cliche

Hi,

I'm trying to set up a system for our hospital involving handhelds wirelessly linked to a central database. Whilst the wifi connection probably wouldn't be permanently active (I'm envisaging data being automatically transferred when people walk past base stations), it would be useful to have it switched on all the time, looking for stations in range.

What I'm wondering is what kind of battery life I can expect with today's handheld's doing this? (ie normal usage but wifi turned on all the time, wifi active only rarely). Does anyone know of any particular makes that are better? Are the ones with builtin wifi likely to outlast ones with CF/SD card wifi?

Thanks for any opinions and data.

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I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992)