having battery issues with new P3

[3dollyday]

I haven't had my P3 for a month. I can only get about 5 hours out of my P3. I don't know why.
This is my second one. I bought my first from Dell on Sept 1. I could only get 4 hours of play per charge. I returned it and got another. This one does the same. I charge it up, then use it when I'm at work.
I work ten hours a night and the battery dies before I'm finished at work. I don't listen to it continually. It's on about 2 hours at a time.
I have a P2 and can use it three nights before having to charge.
Can someone please help?

[CrowdAds]

[ashiiya]

Uh...O.o either you're getting bad ones or your settings are high cause that eats a lot of battery. How you use it will affect the battery life, too, of course ^^

[triarii117]

Well if it's 4 hours of life on there, then more than likely it is the battery itself.

[3dollyday]

I got both from Dell, I reset back to the default to see if that helps.
any other suggestions?

Does having album art use battery life?

What are the chances of getting 2 from Dell that are messed up? I really don't want to send a second one back. It was an ordeal to send the first one back.

[shinobi00]

Are you using DNSE? What volume do you normally keep it on? How many times are you using the screen? Are you using Wise Volume? Are you using the audio upscaler? How about bluettoth? Or the speaker?

[3dollyday]

Are you using DNSE? What volume do you normally keep it on? How many times are you using the screen? Are you using Wise Volume? Are you using the audio upscaler? How about bluettoth? Or the speaker?

I am using my bluetooth all night about 7 hours. I keep the volume around medium. I don't have the wise volume on. I listen to several podcast, so I use the screen about every hour. I'm not sure what DNSE is.

I have a P2 and never had a problem with the battery.

How hard is it to deal with Samsung? And to send something to be repaired?

[triarii117]

One night, don't use the Bluetooth and see if that solves anything. Bluetooth is always a major battery hog.

[electron]

Bluetooth would do that. also, it seems to me that you have your screen brightness up pretty high... turn it down to about 1 or 0 and see if that helps...

[3dollyday]

I tried all that. I gave up and sent it in for repair.

[triarii117]

Yea, battery life that short is odd... even with all that on

[TC39]

Originally Posted by 3dollyday

I haven't had my P3 for a month. I can only get about 5 hours out of my P3. I don't know why.
This is my second one. I bought my first from Dell on Sept 1. I could only get 4 hours of play per charge. I returned it and got another. This one does the same. I charge it up, then use it when I'm at work.
I work ten hours a night and the battery dies before I'm finished at work. I don't listen to it continually. It's on about 2 hours at a time.
I have a P2 and can use it three nights before having to charge.
Can someone please help?

One thing you forgot to mention in this post is the use of bluetooth. Using bluetooth on the P3 sucks the battery dry very fast (4-6 hours).

I think everyone is thinking you are using corded speakers or corded headphones and thus saying 5 hours is horrible battery life (for corded use, it is).

You have a couple of options. You can get an AC -> USB converter that you can plug the cord for the P3 into (allows play while charging) and then you can listen indefinitely. Or you can get a portable power source, i.e. Black and Decker Pocket Power. The example I gave will provide you another 3-4 hours of use prior to using the P3 battery, thus upping max continuous play time to about 8-9 hours.

Sadly, I don't think Samsung will find anything wrong with the player being it is performing as designed.

Originally Posted by 3dollyday

Are you using DNSE? What volume do you normally keep it on? How many times are you using the screen? Are you using Wise Volume? Are you using the audio upscaler? How about bluettoth? Or the speaker?

I am using my bluetooth all night about 7 hours. I keep the volume around medium. I don't have the wise volume on. I listen to several podcast, so I use the screen about every hour. I'm not sure what DNSE is.

I have a P2 and never had a problem with the battery.

How hard is it to deal with Samsung? And to send something to be repaired?

Your P3 is acting normal, the Screen and Bluetooth combination, I'm surprised you get a full 5 hours. I only get about 2.5-3.5 hours if I continually fiddle with the screen when bluetooth is running. Granted my volume usually was around 25 not 15.

[3dollyday]

Is the P3 that different from the P2? i had no charge problems with my P2. What's the use of being bluetooth capable if you can only use it for a few hours?

[TC39]

One thing that I know is different is that DNSe works through bluetooth.

As for duration between P2 and P3 using bluetooth, I really don't know why the P2 with bluetooth lasts longer. Also from what I've read, the range on the P2 is much much better than the P3. The P3 starts cutting out after a mere 10 feet.

I don't know if the battery is heftier on the P2 or if the CPU is more powerful thus more of a drain on the P3. Or maybe a combo of both?

That's one thing that kind of hurts the P3 over the P2. Yet many other things that were problems of the P2 were fixed in the P3.

Go figure.

[Dreamnine]

My Bluetooth range is fine - 20 feet easily. Using DNSe probably does cut into the battery life quite a bit.

[TC39]

Originally Posted by Dreamnine

My Bluetooth range is fine - 20 feet easily. Using DNSe probably does cut into the battery life quite a bit.

Yeah was going by personal experience and what I read from another user (on these forums, I think). Mine cuts out not even 7 feet away atr work, but I think it has to do with all the metal creating a semi Faraday's Cage.

The other user complained that his P3 wouldn't even travel through 1 wall to 10 feet at his home, yet his P2 could easily go through the wall and go twice as far. *shrug*

[ebyss]

My wife gets 3hrs playback out of her brand-new P3, off a full charge.

We fully charged the P3 on Saturday morning and she listened to it for no longer than 1hr per session for three sessions - the battery died on Monday evening.

That's with no DSNe, no Bluetooth, no equaliser graphics (album art for visuals) and with the screen brightness turned down to 2...

I suspect there may be some problems with the battery units - it might account for the availability issues in the UK..?

[vzegm]

I have tried an experiment, and brightness is a factor to battery life.

Higher it is, the more battery life it sucks out.
Same with bluetooth, if it is on: sucks out very fast.

My experiments (from full battery charge):

Never Played Videos, music only straight; Brightness 0; bluetooth off; using earpieces; Battery life lasted 28 hours.
Never Played Videos, music only straight; Brightness 10; bluetooth off; using earpieces; Battery life lasted 14 hours.

Never Played Videos, music only straight; Brightness 0; bluetooth on; using earpieces; Battery life lasted 6 hours.
Never Played Videos, music only straight; Brightness 10; bluetooth on; using earpieces; Battery life lasted 3 hours.

Never Played Videos, music only straight; Brightness 0; bluetooth off; using mono speakers; Battery life lasted 7 hours.

Playing any videos, regardless of bluetooth on/off, brightness 0-10, using earpieces; Battery life lasted 6 hours.
Playing any videos, regardless of bluetooth on/off, brightness 0-10, using mono speakers; Battery life lasted 3 hours.

[TomCat39]

One thing that helps is to lock the screen off regardless of your brightness settings.

If you hit the top of the screen to bring down the icon list and touch the lightbulb it turns the screen off and won't let it come back on without tapping the power button (lock button). If the screen is never used except with turn on and turn off, I am pretty sure you can break the 30 listening hour mark with the use of corded headphones.

[ebyss]

Originally Posted by TomCat39

One thing that helps is to lock the screen off regardless of your brightness settings.

If you hit the top of the screen to bring down the icon list and touch the lightbulb it turns the screen off and won't let it come back on without tapping the power button (lock button). If the screen is never used except with turn on and turn off, I am pretty sure you can break the 30 listening hour mark with the use of corded headphones.

I'll get my wife to give that a try...

...but doesn't that then mean that navigation becomes a right pita? I think it sounds more like widespread duff batteries - there are many P3 users on ABI who aren't reporting battery issues...

[DragonBottles]

Originally Posted by 3dollyday

I am using my bluetooth all night about 7 hours........I'm not sure what DNSE is.

Bloody hell, theres the problem. Bluetooth will suck it dry of its battery life. When you don't need the Bluetooth headphones, use a pair of in-ears.

DNSe = Digital Natural Sound engine, the sound technology the Samsung P3 uses. If you click the menu when you're in a song and click DNSe, you can choose sound quality settings and make your own. I generally avoid it and stick to the Normal setting.