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Help Battery 4 Driod Maxx Still SUCKS

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Groovey252

Lurker
I've had my Droid Maxx for 1 week now upgrading from the Droid X. I've read the blogs and heard how good the battery was. Not impressed! I've looked at all my settings testing the syncing options with FB, gmail, even my work email. Played with my background data options, Data enabled options. Dim the screen. Standby set to 30 seconds. Today I kept track.

10am - 100% Battery life
10am-12pm 70% ESPN radio streaming
2pm - 60% not used
3pm - 50% WiFi usage
4pm - 50% light use (looking at google play)
5pm - 40% light use (creating widgets)
6pm - 30% light use

Im pissed that I see people on here saying they get 14-15 hours of battery..doing what?? I bought the phone mainly for that battery. What can I do?
 
I would think you've got an app or something eating battery. I've had mine for about a week and I've been very happy.
I keep the screen on auto brightness, but I don't really worry about what I use (like I had to before with other phones). Last couple days, I've spent a lot of time talking 2-4 hrs, getting emails and checking FB throughout the day, streaming music for an hour or so, Nav as needed, etc ...all while on 4G most of the time.

Both days, I've gotten home late and still had 20% left after 15+ hours. I'm surprised by people who are getting like 2 days, but I use my phone a lot so I'm very happy with the battery. I think just about anyone should be able to get through their day without a charge.

What do your battery stats look like?
 
Maybe you should try toggling 4G as needed. There are widgets around for that. It might help if your just leaving it on that is.
 
I would definitely try turning 4g off an running all 3G just to check. Also what are your charging habits like? Did you ever set the low/maxx flag points? Good luck with your battery mate!
 
There have been reports by several people (I am one of them) that have noted the suspend process starts to use CPU when nothing else has been going on. Seach this forum for suspend. Also, google android suspend process. You'll find this is not just a DRM problem. It appears on many android phones.

Under battery usage, this is part of the Android OS category. However, if you install an app called Watchdog Lite, it will break this out as a separate process . Let the phone sleep a while, wake it up and run the app. Suspend will typically be at the top of the list. You can also set the app to issue a notification.

From what I can understand (and I'm a Linux/UNIX system admin in real life so I deal with this kind of stuff in my job) this is an issue in the android kernel. It was fixed in a slightly newer version of the kernel than the one currently on the DRM.

We're hoping this will be fixed once ICS is out.

Charlie
 
yeah something isn't right. If I'm not using the maxx it doesn't lose 10% battery in an hour. Not to mention I use it a lot and leave 4g on the whole time and still make it from early in the morning until around 9/10pm before it is down to about 20% battery so yours should be a lot better with your usage. Also turn off 4g for what you are doing you do not really need it, that alone will probably give you an extra few hours of battery life.
 
Like others have said, I would turn off 4g and use your phone as normal. Then compare the data. If you are in an area where you're constantly searching for signal or in a weak signal area, it will suck your battery. If after switching to 3g doesn't help the battery then you have a rouge app stealing your juice. Download BadAssBattery in the Play store. It will tell you what is using what. You can also see what apps are waking up your device without your knowing. Then you can take appropriate actions. Worst comes to worst, factory reset (without google backup settings) and then add back apps one at a time day by day all while keeping track of your battery. If that still doesn't work, exchange it.
 
Groovey252 said:
I've had my Droid Maxx for 1 week now upgrading from the Droid X. I've read the blogs and heard how good the battery was. Not impressed! I've looked at all my settings testing the syncing options with FB, gmail, even my work email. Played with my background data options, Data enabled options. Dim the screen. Standby set to 30 seconds. Today I kept track.

10am - 100% Battery life
10am-12pm 70% ESPN radio streaming
2pm - 60% not used
3pm - 50% WiFi usage
4pm - 50% light use (looking at google play)
5pm - 40% light use (creating widgets)
6pm - 30% light use

Im pissed that I see people on here saying they get 14-15 hours of battery..doing what?? I bought the phone mainly for that battery. What can I do?
Click to expand...

You either have a signal issue or a rouge app. I am getting 16-22 hours from 100% to <15%. And that is me not doing ANYTHING to try to get it to last longer. I have started using smart actions and I am going to assume that I will start seeing even battery life.
 
Skeeter125 said:
yeah something isn't right. If I'm not using the maxx it doesn't lose 10% battery in an hour. Not to mention I use it a lot and leave 4g on the whole time and still make it from early in the morning until around 9/10pm before it is down to about 20% battery so yours should be a lot better with your usage. Also turn off 4g for what you are doing you do not really need it, that alone will probably give you an extra few hours of battery life.
Click to expand...

If I don't turn the screen on for an hour leaving WiFi and syncing on at work my battery drains at a rate of 2-3% per hour.

Is this normal? Mind you, my sleep smart action makes the battery go from 11PM to 5:30AM with less than 10% drained.
 
I appreciate all the input. I will dl that program to see if there is an app that is sucking the juice out of my battery. My other question is how do you turn off the 4g? I looked in the Data manager section and didnt see anything specific to tunning 4g off. But why would I want to turn 4g off anyways? That's the point of having this phone. And if other users are getting 1 day + on a battery then I need that capability. I will do a few more daily test and then take my phone to Verizon. I guess I can't root my phone yet.

But again thanks for the input
 
I was on 2 Maxx's and was NOT happy about the battery. I have plenty of complaining on these forums. But ever since the latest update of a few weeks ago, it's been night and day. I get down to about 50% after 15 hours and I plug in before going to bed. I'm a moderate user, 3G only, except for videos, streaming, etc. I'm on wifi at home and wifi at work which helps, use Bluetooth, GPS and nav often.

I used to be pissed too, but man, the update did the trick. As of this moment, I'm at 11 hours and still 70%. It's a miracle.
 
ballroomdru said:
If I don't turn the screen on for an hour leaving WiFi and syncing on at work my battery drains at a rate of 2-3% per hour.

Is this normal? Mind you, my sleep smart action makes the battery go from 11PM to 5:30AM with less than 10% drained.
Click to expand...

I never really use wifi but if you are not doing anything with the phone 2-3% doesn't seem bad but all depends on what is syncing and how frequently.
 
Skeeter125 said:
I never really use wifi but if you are not doing anything with the phone 2-3% doesn't seem bad but all depends on what is syncing and how frequently.
Click to expand...

My wifi reception is not all that great and background sync is on. The ringer is off so the 30 or so emails I get overnight don't wake me up.
 
Here is my most recent battery use with a few question.

Phone battery info:

99% - 13%
1d 1h 0m 1s on Battery

android OS 29%
Display 23%
Wifi 16%
Voice Calls 11%
Phone idle 6%
cell standby 6%
Tapatalk 3%
Browser 3%
Facebook 2%

Display on 4h 47m 49s
Android OS CPU total 2h 13m 25s
I am running Stock, unrooted software
version 6.12.181.XT912

Question: Is android OS usage supposed to be so high?
If so, why? I am not used to seeing it be that high except in the case of
ICS v. 4.0.3 on my Nexus S.
 
ballroomdru said:
My wifi reception is not all that great and background sync is on. The ringer is off so the 30 or so emails I get overnight don't wake me up.
Click to expand...

Well if you do not have a good strong connection that is going to drain the battery more than if you had a strong connection, but there are a lot of factors that go into battery life.
 
Groovey252 said:
I appreciate all the input. I will dl that program to see if there is an app that is sucking the juice out of my battery. My other question is how do you turn off the 4g? I looked in the Data manager section and didnt see anything specific to tunning 4g off. But why would I want to turn 4g off anyways? That's the point of having this phone. And if other users are getting 1 day + on a battery then I need that capability. I will do a few more daily test and then take my phone to Verizon. I guess I can't root my phone yet.

But again thanks for the input
Click to expand...

The 4g is the purpose, but that bandwidth isn't necessary to maintain Facebook and twitter background data. And it uses a lot of unnecessary power. Use it when u need it, then turn it off. Kinda like nitrous in a car.
Try this.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...icSLAQ&usg=AFQjCNF4f5nR9M1F-eMrRjk2XSoKuX_Q7w
 
just got my maxx a day ago..

Today i used the H3ll out of it.. From 10am to 7pm.

Downloading tons of apps, hiding tons of others, splashtop, plex, 4g browsing, wifi browsing, configuing, a few calls, youtube, remote desktop, bittorrent, etc.

and from 10am to 7 pm i still had 15% left.. with freaking heavy usage.

omg.. the other flucking fone manufactures better pull their heads out of their a55es and start addressing battery life.

Thank you motorolla .
 
The main reason I got this phone was for its impressive battery and all the good things I read about how long the battery lasts, but today, with 3G on and the screen dimmed to a minimum, I used the phone to go on Facebook, I streamed 2-3 videos on Youtube, played a couple of games, etc. and in an hour and a half I went down 30% in battery. I haven't used a smart phone in years and this is my first Android so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. The most use I ever got was ~2 days or more on very light usage, monitoring and shutting down all unused apps, which was quite a hassle. If I use the phone lightly-moderately, I run out of battery in a day
 
Ashley16 said:
The main reason I got this phone was for its impressive battery and all the good things I read about how long the battery lasts, but today, with 3G on and the screen dimmed to a minimum, I used the phone to go on Facebook, I streamed 2-3 videos on Youtube, played a couple of games, etc. and in an hour and a half I went down 30% in battery. I haven't used a smart phone in years and this is my first Android so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. The most use I ever got was ~2 days or more on very light usage, monitoring and shutting down all unused apps, which was quite a hassle. If I use the phone lightly-moderately, I run out of battery in a day
Click to expand...

You have a rouge app, a rouge process, or weak signal. Your phone might just be defective. What you are experiencing is not normal.
 
Ashley16 said:
The main reason I got this phone was for its impressive battery and all the good things I read about how long the battery lasts, but today, with 3G on and the screen dimmed to a minimum, I used the phone to go on Facebook, I streamed 2-3 videos on Youtube, played a couple of games, etc. and in an hour and a half I went down 30% in battery. I haven't used a smart phone in years and this is my first Android so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. The most use I ever got was ~2 days or more on very light usage, monitoring and shutting down all unused apps, which was quite a hassle. If I use the phone lightly-moderately, I run out of battery in a day
Click to expand...

You have something wrong then because I use my phone with 4g on and can go from early in the morning when I go to work until 10-11 before battery is down to 15% and that is with pretty good usage( checking fb/twitter, browsing the web, texting, playing games)
 
Groovey252 said:
I appreciate all the input. I will dl that program to see if there is an app that is sucking the juice out of my battery. My other question is how do you turn off the 4g? I looked in the Data manager section and didnt see anything specific to tunning 4g off. But why would I want to turn 4g off anyways? That's the point of having this phone. And if other users are getting 1 day + on a battery then I need that capability. I will do a few more daily test and then take my phone to Verizon. I guess I can't root my phone yet.

But again thanks for the input
Click to expand...

The point of turning off 4G, at least at this point in your case, is to help you troubleshoot. If you go to 3G and suddenly your battery life doubles, then you are probably in an area with a weak 4G signal. If the phone is constantly searching and going back and forth between 4G and 3G that will be a huge battery drain. If nothing changes with your battery life at that point, then you can probably safely leave 4G on.

My battery life got worse after the last OS update, but it's nowhere near as bad as your reporting.

To turn off 4G, you can either download a widget or go to:

Settings / Wireless & Networks / Mobile Networks / Network Mode / CDMA only
 
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