Desire battery consumption

[SUroot]

So just to clarify, your emails still come in and the weather / friendstream etc still update?

So mobile data is off unless an app requests a connection?

Are your emails definitely push (instant) or does the app just update in intervals?

Answering my own question, yes it does. Now to see if it saves me any juice.

 

[madhatter1689]

Charged my Desire to 100% before going to bed last night, turned off 3G, Wi-fi, GPS and used Advanced Task Killer to switch everything else off. Woke up 7 hours later and it was still 100%.

Learning to use power management certainly helps the battery life but at the end of the day someone who uses their phone a lot will use more battery life!! It is all about preserving the battery life when you are not using the phone.

 

[keyser soze]

Got bored at work today so decided to do a battery test. Charged the phone to 100% . opened mvideoplayer and created a playlist full of music videos, and movies. The phone was continuisly playing video. The sound was put on mute, 3g on , wifi bt off.Screen set to auto. After 4 hours and 20 minutes there was 20 % battery left. made a short call and a text in between as well.Not so bad.

 

[CharlieCharlie]

My two pennies worth....

Had the phone since release day in the UK, been having terrible battery life. After much changing of the settings, removing of apps and certain widgets, I last charged my phone on Saturday evening and I still have battery life left! I've gone from lucky to get 20 hours usage to now having 1d 16h and 40m use since last unplugged with still over 20% battery left.

The main difference seems to be only having it on GSM (2g) when not needed and the removal of Task Killer app. I'm amazed at the difference. Also removed widgets for various apps like 3g Watchdog and Bookmarks.

Since Saturday, I've made some very long phone calls, wi-fi constantly on, regular checks on Facebook and Twitter as well as Gmail constantly setup to sync. Even listened to 4 hours of podasts using Acast app.

Now a very very happy Desire owner.

 

[SUroot]

My two pennies worth....

Had the phone since release day in the UK, been having terrible battery life. After much changing of the settings, removing of apps and certain widgets, I last charged my phone on Saturday evening and I still have battery life left! I've gone from lucky to get 20 hours usage to now having 1d 16h and 40m use since last unplugged with still over 20% battery left.

The main difference seems to be only having it on GSM (2g) when not needed and the removal of Task Killer app. I'm amazed at the difference. Also removed widgets for various apps like 3g Watchdog and Bookmarks.

Since Saturday, I've made some very long phone calls, wi-fi constantly on, regular checks on Facebook and Twitter as well as Gmail constantly setup to sync. Even listened to 4 hours of podasts using Acast app.

Now a very very happy Desire owner.

Thats pretty good going.

 

[Roze]

My two pennies worth....

Had the phone since release day in the UK, been having terrible battery life. After much changing of the settings, removing of apps and certain widgets, I last charged my phone on Saturday evening and I still have battery life left! I've gone from lucky to get 20 hours usage to now having 1d 16h and 40m use since last unplugged with still over 20% battery left.

The main difference seems to be only having it on GSM (2g) when not needed and the removal of Task Killer app. I'm amazed at the difference. Also removed widgets for various apps like 3g Watchdog and Bookmarks.

Since Saturday, I've made some very long phone calls, wi-fi constantly on, regular checks on Facebook and Twitter as well as Gmail constantly setup to sync. Even listened to 4 hours of podasts using Acast app.

Now a very very happy Desire owner.

One word...WOW! Just wondering, how long was your phone call? My battery life is pretty good if I don't really TALK on the phone. If I talk for 4 hours straight, I'll kill my N1

 

[kayboon]

ya, i also face this problem when i turn off 3G and wireless, the battery consumed 50% in 18 hours just laid on table! may the application still running although 3G off

 

[hydey]

When using the App killer, make sure you leave the app going for the clock lol... I ended up an hour late for work, and was ment to pick a friend for work as well lol... Add the apps you want to stay alive to the IGNORE list in App killer

Thanks for this, I wondered why my alarm never seemed to go off in the morning after i had set it. Was just about to write a post to see if anyone had had the same problem.

 

[kilroy]

I think some of the battery issues are definitely related to the widgets and active apps. After removing a couple of widgets including Friend Stream and Mail, I dramatically increased my battery life. I was taking the phone to work and coming home 9 hours later only dropping about 10-15%. I didn't notice any difference with wifi on or off. I have since rooted the phone and the battery life is not quite as good, but still very respectable...

 

[uzetaab]

Hmm, I never really thought about it, but I don't run many widgets on my phone either & I seem to get pretty good battery life.

I just wanted to mention that one thing that can really make a difference is letting the battery drain so low that the phone turns itself off about once a month to reset the battery level meter.

Now is a good time to do it seeing as it's the end of the month, so it will be easier to remember to do it at the end of July, August, etc.

 

[delinear]

I use a ton of widgets and apps, but I still get great battery life. The first thing I usually do is check the menu/settings for any new app to make sure it's not doing too-frequent checks/updates. Where possible I'll set things to update every 30 minutes (email, etc) or have them sync manually. I don't use any kind of task killer, I've never found the need.

Yesterday I had my phone on all day but didn't really use it other than to check the time a few times and read my email in the morning, from 8.30am until 10pm - at that point I still had 91% battery left. On a typical day's usage (lots of internet, email, texting and some music at work) I have around 55-70% left when I plug it in at night.

I agree with letting the battery drain every 30 days or so, it definitely seems to help, I know the batteries aren't meant to need conditioning but the software does seem to benefit from the calibration if my experience is anything to go by.

 

[photek1000]

This has probably been mentioned but I thought I would add my personal experience of dealing with poor battery life.

I finally had the last straw with the battery life on my Desire on the weekend after it used 60% battery life over night idle.

After a quick look at the phone it showed the Awake time and the Up time to be almost identical, so the phone was never sleeping.

After a quick browse at various other problems people were having I found the code for a Test menu, enter *#*#4636#*#* on the phone keypad, this gives you all sorts to look at around the battery and it's use.

The best one I found for diagnosing my issue was Battery History, and checking Partial Wake Usage, this highlighted the fact that my Google Calendar was on an almost permanent sync.

I have disabled that particular Sync, as frankly I'm not that busy to require constant updates from my calendar to my phone, and I can always check it via the web.

So last night I went to bed with the phone on 80% and this morning it had only dropped to 75%, result, and all my other Syncs are still enabled, most at 4hours but some more often, that includes, Twitter, Facebook, all other Google services enabled, Weather, RSS feeds, Flickr.

I will continue to monitor the battery life, but I finally feel like I don't need it permanently on charge whilst at work.

Hope this helps some others out.

 

[rumbataz]

I must be going against the grain here. I have absolutely everything turned on with all my emails/social networking syncing regularly and WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS all turned on 24/7. I don't kill any tasks either. I simply charge my phone overnight, every night. My thinking is that I bought a powerful phone and want to use it to the max.

 

[punk_beatz]

Being the excited muppet I am, I took mine out of the box when I got it on Thursday, switched it on and played for a couple of hours before putting it on charge. Having not charged for 3 hours while off, as it as recommended in the manual, have I now messed up the battery life forever?

I downloaded the Battery Left widget a few days ago which now says it is accurate in telling me how long before the battery goes/how much battery is left. After charging it last night before bed, taking it to work today and maybe looking at it for 30 mins (no signal at work) the Desire's battery meter says 68% left, while the Battery Left widget reckons 32% and around 5 hours left. The screen brightness is on a high setting, but wi-fi, mobile network, auto sync, background data etc is off.

A bit concerned I've fudged it up now! If I have, is there any way back?

 

[uzetaab]

Actually, it's probably not your calendar, several web site syncs (like flickr & facebook) report themselves as calendar even though they have nothing to do with the calendar. In my case it was flickr that was causing the issue.

I must be going against the grain here. I have absolutely everything turned on with all my emails/social networking syncing regularly and WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS all turned on 24/7. I don't kill any tasks either. I simply charge my phone overnight, every night. My thinking is that I bought a powerful phone and want to use it to the max.

Your not the only one, I have everything on too. Well, except mobile, but that's because I've blown through my monthly limit already. It'll go back on next month & I'll be careful to make sure my phone is on wifi when I'm doing large downloads .

 

[Roze]

Being the excited muppet I am, I took mine out of the box when I got it on Thursday, switched it on and played for a couple of hours before putting it on charge. Having not charged for 3 hours while off, as it as recommended in the manual, have I now messed up the battery life forever?

I downloaded the Battery Left widget a few days ago which now says it is accurate in telling me how long before the battery goes/how much battery is left. After charging it last night before bed, taking it to work today and maybe looking at it for 30 mins (no signal at work) the Desire's battery meter says 68% left, while the Battery Left widget reckons 32% and around 5 hours left. The screen brightness is on a high setting, but wi-fi, mobile network, auto sync, background data etc is off.

A bit concerned I've fudged it up now! If I have, is there any way back?

I did that when I got my Nexus; played with it right away since the phone was half charged. So you shouldn't worry about it too much. The thing with Battery Left is that it's pretty inacurate. It needs to get a 'hang' of the battery and how you use it (or something) Condition your battery a few times (full discharge)...I tried the widget for a short time before uninstaling it because I did't find it was accurate plus I wasn't patient enough to wait for it to be 'good'. Search AF on Battery Left and you'll find some threads that talk on it and how to make it work for you.

 

[Wardogz]

I'm at 12 hours so far and only two bars gone.

Some WIFI usage and about 10 emails, 25 texts and 15 mins of music.

I use ATK and don't allow apps to sync more often than 12 hours. Also disable always on mobile data, that made a huge difference for me. Plus using GSM only when I dont need 3g.

 

[Wardogz]

This has probably been mentioned but I thought I would add my personal experience of dealing with poor battery life.

I finally had the last straw with the battery life on my Desire on the weekend after it used 60% battery life over night idle.

After a quick look at the phone it showed the Awake time and the Up time to be almost identical, so the phone was never sleeping.

After a quick browse at various other problems people were having I found the code for a Test menu, enter *#*#4636#*#* on the phone keypad, this gives you all sorts to look at around the battery and it's use.

The best one I found for diagnosing my issue was Battery History, and checking Partial Wake Usage, this highlighted the fact that my Google Calendar was on an almost permanent sync.

I have disabled that particular Sync, as frankly I'm not that busy to require constant updates from my calendar to my phone, and I can always check it via the web.

So last night I went to bed with the phone on 80% and this morning it had only dropped to 75%, result, and all my other Syncs are still enabled, most at 4hours but some more often, that includes, Twitter, Facebook, all other Google services enabled, Weather, RSS feeds, Flickr.

I will continue to monitor the battery life, but I finally feel like I don't need it permanently on charge whilst at work.

Hope this helps some others out.

Glad to hear your sorted that problem, it is usually something to do with an app syncing too often.

 

[Bully74uk]

Anyone who is seeing their battery discharge in 3 or 4 hours and/or android system useage at about 90% should try a reboot (remove the battery for at least 11 seconds). It worked for me after FM Radio crashed and sent the android system into a spin. Since the reboot I get over 24 hours and the android system uses less than 10% most of the time.

Based on my experience I would also suggest that those who have a new Desire and find the battery life very poor, try a battery pull.

My battery was terrible for the first two or three days. I noticed that in the battery use menu it was stating that the phones camera was using 48% of my battery even though I had only taken 4 pics since getting the phone.

I did a battery pull and the camera use dissapeared from the menu. Early signs are that the battery is much more stable now.

 

[Zarch]

Had my Desire since launch and with various tweaks alongside Juice Defender I was getting about a day out of the battery.

TechCredo.com | How to Improve Battery Life on Your Android Phone: 19 Tips to Keep the HTC Desire Running a Little Longer

The Main Points I followed were:
Disable Always-On Mobile Data
Turn off Wireless Network Positioning
a Dark Wallpaper Will Use Less Power (changed from the bright orange to the darker HTC blue background)

And since the changes, my battery life seems to have increased dramatically. Not sure if it was just one of the above or a combination of all of them.

Might work for you, might not, but worth a go i'd have thought.

 

[FelixofMars]

I think that if you let it run down completely as in make sure it worn't boot because its out of juice then charge it fully it should relearn the max change amount. Then just use it as normal. You should retrain the battery every so often anyway.

Being the excited muppet I am, I took mine out of the box when I got it on Thursday, switched it on and played for a couple of hours before putting it on charge. Having not charged for 3 hours while off, as it as recommended in the manual, have I now messed up the battery life forever?

I downloaded the Battery Left widget a few days ago which now says it is accurate in telling me how long before the battery goes/how much battery is left. After charging it last night before bed, taking it to work today and maybe looking at it for 30 mins (no signal at work) the Desire's battery meter says 68% left, while the Battery Left widget reckons 32% and around 5 hours left. The screen brightness is on a high setting, but wi-fi, mobile network, auto sync, background data etc is off.

A bit concerned I've fudged it up now! If I have, is there any way back?

 

[photek1000]

Quick update, since disabling Calendar sync I got 41 and a bit hours out of the phone before it hit 12% and the battery low warning.

I use the phone quite heavily, all the syncs are on for all the social and news apps at a reasonable time interval, probably an album of music a day, some streaming video and more and more I use it instead of getting on my laptop for general internet use, and I leave the location settings enabled and also leave Mobile Web and Wi-Fi turned on all the time, GPS only enables when it's needed.

 

[Cesspool]

what can I say great phone, my experiences with the battery are like most uses on here when I first got it didn't know were to start. Played around with the settings First attempt Wi-Fi was on no 3G wasn't set up though you would think Telstra would have configured it. had most of the apps that sync disabled or reduced up date frequencies had been helped by HTC consultant, followed manual for the first charge 3 hours after I got the warning message to place it on charge. It lasted about 24 hrs with moderate use like using bluetooth to transfer files, movie clips , music etc etc a few phone calls , txt and the like, now with 3G running. Second charge was for 6 hours lasted 72 hours but mostly on stby with some bluetoothing and phone calls and text during that time now has had it's third charge was for 12 hours this time 3G disabled just running as mobile with no network features to update will see how long it lasts. Have had this phone since Friday 25th June

 

[vanperski]

I have now run out of ideas

I have owned this phone for about 2 months now, everything was fine at first, i could use the phone heavily, not charge it at night and still have enough juice the next day up until lunch time. However the past 2 weeks have been very different - let me start by saying i have spent hours and hours trawling forums for information about this so with all due respect please do not suggest me any more 'battery saving tips' - I have turned off EVERYTHING on the phone, there are no background tasks running, i have no task killer, no wifi/bt or gps on, no syncing, its at absolute most basic running, without the phone receiving or making a single call or text, just being left on idle mode it runs flat in 14 hours. That is ridiculous. I have performed a factory reset on it, made no difference, I have treated the battery correctly and I simply cannot understand why it is doing this now.

It cannot be an app running as i have checked this, double checked and triple checked, nothing is running, so im left to assume that i either have a faulty handset or a faulty battery which if i understand from these forums is highly unlikely. I honestly dont know what to do now and im considering sending it back, 14 hours on standby with nothing running - it means the phone is essentially a rather expensive android paper weight. Completely unacceptable.

What have other people done in this situation - I have read people getting 30 hours out of it with normal usage?? - its a shame because my little HTC adventure started off so well and i just seem to have hit a brick wall now. Am giving serious consideration to going back to my N97 until my upgrade is due. That phone lasts a week on idle.

Bitterly disappointed HTC customer :-(

 

[Roze]

@vanperski: call HTC to have them send you a replacement battery to see if the battery is at fault.