PSP battery life REALLY exposed!
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Nov 2nd 2004 at 10:47AM }
It turns out that last week's report was a bit exaggerated. According to Sony's Ken Kutaragi, "graphically intensive" (i.e. non-puzzle) games will drain the battery much faster than the estimate given last week. For example, a game like Ridge Racer will likely last a paltry two hours. However, Kutaragi worked his way around the issue by promoting Sony's dedication to eventually solve the problem, pointing to the history of the Walkman for reassurance. At any rate, Sony is planning to ship 3 million units by March 2005.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
How can they think this is acceptable? There is no way people are going to put up with this. As if having a battery twice as large as that really would make any noticeable size penalty to an already large portable gaming device. Makes no sense.
Justin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
I KNEW IT AND I TOLD EVERYONE THAT but they all said "NooOoOoOO Sony will handle it and it'll be great!" Then Sony said "Okay, 4 to 6 hours for gaming" and I said "HA, yeah right, maybe for the fourth generation of games on the system, but NO WAY for launch games - if anything, closer to the low end, 4, probably 3, hours!"
And now look. 2 hours. They finally came clean and I am RIGHTEOUS in my predictions! Not that it was hard, come on, it took them months to let out estimated battery life.
And they say they'll "eventually solve the problem"?? Using the Walkman as an example? The Walkman is 25+ years old, while the shelf life of a game system is 3 to 5!
I was so excited about the PSP for so long. It's a shame that it wont have battery life for a 5-hour trip... meanwhile my GBA SP regularly gets 11+ hours, and the DS is supposed to get 10 hours. Enough for going on that trip and coming back again without taking a charger.
Booooooooooooooooo Sony.
WillBDrunk @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
someone needs to cut down on the caffine man. As with all things Sony does, I am pretty sure that if enough of the consumer market yell "unfair" about the battery life, like they are doing now, that they will fix it before the launch of the system. Especially since they are going against the DS.
alex0607 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
no...sony can just lie about it and get away with it because there are enough retarded sony fanboys who want to play a metal gear card game for 2 hours
Jasper @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
How can they think this is acceptable? There is no way people are going to put up with this. As if having a battery twice as large as that really would make any noticeable size penalty to an already large portable gaming device. Makes no sense.
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you dont accept because u are fool and stupid. A spare battery for just 40USD..and u can extend your battery life 2 times longer.Does that make sence..?~
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I was so excited about the PSP for so long. It's a shame that it wont have battery life for a 5-hour trip... meanwhile my GBA SP regularly gets 11+ hours, and the DS is supposed to get 10 hours. Enough for going on that trip and coming back again without taking a charger.
Booooooooooooooooo Sony.
Same suggestion ...buying one or two spare battery then there is no longer battery concerns.Believe me, NDS wont last that longer(10 hours as u said ) when using the wireless function while playing games at the same time .The maximam is 2hours...
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someone needs to cut down on the caffine man. As with all things Sony does, I am pretty sure that if enough of the consumer market yell "unfair" about the battery life, like they are doing now, that they will fix it before the launch of the system. Especially since they are going against the DS.
Not enough time ..if sony people want to launch PSP on March , next year,Thay have to make them now. Otherwise there wont be enough on shelf.
Cheers,
Jasper
Fredrik @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
People seem to have forgotten that IGN and Gamespot played with the PSP's on the event before TGS. They played games like Metal Gear Acid and Ridge Racers for over an hour on battery (and UMD) and the battery meter didnt loose any of the 3 notches it has. Proves it straight up that the PSP has more then what that site is saying.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/549/549978p1.html
And, people saying that they'll get 10 hours on the DS, you realise that you will only be able to play Puzzle games with WLAN off and brightness level on lowest setting and no sound at all, right?
Rav @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Nice work, Sony. You've managed to carry the failures from your laptop line and combine them with the failures from your console line.
No doubt this will now become the best-selling system in history for some reason.
BCEA @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Unbelievable... you would think they would have focus groups or something, oh wait, that would make sense, like including a network adapter WITH at PS2, or better yet, BUILT IN! So Sony, get with it, bulk it up a bit, give us 8 hours of playing time. I SWEAR! That Nintendo DS looks better every time Sony releases something about the PSP.
Nintendo development manager @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
You dumbass DS lovers, you think that the PSP is going to be so bad, but the DS sucks too. When watching a game video, the middle is cut out due to the double screens. Also if sony is such a failure, then how is Sony such a big ass company? Eventually Nintendo will go bankrupt like Sega. They lost the market to Sony because of the PS1 and the PS2. It shows you that Nintendo sucks. Besides, Sony owns three movie studios, dominates the world market in televisions, makes computers and many other products. They will have tons more money for improvements and OWN DS's ass in the market
nef @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
to "Nintendo development manager" (previous post flaming "DS lovers"), you are a sad, sad, fanboy. From an unbiased perspective: Nintendo knows handheld consoles. Sony knows portable devices. Both companies are experienced in making compact devices. The difference is, Nintendo realizes that using spinning media like UMD sucks up battery life much more than solid state cartridges. This is most likely one of the main reasons why PSP battery life is so short. This is why the Gamegear, Lynx, and Turbo Grafix portable never beat the black/white "creamed spinach color" original gameboy
timmeh @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
and the battery meter didnt loose any of the 3 notches it has. Proves it straight up that the PSP has more then what that site is saying."
... battery meters are just estimates. also, lithium batteries have a tendancy to maintain a lot of their voltage to the end of their cycle, and then they just die suddenly.
as an added note, it is bad to fully disharge any type of rechrgeable battery. the more you discharge it per cycle, the sooner it will die (as in die permanently) on you. if you actually want to treat your batteries right, you should not be discharging them past 50 - 70%. i mean max. if you want to treat them PERFECT then you're looking at 20-30%. the more you disccharge them per cycle, the less cycles you get. the guy who goes 100% every day will be replacing his batteries every 12-18 months.
also, if you store lithium batteries in the dead state (no charge) for too long, the voltage can drop so low that the self-protection circut will open, and then you have to throw them out.
Chaos @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Hi all,
I don't know if this is a Nintendo fan site or not but Im sure about one thing that PSP is not suck.
It is really bad that its battery life not long more than 2 hour when max power is been used. However, behind this issue a lot of things which DS fans didnt consider:
..
1- (Using the battery as the source power)
The life of battery drop down to 2 hours when the PSP uses it max power (the monitor will display 16M color and the image engine will use nearly 1/3 ps2 power)
VS
A battery life will stand more than 4 hours but with 260K display color and a nearly N64 image engine power.
..
Yes, its quite shame that PSP will not lost longer than 2 hours. However, its more than shame for DS if you compare (that DS will give you 260K and around N64 polygons power) with (16M and around 1/3 PS2 for the PSP) and the only save that you get is around 2-4 hours?! Isnt this a quite shame?!
..
2-(when using ac power)
The PSP users will enjoy there games more than the DS users.
I have a centrino laptop. My chose was base on battery life but Im not quite sure that I get the benefit of it because I always use the external power instead of the battery (you can find these ac power even in some beaches)
..
Im not here to confines anyone that PSP is better than the DS. I have the GB and the GBA there handy when it came with the long distance trips. However, I never rally remember that I used them for more than 3 constitutive hours the idea from purchasing them was wasting the time not enjoying it(you cant fully enjoy the games if the were look like the old geezer NES games be logical this games like ATARI old console games). At the last everyone will chose his/her console depending on the games s/he likes. I prefer GT and Final Fantasy VII on the other games.
Finally, if the battery life is the only problem you got with PSP then hi guys wakeup.
Do prefer to live in the Stone Age era or what. Sorry for that, but the DS is as primitive as the Stone Age and we will not move on at the handheld games technology if we keep stuck with it.
Scotty @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
First of all I'd like to say that i am on the psp side but chaos your research is damn flawed The Ds is actually bringing gaming into a whole new era instead of the "stone age" Yes the top screen is retarded as it is mostly used for maps and gay shit like that(there is a start button people) but PSP has one big disadvantage. Originality. I can't think of any real must-buys that you couldn't play on the PS2. Another thing being said is that PSP's line-up of games mainly consists of EAs sports games which I hope nobody buys and racing games which are basically crappy versions of the PS2 racing games. One last thing, if you havn't ever played a video game for 3 straight hours on a long road trip then I don't think I really care about your opinion as you probably play crappy PS2 games based on crappy movies. How about you let the REAL gamers talk?
Scotty
CodeRed @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
First off thats bullshit i got a psp and its not 2 hours...there is plenty of battery life and kick the nerdy ds out of the water!!!! For ALL you nintendo DipShit lovers get a life...DipShit has a small screen,terrable controlls cause of that gay as touch screen,games are for children and metroid now sucks only metriod prime 1 was good. Oh and didnt mention the ds shitty graphics and terrable boring games. Go get that psp right now dont get a ds the ds is dead.
CodeRed,HaloFan,1337,and hates nerdy ds lovers...
I Hate Nintendo DS @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Yes the PsP has it's share of problems. But shoot, the psp will improve. Now on the other hand, DS has crappy games. The PsP's open line up owned.
to whoever said this
''And, people saying that they'll get 10 hours on the DS, you realise that you will only be able to play Puzzle games with WLAN off and brightness level on lowest setting and no sound at all, right?''
This guy is a bright fella. You people should take his example. DS sucks. End of story. The games suck, and the touch crap is gay. PsP will get better over time, but the DS will remain the same.
Bry @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
First of all I would like to say Look at Sony's lineup of games compared to the DS. Sony has all original games and has many that are not even offered on any other console. Lets see the DS match GTA when it comes out!! When the DS first came out no games were available. My cousin bought one and had to wait 2 months for the first game!! At least sony has the brights to release 10+ games on Launch. I mean come on! Alll Nintendo released after that period was their 100th Mario remake. Come on now Nintendo! I stopped playing mario after the first 3 originals!! The PSP is more for the older teens, as Nintendo has all young person games! It is all to easy to school nintendo. Buy the PSP you will not be disapointed as with Nintendo.
Aranha @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Its not about pure power, its about imagination and stepping away from a graphics arms race. The PSP isn't exactly portable, it won't fit in any sized pocket. The point of a PORTABLE console is to be able to take it around. If you're not going to do that then why play crappy mini versions of PS2 games when one is sitting right in front of you? Who wants a console that whose battery lasts 4 hours max and the words 'backwards compatible' do not exist?
xile @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
I own both a DS and a PSP. The battery life on the PSP will last me at least 6 hours playing ridge Racer or Coded Arms. My DS battery will last around the same amount of time playing NFSU:2. The games that are released on DS are still just ports of N64 and Gamecube games. The PSP itself is actualy more durable than the DS. My PSP has minute amounts of scratches whilst my DS is scratched to pieces. Also the PSP is smaller than the DS. Don't think i have commented just to flame the DS, it is a good console by means of the touch screen. Its not new, not innovative but its just fun. Metroid is a great game regardless. All the multimedia features of the PSP are great aswell whilst the DS has um....a clock that if you listen closely, you can actually hear it tick!!! WOW....sorry for the sarcasm. 67MHz + 16.7MHz DS power compared to 2 x 333MHz PSP power. No arguments there. 1.8GB UMD compared to 128MB DS card. Higher res screen blah blah we have all heard the rest. Simply the PSP is a better console.