Battery Life - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

[fourgee]

If your signal is weak it will destroy your battery. Sunday at work I left mobile network on, and I had to recharge twice over 9 hours. Today I kept it off while I was working,(Calls and texts still come in, just not data) and snapped it on during breaks and lunch for much needed internets and e-book readan. My battery was at about 40% when I got off. MUCH BETTER.

I've been using WiFi where I can and that seems to help. I don't use task-killers though.

Thanks for pointing this out.
The phone boosts transmit power when it detects a low receive signal. This sucks a battery dry. I was bummed to see low signal when I got home w/my EVO knowing that it would cause fast drain. But it really wasn't as bad as I thought. Plus... I'M HOME! So I can just plug in.
EVO is so far beyond all others that dealing with the power issue is a very minor and I suspect temporary inconvenience.

 

[lkj61]

One thing I noticed on my Evo...make sure it's not looking for a 4g signal. For some reason, mine was trying to find a 4g when I am not in a 4g area. Once I made sure that option was off and restarted my phone, things were all good again.

 

[mrvirginia]

man, you guys aren't like me. i sit at a computer all day so i can mess with my phone anytime i want. i plugged it into the computer when i got in at 8:30 to let it fully charge back up. well, i've been streaming on pandora and txting a little and it's already at about half and it's not even lunch time here yet. you guys are getting excellent battery life because you aren't a constant heavy user like myself and some others around here. i should be able to stream while at work and not worry about it being anywhere near halfway depleted. i'd be more happy with about 75% full right now.

someone NEEDS to make better batteries for cellphones or the cellphone, smartphones specifically, market is doomed.

 

[zpilot]

Can't say 17 hours when the phone was off for more than half of the day

 

[phearx]

man, you guys aren't like me. i sit at a computer all day so i can mess with my phone anytime i want. i plugged it into the computer when i got in at 8:30 to let it fully charge back up. well, i've been streaming on pandora and txting a little and it's already at about half and it's not even lunch time here yet. you guys are getting excellent battery life because you aren't a constant heavy user like myself and some others around here. i should be able to stream while at work and not worry about it being anywhere near halfway depleted. i'd be more happy with about 75% full right now.

someone NEEDS to make better batteries for cellphones or the cellphone, smartphones specifically, market is doomed.

Isn't it charging on the computer since you said you plugged it in?

 

[maximus96]

that's just 6.5 hours...from 6:30am to 5pm it was off...if i leave my phone off for a week, i would have a 168 hour battery life!

 

[mrvirginia]

one of the biggest things that helped my battery life was settings > wireless & networks > mobile networks and to uncheck "enable always-on mobile data"

I don't need a constant data connection. programs that sync will establish a connection and my gmail still gets pushed down.

with that, screen brightness down, turing off random hourly syncs...i've averaged about 20 hrs a day with lots of texts, internet and general showing this beast off

thank you so very very much. i hope this helps! i hate it when people say "oh, i did this" and don't explain how they did it. much appreciated my friend.

 

[rushmore]

These battery life posts have as much substance as artificial sugar and about as much practical function as mind bullets.

added:

All common logic of anything near these hours without a charge and actually using the phone with average use, suggests some form of chemical intervention of the assertor's sense of reason. Does the OP have the munchies right now?

Wait a second- "work day".... Most companies have policies about drugs, so be careful, or get a lawyer- 17 hours is hard core!

Just messin' around, since these infommercial-level battery posts are funny

 

[lyons238]

Thanks guys and my phone has mobile data on and autosync as well. That's part of the reason I got the phone

 

[bacano22]

My battery has been terrible. I don't understand it. I even use taskiller and everything. It's a pain in the ass to every time you use your phone, to remember to close everything out too. Why doesn't worthless applications just close automatically w/ out using up the available memory just sitting around? I don't get that part about android

JUST GO TO THE TASK KILLER and hit menu and go to auto kill and put the auto kill level on crazy mode, and auto kill frquencey when screen is off and reboot your phone

 

[SeauxCrazy]

Thanks guys and my phone has mobile data on and autosync as well. That's part of the reason I got the phone

Yeah, I'm not turning sync off bc it's part of the phone that I liked. Notifications > notifications on iPhone.

So, if I turn Mobile Data off .... how does that affect me when I leave my wifi network at home? Will I be unable to surf the net and stuff? Syncs won't work either I'm guessing.

 

[mrvirginia]

Yeah, I'm not turning sync off bc it's part of the phone that I liked. Notifications > notifications on iPhone.

So, if I turn Mobile Data off .... how does that affect me when I leave my wifi network at home? Will I be unable to surf the net and stuff? Syncs won't work either I'm guessing.

net still works. i'm pretty sure it just keeps auto-sync from working.

 

[Wave Beam]

Having to turn off mobile network data on supposedly the most advanced smartphone you can buy, and pay $10 monthly for, seems, well I can't print the word that comes to mind.

This. I'm just going to wait patiently for a 3000 or so battery. This would only be absolutely atrocious if I didn't have that option eventually. I'm coming from a Rumor, the first one, so I'm not all that mad. Smartphone FTW.

 

[Bagua]

12 hours 40%...followed everyones post on battery savings. Do a search if you need more info.

So I had a total of 6 calls, 4 were 20 minute calls. 3 on speakerphone. 2 I left messages and 1 a standard customer service call to complain to Sprint about the bad Friday activaton service.

Many Text
15 minutes 4g tests at work...wow this is fast
3g surfing 10 minutes and left on all day
Nav on all day
Push mail 2 x's
BT 10 minutes on Sony HBH Ds 980
wi fi test of my wireless network speed 5 minutes

Not alot of usage but was worried over the posts of bad battery life.

My worries are over and I'm happy.

 

[cesjr02]

I've noticed two contrasting groups on the forum lately. Some state getting only a few hours of battery life, others find the battery life to be much more reasonable.

I easily found my phone to last all day with moderate to sometimes heavy use with battery to spare. I'm not doing anything special either, no task killer, stock battery. I generally use wifi when around a hotspot, GPS while navigating and using location based services, and bluetooth to my car stereo while driving.

I'm not saying I wouldn't love a battery that lasts longer. Of course I'd take two million dollars over one million also.

Do we really use our phones so differently which battery-life has that much variance?

 

[QuesoGrande]

Don't have my evo yet.. should be here any minute. But I've been doing a lot of reading. I'm beginning to wonder if it has a lot to do with varying signal strength and roaming. Roaming kills all phones on Sprint, but maybe it's even more pronounced on the EVO. Maybe some of these people experiencing poor battery life spend more time in areas with poor signal or are roaming for extended periods of time without knowing it (i.e. while they're not using).
I dunno.. just a thought.

 

[shadrap]

Because you have people that are new to android/ smart phones for one and then you have trolls.

People that are new to android/ smart phones do not realize that they need to leave things off, for example 4g, wifi. Most also do not understand that there is a need for task killers, though some do not like to admit it.

Trolls have been on this forum constantly. Most are iPhone fan boys that are easily revealed if you look at all their prior post. The Evo and the Incredible are the first phones to make the iPhone fans feel inadequate and rightfully so.

 

[IPvFletch]

Like all great things in this world, folks either love it or hate it.

 

[LS1]

Because you have people that are new to android/ smart phones for one and then you have trolls.

People that are new to android/ smart phones do not realize that they need to leave things off, for example 4g, wifi. Most also do not understand that there is a need for task killers, though some do not like to admit it.

Trolls have been on this forum constantly. Most are iPhone fan boys that are easily revealed if you look at all their prior post. The Evo and the Incredible are the first phones to make the iPhone fans feel inadequate and rightfully so.

There is no need for a task killer unless you are running a shitty app. If you're running the shitty app, get rid of it.

 

[IXIShogunR1]

at my house with crappy signal it kills the battery, at work or outside its really not that bad... the more you use it the faster it goes, but you can still do a lot with it

today.... 11 hours started at full charge...... played with some apps, watched some youtube, browsed the net..... its now sitting on my table at 66% with the wifi on to save the battery.... i don't find it all that bad..... now if you got MP3s/pandora, 4g... and heavy use going it... no its not going to last all day but thats expected

 

[Orion]

My battery life pretty much sucks. I have WiFi, gps, 4g off and it still drains. Do I need to charge the battery longer even when its lite to green?

 

[habe]

I really like the phone but also find battery life lacking...

Yesterday, after a full nights charge, I used maybe a total of 40 minutes of internet/marketplace/facebook usage (on and off throughout the day, 3G only), had probably less than 15 texts, made/received no more than a total of 30 minutes worth of calls and by 8:00pm, was down to 15%. Oddly, I used the phone ALOT on Saturday and the battery lasted all day and night.

I really didn't want to do it but, set ATK to auto, Safe mode and the battery seems to be doing much better today.

 

[GripnRip]

I was a bit worried about over the weekend after getting my phone but it seems to be getting better. I'm roaming at my office outside of Austin so while at work I turn 4G off. When I get home I turn it on and leave it on for the remainder of the evening. Yesterday I took the phone off the charger around 8 AM and went through the whole day pushing email to 2 accounts, while sending some as well as receiving them. A bit of browsing at work and a lot of browsing at home. Played roms on the nes emulator for around 30 minutes, and also downloaded a few new apps from the market. I later in the evening had a 30-40 minute Skype call using fring with family out of town, not to mention the normal calling I do on the phone during the day.
I finally needed to be plugged in at app. 10:30 at night. If this is the kind of battery I can expect regularly, I'm perfectly fine with that.

 

[steveholtam]

These discussions come with every new phone. I've seen it with the last 3 or 4 "great" Sprint phones. Some guy claims 20 hours, another claims 3 hours.

For all we know, it could just be that some batteries are just built better. The batteries built on Wednesday may be better then the ones built on Friday afternoon. Maybe one batch used different construction materials, thus the capacity, life, and individual cells are different. We do not know.

From the Touch Pro 2 days, there were a ton of "fixes" and such. Most didnt really do anything IMHO. I think the batteries get broken in and people go back to using the phone a normal amount, thus not killing the batteries so fast.

Some people will just never be happy also.

 

[lyons238]

Beats me I'm getting a full day of moderate use. Nothing crazy but I'm browsing watching videos and doing everything you would expect. I keep autosync on and everything.