Only Getting 4hrs of Battery Life

[ManUnited]

Any thoughts on my earlier questions... I might have some time to look at some of this later today.

Yes, I have. Here are my responses.

I only have one document open at a time in Word. My annotations are both track changes and inking, which I alternate. More pen taps on the screen for track changes. However, I do use the pen and the handwriting-to-text keyboard more often than any other aspect. This allows me to write individualized comments and convert them to text. My inking comments need improving.

Another matter I thought of was OneDrive and the constant saving of files. Would this drain the battery, as well?

I wish the inking in Word was as smooth as it is in the Metro reader app. I love how it smooths the lines when I annotated PDFs.

 

[GreyFox7]

Yes, I have. Here are my responses.

I only have one document open at a time in Word. My annotations are both track changes and inking, which I alternate. More pen taps on the screen for track changes. However, I do use the pen and the handwriting-to-text keyboard more often than any other aspect. This allows me to write individualized comments and convert them to text. My inking comments need improving.

Another matter I thought of was OneDrive and the constant saving of files. Would this drain the battery, as well?

I wish the inking in Word was as smooth as it is in the Metro reader app. I love how it smooths the lines when I annotated PDFs.

Onedrive syncing is a consideration... maybe the frequency can be optimized.

 

[ManUnited]

Onedrive syncing is a consideration... maybe the frequency can be optimized.

I will look into this. However, since I make comments so frequently, I do not want to lose a certain period of work just because the sync interval was not timed properly.

I will get back with you. Thanks for your assistance.

 

[dman27]

Overall, many people (myself included) will be disappointed with the battery life given how it was marketed as "All day battery life".
9 hours is FAR too aggressive a claim without severe changes to brightness and monitoring of other resources.

ManUnited, most major reviewers will not be as kind to these adjustments as those on this forum, and rightly so.

In fact the woman who was given the first SP3 at the introduction, later commented on the battery life in her later review.

I do think those reviews will force MS to report closer to "real world" numbers.

In my use case, I monitor three mailboxes and have to receive mail in real-time. I also remote in to machines, surf the internet and do design work in CAD like programs.

My Achilles heel is the brightness. Going below 65% is ridiculous to me. No one I've ever worked with has ever had their laptop or full monitors set to 45%.

Some of the comments can make you feel that you are using the device incorrectly..ie, brightness settings.
However, real world use in different scenarios actually show an average battery time of 5-7 hours.

 

[samurai]

This really isn't an option as I am the professor.

Would it be possible to charge the device in between sessions like during lunch time.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Indeed, one of "those" people.

However, I do not wish to become of "those" people scrambling to sit next to outlets in the bevy of University and Department meetings I have on the agenda this semester. I was really hoping that the SP3 could carry me throughout the day with no charging required.

I do very similar things that you mention and in the same work-setting (indeed, if I take the ManUnited avatar seriously, I am even in the same country as you may be in - though it has not yet been released there - I bought mine overseas) that you refer to. I use the SP3 (i5/ 4GB version) and find myself getting usually 8 hours of battery life.

Unlike what dman27 points out, the max level of brightness that I can handle is not more than 40-45%. As for notifications - I have mail notifications turned on polling two email accounts (of which one is gmail and the other is my univ. email) as mails come in. My documents are on OneDrive (with the off-line capability turned on). I also use Office 365 extensively with Word and PPT seeing the most use. I have a few other notifications turned on - Flipboard, the News App and a few (but not many) other apps. Wifi is always on and so is BT (as I use a mouse). Around twice or thrice a week I use Skype (each Skype session lasts about an hour or so). I use OneNote (MUI version) with the Pen. I also use the Pen to mark/ comment on student work, to annotate any texts that I may be reading (and I am reading all the time!) and to take notes for the sometimes endless meetings that I have to attend (both at the student and the department/ faculty/ university management level). I do all of the above 5 days a week (usually!). On weekends, the SP3 sees a little less use since I spend most of my weekends writing my papers, research applications and working on my (hopefully) forthcoming books.

Given the above and when compared with your use and experience, honestly, I can't explain the discrepancy.

 

[GreyFox7]

I do very similar things that you mention and in the same work-setting (indeed, if I take the ManUnited avatar seriously, I am even in the same country as you may be in - though it has not yet been released there - I bought mine overseas) that you refer to. I use the SP3 (i5/ 4GB version) and find myself getting usually 8 hours of battery life.

Unlike what dman27 points out, the max level of brightness that I can handle is not more than 40-45%. As for notifications - I have mail notifications turned on polling two email accounts (of which one is gmail and the other is my univ. email) as mails come in. My documents are on OneDrive (with the off-line capability turned on). I also use Office 365 extensively with Word and PPT seeing the most use. I have a few other notifications turned on - Flipboard, the News App and a few (but not many) other apps. Wifi is always on and so is BT (as I use a mouse). Around twice or thrice a week I use Skype (each Skype session lasts about an hour or so). I use OneNote (MUI version) with the Pen. I also use the Pen to mark/ comment on student work, to annotate any texts that I may be reading (and I am reading all the time!) and to take notes for the sometimes endless meetings that I have to attend (both at the student and the department/ faculty/ university management level). I do all of the above 5 days a week (usually!). On weekends, the SP3 sees a little less use since I spend most of my weekends writing my papers, research applications and working on my (hopefully) forthcoming books.

Given the above and when compared with your use and experience, honestly, I can't explain the discrepancy.

Good to know I'm not then only one with magical power miserliness

 

[Bandito]

One thing that I've observed with LiIon batteries is that they seem to gain a bit more endurance after the first few charge cycles. In my experience they seem to gain around 10-15% more endurance after they have a few cycles.

I'm not sure whether this is due to chemistry or the 'learning' of the charging circuitry or some of both, but I've had many users get better results a week or two after they initially got their device.

Hopefully you'll see some improvement like this on your system as well.

 

[ManUnited]

Would it be possible to charge the device in between sessions like during lunch time.

While this would be an option, I purchased the SP3 under the assumption it provided an all-day battery. I did not carry a charger in my previous setup and would like to maintain that, if I can.

 

[ctitanic]

While this would be an option, I purchased the SP3 under the assumption it provided an all-day battery. I did not carry a charger in my previous setup and would like to maintain that, if I can.

then you need to reduce the brightness or... buy a different tablet.

 

[GreyFox7]

While this would be an option, I purchased the SP3 under the assumption it provided an all-day battery. I did not carry a charger in my previous setup and would like to maintain that, if I can.

I don't mean to be flip but you know what they say about doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Something will have to change.

 

[ManUnited]

honestly, I can't explain the discrepancy.

Thank you for your reply and your comments about the avatar. I do teach in the States. I eagerly await the 7:30 start to the EPL with United at Swansea.

As for the discrepancies, my questions have been why some users see such a variation. That's all. (See @dman27 comments above.)

However, since I made the comparison to my old kit — all Apple devices — some comments seem to focus solely on that aspect and do not address the question.