Saving battery life ideas? Is this possible?

[AussieAndroid]

Ok, I don't have the Hero in front of me to experiment as I've given it to the missus.

Basically she lives in a low reception area right on the edge of where 3G signal drops out and her battery is lasting hours instead of days (when I tested it in a good reception area). I figure the battery is getting eaten up having to keep reconnecting to the mobile network.

She uses the Gmail app alot (not the other Mail app where you can specify when to check for mail). She would also no doubt have Facebook, Twitter, Gtalk, Googlemaps' Latitude, MSN Talk all active. I dunno if there's anything else that needs data in the background

Anyway, I'm wondering if there is a way to control all of these apps so that they either don't need data as often or super easy ways to turn things off/on. I guess what I mean is that if you have to go and check each of these things manually, it would be a pain in the butt, so she is most likely not gonna want to do that.

cheers guys

 

[Xyro]

Has she got the update to android 2.1 yet? If so, juicedefender will help.

Also, does she get a 3G signal at all? It's possible to set it to 2G only, saving power, if she never uses 3G.

 

[AussieAndroid]

No 2.1 update yet. We live in Australia, and we like taking our time to do things

It does get a 3G signal, it's just not reliable. She was complaining the other day about a mysterious beep coming from her phone every now and then but with no message or notification attached to it. I found out it was the 2G roaming warning.

And yes, she does need 3G for all those apps I listed earlier. If she sets it to 2G, she'll get data roaming charges (very expensive).

 

[ck4794]

i installed "automated task killer" and that helped alot. you wouldn't believe the number of apps running in the background that you haven't ever accessed. you can set it to auto kill apps you never use every time you lock the screen, and you can select the important apps you want to continue running. if you search for "atk" in the app market it should be the first thing to pop up. i have the free version and it helped alot. there is a premium one if you wish to pay. there are also different levels you can set if you are a more advanced user and feel comfortable killing system apps.

also under menu>settings>accounts & sync i disabled "background data" and it helped a great deal. it hasn't affected the operations at all, except little things like instead of my facebook widget updating on the home screen i actually have to open it and refresh it, but to me this is a small price to pay.

hope i have helped.

 

[DHAndroid]

Google Talk / 3rd Party talk apps kill battery..this seems to be the biggest culprit. I rarely run those apps.

Google Mail uses Pop not Push and that drains battery. I use K-9 Mail

Advanced Task Killer..Set it for safe mode and kill on screen off.

Set GPS to mobile network. If GPS can not get a fix this will give a general cell location of your area.

With very low coverage that will also drain the battery quick since the phone will use more battery power to reach the cell site.

If you can turn wifi on that will help since data reception will be stronger even though wifi uses more battery. Also turn wifi off when leaving home so its not constantly searching for a connection.

Phones no longer have the option of setting the roaming to roam only. This was a battery saver. New option will be to install a Wilson Amplifier in my vehicle and only turn it on when I am in the mountains so there is always good cell reception to save battery life. These devices can interfere with local cell towers if uses within a metro area.

My old BB would use 10-50% battery all day with some calls, tons of emails, texts, Google Chat and some surfing in my home area. Going to the mountains it would drain in 5-6 hours on standby. I would have it off most of the day and at camp set it in an area where it would get atleast 1 bar if I left it on and charge 3 times a day. Also would use text messages rather than cell since in an area where I could not make a phone call a text message would always go through.

Let the battery drain and full charge, sounds like this is a daily occurrence. Also when the battery is full charged unplug it for a couple minutes then re plug in to 100% and do this a few times and it should help. Sometimes even with good coverage just using the phone normally for surfing and direction services will drain the battery. Also keep a charger with you. Or look at a bigger battery.

With Linux/Android apps that appear to be running are sometimes in standby mode and not draining any battery. Advanced Task Killer set in safe mode will shut down apps.