Ipod Nano battery life

unsure

I'm a bit of an apple-cynic but I got one of the £49.99 Ipod nano 6th Gen a few months back. It's a nifty piece of kit at that price but I can't get anywhere near the claimed 24 hours music before the battery runs out. I use it in the gym for about 90 mins twice a week and occasionally while working in the garden when I might listen to the in-built radio. So max 4-5 hours a week and I'm having to recharge every fortnight - don't mid that too much - but its tendency to die half way through a gym session is becoming annoying! Is this typical? Am I doing something wrong? Is Apple being overly optimsitic with it's battery life claims?
My old Sansa clip (and the zen stone which is till going strong) went much longer without needing recharging. Any experience or advice welcome.

Mr_Thrifty

My phone is supposed to have a standby life of 255 hours. I'm lucky if I get 10 hours out of it.

Basically, most marketing is just BS. The figures you're quoted are probably a best case scenario based on having the headphones on really really quiet and playing some continuous tone rather than a song which requires processor power to decode and includes battery-sapping bass notes.

Walk_2

Search for knowledge base article HT1322 on Apples support website.

Sorry I cannot post the link.

This will give you the instructions on how to test the battery on an iPod. I understand that the battery should retain at least 80% of its rated capacity after 12 months use. If you have less than this and is under warranty Apple hopefully would sort it out for you.
Regards

unsure

Thanks Walk,
I think the article you pointed out has given me the answer:

"Even in sleep, iPod uses a small amount of current, and the battery slowly empties. Stored at optimal storage temperature, the battery will empty in 14 to 28 days."

So 24 hours music playing (maybe) if you listen straight after it's charged but charge decreases day by day whether played or not. I guess that puts my 8-9 hours play over two weeks in the right sort of ballpark. Seems to me they should be making this clearer to users rather than hiding it away down in the core of the apple website.

Just one more reason to be unimpressed by apple and its headline claims.

Walk_2

This was in the iPod Nano 6th User guide.
It may help, as opposed to just putting into sleep mode.

Hold down the Sleep/Wake button for several seconds to turn iPod nano off completely. Any audio that’s playing is turned off. To turn iPod nano back on after turning it off this way, hold down the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds.
To use this feature, you must be using iPod software version 1.1 or later.

unsure

Hi Walk,
That is how I've been turning it off each time and I do have the most recent software version. I think I'm inclined to agree with Mr Thrifty and there's not much I can do to get better battery life. I'll just recharge more pro-actively, no great hardship but I do think apple (and probably other manufacturers) could and should be more upfront about likely performance rather than claiming figures nobody is going to reach.