Help Battery life - playing music

[aliabela]

As the title says, it is very important for me that my phone doubles as an mp3 player. Im about to get my first smartphone, and trying to decide between Desire S and Desire HD. This damn issue with the battery life is putting me off though...

On an average day, say I listen to, at max, 2 hours of music, maybe 20 minutes of call time (often none whatsoever while Im out of the house though), 1 hour web surfing, regular sms'ing, and 30 minutes of gaming.

Would you say it can get me through a 10 hour day, starting off fully charged in the morning? Id be willing to apply most of the tips around the net to save battery life (wifi, bluetooth, gps, syncing, mobile networking - off when not needed), although Id love the animations and live wallpapers to be always on

Any help would be appreciated, as well as anything you have to offer on the DS vs DHD debate. Thanks!

 

[D-U-R-X]

Welcome to the forums!

Of the two phones, I think that the DHD is better as per this review. Things have changed a little since the review... the DHD now has Gingerbread (like the Desire S).

Although battery life can be a bit naff, it wouldn't be unimaginable to get a day out of the phone with the sort of usage you describe.

 

[El Presidente]

Welcome to the forums!

Of the two phones, I think that the DHD is better as per this review. Things have changed a little since the review... the DHD now has Gingerbread (like the Desire S).

Although battery life can be a bit naff, it wouldn't be unimaginable to get a day out of the phone with the sort of usage you describe.

Nice review!

As DURX said, it should easily do what you want it too. It will take a while for the battery to reach full capacity, meaning for the first few charge/discharge cycles, battery life will be terrible, but it does improve after a week or so.

 

[john_g]

Playing music consumes very little power - I check battery usage fairly regularly and can't remember it being responsible for more than a few percent of total power consumption, and I tend to listen whenever I'm on the move. I'm sure this won't be an issue for you.

I don't play games on my DHD but, other than that, the overall usage you're describing sounds not dissimilar to my own, and I seldom see the battery getting perilously low, and I just make sure I always do an overnight charge - or, if I can't do that or expect to use the GPS a lot, I carry the pair of spare batteries I got from eBay. I do keep things like Bluetooth, Wi-fi and mobile data turned off, using widgets on the home screen to switch them on when necessary.

What is generally responsible for the majority (often 75 - 80%) of power consumption is the display. This is why playing music with the screen off will use far less power than anything where the screen is on.

 

[McCookie]

As the title says, it is very important for me that my phone doubles as an mp3 player. Im about to get my first smartphone, and trying to decide between Desire S and Desire HD. This damn issue with the battery life is putting me off though...

On an average day, say I listen to, at max, 2 hours of music, maybe 20 minutes of call time (often none whatsoever while Im out of the house though), 1 hour web surfing, regular sms'ing, and 30 minutes of gaming.

Would you say it can get me through a 10 hour day, starting off fully charged in the morning? Id be willing to apply most of the tips around the net to save battery life (wifi, bluetooth, gps, syncing, mobile networking - off when not needed), although Id love the animations and live wallpapers to be always on

Any help would be appreciated, as well as anything you have to offer on the DS vs DHD debate. Thanks!

It takes 2/3 hours music, 4 hours display on (which I mostly then browse or send text messages) and another 6 hours standby for my battery to die ( that's about 12/13 hours), and I think my battery wasn't charged properly on the first day I got it so it should do more than that even ( however my phone is rooted and I guess phones with custom ROMs have a better battery life generally)

Hope that helps!

 

[Deleted User]

I use my HD a lot for playing music and find it uses little battery

 

[djdillpickle]

Not to deviate from the OP, but to contribute, my anecdotal experience is that the 'FM Radio' app uses alot of battery whilst MP3 playing is a low consuming function IMO.

 

[nigsy]

Most battery drain comes from the display, so playing MP3s is genearally low impact on the battery.

Gaming does hit battery life though, but 30 mins a day with the usage you desribe shouldn't be an issue.

There are also lots of tips and tricks to get the best setting to reduce battery consumption. Also if it's a 2nd hand DHD (Or if you don't care with a new one!) you could also consider rooting the phone as this has a massive impact on battery life.