Discuss Tips to Maximize Battery Life Here!

**turtle3#AC** · 05-30-2010, 02:11 AM

Sorry to the Mods for plugging a different site, but I found a thread of a guy that got:

61 hrs of use with 24% of battery remaining

He explains his usage patterns, how he set up Advanced Task Killer, etc. on an Evo prior to doing his test.

You might bookmark that page for reference after next Friday to optimize your battery life.

**Jerzey McNasty** · 05-30-2010, 08:05 AM

thats a good write up!

**Yourdogsdead** · 05-30-2010, 08:40 AM

That's amazing. Seriously, I thought the phone had good battery life before but now that is just damn magic. Is he a wizard?

**Saepak** · 05-30-2010, 09:21 AM

Thanks, that was a really good find. I will do things like that, but at first I will be playing so it won't matter. It will be okay for the first few days for me to keep it plugged in.

**skullsdontfade** · 05-30-2010, 09:55 AM

wow, i don't need my phone to last this long, but i will take some of his tips and adjust them to my own needs. nice.

**vince_in_chicago** · 05-30-2010, 10:18 AM

What impact does HTC Sense have on the battery vs. stock Android? I'd imagine running that weather animation each time the phone is turned on isn't helping battery life.

**Yourdogsdead** · 05-30-2010, 10:20 AM

He basically turned off all the eye candy and stuff. It's still pretty damn impressive though.

**turtle3#AC** · 05-30-2010, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Yourdogsdead

He basically turned off all the eye candy and stuff. It's still pretty damn impressive though.

Agreed. It's an example of the "extreme" battery saving mode. I bet that terrible iPhone fanboy's review is the other end of the spectrum with tons and tons of widgets open.

I'm with skullsdontfade - I'll use his techniques and find my own mix of what I want running. Having some widgets running is part of the beauty of the phone...

At least we know what to do now when our batteries are dying earlier than we wished.

**dwightshrute** · 05-30-2010, 01:39 PM

Wow, i'm even more excited!! I'll have no idea what I'm doing as this will be my 1st android phone, but I'll sure as hell have fun learning!

**Gekko** · 05-30-2010, 02:10 PM

so in summary for me -

1. Turn off 4G and hotspot.
2. Turn screen brightness to low or medium. disables auto brightness.
3. Settings Wireless and Networks, Wi-Fi Settings, <menu button> Advanced, Wi-Fi sleep policy, Never.

i'm not sure about the 4G off. i live in a 4G market so i'm hoping i can leave it on. will have to test.

regarding the Gmail app, at this point i think i prefer it over K9 so will try to stick with the Gmail app.

**Yourdogsdead** · 05-30-2010, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Gekko

so in summary for me -

1. Turn off 4G and hotspot.
2. Turn screen brightness to low or medium. disables auto brightness.
3. Settings Wireless and Networks, Wi-Fi Settings, <menu button> Advanced, Wi-Fi sleep policy, Never.

i'm not sure about the 4G off. i live in a 4G market so i'm hoping i can leave it on. will have to test.

regarding the Gmail app, at this point i think i prefer it over K9 so will try to stick with the Gmail app.

I heard that Wimax uses about the same amount of power as Wifi since they are the same. The problem though is signal strength which varies widely over a given area. Leaving it on all the time may kill battery.

**stolirocks** · 05-30-2010, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by Yourdogsdead

I heard that Wimax uses about the same amount of power as Wifi since they are the same. The problem though is signal strength which varies widely over a given area. Leaving it on all the time may kill battery.

Yes, why not just turn off wifi using the widget and then turn it on only when needed?

**Genisis** · 05-30-2010, 02:54 PM

In his article he also said to use a task killer...which after reading an article about how task killer's do more damage then they do good. I've changed my perspective on. In my Evo i def will not be installing any type of task killers. But i will take some of what dude said into consideration. Good find!

**dwhitman** · 05-30-2010, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Yourdogsdead

I heard that Wimax uses about the same amount of power as Wifi since they are the same. The problem though is signal strength which varies widely over a given area. Leaving it on all the time may kill battery.

That doesn't sound right to me. WiFi and Wimax are very different. I strongly suspect that WiFi uses significantly less power than either Wimax or 3G.

WiFi is designed for short range, semi-permanent connections: it doesn't need much power because of the range assumption, and needs less "handshaking" communication to maintain the connection since both ends assume that the other is more-or-less staying put in one place.

OTOH, Wimax and 3G both use a remote tower, and need to assume that you're a moving target that might be driving from one tower's area to another. More power to connect to a remote receiver (this is a big effect - remember signal strength goes as r^2), and more communication needed for handshaking, even when you're not actively moving data.

**dwhitman** · 05-30-2010, 02:56 PM

Author of that article also seems to believe that he is saving power by maximizing the number of black pixels on his screen.:rolleyes:

On a LCD.

*sigh*

**Yourdogsdead** · 05-30-2010, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by dwhitman

That doesn't sound right to me. WiFi and Wimax are very different. I strongly suspect that WiFi uses significantly less power than either Wimax or 3G.

WiFi is designed for short range, semi-permanent connections: it doesn't need much power because of the range assumption, and needs less "handshaking" communication to maintain the connection since both ends assume that the other is more-or-less staying put in one place.

OTOH, Wimax and 3G both use a remote tower, and need to assume that you're a moving target that might be driving from one tower's area to another. More power to connect to a remote receiver (this is a big effect - remember signal strength goes as r^2), and more communication needed for handshaking, even when you're not actively moving data.

Let me clarify. They are similar, based on the 802.xx spec. LTE and 3G are not.

**dwhitman** · 05-30-2010, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by Yourdogsdead

Let me clarify. They are similar, based on the 802.xx spec. LTE and 3G are not.

Point taken. But that doesn't say how much power the radio will need to make a connection.

**Yourdogsdead** · 05-30-2010, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by dwhitman

Point taken. But that doesn't say how much power the radio will need to make a connection.

True, but I am assuming that since it's based off of Wifi it will use less power than 3G. I have no idea where to find this info though.

**Gekko** · 05-30-2010, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by stolirocks

Yes, why not just turn off wifi using the widget and then turn it on only when needed?

we are talking about leaving WIMAX/4G on all the time since in theory you could use it "all the time". the big benefits of 4G is obviously the SPEED but also the simultaneous Voice+Data.

agreed on wifi to only turn it on when needed (if ever).

**Gekko** · 05-30-2010, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Genisis

In his article he also said to use a task killer...which after reading an article about how task killer's do more damage then they do good. I've changed my perspective on. In my Evo i def will not be installing any type of task killers. But i will take some of what dude said into consideration. Good find!

agreed. i don't plan on using any task killers.

**dwhitman** · 05-30-2010, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by Gekko

we are talking about leaving WIMAX/4G on all the time since in theory you could use it "all the time". the big benefits of 4G is obviously the SPEED but also the simultaneous Voice+Data.

agreed on wifi to only turn it on when needed (if ever).

I think you'd probably be better off doing exactly the opposite, at least when in range of a WiFi hotspot. Turn off 4G reserving it only for times when you need the speed and don't have WiFi access. WiFi lets you have voice/data at the same time, and almost certainly uses less power than 4G.

Obviously if you spend most of your time in range of 4g and out of range of wifi, I'd change my recommendation. But if you've got WiFi access, it's almost certainly less power hungry.

**SilverZero** · 05-30-2010, 04:40 PM

We're going to be inundated with real-world reports of how users in different areas are seeing their batteries run down. For me, I'll be running the Evo either at home or at work, both in strong wifi zones, and I don't live in a 4G area right now. I'll only have the option of 3G, and I'll only be using that when I'm out on the town. I'm also pretty miserly with screen brightness, apps, etc., and my phone will (regrettably) be sitting idle for a lot of the day anyway. I expect to get more than a couple of days between charges if I forget to plug in for the night.

**Gekko** · 06-05-2010, 06:54 PM

1. turn off 4G.
2. turn off WIFI
3. turn off hotspot.
4. Turn screen brightness to low. (put setting under checkmark)
5. Settings Wireless and Networks, Wi-Fi Settings, <menu button> Advanced, Wi-Fi sleep policy, Never.
6. turn off all haptic feedback - keys, keyboard, etc.
7. log out of Google Talk.

**donald.aleshire** · 06-05-2010, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by Gekko

1. turn off 4G.
2. turn off WIFI
3. turn off hotspot.
4. Turn screen brightness to low. (put setting under checkmark)
5. Settings Wireless and Networks, Wi-Fi Settings, <menu button> Advanced, Wi-Fi sleep policy, Never.
6. turn off all haptic feedback - keys, keyboard, etc.
7. log out of Google Talk.

This may sound extremely silly, but i can't for the life of me figure how to turn off all haptic feedback, specifically on the keyboards...what am i doing wrong? Or can you just not turn off haptic feedback on keyboards

**akarol** · 06-06-2010, 04:30 PM

Call me crazy, but I bought this phone to use it. If I'm going to mimic BB then I'd have bought a BB. I leave everything on and just kill some tasks with ATK here and there and I'm getting a full day. That's more than fine with me.