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Is this battery life normal?

Ive had my Desire for just under two weeks and had a real issue with the battery over the first couple of days.

I did a battery pull and things improved considerably but my battery indicator was still going yellow/red within 12 hours of very light use.

I do however have a problem with signal in the factory where I work so the phone will spend a lot of time roaming for a signal and I also have my screen brightness set to max and email sync all the time.

Last night the battery ran completely flat (the phone shut down) so I charged it over night.

Phone was switched on this morning at 06:30am, Ive read a few texts, had around 40 emails pushed (most of which I deleted without opening), made one 30 min phone call, done around 10 mins surfing, and listened to MP3 player for 50 mins cycling too and from work.

As of now, 22.04pm (15.5 hours) my battery is still on green 40% remaining. !!!

This is a first.

I concluded in an earlier thread that if you have severe battery drain when you first get the phone, try a battery pull as 'maybe' all the new apps you install take a hit on the operating system. My blackberry forced a re-set after every app install.

Ive read a few posts on here suggesting that the battery does get better over time especially after a number of full discharge/recharges.

Based on my findings today it looks like this could be true for me too as ive seen a gradual improvement over the 12 days ive had the phone with a big jump today after what has been my first 'full' discharge/recharge.

Im starting to feel less concerned about battery life.
 
I get 6 and a half hours of continuous internet surfing on edge with nothing else turned on, screen at lowest setting and on throughout, is that good? I've had the phone for a month now. I use task killer just to close what I'm not using and also close it at the same time so its not running in the background. the first 10% of the battery seems to run out quick but there after it slows down.
 

Sigh - I don't get great battery - I'm wondering about uninstalling locale - but I do find it useful.

But basically - In 12 hours, I'll often get the phone shutting itself down at the end, due to low battery. A typical day where such happens is yesterday:

Klaxon alarm, disconnect from charge around 8am, go to work, send a few texts, 2 5 min phone calls, turn it off for 45mins while in the gym. Have gmail on continuous push, but not get tons of emails. After work - 5 mins with gps on. Load bbc sports website check football, dim screen and recheck football score about every 30mins. 10pm - phone shuts itself down due to low battery.

I've looked at the apps that show what's running, and they really don't seem useful - maybe I"m looking at the wrong bit?

Today so far:
On charge all night. Klaxon at 8am. It's not 11am and I'm at 82% battery.
My use: 5 text messages, quick glance at gmails that came through in the night.

And that's it!
I've got via the *#*#4636#*#* to the information bit- but what bit should I be looking at?
'Partial wake usage' - Android System is at the top, the locale, then calendar...
Facebook uses the most network usage (which is weird, because I've tried to get it to stop syncing?)
After that, a process called '0'. :S

Sigh - I dunno. It just feels atm that I have to turn off anything that makes it a smart phone to make it last long enough to get home from work, and it's not like I'm using it much, as I'm at work!
 
It's so hard to answer "is my battery normal" as we all have differing views of what heavy use is.

For example, I consider heavy use listening to music and browsing the net via 3g constantly for hours heavy use. Other people consider sending a lot of messages heavy use. Both activities might take place over the same period of time, but the first will use WAY more battery.

Using my phone normally, that is, browsing and playing games on the commute, a few calls and texts during the day and then some more playing on the way home in the evening, by the time I go to bed the phone has been unplugged for about 16 hours and normally has about 40% charge left. That said, if I make an effort to turn off wifi and data when not in use, I can happily finish the day on about 60%.

When on standby I seem to drop about 2% whilst I sleep, so technically I could probably get 48 hours (2 days) out of it, if I was careful.

That said... If I browse the internet for hours, the battery takes a big hit.
 
No offense please... there is no point in discussing about battery life on HTC Desire... We can save some battery through some tips n tricks but if u use it normally it wil be drained completely in 12 - 15 hrs..... if u want more battery go for samsung galaxy etc...
 
No offense please... there is no point in discussing about battery life on HTC Desire... We can save some battery through some tips n tricks but if u use it normally it wil be drained completely in 12 - 15 hrs..... if u want more battery go for samsung galaxy etc...

What are you on about? What do you mean by NORMAL? If I use my phone "NORMALLY", after 12-15 hours I would have about 60% left.
 
Ok guys, to give an update:

Yesterday evening i uninstalled Juice Defender and also switched off always on mobile data.


I have used my phone the same amount as yesterday, if not more and the battery life is at around 60%. A definite improvement, and while not perfect im more than happy with the change.

Im on T-mobile, and i can clarify turning off the option for Mobile Data to be always on does not drain the battery, instead improves it.
 
turn off 3g when you're not using it. I use GSM only unless I need 3g. You can download a widget that allows you to switch quickly.

This makes a massive difference. My phone has been switched on for 36 hours (with the mobile data turned off overnight), and I currently have 68% battery life remaining.
 
Ok guys, to give an update:

Yesterday evening i uninstalled Juice Defender and also switched off always on mobile data.


I have used my phone the same amount as yesterday, if not more and the battery life is at around 60%. A definite improvement, and while not perfect im more than happy with the change.

Im on T-mobile, and i can clarify turning off the option for Mobile Data to be always on does not drain the battery, instead improves it.

Juice defender promises a lot, and maybe one delivered, but not as far as this proved.

After being told how good it was earlier I again tried it, and the battery frain was even worse than last time I tried it!
 
I have tried the method below but without switching off my phone. Now my phone can last at least 24 hours (before that was 13-20hrs when low batt warning out). Do a factory reset if this doesn't improve.

Turn off your phone. Charge it. When the green light appears unplug the charger, then wait a minute and plug back in and let it charge until the green light appears again usually 15 to 20 mins. Unplug the charger again then plug it back in and let it charge again until the green light appears. Do this three times and it should be a lot better!
 
Turn off your phone. Charge it. When the green light appears unplug the charger, then wait a minute and plug back in and let it charge until the green light appears again usually 15 to 20 mins. Unplug the charger again then plug it back in and let it charge again until the green light appears. Do this three times and it should be a lot better!

Interesting method....can anyone else confirm that this works?


Update: Ok, so i've researched this a little further and it does infact work. From what i can tell though, the reason behind this is that once your android device reaches 100% charge, the charger will cut off until it reaches 90%.

It's a saftey feature i believe, so with this in mind if you were to charge your phone and take it off charge the moment the LED turns green, you'd be getting the same affect.

Summary: Your phone generally wont be at full charge, despite the led being green. Either taking of charge as soon as it says fully charged or using the method mentioned by joostbeta will fix this.
 
I installed JuiceDefender and have been using it for 2-3 days now. I have to say, I've found it's extended my battery life by a fair amount, perhaps a third. I get that some peeps don't rate it, but for me, it's doing a fair old job!
 
Ive had my Desire for just under two weeks and had a real issue with the battery over the first couple of days.

I did a battery pull and things improved considerably but my battery indicator was still going yellow/red within 12 hours of very light use.

I do however have a problem with signal in the factory where I work so the phone will spend a lot of time roaming for a signal and I also have my screen brightness set to max and email sync all the time.

Last night the battery ran completely flat (the phone shut down) so I charged it over night.

Phone was switched on this morning at 06:30am, Ive read a few texts, had around 40 emails pushed (most of which I deleted without opening), made one 30 min phone call, done around 10 mins surfing, and listened to MP3 player for 50 mins cycling too and from work.

As of now, 22.04pm (15.5 hours) my battery is still on green 40% remaining. !!!

This is a first.

I concluded in an earlier thread that if you have severe battery drain when you first get the phone, try a battery pull as 'maybe' all the new apps you install take a hit on the operating system. My blackberry forced a re-set after every app install.

Ive read a few posts on here suggesting that the battery does get better over time especially after a number of full discharge/recharges.

Based on my findings today it looks like this could be true for me too as ive seen a gradual improvement over the 12 days ive had the phone with a big jump today after what has been my first 'full' discharge/recharge.

Im starting to feel less concerned about battery life.

I've got to cofirm this.
I couldn't complain for the battery's performances, however I noticed (as others, mainly for the HTC evo) the 10% drop in the morning, after an overnight charge and immediately after the unplug of the charger.

Yesterday I forced the phone to shut down (after a complete battery drain) for the first time, charged overnight, and for the first time today it didn't drop of that 10%.

All the day long with wifi on, push and sync with gmail, email, fb and weather always on, 1h30m web browsing, exchange of mp3 files with my laptop for 45m, listening music 30m, 30m streaming, watching the football match...now it is over 13h on and still 57% left.

That is pretty awesome. Do cosider I'm coming from an HTC desire. This is definitely better in terms of battery performance.

Hope this helps others.

G.
 
All depends on your usage. What you are using it for. I find I charge it up once a day during the week, where as I can go Sat and Sun on one charge.

During the week, I get calls, reply to texts, email (2 GMail, 1 Work), Twitter, Internets etc so my usage goes up. You just have to manage it. Normally after one day the battery is still green but I'd say about 35% just before yellow by the end of the day. So I need to charge it before the next one.
 
I'm not getting used to Desire battery. It's really not good at all.

I don't know if it's because I'm coming from a Samsung Omnia2, which has spoilt me with its 3-day battery, but my Desire only gives me at most about 24 hours of juice.

Here's my normal usage:
- Weather auto-updated every 4 hours in 3G mode;
- Emails received automatically every 2 hours in 3G mode;
- Listening to music with a bluetooth stereo headset for about 1,5 hours;
- Surfing the net for 10 to 15 minutes in 3G mode;
- About 30 to 40 minutes of phone calls (made or received);
- Manual sync of my Google or MyPhone accounts twice a day, to update calendar and contact information, in 3G mode.

With my Omnia2, that usage gives me almost 3 days of battery, without need of turning it off at night, as I usually do. With Desire, by the end of the first day I only have 50% of battery juice left, so I have to turn it off at night to use it the next day without charging it.

Is this normal? I don't know what's taking all that juice away, I have tried Juice Defender, but it didn't help.
 
Using it a lot, you won't get more than a day out of the desire. Scientists haven't quite got around to creating a fusion reactor the size of a phone battery, so we're stuck with lithium ion, which is starting to lag behind the power requirements of modern smart phones. Until someone comes up with a revolutionary new battery technology, we're stuck.

Something currently under development are lithium ion cells that use a nanocoating on one of the electrodes to vastly speed up the charging process and improve the charge stored. If you're interested, there's a link below, if not, take my word for it. It's actually really interesting stuff. :)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7081-charge-a-battery-in-just-six-minutes.html

However, you don't NEED more than 24 hours - Just get into the habit of plugging it in when you go to bed, and it won't run out on you.
 
I'm not getting used to Desire battery. It's really not good at all.

I don't know if it's because I'm coming from a Samsung Omnia2, which has spoilt me with its 3-day battery, but my Desire only gives me at most about 24 hours of juice.

Here's my normal usage:
- Weather auto-updated every 4 hours in 3G mode;
- Emails received automatically every 2 hours in 3G mode;
- Listening to music with a bluetooth stereo headset for about 1,5 hours;
- Surfing the net for 10 to 15 minutes in 3G mode;
- About 30 to 40 minutes of phone calls (made or received);
- Manual sync of my Google or MyPhone accounts twice a day, to update calendar and contact information, in 3G mode.

With my Omnia2, that usage gives me almost 3 days of battery, without need of turning it off at night, as I usually do. With Desire, by the end of the first day I only have 50% of battery juice left, so I have to turn it off at night to use it the next day without charging it.

Is this normal? I don't know what's taking all that juice away, I have tried Juice Defender, but it didn't help.

If you are leaving 3g on all day then there is your answer
 
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