# Fire 8.9" battery life?



## maries (Dec 29, 2010)

I am trying to decide if I want to update from the original Fire to either the 7" HD or the 8.9".    When looking at Amazon, they have a comparison chart with some stats but they didn't list the battery life for the 8.9".  Does anyone know what this is or why it isn't posted?  Thanks.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

I was hoping that they'd publish that number!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Maybe they needed to wait until the device was approved by the FCC to do the kinds of real world testing that would give them that number.

Betsy


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## Finished (Feb 14, 2009)

A company cannot make performance claims about product elements for which FCC approval is required but hasn't been given. The unapproved part of the 8.9 was the chip which controls the 4G, which obviously is a power user. Now that the device has been approved, I suspect that Amazon will publish the estimated battery life soon.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

That's what I was thinking, JW....  

Betsy


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## Finished (Feb 14, 2009)

OTOH, don't put complete trust in the battery life claims. They are best looked at as relative numbers, useful for comparison among devices. But the actual battery charge life is often less than the claimed number of hours. It all depends on how you use the device, and manufacturers use models based on expected use patterns (how much time on games, reading, watching videos, etc. for each charge). Obviously, if they calculate less time for game playing (the biggest power hog) and more time for reading (uses the least power), their number will be better than the other way around. I have found that an intense session of Angry Birds drains my original Fire pretty fast. But listening to music with earbuds or reading uses very little power. 

I know most of the reviews of the 7 inch HD have found around 7-9 hours on a charge, although the claimed number is 11. That is better than the original Fire. But you will find the same sort of discrepancy for almost every product, whether Amazon, Apple, Samsung, or Brand X.


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## maries (Dec 29, 2010)

Thanks.  At least now I know why it isn't listed yet.

I think my original Fire is about 4-5 hours.  Actually I don't know for sure but it does seem to drain fast esp if I try to do a web search.


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## Zero (Jan 27, 2011)

maries said:


> Thanks. At least now I know why it isn't listed yet.
> 
> I think my original Fire is about 4-5 hours. Actually I don't know for sure but it does seem to drain fast esp if I try to do a web search.


The original fire I had seemed to have drained very fast and agree with the 4-5 hour mark. On the 7" HD, so far it seems to have been better. It might also be that android version it was based of, 2.3 (original fire) vs 4.0 (HD version), played a part in it. With another android tablet I had, on 2.3 it seemed to have drained a lot faster and when the 4.0 update came along - it seemed like it was new tablet. The screen more responsive, but also the battery life improved significantly.


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## maries (Dec 29, 2010)

Zero said:


> The original fire I had seemed to have drained very fast and agree with the 4-5 hour mark. On the 7" HD, so far it seems to have been better. It might also be that android version it was based of, 2.3 (original fire) vs 4.0 (HD version), played a part in it. With another android tablet I had, on 2.3 it seemed to have drained a lot faster and when the 4.0 update came along - it seemed like it was new tablet. The screen more responsive, but also the battery life improved significantly.


Thanks for this info. Good to know. I do like the 7" size so not sure about the 8.9" one other than more is different to justify upgrading.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

I know I want the 4G since I'm out driving patients as a volunteer and while more hospitals are getting wifi (yay!) quite often I'm outside a patient's home, having just dropped them there or at various oncology practices with no wifi and sometimes I'd like to check my email (no smart phone) or gasbuddy..  I'm going to have to quickly get into the habit of 4G off most of the time so as not to fritter away my usage.  I assume it will default to wifi if wifi is available..

I also figured that I could manage to wait for the not so instant gratification of the larger tablet since I do have my original Fire and still love it daily..  as well as use it constantly, and then if the larger fire was a bust in terms of weight or whatever, I have 30 days to determine that and then decide if I needed a new 7" Fire or not (probably yes).  AND in the meantime, the 7" users could be helping to test HD features and apps..


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