battery or phone

[radgatt]

Ok I'm in a situation here. My phone's battery is dying even when I'm not using the phone. I will admit that I keep the gps on because I have found ways to use it and I don't feel like turning it off and back on. I have 5 apps on my phone. I have both angry birds, ESPN bowl bound, gauge battery widget, and NFL mobile. All other apps are updates of what originally came with the phone. This phone is starting to make me mad. My friend has the same exact phone and she has more enabled that I do but her battery doesn't die like mine. Any idea what the issue could be?

 

[laurel25]

I would check all your settings and optimize things to save battery life. See how often your email is syncing and set it to sync less often. Check the brightness level on the screen. Check to see if WiFi is always on and always searching for networks.

 

[318sugarhill]

GPS is the BIGGEST battery hog. Turn it off when not in use, or quit complaining about a dead battery. No matter what phone you have, GPS sucks the juice.

Simple GPS toggle widgets are available on your phone and in the market. Use one.

 

[radgatt]

That's the thing...if other phones can have their gps on and have battery for days why can't I? My friend has her wifi, gps and Bluetooth all enabled. Like I said I have my gps enabled but I don't use my phone unless I'm on my breaks at work. I'm just confused as to how her battery lasts longer when she has more enabled than I do. Has anyone heard of this? And by the way, I'm not complaining. I just want to know why her phone is better at battery life than mine is when she has more stuff going on than I do.

 

[Mr.Incredible]

try using advance task killer. i don't turn mine off either and go all day without battery dying. set it to automatically kill tasks every hour

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

GPS is the BIGGEST battery hog. Turn it off when not in use, or quit complaining about a dead battery. No matter what phone you have, GPS sucks the juice.

Simple GPS toggle widgets are available on your phone and in the market. Use one.

Please don't use phrases like "quit complaining about a dead battery". It is not always an easy solution for everybody, and this sounds insulting to our members.

This is also not entirely correct. GPS is only a battery hog when it is being used. If no program is actively using the battery (I.E. the GPS icon is showing in the notification area) then the GPS is not active and not using any battery power. This has been discussed in the AC podcast before, having GPS on simply enables it for use by applications when they request it. It is NOT actively running in the background when not being used.

 

[keebz]

I can't wait to pick up the 2150 mAh battery sometime near Christmas. I prefer that one to the 3500 not because of size (they are very similar), but because I just like the HTC and "By Google" logo on the back -- OEM the way to go (not that Seido is bad, far from it).

But yeah, I am in the same boat as you. I got my Droid last Friday and I don't use it all day constantly. I use it during my 1.5 hour commute to school and then back, and maybe very slightly during the day in between classes/homework. And when I say I use, I am only turning on the stock music app (usually...sometimes I might surf the web, check email). Still, I find myself trying to conserve battery -- cautious usage.

 

[mclarryjr]

I wouldn't try a task killer since those app's will use more battery starting then getting killed versus just running in the background the whole time.

There is a chance you may have a bad battery, if your not using it the battery use should be very little. I use the Seidio 1750 battery which will give you around 30% more battery life then the stock and have no problems going a day.

 

[slinky317]

GPS is the BIGGEST battery hog. Turn it off when not in use, or quit complaining about a dead battery. No matter what phone you have, GPS sucks the juice.

Simple GPS toggle widgets are available on your phone and in the market. Use one.

The GPS only uses battery when an app is actively using it. When you see the little satellite dish with the green waves come out of it, that's when you're using GPS and that's when it's killing your battery.

If you're not using an app that actively uses the GPS, it is not a battery killer.

As for the OP, make sure that you are also using it in the same areas as your friend... keep WiFi on and and active as much as possible. The more the phone has to look for a 3G connection the more battery it will use.

 

[radgatt]

So, WiFi doesn't kill the battery like the antenna?

 

[keebz]

How does WiFi work...yes I'm serious lol. Same question as radgatt, I thought WiFi made the phone use up the battery power faster? And also even if it is enabled, how would going back and forth between 3G and Wifi (assuming there's even a wireless network around in the first place...) help the battery life? Finally, do you think having 0-1 bars is bad in the status bar?

I hit the yellow region just as I'm getting home around 6 pm and I only check my mail about 4-5 times a day (less than a minute each time), and then about an average of 4 hours of music a day. Should this really take the battery from 95% to yellow region (~20-25%?)?

 

[CRKhead]

WiFi uses far less power than the 3G antennae... I can have my phone run all day on WiFi and the battery will only lose about 10-20% (3500 Battery)... If run on 3G all day, it uses triple that, if not more... Basically the way I look at it, and I may be wrong, the WiFi only needs to connect to one point that is only several feet away... 3G has to look for the best signal and is connecting to an antennae that could be miles away... 3G has to work harder... Whether this is 100% accurate or not, I don't know...

Anyway, back to the OP's question... After a full day of usage when the battery gets low, without plugging in the phone to charge or power cycling it during that day, go into MENU => SETTINGS => ABOUT PHONE => BATTERY => BATTERY USE... Look at the usage amounts and see if that points to a particular culprit...

Also, browse through this thread...

http://forum.androidcentral.com/droid-incredible/18559-new-incredible-battery-life-sticky-please-contribute.html

It has a lot of great tips on improving battery life...

 

[keebz]

That's cool to know. How reliable exactly is WiFi though? I mean, if I'm on a train ride, how much more reliable is WiFi than 3G (which is what I am paying for), and how secure is it? Don't I have to "sign in" to WiFi every single time a new connection is found and an old one fades? Is it free?

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

As far as reliability is concerned, that's completely dependent on the router/type of internet they're employing. It's hard to gauge, because some places offer incredibly reliable internet connections, but I've been on trains/aircraft that I couldn't hold a connection for more than 5 minutes at a time before being dropped.

Same goes for security. Generally speaking, most free WiFi "hotspot" zones are unsecured networks -- the word is pretty self explanatory. There's no security, so browse at your own risk. Some places require you to accept a Terms of Service Agreement before you can access it, but that doesn't really add any security.

 

[keebz]

Yeah, that's why I don't really even look at WiFi except if it's at a place I know has "secure" WiFi beforehand, or my own or a friend's house.

 

[radgatt]

Yeah, I'm on my 4th phone and 3rd battery. Does FriendStream have anything to do with a battery drain? That is the only widget that I have that requires any type of frequent update. I have gotten rid of apps and now I'm still baffled as the reasoning to why my battery life sucks and my friend's battery life is great. Me and her work together. Every time I'm on my break I look for a socket to plug my phone in while she is sitting there not surprised that I'm over there. All the while she is on her phone and her battery meter is full. I have checked running services on both of our phones but its the same. I don't know what else to do...

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

I'm not incredibly familiar with the widgets in Sense, but does FriendStream have an option as to how often it updates? Surely this will have a lot to do with how much battery it's sucking.

 

[CRKhead]

FriendStream updates on the intervals set for the Facebook and Twitter for Sense apps... Open up FriendStream, then hit MENU => Settings => Accounts and Syncs... Check the update intervals for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, whatever you have in there... With the stock battery, I wouldn't have it set to update more than once every 2 hours...

Honestly though, charge up your phone tonight and then use it all day without charging or rebooting until the battery gets real low (in the yellow)... Then check the battery usage info in the settings... That will point out anything that's eating the battery...

 

[HighCaliber762]

For me life is good...I have the Seidio 1750 battery...I'm rooted and cleared the battery stats through the recovery menu...I also bump charged...right now I'm 14 hours off the charger and still 26% percent battery left...I've been browsing the net from my phone the last 2 hours...talked a litle more than an hour...sent/ received probably a few dozen texts...I'm very happy with this phone...its no slouch...

 

[KB3MMX]

What is your update frequency set for on Weather, email, etc?
Stock weather and email update time is 15mins, make it 1 hour or longer to save battery.
The weather will be a big one because it hits the GPS every time it refreshed.

Also, Don't install any "Task Killer" unless you want more problems with your phone!!