How to: Fix Battery Life

[mntbighker]

i downloaded juice defender a couple days ago. i've noticed a pretty good increase in battery life. also got the "no wallpaper" app. makes the background black. helps battery too and actually looks pretty freakin sweet

Cool, I'm going to try No Wallpaper.

 

[droidfan1]

With Juice Defender I can actually use 4G and have good battery life.

Where I live, 4G is 1-2 bars and 3G is 1-4 bars. So often times my phone will either A. Have no data, B. Be 3G 4 bars, or C. 4G 1-2 bars.

I always want C. With juice defender, immediately once I turn my screen on it goes onto 4G. Fast. When I have no data, what do I have to do? Reboot. Annoying

With juice defender, I've never not had data. It always gets me back onto my 4G. I'm really really happy with it, and my battery is now lasting 10-18 hours with 4G. Awesome.

 

[nj02vette]

I've been away for a bit, and would like to chime in with my experience.

Wifi on, 4G on, Bluetooth on, GPS on (only runs when maps active anyway), updating widgets (Beautiful Widgets, Facebook, Google+), and an average screen useage time of 2-3 hours. Screen is set to automatic settings. I've done nothing special with regards to power savings.

I'm usually at 15hrs up time by the end of the day (7-10) with an average of 30% remaining. Now I do have the extended battery, but that's only good for another 10%. I can't complain for a second about the battery life on this phone. It's phenomenal for me.

 

[mistermojorizi]

with juice defender ultimate I was getting 24 hours out of my extended battery, without it, i'm getting about 12 hours...but this was my problem with juice defender:

when i'm in the car, i need to google voice text messages. But when i'd have JD on, it wouldn't work (because the data would take a second to connect, and voice commands wouldn't work without data). so i'd have to look down at my phone, which defeats the purpose of using voice.

i have the paid version of JD. Any advice?

 

[Tim K]

WiFi was not helping my battery life at all as even in WiFi mode, the phone still constantly seems to check the data connection and switch between 3G and LTE.

I would get anywhere from 14-17 hours with substantial use on WiFi. (its still getting a lot of new toy action). I found the biggest drain on my battery was the weak 4G signal in my house. I live in the suburbs of Philly and must be kind-of on the edge of the 4G coverage. In reviewing my battery stats I found that my phone was reporting time without a signal at up to 6% (previously I've never seen anything but 0% on my Droid). I turn off 4G while I am at home and it makes a big difference....at least in the last 2 days. Yesterday I got over 24hrs.

 

[droidfan1]

with juice defender ultimate I was getting 24 hours out of my extended battery, without it, i'm getting about 12 hours...but this was my problem with juice defender:

when i'm in the car, i need to google voice text messages. But when i'd have JD on, it wouldn't work (because the data would take a second to connect, and voice commands wouldn't work without data). so i'd have to look down at my phone, which defeats the purpose of using voice.

i have the paid version of JD. Any advice?

Try setting google voice to being able to use data at all times.

 

[thenew3]

For me, the culprit was Swype.

First week I owned the phone, I got 10 to 12 hours out of extended battery.
Then suddenly the 2nd week, I could only get 4 hours of standby time. (that is charge to 100%, unplug, let it sit on desk idling, 4 hours later it powers off due to low battery).
I started to uninstall apps one at a time, eventually got to swype. after uninstalling swype, I'm now getting around 15 to 20 hours of use out of a full charge on the extended battery.

Just to verify, I reinstalled swype, and sure enough, a full charge died after 4 hours of standby.

For me, 3G vs 4G standby seems to make very little difference in battery run time.
Unlike the Bionic which consumed 4X more power in 4G standby vs 3G standby.

Today's been a busy day at work so I haven't used my phone much. Right now it shows 8.5 hours since unplugging it this morning, and battery is at 83% (extended battery)

 

[ska.t73]

For me, the culprit was Swype.

First week I owned the phone, I got 10 to 12 hours out of extended battery.
Then suddenly the 2nd week, I could only get 4 hours of standby time. (that is charge to 100%, unplug, let it sit on desk idling, 4 hours later it powers off due to low battery).
I started to uninstall apps one at a time, eventually got to swype. after uninstalling swype, I'm now getting around 15 to 20 hours of use out of a full charge on the extended battery.

Just to verify, I reinstalled swype, and sure enough, a full charge died after 4 hours of standby.

For me, 3G vs 4G standby seems to make very little difference in battery run time.
Unlike the Bionic which consumed 4X more power in 4G standby vs 3G standby.

Today's been a busy day at work so I haven't used my phone much. Right now it shows 8.5 hours since unplugging it this morning, and battery is at 83% (extended battery)

Hmmmm, I'm using Swype and haven't seen that at all. My battery life isn't great (coming from the TBolt I'm used to it by now lol), but I have never seen it only go 4 hours on idle. Which version of Swype were you using?

 

[mntbighker]

Has anyone figured out a way to change an Exchange email account from push to 15 minute check interval? I'm wondering if that is killing me too. 7 hours today I'm at 65% battery and screen is 11% with Android OS at 60%.

edit: alright how is it now I find like 3 different ways into the sync frequency in Exchange and 2 days ago I could find none? Is someone playing a practical joke? Nope, I must be just a tired dope.

edit: Reinstalling Facebook my battery life has gone back to lousy :-( I had this same problem early on with DroidX and DroidX2.

 

[DroidR]

I've been away for a bit, and would like to chime in with my experience.

Wifi on, 4G on, Bluetooth on, GPS on (only runs when maps active anyway), updating widgets (Beautiful Widgets, Facebook, Google+), and an average screen useage time of 2-3 hours. Screen is set to automatic settings. I've done nothing special with regards to power savings.

I'm usually at 15hrs up time by the end of the day (7-10) with an average of 30% remaining. Now I do have the extended battery, but that's only good for another 10%. I can't complain for a second about the battery life on this phone. It's phenomenal for me.

This poster describes my battery experiences after the first week from launch day purchase, it just keeps getting better on the extended battery I installed the first day. My 3 hours screen time per charge cycle is lower than many complaining here in this thread, but I have gone over 6 a few times. I do not have Facebook, never configured G+, on WiFi all the time at work or home and my 4G signal is in the green 100% or 3-4 bars all the time. Not rooted, no battery apps, NFC on all the time and used every other day.

So, this WiFi on trick is interesting, wonder if there is some battery conservation software activated in ICS when on WiFi that is not operating when it is off? Programming that benefits the whole phone's consumption? Turning on an electricity using feature to save juice does not by itself make sense unless there is something else activating along with it. What do you guys think?

 

[bobthebob]

'on surveillance'?? cool! what do you do?

oh - and thanks for the links for the cool inverted themed apps.

 

[bobthebob]

wow! way to go The_Chief - great to hear that! that's definitely the recipe then:

wifi always on
LTE on
and JD running.

I like to have my cake and eat it too!! ;-D

 

[dsass600]

Make your background black. Went from 15 hours to 36.5!

 

[jinwons]

Make your background black. Went from 15 hours to 36.5!

That's interesting tip. Why would black background improve battery life on standby? And how did you set background to black? There is no blank background wallpaper.