breynolds007
Well-Known Member
Ok, I know this battery issue on the Incredible has been covered in a ton of different threads, but I've been able to get my & my wife's phones to get great battery life through much trial and error without having to avoid using all the great features offered. I want to share what I've learned and I feel that most of this stuff has been covered in different places, but maybe not all together in an easy to use way.
Settings wise: I have the display brightness set at 25-30%, it's plenty bright enough and uses less power than the auto setting. I set the screen timeout to 30 seconds and I keep the "Enable always-on mobile data" feature ON because Pandora will timeout with it off and didn't seem to affect the battery much. I use Auto-sync for Google and FB for HTC sense (but some people have reported FB for sense issues). I connect to Wi-Fi when at home and work which saves battery because my phone isn't constantly trying to acquire data signal. (To make sure Wi-Fi doesn't auto turn itself you have to go to Advanced under Wi-Fi settings and turn the sleep policy to Never). I turn GPS on when I need to use maps, I don't use live wallpapers. I don't use a lot of widgets but do use the HTC bookmarks & weather widgets. Besides the settings, here are the biggest ways I've found to get great battery life.
1) Know your phone. Go to Settings->About Phone->Battery Use and see what's been using your battery. Everyone's situation is different due to how you use your phone and your location but if a certain Category is extremely high, it can help you diagnose why. (I never have any 1 item over 40%) Also, make sure the Awake time and Up time aren't the same number, if they are then you're phone is never sleeping...see below.
2) Remove any programs that you think are draining battery or don't use. Some cause your phone to stay awake the whole time it's on. My wife's Inc was having this issue and couldn't get more than 6-8 hrs on her battery but a factory reset easily fixed the problem. (I noticed the Weather Channel and Weather Bug to be particularly hungry) If I really don't use the app or notice side effects, I delete.
3) Don’t use a Task Killer. I know this there's been a lot of controversy, but I've found that it uses more battery than it helps. Android was meant to multi-task plus it’s annoying to constantly feel like you to need to kill your programs.
4) The bump charging method really does work!I'm sure the next software update will fix this glitch, but this makes a huge difference. I used to charge till the red light turned green and my phone would show 100% charge. However, 10 mins later it would be at 90%, then 20 mins 80%, I couldn't believe it! But, as it's been documented, charge like normal until the light turns green then turn your phone off. The light will turn red again and charge another 20-30 mins and then go green again. Then you are fully charged! I just did this over 3 hours ago and my phone's battery just hit 92% with normal use, before I would hit 90% in a matter of a few mins.
Doing all these things, I am able to use my phone to its full capability (at least for all my needs) and still get plenty of battery life. I'm not sure of how much total time I can get out of it, I'll have to run some tests, but I leave the house at 8am and usually don't get home till 7 or 8pm and don't have to worry about getting through my day. I hope this really helps some people, it's taken a while for me to get to a point I'm satisfied with the battery. I'm happy to be able to avoid the size and expense of an extended battery but still use all my phone's great features!
Settings wise: I have the display brightness set at 25-30%, it's plenty bright enough and uses less power than the auto setting. I set the screen timeout to 30 seconds and I keep the "Enable always-on mobile data" feature ON because Pandora will timeout with it off and didn't seem to affect the battery much. I use Auto-sync for Google and FB for HTC sense (but some people have reported FB for sense issues). I connect to Wi-Fi when at home and work which saves battery because my phone isn't constantly trying to acquire data signal. (To make sure Wi-Fi doesn't auto turn itself you have to go to Advanced under Wi-Fi settings and turn the sleep policy to Never). I turn GPS on when I need to use maps, I don't use live wallpapers. I don't use a lot of widgets but do use the HTC bookmarks & weather widgets. Besides the settings, here are the biggest ways I've found to get great battery life.
1) Know your phone. Go to Settings->About Phone->Battery Use and see what's been using your battery. Everyone's situation is different due to how you use your phone and your location but if a certain Category is extremely high, it can help you diagnose why. (I never have any 1 item over 40%) Also, make sure the Awake time and Up time aren't the same number, if they are then you're phone is never sleeping...see below.
2) Remove any programs that you think are draining battery or don't use. Some cause your phone to stay awake the whole time it's on. My wife's Inc was having this issue and couldn't get more than 6-8 hrs on her battery but a factory reset easily fixed the problem. (I noticed the Weather Channel and Weather Bug to be particularly hungry) If I really don't use the app or notice side effects, I delete.
3) Don’t use a Task Killer. I know this there's been a lot of controversy, but I've found that it uses more battery than it helps. Android was meant to multi-task plus it’s annoying to constantly feel like you to need to kill your programs.
4) The bump charging method really does work!I'm sure the next software update will fix this glitch, but this makes a huge difference. I used to charge till the red light turned green and my phone would show 100% charge. However, 10 mins later it would be at 90%, then 20 mins 80%, I couldn't believe it! But, as it's been documented, charge like normal until the light turns green then turn your phone off. The light will turn red again and charge another 20-30 mins and then go green again. Then you are fully charged! I just did this over 3 hours ago and my phone's battery just hit 92% with normal use, before I would hit 90% in a matter of a few mins.
Doing all these things, I am able to use my phone to its full capability (at least for all my needs) and still get plenty of battery life. I'm not sure of how much total time I can get out of it, I'll have to run some tests, but I leave the house at 8am and usually don't get home till 7 or 8pm and don't have to worry about getting through my day. I hope this really helps some people, it's taken a while for me to get to a point I'm satisfied with the battery. I'm happy to be able to avoid the size and expense of an extended battery but still use all my phone's great features!