Battery Indicator - needed??

[Roger Allen]

We have had a suggestion (Nick) that the battery indicator may not be needed.

Please use the poll to let us know your opinion.

You can vote for more than one entry - i.e. 8 level icon AND flashing when empty

Thanks

Roger

[IanHarrop]

We have had a suggestion (Nick) that the battery indicator may not be needed.

Please use the poll to let us know your opinion.

You can vote for more than one entry - i.e. 8 level icon AND flashing when empty

Thanks

Roger

Damn I need to read things completely before I vote

I didn't vote for the two things!!! Add one vote for AND flashing when empty

[Roger Allen]

....... Add one vote for AND flashing when empty

Done, one voted added.

[Telek]

I suppose this really depends on how ACCURATE the battery indicator is.

If level 9 (i.e. "full charge") goes for 80% of the life of the battery, then quickly decays through levels 8-3 and then hangs out at 2 and 1 for a while then 9 levels isn't really helpful.

Basically is the decay linear? Lithium batteries typially keep nearly their full voltage for most of their useful life, so if it's based linearly on batt voltage then it doesn't really help to have 9 levels.

[Roger Allen]

I suppose this really depends on how ACCURATE the battery indicator is.

If level 9 (i.e. "full charge") goes for 80% of the life of the battery, then quickly decays through levels 8-3 and then hangs out at 2 and 1 for a while then 9 levels isn't really helpful.

Basically is the decay linear? Lithium batteries typically keep nearly their full voltage for most of their useful life, so if it's based linearly on batt voltage then it doesn't really help to have 9 levels.

Telek:

The status decay approximates to linear through the useful life of the battery, however, it depends on the brand of battery, and the characteristics of the individual battery you are using.

The status is also temperature compensated, and just to make things more interesting, the temperature characteristic of various brands of battery are significantly different.

I am not saying the battery decay is linear (far from it), but that we use an algorithm to produce a approximately linear status.

Roger

[Solmann]

Battery indicator has to stay for me. I like to see how much is left. Going trough the menus to look for it is absurd. There is space on the screen so leave it there, if we need space for other things, then I'm with Ian H. and ditch the temperature but only if the other function is much more desireable, for me and the majority of the Neptune users, to be displayed.