The just-launched Zune 80 may fall well short of the iPod classic in battery performance, according to benchmarking performed by CNET. The site reports that the hard disk-based player runs for 22 hours with Wi-Fi disabled, eight hours short of the competing 80GB iPod’s official figure of 30 hours. Switching Wi-Fi on without using it drops battery life to about 18.5 hours, the tests show. By contrast, Electronista’s iPod classic review netted 32.5 hours before time constraints forced an early end; CNET’s own review generated about 45 hours of runtime.
No direct explanation is provided for the discrepancy other than the larger screen, which is 3.2 inches versus the Apple player’s 2.5 but shares the same 320×240 screen resolution. Both have recently seen both battery life increases counterbalanced by visual upgrades to their interfaces, but share similar drive technology.
