Emerson EM543 (ex-Polaroid PMID 4311) battery freakout

[ericw]

I picked up an EM543 tablet (the one that I was told used to be the Polaroid PMID 4311) at Big Lots last weekend, and enjoyed it quite a bit...UNTIL the battery meter reached 70%, when it suddenly dropped off the cliff to 25%. Over the next several days it consistently hit the basement when it reached the neighborhood of the low 70s%, so I exchanged it for another 543 at a BL store across town, got it home, waited for it to hit 70%...and the same thing happened again. Oddly enough (or maybe not), when the unit charges the meter jumps to 90% when it reaches the mid-50s.

Does anybody have an idea what might be happening here? And just for curiosity's sake, what's the battery life supposed to be like on this model with WiFi enabled? I've been charging for two hours just to get two hours' use out of it before the low battery indicators start popping up, and it's getting close to being a deal breaker.

[esl1885]

I picked up an EM543 tablet (the one that I was told used to be the Polaroid PMID 4311) at Big Lots last weekend, and enjoyed it quite a bit...UNTIL the battery meter reached 70%, when it suddenly dropped off the cliff to 25%. Over the next several days it consistently hit the basement when it reached the neighborhood of the low 70s%, so I exchanged it for another 543 at a BL store across town, got it home, waited for it to hit 70%...and the same thing happened again. Oddly enough (or maybe not), when the unit charges the meter jumps to 90% when it reaches the mid-50s.

Does anybody have an idea what might be happening here? And just for curiosity's sake, what's the battery life supposed to be like on this model with WiFi enabled? I've been charging for two hours just to get two hours' use out of it before the low battery indicators start popping up, and it's getting close to being a deal breaker.

My battery meter did that for the first couple of weeks, but did settle down and use the full scale.
I get about 4 1/2 hours continuous use from my battery. I have the 4311.

Sam

[ericw]

Thanks for the advice. We ended up taking it back, but I was getting to the point where I just wanted to be sure it wasn't something I was doing. Other than the battery issue (and a couple of apps I was looking into not playing nice), it was a very cozy little unit for the price, but trying to figure this stuff out got me thinking about waiting to see how the holidays came out. I've been putting out feelers, and the response has been very encouraging...