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Optimize your Droid Eris battery life (READ THIS)

Remember I am a very basic user.....I haven't found any--think once you get your location set on the weather, as long as you are in your area it doesn't affect it.......now if you travel, of course it would. Sorry that is all the help this sahm* can give!
Donna



*stay at home mom
 
gps doesnt effect local weather for me, or voice search, i NEVER, and i mean NEVER have GPS on and both those things work fine for me.
 
it is a huge savings for battery. and your phone can use tower triangulation to get your close to the right area even on goog maps with gps off.

mine is never off by more then say 5 city blocks. ymmv due to changes in coverage, amount of towers in your area, etc.
 
Frisco said:
I've been looking around in an effort to find out all that the GPS would affect if I turned it off. Local weather? Voice search? What else?
Click to expand...

None of those. Though I rarely use GPS, I leave mine on to save a step or twi when I start a location aware app (like Google Maps or Google Tracks.) My battery is just fine with it on. As far as I know it's only actively used when you are in an app that use GPS for location, and the Weather app/widget use 3G/WiFi location (as far as I can tell) rather than GPS.
 
doogald said:
None of those. Though I rarely use GPS, I leave mine on to save a step or twi when I start a location aware app (like Google Maps or Google Tracks.) My battery is just fine with it on. As far as I know it's only actively used when you are in an app that use GPS for location, and the Weather app/widget use 3G/WiFi location (as far as I can tell) rather than GPS.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... Google Maps and Tracks are of no use to me, so I can do without GPS, then. I did notice that in the settings area where GPS is located there is a sub-note stating "more battery usage" or some such.
 
MrGreen13 said:
I have always kept the GPS off and my weather and location always are correct. I do it for the battery savings too!
Click to expand...

Yes. Mine's off now.

I'll turn it on for a trip (emergency use .. so they can at least find my phone as I slowly descend into the quicksand while my car burns and my (fill in the blank) blows away in the tornado).
 
many probably know this already, but this makes a HUGE difference for me. I've been playing around with different settings and recently found this is makes the biggest difference on battery life..."background data"
I shut this off and my phone lasts easily two days now.

menu>>settings>>data synchronization>>google>>background data. Uncheck this.
 
xjken said:
many probably know this already, but this makes a HUGE difference for me. I've been playing around with different settings and recently found this is makes the biggest difference on battery life..."background data"
I shut this off and my phone lasts easily two days now.

menu>>settings>>data synchronization>>google>>background data. Uncheck this.
Click to expand...
Doesn't that prevent your Google services from syncing though?
 
xjken said:
many probably know this already, but this makes a HUGE difference for me. I've been playing around with different settings and recently found this is makes the biggest difference on battery life..."background data"
I shut this off and my phone lasts easily two days now.

menu>>settings>>data synchronization>>google>>background data. Uncheck this.
Click to expand...

I'm leaving mine on from now on because when I had it off, I didn't receive any updates for my apps or OTA updates. Anyways, when I turned it back on, I still get the same amount of battery life as when I had it on. I actually recommend leaving this on.
 
Frisco said:
In that area, the page where Background data is, after you uncheck it, hit menu and you'll get a "sync now" prompt.

You can do that at any time.
Click to expand...

Yup. That's what I do as well. It's not a big deal for me. I don't need to know the second I get an email...texting is for that purpose.
 
AdrianC14 said:
I'm leaving mine on from now on because when I had it off, I didn't receive any updates for my apps or OTA updates. Anyways, when I turned it back on, I still get the same amount of battery life as when I had it on. I actually recommend leaving this on.
Click to expand...

Whatever works for you, but I think it is making a difference. I did a few other things as well, so maybe I'll turn it on for my next battery cycle and see how it goes.
 
I didn't think battery "conditioning" was required with lithium ion batteries...when you say run the battery down do you mean leave the phone on until it shuts itself down due to low battery?
 
the proper term for doing "that" to the eris battery is calibrating. you calibrate the battery to the OS's meter and it gives you better life.
 
Caddyman said:
the proper term for doing "that" to the eris battery is calibrating. you calibrate the battery to the OS's meter and it gives you better life.
Click to expand...

And heaven knows we all want a better life.

Anyway, how do you calibrate the battery to the meter? That sounds like a good thing to do if you know how.
 
same as what they call conditioning. let the battery drain fully and then fully charge it. it is recommended for li-ion to be done every 3 months or so.
 
There is conflicting info being presented here...some say leave the phone on until it dies, then recharge and do this 2 or 3 times. Is this with a brand new battery? Other references say don't drain lithium ion batteries to nothing and when draining them low only do it every 2 to 3 months.

Seems like the most viable solutions involve the critical management of applications, necessary due to inadequate battery capacity. Following that, a sensible recharging program needs to be established which also supports as long a battery life as possible given the limitation of about 300 recharges for the lithium ion battery.

There are many sound solutions offered here...we just need to find those that fit our individual useage needs.

I appreciate the contributions the many here have made.

Pegleg
 
Yes, I've noticed the conflicting information being posted here, Pegleg. I googled around a bit about it, as many have done I'm sure.

That link in post# 377 I put in up there has a lot of info about lithium ion batteries.

One of the things about them pointed out is that they are not all the same. Another is that you should not drain one all the way. Another is that they like to be "topped" or charged repeatedly after being only partially drained.

This is all in the name of battery life, meaning the length of time the battery is useful to the device (and the user) over the time you own the battery, more than the "life" of the battery during the day as we use it.
 
That is a great site Frisco, been there many times and was glad to see you post that. I think more people shorten their battery life by improper recharging than realize it. Many just look at starting the day with a full battery regardless of how they get a full battery and I realize that happens due to how many people have to use their phones in critical situations...like work.

I am a strong advocate of always buying at least one extra battery for any phone you buy. Cheap ( in case of the Eris $40)) insurance to always have power available. I also loathe the demise of desk-top chargers that could charge both the phone and a spare battery!

One additional thought...has anyone determine at what percentage level the Eris will cut off? It obviously has to be before "zero" and another consideration is that with a new unit how accurate is the battery meter until it has been cycled through a series of discharges, provided the information that says the "meter gets more accurate as recharges occur"?

Much valuable information is presented here and this forum provides an excellent platform for "thought provoking" discourse.

Thanks,
Pegleg
 
You mention good battery chargers with space for a spare: I've found a few out there for Eris batteries.. have not purchased yet, but I'll likely get one soon (at least a spare battery, as I got spoiled by my Samsung Instinct, which came with two batteries right from the store).
 
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