When we released the new Playback feature the first question was “How long will the battery last”. Streamin application (not only) on the iPhone are notorious for their power consumption. And for the iPeng playback to work correctly, Auto-Lock has to be off, so the screen will always be powered on. So is it worthwhile?
To find an answer to that question I did some endurance testing today and it took me hours – which is what I had hoped it would 😉
It looks like it pays off, that Apple does not provide for “real” streaming, but only for file playback – the tracks get transferred to the Phone or Touch in a few seconds and then there’s no more communication needed.
So here’s the result:
Test setup:
- iPod touch (8GB) with FW 2.0 and iPeng 0.5.2
- Auto-Lock switched to “off”, so the screen will stay on and the Touch will play continuously
- Volume set to 50% (so this is more a “realistic scenario” as an “how long can it get if you max it out”
- Brightness:50% and Auto “ON”
- Test-Playlist: Mixed music tracks
- Test process: Browse to playlist. Load playlist. Browse to Playback plugin. Start playback. Let it run.
Playback time: 5h 12min!
Now I feel that’s a good result. I had expected something like four hours, so more than five is quite good. And much better than the two hours of browsing I get on the device.
So: Happy listening!
