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smartphones...they may be smart but they're still just phones.

THE W said:
we're not too much in disagreement here.

this thread is about those people who complain about the poor battery life of smartphones. it is what it is. the phones power source cant handle the functions of the phone when they're used in full. just because you can doesnt mean you should, at least you shouldnt if you're worried about your battery making it through a whole day. if you must use like that just have a spare battery on hand or have access to an outlet.

my 2001 PT cruiser can go over 100mph. that doesnt mean i should go that fast because i'll get a speeding ticket, i'll burn through gas, and i'll blow my puny 4 cylinder engine.
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There is a whole different scenario between abusing and using. Not even a dumbphone can last through a day if you play games or watch videos on it nonstop (They can support m.youtube.com). They'd still burn through batteries in a matter of hours (albeit longer than on smartphones still).
 
We camp a lot. I have a dual charger setup in our camper and another
in my F-250. (Dual setups at home too)
We pretty much use our Smart phones as we please. Sometimes we have to charge more often, sometimes less. It's no big thing.

When we bought our Droids a young lady at Verizon Wireless advised us to treat our phones like computers with a small battery. She was mostly right...
You do have to exercise a little common sense using a Smart phone.
 
a smartphone is more than just a phone just like a smart TV is more than just a TV.

EDIT: quite honestly i hardly talk on my phone, unless it's via app like messages, Facebook or browser posts

-OH-

and there are ways to extend battery life--force stopping unused apps, turning off wifi/data when not using them, staying out of low signal areas (not sure but everytime i'm in one without airplane mode on the phone gets REAL hot and drains quickly!) and if you're rooted, adding some kind of widget or power app that automatically conserves power--turned my Fire from 6 hours life to 12.
 
nickdalzell said:
a smartphone is more than just a phone just like a smart TV is more than just a TV
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Not so sure about that. The primary purpose we watch TV is, well because it is - smart or otherwise. However we use a smartphone for lots of reasons, but talking on the phone is just a minor facet.

A smart TV needs to become a lot more accomplished for me until it bears little resemblance to its forebears.
 
nickdalzell said:
a smartphone is more than just a phone just like a smart TV is more than just a TV.

EDIT: quite honestly i hardly talk on my phone, unless it's via app like messages, Facebook or browser posts

-OH-

and there are ways to extend battery life--force stopping unused apps, turning off wifi/data when not using them, staying out of low signal areas (not sure but everytime i'm in one without airplane mode on the phone gets REAL hot and drains quickly!) and if you're rooted, adding some kind of widget or power app that automatically conserves power--turned my Fire from 6 hours life to 12.
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Force stopping apps running in the background actually kills battery faster.
 
not in my experience it doesn't. if i leave say the Facebook app and music downloads running in background they tend to eat up both battery and data!
 
Actually they do. Force stopping them would just make them restart when you aren't looking. Its a known issue of Android, basically because that's how Android works. Its different when you click on home as opposed to back, because clicking on home sends it to background, not exiting the app.

Unless you have a unique Kindle fire, you're not using it correctly. Everybody with experience in Android knows that force killing apps= increased battery use.
 
then kindly explain why when i back out my Facebook app continues to run and display notifications on the top bar and drain my battery super quick but if i force close Facebook battery life is improved?

i think you're speaking of apps that are part of the core OS and would just restart on their own, and using an automatic task killer would cause extra drain because it keeps force-stopping them as they spawn over and over again. vastly different than force-stopping one app such as Angry Birds or Facebook with the default stock application manager, with apps not likely to auto-restart
 
1. Facebook continues to run and display notifications on the top bar and drains your battery because you set it up to do that. Well technically you did not, but it was set up that way by default that Facebook is set up to poll notifications every now and then. If you force kill Facebook it will just come back later, and there is a higher battery usage in the restart and kill process than just letting it run in the background. The most likely case is that your sync was set to a very short time interval. The CPU cycles used to turn on an app, activate the task killer, and turn off the app uses more power than just letting it run.

2. Honestly I highly doubt that its Facebook killing your battery, because on my Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, I have Facebook left running in the background, no use of task killers and I get approximately 15hrs battery standby time. And that's with Gmail, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Flipboard, Tweetdeck, Calendar and Contacts all syncing in the background. Similar case with my phone, that if I don't use JuiceDefender or GreenPower, 13hrs standby time with everything turned on sync and just left to run themselves in the background (yeah my battery is dying. Used to be able to reach 15-17hrs on the same setup, and more than 24hrs if I use JD or GP, from 30hrs out of the box). Using powertutor app monitor, it says that Facebook uses only 2% of the battery when left running in the background. So its highly unlikely that its actually Facebook that's the problem IMO.
 
i have sync off, but Facebook will endlessly display notifications and run constantly in the background unless i kill the app. it stays dormant and inert unless i re-launch it from my experience. same with Angry Birds. no matter how long it has been since i played that game, it's still in running apps. (unless i reboot my phone). i got a lot of friends on 'starred' mode so i don't miss their posts, which is great if i am on my laptop but it will constantly alert me on my phone's status bar up top. the only other way is to turn off data usage which i prefer to remain on (with wifi unticked if i am out of a hotspot area)

oh and my stuff is cheap. as in ZTE Merit, Archos 28, Coby Kyros MID7015. terrible batteries. lucky if i manage a day with or without task killing or turning off wifi, etc. i can eke out a good 6-7 hours on the Archos if i leave it in sleep and just play my music, with everything else off. haven't had the ZTE long enough for total time yet, but waking it up only an hour later with FB constantly notifying me i was at 80% already. nothing else on. the only device i own which shows amazing life for my experience with Android is my Kindle Fire, i am guessing it has a much better amp hour battery in it, as it's a dual-core 1GHz with a few widgets running and the only thing is that wifi is off. i can have games playing, screen on, ebooks and it can get as good as 10 hours of use without putting it into sleep.
 
There's a setting in Facebook for turning off "starred" friends notifications. And I wasn't talking about Facebook sync. I was talking about Facebook>menu>settings>refresh intervals, and notifications. Turn that off and Facebook will use incredibly less data and less battery if that's what you prefer. These settings are different from the sync options in menu>settings>accounts and sync>facebook.

And Facebook is essentially two processes, Facebook itself and another, if I remember correctly its Facebook Katana, which is a joined process with other apps. It will activate if you activate any app that has a share to Facebook function, like gallery, Flipboard, etc. That's one of the battery culprits since it restarts everytime you kill it even if you don't open FB.

And I forgot to mention I use unlimited data on both my devices via mobile internet, so yeah, I really find it odd that syncing kills your batteries so fast because I should burn batteries faster, even if you are on cheaper devices since you use WiFi (unless your batteries are really really crap as you seem to imply). Although it does depend on usage. On my Tab I went from 100 to 60 in 2hrs doing: tethering internet to my laptop (on which I was doing nothing but downloading some stuff), while reading a book for an hour, then playing Babylon 3D the next hour. And yes everything still syncing in the background.

I'd advise you to get a battery monitor app like PowerTutor and see what really is eating your battery.
 
the original point of the thread has clearly been lost here.

i stated in my original post that smartphones and PCs are similar in terms of functionality, at least for the most part. but using them to the fullest will net you a dead phone in a hurry.

all the complaints on battery life are simply ridiculous because the only solution is to use the phone less, A LOT less. what people do on their desktop computers isnt gonna fly on a smartphone if you want it to last more than 8 hours.

it really isnt the manufacturers fault that your battery dies so fast, its your fault. smartphones are PC functionality packed into a mobile phone and this is what you get. the second you start using you smartphone like a PC is when you turn a mobile device into a mini desktop computer without an adequate keyboard, the inability to view full websites or flash media adequately, connect to a printer, or play DVDs. you'll be straddled to an outlet or you'll have to carry a few spare batteries with ya. thats the way it is and people need to just deal with that.

smartphones are like sportscars with two gallon gas tanks. they're built for speed, but you'll be spending a lot of time and money at the pump.
 
OP...

i think you are right and wrong...

right.. because we use it more .. the battery is used up faster.

wrong.. because the Manufacture can easily put in a bigger battery... take the moto maxx for example. or the LTevo vs Xone. I think very few users would complain about a 2-4mm extra thickness for more battery! Phones are too thin anyways.

easy TEST.. put out a phone with 2 options on same carrier.. one thin and normal battery and one slightly thicker with double the battery. which will sell more of?
that would prove which the public would choose.
 
You all have given some good points. I for one, use my Atrix 4G and Lapdock as my PC. (Even though we have a desktop PC in the home.) There are a lot of things that I can take care of on my phone and Lapdock, that I can on my PC. For me, I love that fact of having everything in one place. My phone and Lapdock serves as multifunction devices. GPS, MP3 player, camera, camcorder, note pad, exercise log, streaming movies, netbook/tablet, playing games, reading book/magazines etc. My battery will last between 12 to 14 hrs on an average day. Power isn't a problem for me since my Lapdock charges my phone when dock. I keep a charger in the van and work. So, my phone is always charged up.

I believe that most people don't understand how to set up sync. and the settings on a smartphone, to conserve battery life. They install all these apps. not customizing the setting for energy efficiency. There are apps that conflict with each other and we need to be aware of this. Somethings are pretty simple. Turn off bluetooth, wifi and GPS when not being used. Turn down screen brightness. Manual refresh Facebook, email, etc.

I love my Atrix 4G and Lapdock. They have made my life so much easier and has help me to stay organized. I thank God for this technology. It will only get better with time.
 
These phones cost as much as a PC if you buy it without contract so yeah, I pretty much expect it to do what a PC will do for me. With SOME limitations. But I don't expect my battery to last the whole day if I'm on the phone constantly. I think my expectations are pretty realistic.
 
dan330 said:
easy TEST.. put out a phone with 2 options on same carrier.. one thin and normal battery and one slightly thicker with double the battery. which will sell more of?
that would prove which the public would choose.
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Didn't Motorola do that with the RAZR & RAZR MAXX? It's not quite the same since they were released at different times, but the sales data should be useful since all other attributes of the phone are identical.
 
To the OP -

Might I inquire as to what inspired this post? Was there a particular thread or series of threads that was recently posted on the subject of poor battery life? I ask because you seem to have made excellent points on a subject that does not seem to be much in contention, but as I am a new user I must confess that I have not viewed many of the threads in the forum.
 
UncleMike said:
Didn't Motorola do that with the RAZR & RAZR MAXX? It's not quite the same since they were released at different times, but the sales data should be useful since all other attributes of the phone are identical.
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The data is corrupt because they were released at different times.
 
HaroldNMalt said:
To the OP -

Might I inquire as to what inspired this post? Was there a particular thread or series of threads that was recently posted on the subject of poor battery life? I ask because you seem to have made excellent points on a subject that does not seem to be much in contention, but as I am a new user I must confess that I have not viewed many of the threads in the forum.
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Tons in the LG connect forum and the galaxy s 3 forum.

Using your smartphone like a pc is gonna kill your battery. It's just the the way it is.
 
I think the author of the thread has a Face Book problem.

I decided to do without FB. :)
(There is life w/o knowing someone is going to the grocery store...)

Battery life got much better, without FB.

I installed Data Switch and turn on data when I need it...
Now my Razr has great battery life.
I wonder what kind of battery life I would get with a Razr Maxx?
It must be fantastic.
 
I deleted my Facebook account early 2011 and never looked back. I actually get good battery life out of my LG connect but I got an extended battery and I use my phone sparingly.
 
using a laptop as a PC will drain a battery faster than using a smartphone as a PC would do. i can manage 8 hours on my Android using it as a laptop but my laptop (which IS a PC) is lucky to last 3 hours of use. even if i put it to 'standby' (the laptop equivilent to idle or lock on a smartphone) so i fail to see the point. unless the point is 'smartphones use more battery power than dumbphones' and, last i checked, everyone knows that.
 
nickdalzell;[URL="tel:4820731" said:
4820731[/URL]]using a laptop as a PC will drain a battery faster than using a smartphone as a PC would do. i can manage 8 hours on my Android using it as a laptop but my laptop (which IS a PC) is lucky to last 3 hours of use. even if i put it to 'standby' (the laptop equivilent to idle or lock on a smartphone) so i fail to see the point. unless the point is 'smartphones use more battery power than dumbphones' and, last i checked, everyone knows that.
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You bring up a good point. My wife's Netbook only has a 3 cell battery. She can work for about 4 to 6 hrs on it. (Depending on what she's doing.)
 
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