Help Having serious problems with Droid X battery life

[upe]

Quick version: I am running launcher pro and just realized that widgets were still updating, or seemed to be updating, in Motoblur. Removed all widgets from screens in Motoblur, but not sure if this is where my battery drain issues are comming from.

Longer version: I just purchased a DroidX this weekend and have launcher pro installed. My phone is not rooted (yet). Thus far my battery has not lasted more than 10 hours, and after reading several forums I think I have everything tweaked about as well as it can be done. I JUST thought of something and wanted to throw this out there to everyone with battery problems. I immediately installed launcher pro over motoblur right out of the box, and never deleted or modified some of the stock social app widgets, rss feeds, etc on the motoblur home screens. A few minutes ago I switched back to motoblur to check on those widgets, and they were all updated as though they have been auto-syncing, etc, this whole time. Perhaps this is the cause for my battery drains? I have deleted all widgets and shortcuts from motoblur screens to test this theory for today's battery use. Does anyone with real experience know what goes on in motoblur when you are running launcher pro?

 

[Deleted User]

Does anyone with real experience know what goes on in motoblur when you are running launcher pro?

Launcher Pro is simply running over the top of the stock launcher. When you hit the home button, it's just switching to the Launcher Pro "app" rather than the stock launcher app.

So, yes, in accordance with Android's ability to truly multitask, all of your stock launcher widgets were happily updating in the background, thinking you were very interested in what they had to say.

I'm surprised the recommendation isn't more widespread (I've seen it many places but it should really slap everyone in the face when they install a launcher), but everyone should always clear the desktop of the launcher(s) that they aren't using. No point in letting it sit there using up memory, CPU cycles and bandwidth.

 

[mykd99]

...We both let the battery run down completely before charging it up (which I was told by the Verizon rep was the "way to go"),...

FALSE, this used to be true with Alkaline batteries, no longer true with these Lithium Ion batteries. Lithium Ion batteries like to operate between 20% and 80%. i.e. don't let it get below 20%.

Google it or read more here...

Quote from this article... Charging lithium-ion batteries

Preparing new lithium-ion for use

Unlike nickel and lead-based batteries, a new lithium-ion pack does not need cycling through charging and discharging. Priming will make little difference because the maximum capacity of lithium-ion is available right from the beginning. Neither does a full discharge improve the capacity of a faded pack. However, a full discharge/charge will reset the digital circuit of a 'smart' battery to improve the state-of-charge estimation

 

[upe]

I just wanted to post a quick follow up to my initial question earlier regarding launcher pro and widgets still running on the stock screens. After taking all of the widgets off my motoblur screens my battery has made a dramatic improvement over yesterday. At the moment I am sitting at 50% and it has been unplugged 12 hours, with roughly the same usage. At this point yesterday I had to plug it in because it had died.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone out there because I had previously found no information on this issue. I know I haven't provided much other information on what I'm running on the phone but would be willing to talk about it if anyone is interested. I

 

[ozzzy3z]

I just wanted to post a quick follow up to my initial question earlier regarding launcher pro and widgets still running on the stock screens. After taking all of the widgets off my motoblur screens my battery has made a dramatic improvement over yesterday. At the moment I am sitting at 50% and it has been unplugged 12 hours, with roughly the same usage. At this point yesterday I had to plug it in because it had died.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone out there because I had previously found no information on this issue. I know I haven't provided much other information on what I'm running on the phone but would be willing to talk about it if anyone is interested. I

I'm new to Android and I am having the same problem with my X. I too am running LauncherPro right over Blur. Here's the dumb question part: How do I switch the home screen back to Blur to see what's running under LauncherPro? And once I do this and switch back to LP, will all of my settings remain in tact?

 

[ozzzy3z]

I'm new to Android and I am having the same problem with my X. I too am running LauncherPro right over Blur. Here's the dumb question part: How do I switch the home screen back to Blur to see what's running under LauncherPro? And once I do this and switch back to LP, will all of my settings remain in tact?

I found the answer to my own questions. Downloaded a free app called HomeSwitcher. It does the job. By the way, my old Blur screens were a mess with updating apps. Crossing my fingers my battery life will be improved by this along with the "update social apps wifi only" trick described above.

 

[aminaked]

Just skimmed the thread. No one mentioned the droid x battery drain bug?

 

[quickaudi]

so, I'm on my second phone, and for starters, I didn't kill my battery completely when I received it. I think that worked for batteries years ago, but nothing in the user's manual calls for that now.

also, I had some bad battery drain with my first X, but I believe it was due to a couple of apps (TiKl and Battery Meter Pro) and the fact that I used 3G at home for the web instead of Wifi.

Honestly, those 4 changes above are the only difference, and I've gone from 8 hours of phone time to 1.5 days. HTH.

 

[upe]

Hey aminaked,

Whats the droid x battery drain bug?

 

[aminaked]

Hey aminaked,

Whats the droid x battery drain bug?

Here's the thread: http://androidforums.com/droid-x-su...428-battery-drain-due-software-bug-w-gps.html

In a nutshell, Droid X users need to:
-turn off GPS when done using it
-turn off WIFI when done using it
-after charging, unplug phone and reboot

People have also said that this helps:
phone settings > location&security > use wireless networks > UNCHECK

You shouldn't have to keep toggling all of this stuff off. On my Droid 1, I keep the GPS and WIFI settings on all the time because GPS is only used as needed by apps and WIFI actually uses less power than 3G.

Hopefully the update will fix all of this!

***

All that being said, other things can drain your battery: apps/widgets/live wallpapers that are poorly designed. Dial *#*#4636#*#* to track down the culprits and uninstall them. Keep screen brightness on auto or lower if you can stand it. Do away with unnecessary widgets and apps that run on startup.

If Cell standby is using a lot of your battery dial *228 to update PRLs. Apparently Verizon recommends doing this once/month. It can't hurt.