Submitted by nbeam85 on
For this section of the article I want to first touch on the results of our standard battery run-time test. I call it "standard" because I pretty much do the same exact test consistently on all devices I write reviews for. I feel like this is the best way to get a clear picture of how good the battery/processor combination actually is in a particular device. Here were the more or less exact conditions under which I conducted the test of the FNF iFive Mini3.
1. Started from a 100% charge
2. WiFi was left ON and connected the entire time
3. Screen Brightness was set at about 80%. (will explain this in a moment)
4. B&N Nook E-Reader Application was opened to a book with a white page with black text for the majority of the test
5. Test results are for "Screen-ON" time ONLY and do not include any periods of sleep (which usually there is very little or none during these tests).
Screen brightness is the one thing that I have to kind of "feel out" on each device. Because screens vary drastically from one model of tablet to the next, I try to kind of eyeball what I feel like a consistent brightness should be. This isn't scientific unfortunately. On your "average" brightness tablet I will often have the screen turned up to 100% (max) brightness. However on some particularly incredible devices with amazingly bright screens (Ployer Momo 12, Yuandao N90 II, Chuwi V88, Teclast P88HD, and now the Mini3) I will turn them down from Max to make it a more "fair" comparison. Because it DOES take more juice to put out more bright. So for the X2 tablet I had the screen cranked to I think 95% - 100% brightness as the screen, while very excellent, is on the upper-end of "average" brightness. The Mini3 has a fantastically bright screen though so turned it down to around 80%. Okay... on to the results of the battery test...
As I had guessed based on my general usage experience, this tablet fared VERY well in our run-time tests. Even though FNF states only a 4100 mAh battery, I had found that run-times for me during usage testing lasted for several DAYS at a time. The RK3188 has extremely low power-drain during sleep so that is one major reason I was able to go so long between charging.
The screen is so bright I usually only ran it at half-brightness so that is probably another reason. All in all, I expected well past 5 hours if not over 6 hours of battery life from our standard battery run-time test.
I was blown away by the fact that this tablet ran for: 7 Hours, 27 minutes
I really think that FNF under-rates (WOW... very surprising if it is true for a Chinese brand...) their batteries as I have been getting surprisingly good run-times from this device and from the X2 tablet I am also testing.
Now... on to my usage experience!
I will admit that my user experience is going to be a bit subjective. However I still think it is a good idea to give an idea of the whole package here. My primary use for tablets hasn't changed much in 2 years. My main usage is and always has been:
1. Reading - Books and Magazines
2. Email - Gmail Client
3. Video Watching and Music Playing, usually with headphones
4. Internet Browsing
5. Gaming
As far as a reader goes this device is a bookworm's best friend. As noted, the display is absolutely phenomenal and it is the best panel you are going to get that is a traditional backlit LCD for reading (so excluding e-ink displays). Furthermore, the formfactor and weight are amazing. This thing is lighter and easier to hold than most paper-backs. If you are into digital magazine subscriptions (I am...) pictures/images/mag pages really really pop on this screen as the color reproduction is so rich. So, if you are looking for primarily an e-reading device and you want the full unadulterated functionality of an awesome android tablet, this is your unit. But that could be said of lesser devices... so what else do we have to dig into here.
If you are looking to have something slick and technologically fashionable (is that possible?), this is the best unit hands down. Perfect lines, perfect design... it will catch even your most devout Apple'ite's attention.