How is your Charge setup and how is your battery life?

[ncbryan]

Prior to getting my Charge last Saturday, I read the reviews of the lucky Charge owners and how they were raving about better battery life than the TB. So when I got my Charge, I didn't do anything special to the settings (as required by TB) to improve battery life. I turned off all the new, weather, stock updating widgets. I use Weatherbug Elite and it updates hourly. I have the screen set to automatic. Exchange email is set to push. With all that said, I am not getting noticeably more battery life on my Charge compared to my TB. I would be curious to know how others have their phone set up to maximize their battery life.

Thanks in advance
Bryan

 

[whitenessj]

set up wizard and Words With Friends

The set up wizards are a running service the first time you start the phone but for some reason if you don't manually kill them at some point they never really die (even after reset in some cases) there are 2 of them that just seem to stay on until you manually kill them once then they appear to be gone for good.,

Words With Friends is as bad as ever on batt life. It feeds on MaH for breakfast.. love hte game hate its batt usage

 

[ncbryan]

there are 2 of them that just seem to stay on until you manually kill them once then they appear to be gone for good.,

Which 2 are they do you remember? Trying to go in applications/running services and kill them.....If they are still running.

Bryan

 

[mboverst]

It's strange, I'm running a pretty similar setup as you with bluetooth/gps turned off unless I'm in my car and getting fantastic battery life.

I'm curious if the batteries are just hit or miss on the Charge or if it's undiscovered bloat or rogue apps causing the drain experienced by some users?

 

[ncbryan]

I do have GPS on as it wasn't the apparent battery drain on the TB. Bluetooth is OFF unless I am using it.

 

[deadpenguins]

I am also a new owner of a Charge (and new to the smartphone world as well). I have ALL widgets off my home screens and I have my brightness set to 30% (pretty darn low imo). The only third-party apps I have constantly running are Antivirus Free, BatteryIndicator, and AndroidAssistant.

I know task killers are often frowned upon, but I did a lot of research seeing what uses they actually do provide. That being said, I've learned that some apps that come with the phone are just "unkillable" (they reopen when you close them) without rooting. Since the only apps that bother me are ones that constantly reopen (maps, vz navigator, etc.) I'm just going to take ATK off my phone. There, gone .

Like Bryan, my phone battery life is nothing to brag about. I've never owned a TB or even another smartphone so I don't know if I'm just whining over nothing, but even with these very conservative settings I can't last anywhere near a day with (what I think is) moderate usage, let alone heavy downloading/streaming. My battery usage is always 70-80% caused by display. Is this common even at 30% brightness?

It's very disappointing because my phone lasts about 8 hours with moderate usage. With heavy usage, it's probably closer to 5
Am I doing something wrong? Any tips or info is appreciated.

PS - My friend mentioned something about your first time charge to be very critical and that it permanently affects your battery's maximum capacity. Can anyone confirm or deny this statement?

 

[deadpenguins]

Well that's annoying, it looks like my post never went up..

I am new to the smartphone world with my new Charge and I am having battery issues as well. I have done TONS of research on smartphones before I bought this, so I would consider myself pretty well-informed. I always have GPS/bluetooth/WIFI disabled, and the only apps I always have on are antivirus free, batteryindicator, and android assistant. I also have my screen brightness set to 30% (pretty low imo).

My battery usage is 70-80% due to display even at this brightness. Is that a common figure?

Even with moderate usage I can't make it through a whole day on my Charge. I'd guess about 8 hours without too much data/texting. With heavier usage, it lasts closer to 5 hours. To me, this is abysmal and is nothing to brag about (I can't imagine the TB being much worse tahn that). Is there something I'm missing?

My friend told me that when you get your phone you should first run it to complete failure, then charge to 100%. Otherwise, your phone's battery can be permanently shortered. Is there any truth to this?

Finally, I saw this post: http://forum.androidcentral.com/t-captivate/30851-recalibrating-your-battery-2.html
Anyone know if this can fix the issue? I am not in the situation to try it right now but I will when I get the chance and post my results.

 

[barrycinti]

It's strange, I'm running a pretty similar setup as you with bluetooth/gps turned off unless I'm in my car and getting fantastic battery life.

I'm curious if the batteries are just hit or miss on the Charge or if it's undiscovered bloat or rogue apps causing the drain experienced by some users?

An experience I had was last night I put the spare battery in the cradle along with the phone at midnight at 10:00AM this morning the red charge light was still lit. I took the phone off the cradle and it indicated the battery was at 100% . I left the spare battery in the cradle for 2 more hrs and the red charge light was still on. I took the cradle and battery back to VZW and exchanged it. Right now just the spare battery is in the cradle. If it charges up in 3-4hrs then maybe I had a bad battery.

 

[lpsquall]

I was having battery problems. I barely made it to 4 hours before needing to charge the device. I took the phone back and exchanged it for a new one. So far so good today. I made it 7 hours today before needing to charge the device. Hopefully I can make it even longer tomorrow.

I don't know how people say they are getting 17 hours. Please advise.

 

[das7771]

An experience I had was last night I put the spare battery in the cradle along with the phone at midnight at 10:00AM this morning the red charge light was still lit. I took the phone off the cradle and it indicated the battery was at 100% . I left the spare battery in the cradle for 2 more hrs and the red charge light was still on. I took the cradle and battery back to VZW and exchanged it. Right now just the spare battery is in the cradle. If it charges up in 3-4hrs then maybe I had a bad battery.

I figured out that the dock(cradle) does not charge the spare battery and the Charge at the same time. I put my Charge in the cradle last night and the spare battery at the same time. This morning my phone was charge but not the spare battery. just got back from lunch and when I went home the spare batter was fully charged. So if you have both on the cradle at the same time the device will only be charged. Spare battery only gets charged when it is the only thing on the cradle.

Back on topic...I am getting between 13 - 16 hours of use. And thats with a majority of the time in a 4G area. Today I have talked at least a full hour, sent about 10 pictures messages, sent about 30 text messages, played about 30 mins of Rise of Ayden, and downloaded over wifi for about 30 minutes and I am still at 66% as I am typing this. Compared to my Thunderbolt(which the Charge replaced) this phone is about 300% more effiicient with stock setup. I only have bluetooth on when I need it which is not often. I also keep wifi off unless I am home at luchtime or after work which is after 6pm every day. With my TB I was doing the same thing and charging every 4 hours which is unacceptable to me. I also use system panel about every hour and kill every thing. Not sure if it help but it makes me fell better...LOL...I also have GPS turned on as it's not really used unless you are navigating or using an app that needs it to run. So I would say GPS is working off and on intermittently through out the day

 

[deadpenguins]

I figured out that the dock(cradle) does not charge the spare battery and the Charge at the same time. I put my Charge in the cradle last night and the spare battery at the same time. This morning my phone was charge but not the spare battery. just got back from lunch and when I went home the spare batter was fully charged. So if you have both on the cradle at the same time the device will only be charged. Spare battery only gets charged when it is the only thing on the cradle.

Back on topic...I am getting between 13 - 16 hours of use. And thats with a majority of the time in a 4G area. Today I have talked at least a full hour, sent about 10 pictures messages, sent about 30 text messages, played about 30 mins of Rise of Ayden, and downloaded over wifi for about 30 minutes and I am still at 66% as I am typing this. Compared to my Thunderbolt(which the Charge replaced) this phone is about 300% more effiicient with stock setup. I only have bluetooth on when I need it which is not often. I also keep wifi off unless I am home at luchtime or after work which is after 6pm every day. With my TB I was doing the same thing and charging every 4 hours which is unacceptable to me. I also use system panel about every hour and kill every thing. Not sure if it help but it makes me fell better...LOL...I also have GPS turned on as it's not really used unless you are navigating or using an app that needs it to run. So I would say GPS is working off and on intermittently through out the day

Wow. I am quite jealous. My Charge's battery life is abysmal compared to that.
With moderate usage I get about 6-8 hours. Heavy usage is about 4-5. I am new to the smartphone world but have done hours of research and know a decent amount for a beginner. I have no widgets on my screens, 30% screen brightness, and GPS/BT/WIFI off. Am only constantly running antivirus and batteryindicator.

 

[lpsquall]

WOW. That's amazing. What is wrong with my phone then if yours is able to last that long? How long have you had the phone? Did you let your battery completely deplete and then recharge? what running services did you kill?

I figured out that the dock(cradle) does not charge the spare battery and the Charge at the same time. I put my Charge in the cradle last night and the spare battery at the same time. This morning my phone was charge but not the spare battery. just got back from lunch and when I went home the spare batter was fully charged. So if you have both on the cradle at the same time the device will only be charged. Spare battery only gets charged when it is the only thing on the cradle.

Back on topic...I am getting between 13 - 16 hours of use. And thats with a majority of the time in a 4G area. Today I have talked at least a full hour, sent about 10 pictures messages, sent about 30 text messages, played about 30 mins of Rise of Ayden, and downloaded over wifi for about 30 minutes and I am still at 66% as I am typing this. Compared to my Thunderbolt(which the Charge replaced) this phone is about 300% more effiicient with stock setup. I only have bluetooth on when I need it which is not often. I also keep wifi off unless I am home at luchtime or after work which is after 6pm every day. With my TB I was doing the same thing and charging every 4 hours which is unacceptable to me. I also use system panel about every hour and kill every thing. Not sure if it help but it makes me fell better...LOL...I also have GPS turned on as it's not really used unless you are navigating or using an app that needs it to run. So I would say GPS is working off and on intermittently through out the day

 

[das7771]

WOW. That's amazing. What is wrong with my phone then if yours is able to last that long? How long have you had the phone? Did you let your battery completely deplete and then recharge? what running services did you kill?

I got it sunday and I have ran the battery down completely only two times. I ran it until it shut off. Sunday night I stayed up late purposely so that I could kill it until it shut off due to no battery charge left and I did the same thing last night.

When I kill the running services and apps I just use system panel and kill every thing it will kill, I do not kill any thing specific. And alot of the device functions running in the background will restart on their own any ways, I do it more for Ram then any thing else. I think today is the most I have used it and like I said I am at 66% right now thats with taking it off the charger at 7am this morning.So I have been using it for 8hrs. It was on the car dock for about 15 minutes today, but that really doesnt mean much as far as charging is concerned. The main reason I got rid of my TB was becuase of charging it every 4 hours with every thing stock. I am glad I got the charge. Sorry to hear your is not holding up so well. I would go to verizon get a new battery and complete run it dead at least two or three times before getting a feel of how well it will perform during the day.

 

[deadpenguins]

http://forum.androidcentral.com/t-captivate/30851-recalibrating-your-battery-4.html

Can anyone confirm or deny the validity of this process? I believe his arguement is that this will recalibrate the PHONE's ability to detect the proper capacity remaining in its battery (which is NOT the same as battery memory), thus improving battery life.

 

[lpsquall]

I did. I got my phone on Saturday and yesterday I went to verizon and completely swapped out my phone. Got a new phone and battery. So far this one is holding up better than the 1st droid charge I had. Maybe this verizon store got the defected devices lol. It sounds to me that some Droid Charges are holding a better charge than others because some reviews say the battery life is outstanding while others say the complete opposite.

Nonetheless, I will try to deplete the battery a few times and see how well it holds up afterwards.

I got it sunday and I have ran the battery down completely only two times. I ran it until it shut off. Sunday night I stayed up late purposely so that I could kill it until it shut off due to no battery charge left and I did the same thing last night.

When I kill the running services and apps I just use system panel and kill every thing it will kill, I do not kill any thing specific. And alot of the device functions running in the background will restart on their own any ways, I do it more for Ram then any thing else. I think today is the most I have used it and like I said I am at 66% right now thats with taking it off the charger at 7am this morning.So I have been using it for 8hrs. It was on the car dock for about 15 minutes today, but that really doesnt mean much as far as charging is concerned. The main reason I got rid of my TB was becuase of charging it every 4 hours with every thing stock. I am glad I got the charge. Sorry to hear your is not holding up so well. I would go to verizon get a new battery and complete run it dead at least two or three times before getting a feel of how well it will perform during the day.

 

[mboverst]

Haha, they may have gotten a bad batch! I try to go to manage applications and kill whatever worthless apps it lets me after I unplug it in the morning. I'm running a weather widget with a flip clock/weather, pretty standard 30 texts, about an hour of talk time, casual browsing, and 30 minutes of random app's today. Right now I'm on 60% left at 8 hours of usage.

I was running NoLED yesterday and did notice a slight increase of battery usage and decided to uninstall it. Right now, I'm getting used to not having the LED notification and it's not bothering me too much since I check my phone pretty regularly anyway.

 

[lpsquall]

I picked up the dock with that came with an extra battery from a different store. I am going to charge it up tonight and use that battery tomorrow to see if theres a difference. If theres a difference in battery, I'm going back to the store and ask for a refund and purchase the device in a different store.

Haha, they may have gotten a bad batch! I try to go to manage applications and kill whatever worthless apps it lets me after I unplug it in the morning. I'm running a weather widget with a flip clock/weather, pretty standard 30 texts, about an hour of talk time, casual browsing, and 30 minutes of random app's today. Right now I'm on 60% left at 8 hours of usage.

I was running NoLED yesterday and did notice a slight increase of battery usage and decided to uninstall it. Right now, I'm getting used to not having the LED notification and it's not bothering me too much since I check my phone pretty regularly anyway.

 

[das7771]

Wow. I am quite jealous. My Charge's battery life is abysmal compared to that.
With moderate usage I get about 6-8 hours. Heavy usage is about 4-5. I am new to the smartphone world but have done hours of research and know a decent amount for a beginner. I have no widgets on my screens, 30% screen brightness, and GPS/BT/WIFI off. Am only constantly running antivirus and batteryindicator.

you might want to consider getting yours swapped out as well...there are a lot of people claiming to have good battery life for yours to be acceptable. my setup obviously is harder on the battery than yours. so you gotta have a bad battery.

 

[mrblahblah]

Where is the system panel where I can call all the running apps?

 

[KB3MMX]

Where is the system panel where I can call all the running apps?

Menu>Settings>Applications>Running Applications

Wow. I am quite jealous. My Charge's battery life is abysmal compared to that.
With moderate usage I get about 6-8 hours. Heavy usage is about 4-5. I am new to the smartphone world but have done hours of research and know a decent amount for a beginner. I have no widgets on my screens, 30% screen brightness, and GPS/BT/WIFI off. Am only constantly running antivirus and batteryindicator.

AntiVirus could easily be the cuplrit, they have been knows to run bad junk in the background.