable batteries, we start with a fully charged cell
and perform a conditioning run (an initial drain and full charge) before we
begin our timed trials......We run at least two time trials
that continuously play music on the device until it completely loses power,
and we time how long this takes. For this test, all MP3 players use the
same 19.4MB file. If we find a discrepancy of greater than 5 percent
between the two times, we run an additional iteration of this test.
Finally, we average the battery drain times that are within 5 percent of
each other to yield our ultimate battery life figure.
It's interesting this still did not change c|net's overall rating of the new Zune (8.3) which is still a higher rating than the 80Gb iPod Classic (8.0). Already people are responding. On Crave, where Donald Bell broke the news, one commenter says, "works for me!" while another says, "Yawwwnnnn...." Still another said, "The Zune is a response to a near perfect product. There is no way that it can compete." While yet another contends, "And this is a matter how?" What do you think? Is this something you consider in when buying? Is this something that may now deter you? Do you not care? Let us know!
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 November 2007 )
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