Let's Be Honest About The Battery Life

[ukplay]

Well, after reading this forum for weeks and having advice from many (including the very helpful Lekky) i decided to go for the Desire, despite all the moaning about the battery life. I think it is an amazing piece of kit and it has yet to have much peace from me constantly downloading widgets and apps and changing wallpapers etc as i'm sure you all do. However, i can only assume several of you guys have defective batteries, poor signals or apps running in the background as i have actually been pleasantly surprised by the battery life i am experiencing. I was expecting to have to charge it every night, which, lets face it is no big hassle, but as of now my phone has been off charge for 1d 19h 55m 22s and has 31% remaining. I have synching set for every hour and wifi on when available, but my screen on auto. I would say i'm an average user, and getting a 'comfortable' 2 days between charges, which is perfectly acceptable to me

 

[Griff_LI]

Well, after reading this forum for weeks and having advice from many (including the very helpful Lekky) i decided to go for the Desire,

Good choice ! But you have to update your devices profile

 

[partridge]

a quick update on my battery:

topped up yesterday so switched on this morning at 100%

up time = 8 hours 36 minutes
awake time = 58 minutes

mobile data off for the most part, have turned it on three times to do updates, etc.

Battery is currently at 80%, to be fair I haven't used it much today, but to me that's not the point. I would agree that the battery was bad if it had still run down despite me hardly using it, but as it is I won't need to charge it until tomorrow.

I can't agree with the complaints about the Desire battery. It's absolutely fine and it's perfectly logical to me that the more you use any battery driven device the quicker that battery will die.

Is anyone really expecting a full day's continual use from a smartphone battery? Maybe one day when batteries move up a generation we'll be able to thrash the thing constantly and still have power left over at the end of the day, but it seems to me that at the moment the abilities of these handsets are ahead of what the batteries are able to keep up with.

 

[widehead]

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

The usage time is double that of the Desire. I have first-hand evidence of this.

Yes it is. Most laptops have around 1GHz clock frequency.

And 13 inch screens. And Dual Core processors. And hard drives.

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

Our experiences differ here, then.

 

[Griff_LI]

And 13 inch screens. And Dual Core processors. And hard drives.

And batteries about 4 times the size of THE ENTIRE PHONE!!!

 

[widehead]

I have actually been pleasantly surprised by the battery life i am experiencing. I was expecting to have to charge it every night, which, lets face it is no big hassle, but as of now my phone has been off charge for 1d 19h 55m 22s and has 31% remaining. I have synching set for every hour and wifi on when available, but my screen on auto. I would say i'm an average user, and getting a 'comfortable' 2 days between charges, which is perfectly acceptable to me

You see what I mean?!!! How can our experiences be this inconsistent?!?!?!

ukplay could you post your Display "time on" number, please? It's found by going to Settings>About phone>Battery>Battery use>Display once you tap the display bar you'll see the "Use details" and under that the Time on. This info would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[SUroot]

I'm bored of this thread now.

You can't compare 2 phones "usage" time (where usage is doing something rather than doing nothing) scientifically unless it is like for like.

The iphone uses less power because it is not as powerful, plus the kernel interfaces with the hardware differently. The apps work differently. They're often not even teh same apps. Even reception comes into play.

Its so unscientific, its not even worth entertaining.

My Desire lasts as long as my blackberry did, with the same usage, and twice the screen size.

 

[widehead]

You can't compare 2 phones "usage" time (where usage is doing something rather than doing nothing) scientifically unless it is like for like.

I actually agree with you 100% and I didn't intend to turn this into a comparison thread.

I'm so frustrated right now as yet another user (ukplay) is citing awesomely long usage times.

What's the deal? Have I set up my phone so badly that the battery life is suffering?

 

[SUroot]

Ok so lets look at it another way.

Your battery lasts 4-5 hours.

Can you list everything you are doing within this time frame? if you can, please quantify as much as possible. Minutes, units, anything.

 

[Griff_LI]

You see what I mean?!!! How can our experiences be this inconsistent?!?!?!

But it's not inconsistent! UKPlay simply acknowledges the fact that if you use the phone CONSTANTLY you're likely to flatten the battery in a few hours. Everyone else accepts that. It doesn't take a 500mW processor and its associated electronics very long to eat 1400mAH (theoretical maximum).

Before I had the Desire I had a N95-1 and towards the end I was getting 4-5 days between charges (mainly cos I wasn't using it very much, except as a phone). But I could still drain the battery from full to empty in about an hour if I used Nokia Maps without sticking it on the charger.

Even if iPhones get just-short-of-twice the battery-life of the Desire (and I have simply never seen the evidence of this, and I have seen evidence to the contrary) they do cost just-short-of-twice the amount (and you can buy a spare Desire battery for twenty quid...)

 

[oOoMAJESTICoOo]

Ill be honest .... it isn't an issue.

 

[LECTER]

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.

I concur 100%!

My Desire lasts as long as my blackberry did

You had the Bold as well right?

I got 2 days easy with mine with a lot of use.

 

[SUroot]

I concur 100%!



You had the Bold as well right?

I got 2 days easy with mine with a lot of use.

The 9000, yeah. I couldn't get 2 days out of it, but it was changing between GPRS, EDGE and 3G a lot. My desire was at first too, but I have a new radio now which seems much better.

My Bold would last until bed time with heavy usage, or a bit less. I used to charge it at work though and always charge at bed time.

 

[LECTER]

The 9000, yeah. I couldn't get 2 days out of it, but it was changing between GPRS, EDGE and 3G a lot. My desire was at first too, but I have a new radio now which seems much better.

My Bold would last until bed time with heavy usage, or a bit less. I used to charge it at work though and always charge at bed time.

I had Edge in my area so all was good!

 

[SpicyTacoto]

Battery life on my Desire is poor, imo...but I refuse to "dumb it down" and negate so many of the benefits of the device. So I got a car charger, and have the charger it came with in a kitchen cupboard for a quick top up if necessary, and I plug it in each night so it's back to 100% by morning. I also work from home so I can charge it via usb when I'm at my desk.

Would I like longer battery life? Definitely. Does it ruin the phone for me? Not even close. The work-arounds are pretty painless...the charge time is very quick...and I always have a decent charge, plus I get to take advantage of push email, auto updates, active wallpaper etc.

 

[riki1kenobi]

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.

Hang on, let me get this right, so because YOU and one or two others say it cant be done then that is how it is? Wow mate, talk about living up yer own arse or what....

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

Heres a top tip for you, Maybe you should read another book

Well folks, we have been told by the "experts"! NO-ONE can get even remotely close to 3 days out of their battery and the ones who do are all lying or exagerating!

Hmmn

 

[EmperorK]

i got fed up of having a smartphone i had to restrict my use of, so I got an extended battery. And I researched into the dodgy vs reliable 3rd party batteries before buying.

Yeah the cosmetics are a bit messed with a 3rd party thicker case but I am loving having all notifications on, sync on, wifi on, mobile data on etc etc. And no, it doesn't last for a year on end, still only about 1 and a half days, maybe closer to 2, but considering all that stuff is on, I'm very happy now.

 

[widehead]

@riki1kenobi seriously, all you have to do is the following:

show us your time since last unplugged along with the display Time on data along with everything you have done in setup in order to squeeze three days of use out of your Desire.

Absolutely no one is stopping you from doing this. If you can't be arsed that is, of course, fine. But you can't claim 3 days use without expecting disbelief seeing as nobody else can even come close.

You've seen the stats - 4 to 5 hours actual usage is what people are reporting. If you use your phone for an hour a day it will last close to 3 days (the phone sucks battery power even when on standby/idle, no?) But clearly one would be being disingenuous to report that as "3 days usage".

 

[chaoticfury]

I know this seems to be a hot issue with smartphones. Let's face the facts.

1. All smartphones suffer this problem.

2. Nothing is perfect

3. Takes a bit of tinkering.

I will be honest, my first week with my Desire the battery life was horrible. After using it for two months, that sucker takes me to 100+ hours of standby with at least 10 hours of use. Phone calls, texts, web surfing, my spotty coverage at work. The whole point is that you need to adjust your phone. I have my weather and facebook to update hourly, my email set to the same. With these features I easily exceed my daily use without charging. Then when I go home at night, I charge it to full to make sure it's ready for the next day. I found that getting rid of some programs, especially my task killer increased my battery life dramatically. Maybe it was just me but it worked. So best advice, take a look at your programs, get rid of stuff your not using and the phone should run just fine. If not, maybe you got a defect or maybe you just need to do more tinkering. If your not willing to tinker your never going to be happy.

*Every smartphone is faulty, including the Iphone. Just because the fanboys don't want to admit it doesn't mean it's not true.*

*Faulty being not perfect*

 

[Lacrimosa]

I know this seems to be a hot issue with smartphones. Let's face the facts.

1. All smartphones suffer this problem.

2. Nothing is perfect

3. Takes a bit of tinkering.

I will be honest, my first week with my Desire the battery life was horrible. After using it for two months, that sucker takes me to 100+ hours of standby with at least 10 hours of use. Phone calls, texts, web surfing, my spotty coverage at work. The whole point is that you need to adjust your phone. I have my weather and facebook to update hourly, my email set to the same. With these features I easily exceed my daily use without charging. Then when I go home at night, I charge it to full to make sure it's ready for the next day. I found that getting rid of some programs, especially my task killer increased my battery life dramatically. Maybe it was just me but it worked. So best advice, take a look at your programs, get rid of stuff your not using and the phone should run just fine. If not, maybe you got a defect or maybe you just need to do more tinkering. If your not willing to tinker your never going to be happy.

*Every smartphone is faulty, including the Iphone. Just because the fanboys don't want to admit it doesn't mean it's not true.*

*Faulty being not perfect*

Interesting, I'm sitting at 13% right now and my day started at 11AM today.
My Desire would probably have a hard time keeping up with half your alleged use. Though, removing ATK was probably the best thing I did for my battery.

The 9000, yeah. I couldn't get 2 days out of it, but it was changing between GPRS, EDGE and 3G a lot. My desire was at first too, but I have a new radio now which seems much better.

My Bold would last until bed time with heavy usage, or a bit less. I used to charge it at work though and always charge at bed time.

I got 2 days out of the Bold easy, I think I charged it 3 times the whole time I had it. I had it as a loaner when I sold my iPhone 3GS prematurely and was left phone-less for a week or so hahaha..

 

[zigackly]

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

a paper weight could be heavy usage too

but seriously, riki1kenobi, if you're one of the users who are getting that sort of usage out of your desire, please do post it up here so the rest of us can see what you're doing. If anything, it will put this debate to a rest if your settings work across our desires too(which they should, barring external factors like reception).

personally i get around the same type of usage as widehead does. I've tried calibrating the battery a couple of times with no success(noticeable change), and my settings are as follows:

-unrooted froyo
-Only Gmail set to autosync
-screen brightness manual (10%-30%max)
-Weather sync twice daily
-3g off, wifi mostly off unless im downloading apps.

will do an overnight charge and post usage stats tomorrow.

 

[Deleted User]

time since last unplugged[/B] along with the display Time on data along with everything you have done in setup in order to squeeze three days of use out of your Desire.

I'll have to do this tomorrow and see what it shows. Under my normal usage, I get 24-48 hours depending on what I'm doing with the phone. I figure I can get 72 hours, but that would be mostly standby.

You've seen the stats - 4 to 5 hours actual usage is what people are reporting.

Something I've noticed with all phones is that with intermittent usage the battery lasts longer than constant use. So a few calls, browsing, texting, throughout the day, the battery lasts longer than if I browsed continuously for 5 hours. This is normal as heat affects battery life, and allowing the battery and phone to cool gives it longer life.

If you use your phone for an hour a day it will last close to 3 days (the phone sucks battery power even when on standby/idle, no?) But clearly one would be being disingenuous to report that as "3 days usage".

Not really, that would be correct - the phone was used for 3 days, but I would consider it light usage. It's still 3 days usage though. And don't forget that listening to music is still considered usage, although the screen is not active and the CPU is not under heavy demands. That greatly affects how long the battery lasts compared to someone using the phone with the GPS and screen active which runs the battery down in several hours.

YMMV.

 

[Lacrimosa]

a paper weight could be heavy usage too

but seriously, riki1kenobi, if you're one of the users who are getting that sort of usage out of your desire, please do post it up here so the rest of us can see what you're doing. If anything, it will put this debate to a rest if your settings work across our desires too(which they should, barring external factors like reception).

personally i get around the same type of usage as widehead does. I've tried calibrating the battery a couple of times with no success(noticeable change), and my settings are as follows:

-unrooted froyo
-Only Gmail set to autosync
-screen brightness manual (10%-30%max)
-Weather sync twice daily
-3g off, wifi mostly off unless im downloading apps.

will do an overnight charge and post usage stats tomorrow.

-Rooted 2.2
-Gmail, Gmail calendar, Gmail tasks set to push
-3 other email account set to update every hour
-Auto brightness
-Weather ever half hour
-3G and wifi on all day
-Bluetooth on in the car (about 40 minutes daily)

I've turned these settings off to a more battery optimized level like yours but in the end, I have to charge my phone every night anyway so I figured I'd just "splurge". Plus I have a charger in my car, USB in my pack to connect to my laptop where ever I go..

And as for riki1kenobi's claims, I'll believe it when I see it.
Until then, that claim is bogus and full of crap to me.

 

[LECTER]

Hang on, let me get this right, so because YOU and one or two others say it cant be done then that is how it is? Wow mate, talk about living up yer own arse or what....

Heres a top tip for you, Maybe you should read another book

Well folks, we have been told by the "experts"! NO-ONE can get even remotely close to 3 days out of their battery and the ones who do are all lying or exagerating!

Hmmn

Until you post some real stats:

 

[widehead]

And as for riki1kenobi's claims, I'll believe it when I see it.
Until then, that claim is bogus and full of crap to me.

Oh come on surely you don't think that this is nonsense do you?:

I had to plug in yesterday and after using the phone for over 2 hours of calls (most with BT on), a fair number of texts, around 5 hours surfing (both wifi and data), and a few hours gaming (sudoku and chess mostly) the usage stats showed 3 days 17 hours since last charge. I'm not gloating, but almost everyone I know with a Desire gets a similar return.

As of now it's been 9hrs 24 mins since my last charge. Used my phone for 20 mins in that time and my battery is at 80%. Sounds great until you realize that the 20 mins was spent texting. No wifi. So widgets. No synch. No calls. No Smartphone.