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Battery Life - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Does your phone drop 10% quickly in the morning after a full night of charging?

  • Yes

    Votes: 436 79.3%

  • Nope

    Votes: 74 13.5%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 40 7.3%
  • Total voters
    550
Putty said:
OMG!!!!

I did the steps in post #960 yesterday. I charged my phone to 100% this morn and took it off when I headed to work at 8am. Usually I charge my phone at my desk at work throughout the day. I use it moderately through the day. Today...I did not charge it AT ALL. My Juice plotter shows it was at 100% at 7:28am...my low batt indicator came on tonight at 10:04pm. This is epic to me cause my phone would die during the day before I did these steps. Do it, people.....it works!!!
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thats awesome bro. i was wondering if anybody tried my tips :D I am getting 1 day and 7 hours with light usage.. if i mess with the phone all day= 18-20 hours.

get these apps:
- brightness level- by curve fish. auto adjust the brightness
- power off- you can turn off the phone without the power button.
- no lock - you can turn on the phone w/ out the power button. (use the volume keys to turn on the screen)
 
dan330 said:
yes.. gps will not do anything even eat battery.. unless some app our user ask something from the phone.. that require it to find your exact location.

3G is different... because it must always try to have a connection. it will auto search for a connection.. or roam... eating battery till it find a connect.

so.. not the same!
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Last year I read an article posted by CNET.com stating that the police used GPS in Sprint phones a half million times to track them. Now this includes following one person and hitting their phone 1000 times. But the point is GPS makes your trackable. If you domt care leave it on.
 
Hi Putty

Forgive this question but what does the mobile data do or not do for the phone? Oh yeah I have the Sprint zone syncing once a week.Is there any way to sign out of sprint zone like google talk? Thanks for any help.Forgot uninstalled ATK but it keeps reinstalling.Its the paid app.

Charles
 
Liebertron said:
Last year I read an article posted by CNET.com stating that the police used GPS in Sprint phones a half million times to track them. Now this includes following one person and hitting their phone 1000 times. But the point is GPS makes your trackable. If you domt care leave it on.
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Your GPS receiver in your EVO is just that; a RECEIVER. Your location can be determined fairly well just by using triangulation from multiple towers. What this means is that Sprint has a fairly accurate idea of your location whether your GPS receiver is on or off.

The GPS receiver itself isn't so much of a battery drain for me, however GOOGLE MAPS is. I don't know why but Google Maps absolutely kills my battery faster than anything. I rarely use it anymore; I leave the GPS off and don't ever run it anymore.

Google Talk and Nimbuzz are also big drains on the battery (Nimbuzz not so bad). If I leave them off, I can easily go 15+ hours on my battery, and that includes lots of texting, talking, browsing the web, and even watching videos on youtube. I don't know why but the IM applications are a big drain on the battery.


I've tried all the tips and tricks mentioned. I have only my Google mail account set to synchronize automatically; I'm not using facebook, and don't have weather/news/stocks configured to sync. The biggest battery hogs for me are Google Maps, Google Talk, and Nimbuzz. Now Nimbuzz isn't as bad as I may make it out to be; even when I use that to connect to my Google talk account it doesn't use as much power as the native google talk client, however it still causes a big drain. I've been leaving Nimbuzz on all day, connected to AIM, MSN Messenger, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger, and taking my phone off the charger at 7AM, I'd have less than 15% battery remaining by 5PM. Now with Nimbuzz off, I have more than 60% of my battery left by 5PM. I've done the same tests with Google talk instead of Nimbuzz and the results are even worse; I'd have less than 15% battery remaining by 3PM.
 
bassic said:
Your GPS receiver in your EVO is just that; a RECEIVER. Your location can be determined fairly well just by using triangulation from multiple towers. What this means is that Sprint has a fairly accurate idea of your location whether your GPS receiver is on or off.

The GPS receiver itself isn't so much of a battery drain for me, however GOOGLE MAPS is. I don't know why but Google Maps absolutely kills my battery faster than anything. I rarely use it anymore; I leave the GPS off and don't ever run it anymore.

Google Talk and Nimbuzz are also big drains on the battery (Nimbuzz not so bad). If I leave them off, I can easily go 15+ hours on my battery, and that includes lots of texting, talking, browsing the web, and even watching videos on youtube. I don't know why but the IM applications are a big drain on the battery.


I've tried all the tips and tricks mentioned. I have only my Google mail account set to synchronize automatically; I'm not using facebook, and don't have weather/news/stocks configured to sync. The biggest battery hogs for me are Google Maps, Google Talk, and Nimbuzz. Now Nimbuzz isn't as bad as I may make it out to be; even when I use that to connect to my Google talk account it doesn't use as much power as the native google talk client, however it still causes a big drain. I've been leaving Nimbuzz on all day, connected to AIM, MSN Messenger, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger, and taking my phone off the charger at 7AM, I'd have less than 15% battery remaining by 5PM. Now with Nimbuzz off, I have more than 60% of my battery left by 5PM. I've done the same tests with Google talk instead of Nimbuzz and the results are even worse; I'd have less than 15% battery remaining by 3PM.
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GPS location's been built into smartphones and feature phones for several years now. In part, it was due to the success of helping people in emergencies. But the much larger reason now is location awareness fits into Google's ad plans. You get local results and local ads in searches based on where you are.

GPS doesn't "kill" battery, but it's not something I find useful turning on-off since it's power consumption isn't significant.

What I don't like is so many of the apps that default to auto-on and deliver updates unnecessarily.

I'd love to see something that allowed all update services to be done once simultaneously. It would be nice to just hit "Update" and get all the info you want at once when you want it and not any other times. Of course, I'd like individual programs to be able to run outside that, but very few.
 
Putty said:
OMG!!!!

I did the steps in post #960 yesterday. I charged my phone to 100% this morn and took it off when I headed to work at 8am. Usually I charge my phone at my desk at work throughout the day. I use it moderately through the day. Today...I did not charge it AT ALL. My Juice plotter shows it was at 100% at 7:28am...my low batt indicator came on tonight at 10:04pm. This is epic to me cause my phone would die during the day before I did these steps. Do it, people.....it works!!!

These steps:

1. Remove advance task killer. It doesn't work with froyo.

2. In the App drawer, click on "talk" and "sprint zone" uncheck all the notifications and auto sign-in boxes.

3. Unclick autosync in settings.

4. keep wifi on

4. Lower screen brightness. keep at 50% or below.

5. Disable "always on" mobile data. This is one of the biggest battery savers. Go to Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks. Tap "Enable always-on mobile data" to uncheck the box.
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Hell I can get this with mobile data on and autosync lol... easily. And I use touiteur set to update every hour, bloo w/ notifications checking every 10 min, gmail sync'd, and beejive running. I dont use the phone a ton while im at work.. probably about 20-30 mins worth of calls but I text a good bit.
 
Also I think the yahoo mail app may be another one thats not letting the phone sleep. I started having that issue again after I installed it... deleted it and my sleep time went back to normal.
 
Dose said:
Ok, like most of you I have probably read every review out there on the Evo. And since recently there are a few floating around I am starting to see more and more reviews stating that the battery life is horrible. So I need the "real" people out there that have their hands on the Evo to let us know....is it really that bad, is it doable, or what? I have used ppc 6700, Mogul, HTC touch Pro, Instinct, Palm Pre, and recently Hero. With the Hero, out of the box battery life sucked, and we all had the initial 100% wake time, but with some tweaks my hero battery lasts from 6am till I go to sleep, and I use it alllllll day long. So I am wondering if these bad battery life reviews are coming from ppl that are not tweaking there phones, i.e.. turning auto backlight off, turning 4g off when not in use, making FB and twitter autosync all the time etc..etc... Ive been waiting for this phone, and I am getting somewhat hesitant now. Not just because of the battery, but also because I know there will be another GREAT phone coming out at the End of the year. So if you have an Evo, just let us know...Do we need a bedroom, livingroom,car,and work phone charger(oh wait I already have that)...but do we need it. Thanks Guys
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I have had the EVO for 27 days now, trying to use it like my BB Curve. As far as the battery goes yes it sucks. I have the advanced task killer in high gear and all the cool features turned off (so why have them if you cant use them) my bb will do 100 or so emails and 4 to 5 hours of talk time and yes I charge it every day. The EVO, I get maybe 2 hours tops and I dont use the voice stuff or any of the other features. I have a charger in the truck, at the desk and in my computer bag, it is on the charger all the time, I think it is going back and I will be getting another BB. I love the big screen and the great camers, but you cant use the features if you want any battery life at all.
 
fllandshark - welcome to the forum!

Many of us felt as you did at first.

At one point, I'd started a how-to thread on task cleaners and was using my phone mostly as a feature phone because the battery sucked so bad.

However - after sticking with it and working together, many of us have found that various simple configuration controls have led to pretty great battery life while using this as a smartphone.

From Support&Troubleshooting - http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-support-troubleshooting/141369-how-fix-froyo.html

From Tips&Tricks - http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-tips-tricks/150799-battery-tweaks-htc-evo-4g.html

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/85554-task-killers-must-read-new-android-users-5.html#post1457533

Task killing is a last resort.
 
Man if youre only getting 2 hours thats a problem with either the phone or the battery. Even people with crappy life isnt even that bad. And if youre using a task killer and your phone is running 2.2 you're just wasting your time. I installed atk and set it to auto kill aggressive and literally sat and watched as the apps started right back up after it killed them. Thats wasting more battery than its doing good. I get better life without it.
 
What I do to extend my battery life is at night, turn 3g off, by using the mobile toogle app, why do I need my phone to be on 3g while I am sleeping? It seems simple, it is, I can normally get 14-36 hours of battery life with moderate use, when I wake up, I just turn 3g back on
 
Last night I did the hard factory reset. My main issue was that my awake and run time were the same. After reset everything seemed back to normal with the awake and run time. Today my evo automatically rebooted and about 20 mins later I checked and my Run and Awake time are the same again. A little frustrating. Anyone have this happen to them? Any help is appreciated.

Paul
 
fllandshark said:
I have had the EVO for 27 days now, trying to use it like my BB Curve. As far as the battery goes yes it sucks. I have the advanced task killer in high gear and all the cool features turned off (so why have them if you cant use them) my bb will do 100 or so emails and 4 to 5 hours of talk time and yes I charge it every day. The EVO, I get maybe 2 hours tops and I dont use the voice stuff or any of the other features. I have a charger in the truck, at the desk and in my computer bag, it is on the charger all the time, I think it is going back and I will be getting another BB. I love the big screen and the great camers, but you cant use the features if you want any battery life at all.
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I was disappointed in the battery life of my EVO. With my Curve, I could do constant email, text, chat on Google/MSN/AOL/Yahoo messengers, and web browsing almost all day long, and I'd still have enough battery left to last me until the late evening. With the EVO, I'd run out of battery on my way home from work.


I leave Autosync on and enable "always-on mobile data" as it didn't seem to make much of a difference. With them enabled, I'm still getting great battery life.

The biggest hog for me was Google Talk and any IM application. I don't know why, but since I stopped using them I'm getting much better battery life, even with heavy web browsing and watching youtube videos.
 
bassic said:
I was disappointed in the battery life of my EVO. With my Curve, I could do constant email, text, chat on Google/MSN/AOL/Yahoo messengers, and web browsing almost all day long, and I'd still have enough battery left to last me until the late evening. With the EVO, I'd run out of battery on my way home from work.


I leave Autosync on and enable "always-on mobile data" as it didn't seem to make much of a difference. With them enabled, I'm still getting great battery life.

The biggest hog for me was Google Talk and any IM application. I don't know why, but since I stopped using them I'm getting much better battery life, even with heavy web browsing and watching youtube videos.
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what kind of battery life? I get 18-19 hrs with 55% battery still left. when i don't use it, i can get 1 day and 6-7hours..
 
bassic said:
I was disappointed in the battery life of my EVO. With my Curve, I could do constant email, text, chat on Google/MSN/AOL/Yahoo messengers, and web browsing almost all day long, and I'd still have enough battery left to last me until the late evening. With the EVO, I'd run out of battery on my way home from work.


I leave Autosync on and enable "always-on mobile data" as it didn't seem to make much of a difference. With them enabled, I'm still getting great battery life.

The biggest hog for me was Google Talk and any IM application. I don't know why, but since I stopped using them I'm getting much better battery life, even with heavy web browsing and watching youtube videos.
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Yea but youre comparing a curve.. a non touch screen phone to one with a 4.3 inch screen. Thats to be expected..
 
danepawll said:
Last night I did the hard factory reset. My main issue was that my awake and run time were the same. After reset everything seemed back to normal with the awake and run time. Today my evo automatically rebooted and about 20 mins later I checked and my Run and Awake time are the same again. A little frustrating. Anyone have this happen to them? Any help is appreciated.

Paul
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9 times out of 10 its an app or a widget thats causing it
 
I'm putting up my ROMs right now if anyone wants to check em out. Battery is no issue at all, promise.

Posting the 2.2 up now

AOSP to come

Reply in the thread of what you think!
 
My battery does drop around 10% after unhooking it from the charger. I don't even mind because at the end of the day, I still have around 77% battery life after using it as an MP3 player the whole day at work, a little checking with the email, a little editing with some spreadsheets and about a few minutes checking on facebook.

Oh yeah I forgot, I have the 3000 mAh battery from eBay for $20 bucks. And with the new back cover, I don't even bother using a case to protect my camera lens. :D
 
I've tried just about everything I've read...from charging to full and powering down and doing the unplug/plug thing, to wiping battery stats, etc

I don't know why, but the phone still goes quickly down to 84% (over maybe an hour) and then it settles.

Maybe I'm not doing any of the methods I've tried completely and fully, so if someone who has confirmed success on theirs would post one I'd greatly appreciate it.

Note: I dont know if this matters, but during the day I use the 3000ma chinese battery and at night I swap in the stock battery. I have the desk dock that has an external charger so when a battery isnt in the phone, its in the external charger.

mods, plz dont move this to tips and tricks ASAP before i get a good answer ;(
 
Hey cabbie - I'm pressed for time - but there was a thread in the Support and Troubleshooting sub-forum claiming that some sort of battery widget not only helped zero in on things - but actually improved battery life somehow.

It wasn't Spare Parts or anything we've already chatted about - do a search on that over there - look for a thread that was active on this in the last two weeks. If that fails, search from the main forum. If you can't find it - let me know, I'll try to track it down asap (but later, mmmk) for you.

I thought it was snake oil at first - but I remember clearly becoming VERY intrigued. I didn't have any trouble - so I didn't think about it further.... dang!

Anyway - let me know.
 
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