Folks,

If <insert the name of your most respected divinity here> wants (and UPS) I will be the (proud?) owner of a N810 next Wednesday. The main reasons why I went for a N810 rather than any competitor's gadget are the size factor, possibility to use an external keyboard (igo/stowaway like) and the fact that it runs linux, obviously; which makes software porting somewhat easy.

Now the catch is that I'm traveling quite often, and therefore you now understand why the size factor is important, I'm often stuck in planes for 9-10 hours in a row, or in other random places (not the jungle, but the like) where it's not always easy (or too expensive) to find a power source. And because I don't want to waste this precious time I intend to use my N810 during these 9-10 hours.

Now here's the catch, the embedded battery lifetime doesn't allow 9-10 hours of continuous use, subsequently, I'm looking for a "magic device" that's usually sold for cellphones to power the thing using regular AA batteries, those are easy to buy (although expensive) at airports or easy to carry with us (and yet, TSA still allows them, for now...).

This is an example of what I have in mind:

http://www.tangshop.com/universal-ex...tery-3685.html
http://www.chargetogo.com/store/pc/v...=2&idproduct=1
http://www.batterygeek.net/130Wh_Por...atterygeek.htm

Now, I have no experience with any of these, I've been so far carrying laptops and packs of external batteries, trying to preserve energy as much as I could. If you have been traveling recently, you'll know that it's getting worse and worse out there, planes delayed or flights canceled are now the usual trend, and when you have to carry 10 pounds of batteries with you, this is quite unacceptable. Size matters.

Therefore I am asking the Nokia user community if one had some experience with any of these and what's the expected battery lifetime with one of these (under different pattern uses, like watching a movie, using an emulator, or using abiword/octave/gnumeric for instance). And, if necessary, which power connectors to purchase with the device itself.

Now I understand that different options are available, either a small sized external battery with only one or two AA batteries, or some more heavy-duty adapter that has to be recharged when time/power allows. I'd rather go with the former and carry 5-10 spare AA batteries, those are disposable and cheap enough and can be found virtually anywhere. This assumes that swapping batteries can be performed without shutting down the Nokia, obviously. Although I have to admit that, if the device advertised in my first link above meets its expectations it would be a good candidate for my intended use and its "universality" would make it convenient to charge other devices I carry with me such as camera or phone, possibly all at the same time, perhaps.

Another possibility are solar power adapters, but I am afraid none can provide the N810 enough juice to keep going. Another option, which is probably somewhat entertaining is to use the plane's power (legally), for that purpose some people have reported using the headsets connectors in planes (crank the volume up as much as you can) with some sort of adapter to squeeze enough milliAmps to power an ipod or the like, I do not know if this would be enough for a N810, although I highly doubt it, but that's an interesting option to consider, anything that doesn't require to purchase expensive additional sets of original N810 batteries.

Whichever solution provided would have to be of acceptable size and weight, I do not intend to carry car or truck batteries with me to power a handheld device. So, as a requirement here I would state that the size of the "battery pack" can not exceed the size of the N810 itself, otherwise it somewhat defeats its own purpose. Yet, the option of buying several N810 is not to be considered either (look, I'm not moneybags).


Thank you.

PS: This is why Garmin, for instance uses some regular AA batteries on their hi-end portable GPS systems, because often, when using a GPS navigation system, there's no battery around you (ever went hiking?). I own a 60cxs (which is great btw) and the convenience of having 2 AA batteries in it is somewhat great; no need to worry about power, just pack a few batteries with you and you're set (or at least won't get lost). Now I understand that the N810's gps is more targeted to car users, but this is not really what I'm after here (and I drive a bike btw).

PS#2: Lithium-Ion battery pack is likely to be preferred as an external battery source as this packs a higher density of power than NiMh AAs, and might be quite a satisfactory solution should I want to plug other devices to this. If you have any experience with products out there, please share them. Also it would be quite convenient if this battery pack had a charge level indicator (even a blinking light or whatever).