• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Battery life - why rated poorly?

D

dishe

Well-Known Member
I noticed this phone is powered by an impressive 2,100mah battery. That's a lot considering many flagship phones with bigger screens (and therefore bigger battery drains) have smaller ones.

Yet when I was comparing the specs on this phone with others, the talk time is rated as one of the lowest. Amazon's comparison chart mentions the specs alongside the LG Viper, which I know has a 1700mah battery, yet the Viper is rated at 480min talk time and the Victory at only 180min.

180 minutes?! I mean, I know the Optimus F3's 960min talk time comes from its gargantuan 2,450mah battery, but the Victory is pretty close with its 2100mah, so why the discrepancy?

I've seen the low talk time rating elsewhere too- I'm wondering, did Samsung just throw out a number to make it seem like this was a lower end device compared to the S3? Sort of like how they put a software governor on the chip to throttle it back to 1.2ghz?

I mean, isn't this the same battery as the S3? Heck, even the LTE EVO has only 2,000 (which is up from the other ONE X variants) and both of those devices have larger and more battery draining displays, yet are praised for relatively impressive battery life. So what gives with the rated talk time here?
 
Mine lasts all day with a lot of talking and moderate web browsing. I plug it in when I go to bed.
 
Madbat said:
Mine lasts all day with a lot of talking and moderate web browsing. I plug it in when I go to bed.
Click to expand...

I figured- Of all the complaints I've heard for this device, limited memory, capacitive buttons have no feedback, etc... Battery life hasn't been one of them!

I'd think if the battery were as bad as they claim, there would be complaints! Wonder why that is?
 
Turns out it came Saturday delivery, so I got it already (impressive- great ebay seller!).

Madbat said:
Memory problem is easily solved with link2sd and a 2nd ext4 partition on your external sd
Click to expand...

Yeah, so I'm guessting I'll have to look into that. Its 3:30am here, I've been playing around with the device doing benchmarks and camera tests... considering rooting before turning in for the night. :)
 
Madbat said:
Here is teachme's guide for link2sd and/or memory swap. Updated swap and links2sd guide. - Android Forums
Also before you root, make sure you're updated to mg5 first!
Click to expand...

Will check it out... but what's mg5? Assuming that's a firmware? I'm on Sprint, don't forget. Not sure if the builds are the same. Mine came with 4.1.2 and baseband/build ends in BMC1. Is that an older version than I should be rooting on?

The all-things-root guide on the Sprint side here really appears to be pretty generic with none of this stuff in it!
 
Yeah I'm pretty sure that's the most recent sprint baseband (mc1). Just wanted to remind you to update before you root and get custom recovery because its a little tougher to update after. But I think you're good. The link2sd guide should be good for both. It let's you symlink apps to your sd card. But obb files (some can be close to 2 GB on large games) still end up on internal memory. So some ppl use the "swap" which switches your internal and external memory so that app data and obb also go on external sd.
 
...and now I'm getting that volume problem some people claimed happens on incoming calls- basically, when I call out, everything is fine. When someone calls me, volume is MAXED OUT and very hard to hear, pressing the volume down button doesn't seem to actually adjust the volume on the phone call.

SUPER ANNOYING. Hoping I can find a fix, because otherwise I'm pleasantly surprised by this device!
 
Back to battery life for a moment- does anyone use a battery saver app like JuiceDefender?

On my gingerbread devices, I used JD to turn off data when the display is off- it added a good 50% more battery life in daily use. This is my first OS beyond 2.3, and I see things apps and data are handled a bit differently. I'm hesitant to use JD because it hasn't been updated in a while and I'm not sure if it was designed for Jellybean and other post 4.x OSes. Is there another app someone would recommend for preserving battery life when necessary?
 
Battery life is definitely not poor at all:

1619496_10153883295530254_1633733533_n.jpg


Phone has NOT been in airplane mode or any tricks like that. Made a couple of calls that morning, light browsing 4g/3g on my commute, but now wifi is currently on which helps a lot by my desk. According to this, my phone will last around 60 hours- I know that's not accurate, but so far I still have plenty of battery by the end of the day, unlike my previous handset which didn't always make it the entire day.
 
We were all trying to tell you weren't going to need any battery savers or anything like that. Phones have come a long way since your last phone when it comes to battery life. This little phone is a nice bang for your buck. Welcome to the family. So far the only thing this phone doesn't do that I wish it did is mhl.
 
Looking into getting a spare battery just to keep on tap anyway (camping trips, travelling, too lazy to plug it at night, etc).

Am I correct in assuming that this is the same battery as the S3? If I were to buy an extended s3 battery (the kind that claims to fit inside the original cavity and does not require a special cover), would that work?
 
I would recommend #1 rooting if you have not already. #2 once rooted, get a startup manager.
#3, turn allllll the crap off.

I can use mine for about 12 hours straight using GPS (data + screen on + voice commands)

The only apps I have turned on by default are my system apps, my alarm clock, gmail, and my exchange mail. Everything else is set to manual. (which I also have an app killer, to mass kill my apps).

You also want to make sure to hold your home button, and swipe your running apps to close them. Even if yu close them through an app manager, they will still be using processes because they are "technically' still running.
 
dishe said:
I noticed this phone is powered by an impressive 2,100mah battery. That's a lot considering many flagship phones with bigger screens (and therefore bigger battery drains) have smaller ones.

Yet when I was comparing the specs on this phone with others, the talk time is rated as one of the lowest. Amazon's comparison chart mentions the specs alongside the LG Viper, which I know has a 1700mah battery, yet the Viper is rated at 480min talk time and the Victory at only 180min.

180 minutes?! I mean, I know the Optimus F3's 960min talk time comes from its gargantuan 2,450mah battery, but the Victory is pretty close with its 2100mah, so why the discrepancy?

I've seen the low talk time rating elsewhere too- I'm wondering, did Samsung just throw out a number to make it seem like this was a lower end device compared to the S3? Sort of like how they put a software governor on the chip to throttle it back to 1.2ghz?

I mean, isn't this the same battery as the S3? Heck, even the LTE EVO has only 2,000 (which is up from the other ONE X variants) and both of those devices have larger and more battery draining displays, yet are praised for relatively impressive battery life. So what gives with the rated talk time here?
Click to expand...

This phone has the best battery life of any smart phone i have ever used by far. I routinely go 2 full days on a charge with light usage and easily a full day with heavy usage. It has never completely died on me yet. I am so used to having charging cables all over the place and at work and in my cars, but I don't even use them any more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom