Let's Be Honest About The Battery Life

[widehead]

@danfrance: press the display bar in the battery status screen. It tells you exactly how long the screen was on for. Check my 4th picture.

We can all work out precisely how much time we've had our Desires "up and running" by simply checking this stat.

@nx1977: this is the reason I put the pics up showing time of usage (arrived at, as I am sure you know, by pressing each bar on the battery usage screen).

Then we don't have to put up with people blathering about their "3 days of heavy usage" and we can agree that 1 day (12 hours) without charge will give you 4(ish) hours of actual usage (i.e. using the Desire as a smartphone).

I could have started this discussion saying: "I get over 12 hours (and more) of use from my Desire" simply by quoting the "time since last unplugged" statistic. But this gives an unrealistic picture of battery life. When we have prospective buyers arriving on the forum for advice or new users worried about battery life we need to be more accurate (and in the case of some users, more honest).

The desire will last for days on standby but it'll last a few hours of use. The hours-of-use figure is (naturally) highly variable but it does seem that 4 hours of use involving web surfing, calls, messaging and listening to music is about what one would realistically expect.

 

[matttye]

How's your signal where you work? Constant switching between GPRS/Edge plus losing signal completely and reconnecting to the network is a heavy drain on the battery.

 

[matttye]

You see, this is what I'm finding. And yet there seem to be one or two users claiming that they have hours and hours of usage (web, calls, watching movies, listening to music) and they are getting 3 days out of a charge. Is it just nonsense? Should I be worried about the 3 hours of actual usage or not?

I would absolutely love it for all of us that are interested (and not too busy) to simply post our time since last unplugged along with the time the display has been on after a days use.

I just don't want to be carting around a Desire with a duff battery.

My Desire has always only lasted about a day (combination of idling in my pocket and being used for music/net)

There are a lot of variables involved with how much battery the screen drains: your screen brightness (lower brightness = less power) and also the colours you're looking at on your screen. The colour white uses 6 times as much power as the colour black on an AMOLED, for example.

 

[Deleted User]

The desire only has 1 temp sensor which is on the battery. Granted the CPU is near the battery but its hard to argue why the phone is hot on this phone.

My Desire gets quite warm when running the GPS and screen at the same time with heavy CPU processing, like using Google Navigation. It also gets warm when charging or running apps that keep the screen on a lot.

But I'm not too concerned because if you can feel the heat, then the phone is sinking the heat away properly. If the phone doesn't get warm then it's a problem because the heat is not being sinked away from the hot centers and can cause damage. If you have crashes, sudden shutdowns, or other errors when the phone is warm, you have a heat issue.

And if it gets too hot to handle, then you have a problem with the phone as that kind of heat can break down plastic seals and cause battery fires. But if it's just toasty warm, don't worry too much.

 

[SUroot]

@danfrance: press the display bar in the battery status screen. It tells you exactly how long the screen was on for. Check my 4th picture.

Thanks I didnt know that.

Today, 80%, Display 52%, 39 Minutes.

 

[riki1kenobi]

To the people who are reading this thread hoping to find out IF the battery life of this phone is any good there are two things you need to know.

1) The way it comes from HTC, or the carriers, as standard you will be lucky to get more than a day out of it. So you will need to tinker with it to get it to last. Luckily, there are many things even a technophobe can do that can increase it!

2) You can get a decent battery life (as many of us do) but YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER READ ABOUT IT because the haters on this forum (as can be seen in this thread and some others also) are preventing anyone from posting about it!

IF anyone started a thread which said "My battery life is great!" they would be shot down in flames by all the self-proclaimed "experts".

 

[LECTER]

To the people who are reading this thread hoping to find out IF the battery life of this phone is any good there are two things you need to know.

1) The way it comes from HTC, or the carriers, as standard you will be lucky to get more than a day out of it. So you will need to tinker with it to get it to last. Luckily, there are many things even a technophobe can do that can increase it!

2) You can get a decent battery life (as many of us do) but YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER READ ABOUT IT because the haters on this forum (as can be seen in this thread and some others also) are preventing anyone from posting about it!

IF anyone started a thread which said "My battery life is great!" they would be shot down in flames by all the self-proclaimed "experts".

At least we don't make false claims!

How's that photoshop coming?

 

[Bradden]

I've cut my brightness down from auto and found it's made a big difference.

 

[widehead]

You can get a decent battery life (as many of us do) but YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER READ ABOUT IT because the haters on this forum (as can be seen in this thread and some others also) are preventing anyone from posting about it!

Not quite sure where on earth you get the idea that anyone is being prevented from posting about anything. Sounds borderline delusional.

Speaking of delusional, anyone claiming a 3 day battery life with heavy usage is absolutely free to post a picture of their statistics screens - especially the time that the display has been on.

It'd be nice to be able to come to a general consensus about this battery-life issue so that we can identify crap apps, bad batteries or any other related things.

As it stands it appears that more and more people are agreeing that 4 to 5 hours usage is what we can expect from the Desire.

 

[widehead]

Thanks I didnt know that.

Today, 80%, Display 52%, 39 Minutes.

So, at this current usage (we don't know what you were doing for those 39 minutes) you'd be looking at between 3 and 4 hours battery life, right? Does this seem reasonable based on what apps you were running?

 

[furious duck]

As it stands it appears that more and more people are agreeing that 4 to 5 hours usage is what we can expect from the Desire.

What do you mean by "usage"? Your original post said you unplugged it at 6am and had 25% battery left at 7pm?

General consensus is that the battery will last a day with moderate usage. Use it more than this then you're going to need to top it up. Commute in and out of poor 3G areas then you're going to need to top it up.

You can never have too many hats, gloves, shoes and battery threads.

 

[SUroot]

So, at this current usage (we don't know what you were doing for those 39 minutes) you'd be looking at between 3 and 4 hours battery life, right? Does this seem reasonable based on what apps you were running?

Web browsing.

I'll do it again on the way home too. Some emails and texts in between.

When I get home, I will probably 55-60% left. That will be 10 Hours since unplugged.

 

[widehead]

What do you mean by "usage"? Your original post said you unplugged it at 6am and had 25% battery left at 7pm?

General consensus is that the battery will last a day with moderate usage. Use it more than this then you're going to need to top it up. Commute in and out of poor 3G areas then you're going to need to top it up.

You can never have too many hats, gloves, shoes and battery threads.

I've made it abundantly clear in my posts what I mean by usage but I don't mind writing it again.

Usage would be when you use your phone to perform a task, run an application or anything else that would require the display to be on.

I'm trying to clarify how long the battery lasts when using the Desire. The reason is that some users are claiming 3 days of battery life with heavy usage. I want to know is this real or is it a lie? It seems to be the case that, as you say, one can expect a charge to last a day (between 12 and 24 hours) with around 4 hours of use (as defined above).

Just to be clear usage is not counted as keeping your phone on standby and not actually using it to do anything.

 

[widehead]

Web browsing.

I'll do it again on the way home too. Some emails and texts in between.

When I get home, I will probably 55-60% left. That will be 10 Hours since unplugged.

Which will be in the region of 1 hour and 30 mins of actual use (if you repeat exactly what you did plus a few texts).

Less than 2 hours of use to drain your battery to 60%.

This compares with my (slightly less than) 4 hours to drain my battery to 25%.

Which backs up my assertion that the Desire will support around 4 to 5 hours of use before the "connect your desire to a charger" warning appears.

Am I missing anything?

UPDATE I just checked my stats. I am sitting on exactly 60% charge after having had the display on for 1 hour 44 mins out of a total of 16 hours and 11 mins since unplugging from the charger. (20 mins of Angry Birds, 3 mins of calls and a lot of texting. No wifi. No 3G. No web etc and my partial wake usage is under 5 mins TOTAL).

 

[LECTER]

...some users are claiming 3 days of battery life with heavy usage. I want to know is this real or is it a lie?

Those saying 3 days with heavy usage are lying or aren't using their phones at all!

 

[furious duck]

I've made it abundantly clear in my posts what I mean by usage but I don't mind writing it again.

Usage would be when you use your phone to perform a task, run an application or anything else that would require the display to be on.

I'm trying to clarify how long the battery lasts when using the Desire. The reason is that some users are claiming 3 days of battery life with heavy usage. I want to know is this real or is it a lie? It seems to be the case that, as you say, one can expect a charge to last a day (between 12 and 24 hours) with around 4 hours of use (as defined above).

Just to be clear usage is not counted as keeping your phone on standby and not actually using it to do anything.

You'll have to excuse me...I skim-read the thread and missed what you meant by "using". I've got Google, Exchange and widgets syncing in the background so I'm using mine even when I'm not using it. But your experiences are pretty much what I'd expect. You can extend the battery by turning everything off, telling people not to call or text you and moving next door to a transmitter, or pretend that you actually get several days out of the battery when you don't. Those claiming extended battery life use a combination of the above. Alternatively, you can accept that you're going to be charging it every night with the occasional top up during the day. And be happy doing so...after all it's a smart phone.

 

[Griff_LI]

To go back to my original response, what were you expecting ? Magic ?

 

[widehead]

Alternatively, you can accept that you're going to be charging it every night with the occasional top up during the day. And be happy doing so...after all it's a smart phone.

Thanks for being patient with my arsey reply.

I have to say that I feel somewhat let down by the battery life. Should have read more about it before I bought it I guess.

I feel that it is our duty to inform prospective buyers that users who claim to get 3 days of heavy use are talking out of their arse and that new users shouldn't spend too much time tweaking their phones trying to achieve unrealistic goals with regards to battery life.

I wasted a lot of time and effort following nonsense advice about task killers and nonsensical charging routines and almost bought an iPhone4 (I held the damn box in my hands!) within 3 weeks of buying my Desire!!!!

Coming to terms with the reality of the battery life has been difficult but at least I know I'm in good company and that I'm not waltzing about with a dud battery.

 

[SUroot]

Those saying 3 days with heavy usage are lying or aren't using their phones at all!

Which also, is lying, if not - at least over-over-over-over exaggerating.

I can get through a day pretty much with heavy usage. As in a "working day" and enough to get home and maybe a bit more.

Moderate use will see me through to bedtime, probably beyond but I charge then anyway.

Light use, no idea. I can't use it lightly.

This is all with a custom rom, undervolted CPU and every trick in the book, so 3 days... No way.

 

[widehead]

To go back to my original response, what were you expecting ? Magic ?

To go back to my original response: No. I was expecting my expensive phone to last longer than 5 hours of use on one charge.

 

[Griff_LI]

5 hours ? Of constant use ? From a 1400mAh battery ? That would be magic!

Go try it on an iPhone/laptop and tell me how you get on.

 

[furious duck]

Thanks for being patient with my arsey reply.

I have to say that I feel somewhat let down by the battery life. Should have read more about it before I bought it I guess.

I feel that it is our duty to inform prospective buyers that users who claim to get 3 days of heavy use are talking out of their arse and that new users shouldn't spend too much time tweaking their phones trying to achieve unrealistic goals with regards to battery life.

I wasted a lot of time and effort following nonsense advice about task killers and nonsensical charging routines and almost bought an iPhone4 (I held the damn box in my hands!) within 3 weeks of buying my Desire!!!!

Coming to terms with the reality of the battery life has been difficult but at least I know I'm in good company and that I'm not waltzing about with a dud battery.

I don't know why you feel let down. I've been charging my phones every night for years and none have been anywhere near as powerful as the Desire. You'd be doing pretty much the same with any smart phone. I've a friend in work with an iPhone 4 and he's got his constantly plugged in to his USB.

 

[widehead]

5 hours ? Of constant use ? From a 1400mAh battery ? That would be magic!

Go try it on an iPhone/laptop and tell me how you get on.

Laptop = not comparable

iPhone4 = 8-10 hours usage time

 

[SUroot]

iPhone4 = 8-10 hours usage time

What? Constantly on as in screen on, streaming music, playing games constantly for 8-10 hours?

Iphone isn't as powerful by the way.

 

[Griff_LI]

Laptop = not comparable

Yes it is. Most laptops have around 1GHz clock frequency. This really IS a powerful phone (perhaps you should focus on what it can do rather than what it can't).

iPhone4 = 8-10 hours usage time

B*ll*cks. I've got many friends with iPhone4s and none of them can get close to that.