You think it's accurate because you observe it while you're in a game ? Try benchmarking it to an external clock. It will never be accurate. If the game has a 10 minute cutscene video it will use fewer resources (since it's essentially 2D) and mess with the prognosed time. If the level is really quiet, for instance, the sound setup will draw less power. If you spend more time on a part of the level and you run the game from UMD, it won't load as much (since that part of the level is cached), therefore it will draw less power, and again, it will not end when it's supposed to end. All of these and much more can affect the estimated percentages. That's why it's better to use simple representations instead of trying to work out how your device reads percentages (see the iPod touch example above).
Sorry for the double post.
PS: It's also not a very good idea to use too many plugins. Especially while playing games, and especially if you have a PSP 1000 (which has 32 MB RAM). They can draw precious resources and impact framerates. Oh, and especially if you're a fan of CSO images (compressed ISOs). They usually need additional resources, depending on the compression level.
DSpider Wrote:For example, I will never set my iPod touch to display percentages instead of the graphic indicator. It would seriously piss me off. At times it'll read 54%, use it for a while, drops to 27%, leave it alone for a few minutes and it's back to 48%... Use it some more, drops to 26% and soon tells me it has 20% battery left. Then leave it alone for five minutes and use it sparingly and I GUARANTEE you it will complain at least 2 more times when it reaches the 20% battery limit.
This has never happened to me, ever, on my iPhone or my PSP
it doesn't work on my psp-3000 6.35 PRO-B3... I've tried disabling other game plugins (i only have cwcheat enabled initially), it still won't work... anyone else experiencing this problem?
DSpider Wrote: [ -> ]Because every time you look at it, it won't tell you the exact remaining time, but an abstract approximation.
But is that really important?
You're suggesting to get around this problem simply by displaying less precision, but ultimately, you're still using the same underlying principle to measure how much battery is left. The only difference is that your suggested measure just hides error through lack of precision.
DSpider Wrote: [ -> ]No, actually, there's a barrier toggle that the chip inside the battery sends to the PSP. The syscall is only activated when you hit the Battery Information entry from System Settings. So when it reaches a certain (apparent) percentage, it tells the PSP to replace the 3 bar battery icon with a 2 bar battery icon.
I fail to see why the battery can't send a message every 1% instead.
DSpider Wrote: [ -> ]Constantly monitoring the battery (like staying at the Battery Information screen or using plugins that constantly update an on-screen status) is kinda like using the Task Manager on your computer. It's going to draw resources. And like I said, using battery percentages is extremely inaccurate.
Probably does, but the question really is, is the resource usage negligible?
Also, you need to be aware of the polling frequency.
DSpider Wrote: [ -> ]That's why most devices use bars instead of percentages.
I actually think it's because these images give a quick visual guide as to how much is left (like a graph) as well as the fact that it requires less pixels than to display text (which offers no visual indication).
Oh man thanks
the right side of my LCD is broken and I couldn't have seen how much battery I had left but since this plugin shows the percent on the left side now I can see how much battery I have left while playing
great app
DSpider Wrote: [ -> ]This is a very bad idea. Measuring it constantly can have an impact on battery life. Why do you think Sony went with 3 bars instead of percentages ? Come to think of it, everything that measures the battery in percentages is wrong for portable devices. Especially if it does this continuously and in the background ! Because every time you look at it, it won't tell you the exact remaining time, but an abstract approximation.
And that approximation is sometimes WAY off course, depending very much on the battery's estimated lifespan, based on the materials used and sometimes the place it was built (China vs Japan for instance).
Devices try to take it into account but it's not an exact science. For instance if the battery was charged 200 times, the battery's microchip tells the PSP to take into account the erosion principle (which states that every battery has a minimum lifespan, after which it will hold less and less charge), except batteries made in Japan are usually of a better quality. But the chip tells it to take it into account anyway. Which can seriously mess up reading "attempts" in percentages.
Think about it. If Sony thought it was a good idea they would've added it a long, long time ago. Plugins like this I consider to be useless. Same for that DayViewer-whatchamacallit that "tells" the battery percentage. It's complete bull.
I don't know why you spent so much time to write such a complain about a thing your not even forced to use.
and its a really useful app anyway !
Oh ? And where's the "Battery Information" option on the PSP Go then ?
Sony removed it for a reason. It's unreliable and it drains the battery every time you check it. Just like the Task Manager from Windows uses resources when you use it, and just like Fraps (or similar in-game video capturing/benchmarking PC program) uses resources when you look at the framerate or run a benchmark.
As I said, having too many (game.txt) plugins can have an impact on the framerate and overall gameplay because each plugin draws a certain amount of RAM.