Comprehensive Battery Guide

[Gardium]

but as soon as I kill HTC Likes...it reopens...and holy man! you have your screen at 25%?!

Yes, I have it at 20% actually

Hmmm, weird... my HTC likes does not reopen.

As for a faulty battery, I do not know. I have not tried out your battery program and do not have any idea about it sorry.

So I really don't know.

 

[crAsHak]

ya cuz its like my phone opens everything I tell it not to open...now it opens news even though its disabled...Im so unlucky haha

 

[stuarta]

24 hours and I'm on 46% left. Not bad i guess but not confident that it will last the day while I'm at work. Going to take my old phone with me to work today as my number should be switching so will let this one die out then leave to charge overnight again.

 

[Gardium]

Just finished conducting another test.

Seems like even more juice can be saved (eventhough I didn't think so, as I have deactivated "always-on" communications), by shutting down the data communications when not needed.

However, for my case, during the day (when I don't sleep ), I need to have access to real time information, like my email, as I can get schedule and task notifications with 30 min time margin.

But I find that I can shut off my data communications during the night. This is doing wonders, and my phone has now been ON (but in the evenings not having communications on) for almost 3 full days .

So, is there anybody else that has conducted any new tests, or tried to replicate any test or followed any tips that have found something new or got any comments/questions ?

 

[Silver Surfer]

Whilst I have found aspects of this thread genuinely interesting, I'm afraid that I liken this latest suggestion to buying a ferrari and then driving everywhere at 20 mph to save fuel (what's the point in having all that horsepower and not using it?).

If you follow this logic to its ultimate conclusion then switch it off at night and save even more juice. If you're sleeping and you have access to a charger then why not charge it? (you never know how heavily you might have to use it tomorrow).

 

[Gardium]

Whilst I have found aspects of this thread genuinely interesting, I'm afraid that I liken this latest suggestion to buying a ferrari and then driving everywhere at 20 mph to save fuel (what's the point in having all that horsepower and not using it?).

If you follow this logic to its ultimate conclusion then switch it off at night and save even more juice. If you're sleeping and you have access to a charger then why not charge it? (you never know how heavily you might have to use it tomorrow).

As far as it is remotely possible and to any conclusion I could possibly give to this matter, I totally agree with you. However this was an update based from another thread, where people suggest to turn off communications for more battery life. So I just tested this hypothesis.

However, as far as my own personal usage, I will NOT be following this advice myself, as I have stated I need real-time information.

But, with that said, if you come in a situation where you have forgotten your charger, still need real-time information during the day, then this tip could be useful (however... HOW often would you end in this situation?! )

 

[NOLAlove212]

Has anyone tried using juicedefender and ATK together? I added it to the "ignore list" for ATK, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with both of these apps.

 

[NOLAlove212]

Just finished conducting another test.

Seems like even more juice can be saved (eventhough I didn't think so, as I have deactivated "always-on" communications), by shutting down the data communications when not needed.

However, for my case, during the day (when I don't sleep ), I need to have access to real time information, like my email, as I can get schedule and task notifications with 30 min time margin.

But I find that I can shut off my data communications during the night. This is doing wonders, and my phone has now been ON (but in the evenings not having communications on) for almost 3 full days .

So, is there anybody else that has conducted any new tests, or tried to replicate any test or followed any tips that have found something new or got any comments/questions ?

I added ATK to my phone. How often should I be killing apps? Or should I just let it do it on its own scheduled time?

Also, I am going to try that "boost" you talked about, so we will see how it works out

 

[crAsHak]

"Has anyone tried using juicedefender and ATK together? I added it to the "ignore list" for ATK, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with both of these apps."

I use both at once, as well as two other things... my battery is now lasting me 40+ hours....I worked out my problems with Gardiums help... but i highly recommend juice defender pro.

 

[NOLAlove212]

That's good to know. They seem to be working together fine for me too. Today I had pretty good results. I don't know if I will be able to get the best out of my battery because I did not cycle it correctly on the first day. I'm going to try the boost and see how much that helps. If it bothers me enough, I'll just buy a new battery and cycle that one correctly.

 

[crAsHak]

That's good to know. They seem to be working together fine for me too. Today I had pretty good results. I don't know if I will be able to get the best out of my battery because I did not cycle it correctly on the first day. I'm going to try the boost and see how much that helps. If it bothers me enough, I'll just buy a new battery and cycle that one correctly.

TBH, I didn't calibrate it on the first day either (well I did, but only kinda haha)...and the second charge I did absolutely nothing to help my situation...but I just tried it anyway after what I had done, and I remembered something long forgotten and hidden in the crevaces in my mind As long as you cycle your battery 1-3 times a month (going from 0% virtually to 100%, and it doesnt have to be 2 or 3 days in a row) your battery will be absolutely fine.

What made me remember this was the fact that I fly Hobby Class Remote Control Helicopters. My batteries are LiPo (Lithium Polymer) but the concept is the same as in Li-Ion...In order to keep healthy batteries FULL DISCHARGE and CHARGE are required basically every month to keep them operating to full potential... And its a way bigger deal with those as my batteries cost me 130 bucks a pop. As long as you follow this rule, you should manage to get a good amount of time out of each charge.

I hope this helps NOLA. So follow Gardium's Steps (good head on his shoulders and very logical thinker hahaha) and enjoy you're portable entertainment machine. This phone WILL suck power, as it has such a beautiful display, but I have not mentioned this before, but today was the second full day of the phone being on. I used it quite a bit, with AUTO-BRIGHTNESS ON and it powers through it (pun intended )...I'm SO glad I got rid of the iPhone for this...it is what I call an AIK (auto-iPhone Killer)

Enjoy and regards,

crAsHak

 

[Ferrari353]

Which ATK do you recommend? Advanced Task Killer or Advanced Task Killer pro ($4.99)?

 

[Gardium]

Which ATK do you recommend? Advanced Task Killer or Advanced Task Killer pro ($4.99)?

The free version is more than enough for the tips in this guide. The paid version gives you a few extra giggles to fiddle around with, but not necessary in my opinion

The ATK I recommend is the "Advanced Task Killer Free" by ReChild in the market.

Sorry I have been gone a few days, just had a trip abroad visiting my GF

 

[Gardium]

I just got this PM in my inbox yesterday, and thought I'd post it here in the thread .

Hello Gardium,

first of all, I thank to you for this wonderful post : http://androidforums.com/htc-desire-hd/276830-comprehensive-battery-guide.html

I ordered DHD last week and expect to get it this week. As you mentioned in your post, I suppose to need to do initial conditioning of the battery, right ? I am a little bit confused in this very first step So Do I definetly do this step for to calibrate my battery and also to use more efficently my battery ?

My main question is here : you mentioned here [.......It's important to charge it from completely empty (as it will "learn" that its "dead" and not give out power anymore when it is at that voltage) to completely "overfull" capacity (it will "learn" that it can charge so and so much before refusing to take more). ........ ]

so when will I start to charge this device ?
Lets assume , I got the package and opened the box and hold this wonderful device in my hand, should I directly start to charge it before powering on it or first power on, start using it until factory charged battery would drain and start your process ( like 3 times fully overcharge from dead) ?

As far as the very first charge, it really don't matter if you start it up first before charging. The battery is virtually empty upon factory delivery (you will be lucky if you get 30 min out of it). It has a few % juice. However the most important part (at least for old school phones, dunno if this applies 100% to the new phones, but I still do it) is that the first couple of charges are NOT interrupted. They have to run for 8-9 hours of constant charging.

As for the point of being empty, it does a certain part to it to learn the batteries when they are empty, but I wouldn't say its the killer . The killer is to "overcharge" the cells, which you only will get from charging the batteries for hours after they "claim" to be fully charged.

Also crAsHak's point about letting the battery cycle drain completely a few times a month is true. I did not really think about applying that to a cell phone battery, but it should work, as the technologies are the same. This does give a good battery quality (that can also increase the duration a cell can last, thus also give more cycle battery life), however the "learning" that the battery has is still only the first few initial cycles (the learning of how many electrons the battery can take in) .

Hope this helps people and to get their DHDs to last longer.

PS! I have just realized how much juice Facebook syncing pulls, that I have deactivated it completely. However I have not removed my account yet. But if I can't sync FB without getting massive power drains, what's the point? Just hit me that deactivating only the contact sync could be the key, but let the live feed sync. I'll check it out and report back to you hardcore FB fans (personally I almost hate using FB too often xD Waste of time in my opinion to use it more than a few times a week . But everybody does have different social needs, and I respect that . Thus I'll conduct the test for those guys )

 

[Gardium]

I added ATK to my phone. How often should I be killing apps? Or should I just let it do it on its own scheduled time?

Also, I am going to try that "boost" you talked about, so we will see how it works out

As stated in the guide, I kill my apps every 4-6 hours when I'm in normal usage. However lately I have been conducting many tests to figure out of things . So for me lately it has varied between hourly and once a day. But I still get a good 2 full "awake" days out of my phone usually (but if I have been "lazy" on the kill button the battery can run low in the end)

 

[ArenaCreative]

"Has anyone tried using juicedefender and ATK together? I added it to the "ignore list" for ATK, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with both of these apps."

I use both at once, as well as two other things... my battery is now lasting me 40+ hours....I worked out my problems with Gardiums help... but i highly recommend juice defender pro.

I'm using both together, and so far it seems to be working nicely Still at 70% battery after 7 hours, only half of that time with ATK. I've been using Juice Defender for a few days now. I'm glad I realized I had to add that to the ignore list, otherwise it wouldn't have done me any good. I've also been screwing with the phone a lot today, so at this rate I'm thinking I'll be able to easily go 2 days without a charge.

Remember the old days, where when you had a phone that didn't hold a good charge, you couldn't really do anything to fix it? Technology is great Thank goodness for Android.

 

[cevahir34]

Hello all,

I just ordered my DHD and looks like I will get it this weekend. Before using it, I want to ask you a question regarding to this battery issue.

When I get this device, should I directly start to this process (charging) or first of all, shoul I use till factory charged battery drain and then start ?

As you know this is very good device and I wanted to make sure before starting this process.

 

[stuarta]

Must admit I uninstalled JuiceDefender and ATK after reading some other posts saying they are a waste of time, but have just installed them again.

Made sure that I have set Juice to aggressive and on the ignore list in ATK I have 3G Watchdog, ATK Free, JuiceDefender and Widgetsoid. I've also set autokill to every hour. Hope this is all ok.

I have been getting 2 days before death on charge and was impressed while in London Sunday using it to take photo's (impressive photo's), texting, a call, web browsing and tube app, and still ended the day with about 60% left

 

[Gardium]

Hello all,

I just ordered my DHD and looks like I will get it this weekend. Before using it, I want to ask you a question regarding to this battery issue.

When I get this device, should I directly start to this process (charging) or first of all, shoul I use till factory charged battery drain and then start ?

As you know this is very good device and I wanted to make sure before starting this process.

PLEASE read the thread before posting... I have answered that exact question like 2 posts up from yours.

Here is a link if you are too lazy to find it

 

[Gardium]

I have decided that over the weekend I'm to install Juice defender and do a thorough test of it, and give feedback. But from recent posts, I will admit we are already seeing the results I will be posting Keep it up people ! Good advice and tips in this thread

 

[stuarta]

Am I doing mine correct with the way that I have setup the ignore in ATK?

 

[Gardium]

Am I doing mine correct with the way that I have setup the ignore in ATK?

Basically I only have one program currently that the ATK ignores, and that is my battery indicator. When I install Juice Defender that will be added to the list. Otherwise the ATK kills everything it sees.

However, I would want to ask, are there any opinions whether I should test the beta or stable version of Juice Defender?


Any thoughts people . I'll test the one most people want me to

 

[stuarta]

Mine just shows as JuiceDefender 3.2.9

 

[Gardium]

Mine just shows as JuiceDefender 3.2.9

That's the stable version. The beta is on 3.7.9 or something. I just uninstalled it as many functions there were not working as they should, and the menu for chosing profiles was not stable. But this I have now seen, also seems to be a problem for the stable version.

All in all, first glance, this program is poorly made and MANY functions require a rooted phone, which I am not happy with. Also for a European stock DHD, it cannot control 3G communications it seems, as it claims the ROM is not compatible with the AOSP helper, and that I should install the Cyanaogen mod .

So it does not disable mobile communcations as it should, meaning for me it is practically useless then, as I already have a low screen brightness, don't use Wifi much (and that is already battery saving compared to 3G) and lock/timeout time.

Also the log seems to go haywire sometimes, and multiple times displays "WARNING All settings are reverted to default!", but nothing was changed by me, and the profile I chose (Costumize) seems to still be active.

Furthermore, it seems like that with all the activity monitoring, and logging, that the program actually will suck up more juice than it saves for me

However, I have just installed it, so I'll let it run for a while and see how it goes. But first impressions, are NOT good


EDIT: Seems like the Juice defender can still control some aspect of my data communications, as when my phone went under 15% battery yesterday, Juice defender kicked in and deactivated mobile data communcations while the phone was locked. However, I am not noticing any noticable effect on my battery usage while the battery is over 15%, which is slightly disappointing =/. I'll continue to conduct the test , however my only use of this program as far as I can see, is if the phone is rooted and I can then set a scheduler for the night & weekends. However, I am not willing to root my phone, as it is an expensive phone, and I want my warranty&guarantee and support from HTC. I wish to use HTC services and apps as they come out in the future, and if something does not work as it should, HTC will not lift a finger for me if the phone is rooted

 

[stuarta]

yep did notice that ROM issue. Maybe I should take mine out as well and just leave ATK