Okay, I hope this post helps some people, especially those who think they have a defective phone. Chances are you don't. 1 simple fact, battery life on all new Super Android Phone suck. Battery life of 4-5 hrs is typical. Also it is hard to guage battery life, because we all use phones different. One person may claim to be a light user, but they may infact be a heavy user, another person may claim to be a heavy user, while they truely use the battery lightly.
Another fact, for some of you this is your first smartphone, you may think your phone is defective because it is not lasting 2 days on a charge. I'm here to tell you now, it won't, so just accept that, and no matter how many times you exchange your phone, it's going to be the same. This is a 4inch Super Amoled display, 1Ghz processor, and fastest GPU available, of course it will require juice.
Myth...the Super Amoled is very energy efficent. Actually no its not, it uses a lot of battery to display anything other than black.
Here is a comparison of batteries on different phones. Expect about 4-5hrs on the Epic. Please visit the link below:
Android Battery Test Reveals Droid X Lasts Longest, AMOLED Handsets Trail
Trust me, no matter how strongly you believe your unit is defective, and no matter how many exchanges you do, these phones are battery hogs. Every one will be the same.
More facts...even when you don't use your phone, the battery drains.
More facts...the battery will appear to jump in big increments, for example from 60 to suddenly 20.
This is normal, sucks but normal. Maybe the algorithm needs to be modified.
So what can you do to improve battery life.
Here are some suggestions. The following are only if you absolutely need maximum battery life, basically I'm going to tell you to turn everything off. Now a disclaimer, because I know some smart @ss is going to say "why did I buy this phone if I have to turn all that off." My answer is, then go return your phone and buy a phone with a small screen and slow processor, otherwise suck it up, carry a charger or spare battery and follow the below steps when you want to extend battery life.
Okay First: Turn off live wallpapers,
run a pure black image file as your background. The phone will use less battery to display black. Trust me this helps a lot.
Turn off all syncs that are not needed, I only leave on gmail mail sync. Everything else like weather and news is off.
Turn wifi OFF, Turn Bluetooth OFF, don't use GPS
Haptic feedback, turn that off.
Vibrate turn that off.
The clicking noise the phone makes when you tap stuff, turn that off.
On the vibrant, we can turn off 3G and set it to 2G only, if the Epic permits this, then turn 3G off. Again, before some smart person screams at me, these suggestions are if you need maximum battery life, to recieve and make voice calls.
In both the main settings and web browser settings put the screen brightness to the lowest possible.
This last suggestion is controversal, because some people claim it works, others say its a gimmick. The suggestion is to use advanced task killer. Before you call me an idiot, and tell me ATK is not required on android, I'm just merely suggesting it for people who want to test it out. If it works great keep it, if not delete it. Watch someone is going to say something about advanced task killer and how i'm stupid for suggesting it.
AGAIN, BEFORE SOMEONE SCREAMS at me saying i'm telling you to handicap your phone with everything off, i'm merly providing a suggestion for people who in certain cases need maximum battery life.
Someone is going to still disregard my disclaimer and scream at me about my suggestions, but okay. Hope you find these helpful.
Closing thoughts. You also need to keep in mind, your phone is brand new, meaning you are excited, full of joy, and you probably can't keep your hands off of it. Many of you probably haven't put the phone down once since you got it. This is not normal use, you are using it more than usual. As the weeks go by, and you are over your "wow my cool new phone" phase, you won't be using it every second of every moment, and you will notice the battery will appear to last longer.
EDIT:
If you own an iPhone, or owned one in the past, and battery life is important to you, keep the iPhone, because Super Android phones will
not get the battery life that iPhone provides and you will cry and complain all day about your new Android device. Then Steve Jobs will wipe your tears away, tell you "don't hold your phone like that" and will make you throw an ugly bumper on it, and you will comply with pleasure as God gives you commands.
