Apple_newtonHow do you make two months' salary last forever? Buy a diamond. How do you make two months' salary last approximately six months before you endure daily grand mal seizures of buyer's remorse and technolust? Buy an expensive piece of gadgetry. Well, that's my motto, anyway. The fellas at CNET in the U.K. took the matter further and pitted a 1997 Apple Newton against a brand-new Samsung Q1 UMPC. And guess what? The Newton won. One major factor in the victory was battery life. While the Q1 lasted about 2.5 hours before collapsing in a heap of exhausted silicon, the marathon-man Newton was good for 30 laps around the clock. So, Steve Jobs, there's a lesson in this: Create a gadget that can run for 30 hours, and it will be beloved forever. Give me a device that, when scarcely two years old, lasts an hour (like my iPod), and I'm gonna throw the f***ing thing across the office in a fit of rage. —Joe Brown

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8 Comments

Wow!! I remember selling something exactly like the Newton at Radio Shack. Man I wish I could remember what that was called.

dang...your ipod only lasts an hour? owned.

Amen brother! new != progress

jump on board the 'i hate new gadgets and ipods' bandwagon.

what can we mortals do in a world of technology? in like 10 ten years the world is gunna be like in the Matrix and this MAchines rule the world.

I don't care what anyone says, I LOVE my iPAQ. What's more, I only charge it a couple times a week. It amuses me with solitaire games when in line, offers me a wide library of books to read when sitting in waiting rooms or tucking in for the night. It plays me music when my ears are bored, or movies when my eyes get bored, even adult movies in bed if I so desire.
My iPAQ tells me where I should be and when and warns me in advance, keeps track of every little memo I need, all my phone numbers and friends, holds pictures of my loved ones and maps of my destination and, when I find wifi, lets me plug into the www for surfing, chatting, email, and IM services.
I think maybe you folks are too quick to look at the useless and faddish ipod which is way overpriced. You need to take a wider look at the PDA/ppc market. They do what the ipod does and a whole lot more.

Who the hell still uses an i-Paq. Get a smart phone already. If youre still using an i-Paq you shoudl go to the Popular Mechanics website, Bubba.

"My battery only lasts one hour on my iPod."

Let me guess. You let the battery run all the way down lots of times before you recharged it. Right? Take a look at ANY device with the same kind of battery and the same thing will happen. Not just iPods. Abuse your battery and it will work less and less time. Next time read the "battery life" documentation that came with your device.

Note that my 60GB G4 iPod battery still lasts at least 12 hours before I need to recharge it. I bought it shortly after the G4 iPods came out. I never let it get below 20% charge before charging it. Therefore I've had zero problems with the battery.


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