Getting the most out of your battery

Advances in battery technology and power-conservation techniques continues, albeit at a pace that seems slow for high tech. A few methodologies for testing battery life have been defined. Anyone interested in the conservation and measurement elements of these topics might consider the following resources:

•  JEITA Battery Run Time Measurement Method – This test from Japan defines what has become a fairly common procedure for evaluating the battery life of mobile devices. It is, however, multimedia-based, and does not directly consider wireless.
•  BAPCo MobileMark 2005 (XP)/2007 (Vista) – These are commercially available test suites from a firm that specializes in performance testing of various forms.
•  Energy Star Computer Specification – This well-known program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency covers many types of equipment that consume electrical power. Included here are testing specifications and a wealth of other information. Again, this information does not directly address wireless (indeed, the specified testing is performed with radios tuned off), but is quite interesting regardless.
•  EPEAT – This organization specifies a broad range of environmentally related elements for certification under its program. This list is based on the IEEE 1680 standard, and the energy-related elements are primarily specified under the Energy Star program. 

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