Battery Life - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

[georgebc007]

I really feel sorry for the decision to buy Samsung Galaxy 3. The worst battery I have ever seen......!!!!!!!! Wont last for even 8 hours that also without using any application , wifi , gps etc... Can not go outside with it.......Otherwise have to take the charger also!!!!!!!! Send mail to the customer care......but no reply......... Really lost Rs 12,500

 

[Incisal]

Today I had my first really bad EVO experience.

I charged the phone overnight (I was used to this as a palm user) and unplugged it on my way out the door in the morning. By the time I arrived at my office, 15 minutes later, the phone was in the low 90%'s. I placed the phone on my desk and went about my business, not checking the phone at all. I mean, zero texts, zero calls, and no gaming or mp3's.

I have all the secondary functions off, WiFi, BT, GPS, 4G, etc. and all the mail widgets updating at every 3 hours. So there should have been nothing running. The only apps I have on the phone homescreens are LauncherPro Plus, Scoremobile widget, SmoothCalendar widget, GTasks widget, SmartShortcut widgets and that's it.

So... Didn't touch the phone at all and at 11:15 I had under 30% left. I have bad reception in my office, but that couldn't run the phone down in 4-5 hours. So what can I do? I feel like I have all the background apps turned way down, as well as screen brightness and its not helping.

Additionally, the phone charges very slowly. 2 hours on the wall charger with no use and its gone from 27% to 49%!!!

I would expect 4-5 hours with heavy usage and I'd like to get a full day with light usage, but no usage and 4 hours? How can this be? I've had the phone for a month and the battery life has been a constant source of frustration... I love my phone, but I have to carry a charger in my pocket at all times. I know it can be better than this! Please advise!!!

Incisal
HTC EVO 4G
LauncherPro Plus

 

[EarlyMon]

So... Didn't touch the phone at all and at 11:15 I had under 30% left. I have bad reception in my office, but that couldn't run the phone down in 4-5 hours.

Sure it could. There an option in your wireless settings called Always On Mobile Data.

Turn it off, if on.

When you have bad reception, that option is saying - drive the radio processes into roaming, evaluate, fallback, etc, etc, etc.

When I'm in a fringe area, that option will kill my otherwise really fabulous battery performance.

Give it shot - and you won't really lose anything other than you may have to check for things by hand instead of auto-updating - and your auto-updating probably is already hosed if your reception is that bad.

Hope this helps.

Try it - post back - could be something else - I just focused on a single thing.

Also - go back a few posts and see my explanation why your phone suddenly went into the low 90s of power right away.

PS - Welcome to the forums!

 

[Slick1020]

Today I had my first really bad EVO experience.

I charged the phone overnight (I was used to this as a palm user) and unplugged it on my way out the door in the morning. By the time I arrived at my office, 15 minutes later, the phone was in the low 90%'s. I placed the phone on my desk and went about my business, not checking the phone at all. I mean, zero texts, zero calls, and no gaming or mp3's.

I have all the secondary functions off, WiFi, BT, GPS, 4G, etc. and all the mail widgets updating at every 3 hours. So there should have been nothing running. The only apps I have on the phone homescreens are LauncherPro Plus, Scoremobile widget, SmoothCalendar widget, GTasks widget, SmartShortcut widgets and that's it.

So... Didn't touch the phone at all and at 11:15 I had under 30% left. I have bad reception in my office, but that couldn't run the phone down in 4-5 hours. So what can I do? I feel like I have all the background apps turned way down, as well as screen brightness and its not helping.

Additionally, the phone charges very slowly. 2 hours on the wall charger with no use and its gone from 27% to 49%!!!

I would expect 4-5 hours with heavy usage and I'd like to get a full day with light usage, but no usage and 4 hours? How can this be? I've had the phone for a month and the battery life has been a constant source of frustration... I love my phone, but I have to carry a charger in my pocket at all times. I know it can be better than this! Please advise!!!

Incisal
HTC EVO 4G
LauncherPro Plus

Your message didn't say you had 3G turned off. If you work in a building with poor reception then that means you need to turn off 3G while inside. Your phone will constantly look for a 3G signal unless you turn 3G off. If you go into a subway with a CDMA phone, it will eat your battery alive. CDMA phones love power and constantly seek out the best tower/signal, but you get great talk quality and reception. However, GSM phones are less power hungry but you get crappy reception. Secondly, unplug your phone from the charger when the light turns green and you won't run into that unexpected 10-15% drop.

 

[Slick1020]

Hence my battery tweaks thread should be a sticky when you first login for this forum. It would help solve a zillion problems for EVO owners each day.

 

[EarlyMon]

Please always make those kind of requests via PM to one of us rather than publicly, thanks.

(Just letting ALL users know the procedure.)

I'll reassess the stickies later when my schedule's free - but I will look into it.

Hope you're doing well over there!

 

[Incisal]

Thank you, everyone for your input! Anytime you wonder about whether posting in forums like these is worth the fuss, just message me for some affirmation. You are the only source of good info for noobs like me.

Okay, turned the "always-on" check to off, still lost 15% battery in 1 hour with no use. Just turned 3G off to see if that makes a difference.

One thing I didn't mention before; last week I was in San Francisco with some friends and we were sight-seeing all day. Wanting to keep my phone charged as long as possible and not knowing all the in's and out's, I put the phone in airplane mode for the day and the phone was still dead in about 9 hours. Is that normal, too???

Incisal

 

[Incisal]

Thank you, everyone for your input! Anytime you wonder about whether posting in forums like these is worth the fuss, just message me for some affirmation. You are the only source of good info for noobs like me.

Okay, turned the "always-on" check to off, still lost 15% battery in 1 hour with no use. Just turned 3G off to see if that makes a difference.

One thing I didn't mention before; last week I was in San Francisco with some friends and we were sight-seeing all day. Wanting to keep my phone charged as long as possible and not knowing all the in's and out's, I put the phone in airplane mode for the day and the phone was still dead in about 9 hours. Is that normal, too???

Incisal

Yeah, so 3G off, no phone usage of any kind, and another 6% drop. That's 21% battery loss in less than 2 hours with no phone usage and no data. Should I soft reset the phone and just start from scratch? What about running the battery to 0% and then re-charging? Does that work, and should it be done?

Frustrated.

 

[EarlyMon]

Just to be sure - have you removed your 4G widget from your desktop, and powered down, then turned your phone back on.

That widget can cause a runaway process that'll kill a battery pronto.

Read through the posts on this page - some of your questions are here, like, no, you don't need to discharge your battery or that jazz.

In our Evo Tips&Tricks section, there's a permanent link at the top of that area (we call it a sticky post) - inside are links to useful threads and posts that we consider must-have info for your Evo.

Among these are Slick's compilation of a number of battery adjustments.

Try them, let us know how it's working out for you.

Sometimes, it's not configuration per se, it's a runaway process, and we'll help you with that at the Evo Support&Troubleshooting area.

This is NOT to say I'm pushing you out - rather - it's a preview of the support you'll find in Evo community here - it's really top-notch, and I've every confidence that you'll get this issue squared up in no time.

Now - here's that first link I mentioned:

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

 

[Sabre66]

Yeah, so 3G off, no phone usage of any kind, and another 6% drop. That's 21% battery loss in less than 2 hours with no phone usage and no data. Should I soft reset the phone and just start from scratch? What about running the battery to 0% and then re-charging? Does that work, and should it be done?

Frustrated.

My advice to you is to try all the battery saving tips in this thread (turning off 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, making all email downloads manual, etc). I was having similar problems the first couple of days and thought I'd have to take it back. I don't use all those features that much so having them off isn't a deal breaker to me.

I also had the immediate drop in battery % when taking it off the charger (like 7-10%) like you mentioned. What saved me there was EarlyMon's tip on taking the phone off the charger immediately when the light turns green (fully charged)...it works.

I did it last night and the battery lasted me from 9:30PM (100%) to 5:30PM today (51%) all with light to moderate use. I just now took it off the charger and will post tomorrow about how long it lasted. I'm psyched

 

[EarlyMon]

Frustrated.

Hang in there - we're all pulling for you!

 

[dreamer3kx]

Wow, I was close to giving up on my Evo because of the battery, this morning I decided to try one of the calibration tips, I believe its where you keep unplugging and plugging around 10x after a charge thinking to myself what am I doing, this wont work but surprisingly my battery has increased, it was draining pretty quickly with moderate use, now seems so much better, Ill see in the next couple of days if it holds up like this.

 

[EarlyMon]

I thought we were past that - I might've been wrong.

 

[Incisal]

Update:

So, I've read the tips and tricks section top to bottom. Here's what I've tried:

I had the phone at 88% at 4:00pm yesterday and by 10:00, having made two 1 minute phone calls, the phone was alerting me to get on the charger because I was at 13%. Got home by 10:30pm and it was at 10%. I flipped on a youtube video at HQ and the phone shut itself off in less than 1 minute.

I removed the battery and inserted a back-up battery (3 1500mAh batteries and a battery charger for $12.99? Yes, please! ebay FTW). I charged the htc battery in the separate charger all night. Popped it in this morning at 6:30am, leaving everything off, including wireless access, and since then, with no phone usage, its at 77% at 2:15pm.

So, by turning my smartphone into a phone-phone, i can expect it to last about a day-and-a-half. Not quite the 200 standby hours its supposed to have.

I love this phone and I want to make it awesome, but I need it to last 12-16 hours with normal usage and right now its barely scraping that with no usage and totally gimped.

I'm open to suggestions. What about a complete reset of the phone and then slowly integrate apps, widgets, etc. applying the things I've learned this first month of ownership? I'm wondering if something I've downloaded hasn't caused these problems...

Incisal

htc EVO 4G
Launcherpro +

 

[Slick1020]

Update:

So, I've read the tips and tricks section top to bottom. Here's what I've tried:

I had the phone at 88% at 4:00pm yesterday and by 10:00, having made two 1 minute phone calls, the phone was alerting me to get on the charger because I was at 13%. Got home by 10:30pm and it was at 10%. I flipped on a youtube video at HQ and the phone shut itself off in less than 1 minute.

I removed the battery and inserted a back-up battery (3 1500mAh batteries and a battery charger for $12.99? Yes, please! ebay FTW). I charged the htc battery in the separate charger all night. Popped it in this morning at 6:30am, leaving everything off, including wireless access, and since then, with no phone usage, its at 77% at 2:15pm.

So, by turning my smartphone into a phone-phone, i can expect it to last about a day-and-a-half. Not quite the 200 standby hours its supposed to have.

I love this phone and I want to make it awesome, but I need it to last 12-16 hours with normal usage and right now its barely scraping that with no usage and totally gimped.

I'm open to suggestions. What about a complete reset of the phone and then slowly integrate apps, widgets, etc. applying the things I've learned this first month of ownership? I'm wondering if something I've downloaded hasn't caused these problems...

Incisal

htc EVO 4G
Launcherpro +

I'm not going to say its launcherpro causing your problems, but something isn't right with your phone. A runaway app could be causing the problem. I don't have any special apps or changes that didn't come with my phone. Sometimes people download apps that cause problems with their EVO/Android device. 9/10 I can always have people start from scratch and their problem goes away. Your phone should lose 1% of battery life an hour while in a coverage area. Since I'm in Afghanistan and my phone is in airplane mode, my phone will last well over a month because the phone doesn't have a CDMA tower to locate. If you don't want to take your phone back I suggest resetting the phone and then add one app at a time. Or start deleting apps one by one until the problem goes away.

 

[EarlyMon]

I would also add - try SystemPanel Lite (free, Market) or Watchdog Task Manager Lite - Android app on AppBrain to see if you find any rogue process or rogue interactions more quickly or easily.

 

[Incisal]

Okay, downloaded SystemPanel Lite. Looks like there are lots of open apps, but the only active one is SPL and Appbrain. Not sure what to do.

Let's say its not an app, and that something else is wrong with the phone. What are the other possibilities?

 

[EarlyMon]

If it's not an app and it's not configuration and it's not carrier-radio use, then so far as I know it would be bad hardware - and only an exchange can fix that.

 

[JunBringer]

Okay, downloaded SystemPanel Lite. Looks like there are lots of open apps, but the only active one is SPL and Appbrain. Not sure what to do.

Let's say its not an app, and that something else is wrong with the phone. What are the other possibilities?

I'd start from scratch and add your apps slowly like was suggested and see what the problem is. After following all of the tips around here I got through the day very easily with my stock battery and pretty heavy usage.

If it still isn't going well right after the reset then you'd probably wanna return it.

 

[stevcha]

I was having some major battery drain after a few hours of moderate use. I disabled data always on and its made a huge difference to my battery. The only downside is that some of my apps and widgets don't auto update as often until I open them. I'll deal with it for a few extra hours of battery.

 

[Sabre66]

Incisal, don't give up hope.

Two days ago I was worried about the battery life and whether I made a bad choice in devices. Today I had another super EVO day and got a full 24 hrs with the phone off the charger and still had 26% to spare. My Hero couldn't even do that after the first 6 months I had it. It needed charged twice a day. And the EVO runs circles around the Hero.

This may be oversimplifying it, but you may just have a bad battery. See if the Sprint store or wherever you bought it can test the battery. By the way do your backup batteries drain in the EVO as fast as the OEM one?

Otherwise try the reset as mentioned and start from scratch before throwing the towel. If you've got time left on the 30-day return policy what do you have to lose, right.

 

[Vipfreak]

I believe its where you keep unplugging and plugging around 10x after a charge

Thanks for the tip, seemed like it worked.

 

[RickMG]

Okay, I've been reading through all this and I have one question since I'm having all the same battery issues. I have no problem turning off the notifications along with the wifi when I'm not in an area I know I can use it, but seriously, I got the EVO so I could have the well advertised 4G, much less have 3G. If I turn these off, what the heck do I need an EVO for? Am I suppossed to know when I'm in a 4G or 3G area or will the phone go to those even with them turned off? If they do, no problem, if they don't I have a big problem turning those off. I would think a phone that is advertised so heavily as being one thing shouldn't need you to turn those things off to be able to disconnect from a charging cable. Please, I want 4G (don't ask me why) but I know I always want 3G when it's around. Thanks.

 

[Vipfreak]

It gets worse. If you have 4G it will drain the batt like an 8 mpg Hummer going though gas... If you ask me, the only good thing about the EVO is the 4.3in. SIZE screen.

 

[JunBringer]

Okay, I've been reading through all this and I have one question since I'm having all the same battery issues. I have no problem turning off the notifications along with the wifi when I'm not in an area I know I can use it, but seriously, I got the EVO so I could have the well advertised 4G, much less have 3G. If I turn these off, what the heck do I need an EVO for? Am I suppossed to know when I'm in a 4G or 3G area or will the phone go to those even with them turned off? If they do, no problem, if they don't I have a big problem turning those off. I would think a phone that is advertised so heavily as being one thing shouldn't need you to turn those things off to be able to disconnect from a charging cable. Please, I want 4G (don't ask me why) but I know I always want 3G when it's around. Thanks.

Just turn it on when you need it. Having 4G and 3G on when you're not using your phone, like when it's in your pocket, is just a waste.

It gets worse. If you have 4G it will drain the batt like an 8 mpg Hummer going though gas... If you ask me, the only good thing about the EVO is the 4.3in. SIZE screen.

Ummm... there are craploads of good things about the Evo besides the screen size

4G only drains the battery if you leave it on and there is no 4G available, otherwise it's not much different from 3G, from what I've seen.