Razr Maxx - Battery Life

[fatboy97]

[NOTE]Battery issues can be a number of different things....[/NOTE]

1) Know your Apps - apps such as Facebook: Know how often it sync's data... less sync'ing is better battery life... every 4 hours is enough for me. Weather apps, Google+, NFL Mobile, Netflix, Evernote, Dropbox are the same... know your apps, and check their settings.

2) Screen Brightness - Settings > Display > Brightness > Adjust Brightness Level... personally, I prefer about 25% and be sure to have "Automatic brightness" turn OFF.

3) Turn off animation - Settings > Display > Animation > No animation

4) No Live Wallpaper - Ultimately a Black image would use the least amount of battery life.

5) Screen Timeout - Settings > Display > Screen timeout... less is better... again personally, I prefer no more than 30 seconds.

6) Widgets - Limit widgets. They are nice to have, but they use battery life. The more widgets you have on your screens the more power they take to refresh data every time you turn on your screen.

7) Wi-Fi - Turn it on and connected to a Wireless router is good on battery life... much better than 4G/LTE.

8) GPS - Turn it off.

9) Bluetooth - Turn it off.

10) 3rd party task killers - Bad... just plain and simply BAD!!! Let the Android operating system do it's job of terminating apps that do not need to run.

11) Smart Actions - Sleep is an excellent example. Personally, I use the following to sleep at night.

• Trigger:
  • Timeframe - Night (this time can be changed for personal preference)
  • Charging - Any Source (optional if you charge at night)
• Actions:
  • Ringer Volume - Silent
  • Background Sync - Off

 

[thabears23]

Great write up will help alot of new maxx. Users

 

[RHChan84]

Also, there is a stock task killer. I would also suggest not to put any apps in the auto-kill section.

 

[ebarr727]

I stopped using Juice Defender because it would crash every few weeks and also I didn't like that sometimes it wouldn't wake up background synch immediately--I could take several minutes for it to come back.

I have replaced it with using Smart Actions. The key is to setup timeframes for everything. I have timeframes with 10 minutes in between in which background synch can take place. I don't allow background synch to take please while I sleep.

Because I usually listen to streaming radio when I drive, I have Smart Actions set to allow background synch when the "headphone" are connected. It's very versatile and it can be customized to do a lot.

 

[B. Diddy]

[NOTE]Battery issues can be a number of different things....[/NOTE]

2) Screen Brightness - Settings > Display > Brightness > Adjust Brightness Level... personally, I prefer about 25% and be sure to have "Automatic brightness" turn OFF.

Does Automatic Brightness actually use more energy to adjust?

 

[fatboy97]

Does Automatic Brightness actually use more energy to adjust?

Probably only a small amount of energy to adjust, but if it adjust to a brighter setting when you don't actually need it... then yes. Personally I prefer the Power Widget to adjust my own screen brightness and other things only when I need it... which is usually very rarely for screen brightness.

 

[rbess1965]

Smart actions is a great add for Motorola but I continue to use My Profiles app for two reasons and I'll admit right now I may be using Smart action incorrectly and maybe you guys can help me with that. First, triggering an action based on location requires GPS to be on. That in itself is an added energy draw so I keep all my location services off until I need them. Second, is that if I forgo the location triggers, I pretty much have to go Manual on/off on an action. When you manually turn one on, you manually have to turn off the one that's running and the app stays up until you close it. With the My Profiles app, you can use Cell sites to trigger the Profile you set up instead of GPS and if your switching things manually, once you chose the one you want, you don't have to turn anything off and it closes the app automatically. Seems to work smoother for me. Maybe you guys can enlighten me more on Smart Actions. I look forward to hearing suggestions.

 

[fatboy97]

Smart actions is a great add for Motorola but I continue to use My Profiles app for two reasons and I'll admit right now I may be using Smart action incorrectly and maybe you guys can help me with that. First, triggering an action based on location requires GPS to be on. That in itself is an added energy draw so I keep all my location services off until I need them. Second, is that if I forgo the location triggers, I pretty much have to go Manual on/off on an action. When you manually turn one on, you manually have to turn off the one that's running and the app stays up until you close it. With the My Profiles app, you can use Cell sites to trigger the Profile you set up instead of GPS and if your switching things manually, once you chose the one you want, you don't have to turn anything off and it closes the app automatically. Seems to work smoother for me. Maybe you guys can enlighten me more on Smart Actions. I look forward to hearing suggestions.

Smart Actions do NOT require GPS... actually if I remember correctly Smart Actions want me to have my Wifi turned on, but is not required... I leave my Wifi on anyways to keep connected to wireless routers at home and at work and do not turn it off. I do believe it uses a general tower location to get your location... so you do not need to have your full powered GPS turned on for this app to work. I do leave my "Google location services" turn on, so this might aid this app to work correctly. So to add to your "Second" argument, you don't have to manual turn anything on or off.

If "MyProfiles" app works for you then by all means keep using it.

 

[MonaandLexie]

I'm not a phone guru or anything - but the default Smart Actions didn't work for me. I created my own, and mostly had them be triggered by time of day Ie. Bedtime midnight to 6:30am, my sounds go off, my wifi, I have some VIP callers who can come through etc.

 

[rbess1965]

Thank you for the suggestion. I wanted to try that but my hours vary way too much. Working 2 jobs so one day I'm home by 6, then next it could be midnight. Right now I use the My profiles lite with the Bluetooth on but only active when in range of a Bluetooth host. So like right now I'm in work mode. No gps, no wifi, no auto data syncing. When I start up my car the phone senses my Ford sync and switches to car mode. Gps and BT audio go active automatically and goes back to work mode when ignition is off. Good for coming to work. Then there is home mode. This I have to do manually but with my profiles lite it's only a one step process. You chose the home mode and the application turns on Wi-Fi, shuts off GPS, sync's data and best part, closes on it's on. The Smart apps won't close by itself nor will it toggle between modes manually. I'd have to turn off a mode to enter another unless I kept Wi-Fi on all the time to see my homes Wi-Fi. Ultimately my goal is to keep Wi-Fi, GPS and everything else off until I need them. Unfortunately those are needed as triggers for Smart Actions. The My profiles app just seems to work smoother for me. Take care and thanks again

 

[fatboy97]

[NOTE]The latest version of Smart Actions app (version 2.1.2.0) does require Wifi to be turned on to help with the location... but the new version also allows you control of the Wifi... strange, but I guess you could turn on or off Wifi based on some other trigger, but if you turn Wifi off you then disable locations.[/NOTE]

It's one of those Catch 22's. Personally, I have never had a problem with leaving my Wifi on 24/7... no real significant battery drain. So the only time I really turn it off is if I'm on a trip away from any hotspots.

 

[thabears23]

Just curious does widget locker lock screen use alot of battery?

 

[KoukiFC3S]

I hit 7.5 hours of screen on time yesterday.

 

[fatboy97]

Just curious does widget locker lock screen use alot of battery?

I have not used that specific widget. All widgets use battery... best thing with most apps is to try it out and see if it's hurting your battery life or is it worth the battery power to have it. And of course I'd recommend only installing one new app, test it without loading any other apps or widgets for a while to know how it does with your setup.

 

[h20squirter]

my wife was consistently getting between 24-36 hours of battery life the last 2 months with her phone, after the newest update a day or two ago its down to around 10-12 hours. any ideas? no new apps, no change in usage. just the update.

 

[fatboy97]

my wife was consistently getting between 24-36 hours of battery life the last 2 months with her phone, after the newest update a day or two ago its down to around 10-12 hours. any ideas? no new apps, no change in usage. just the update.

Check the Settings > Battery Information > Battery use... look at what is using the battery... Wifi, Android OS, Phone idle, Display and Cell Standby are the main ones in my list... see if there are any specific apps that are not one of these.

 

[Knyte]

Have to say that my battery life has decreased as well after the last update.
No new apps either.. this is the same junk that's happened to other Moto phones.. fix battery life for some and ruin it for others.
Really how can that happen on the same brand phone running the same OS? There should be no noticeable difference in a negative way for those who had no battery issues to begin with.
Ugh.. I could see 80% battery left after 24 hours using wifi before the .181 update. Now I see 60-70% at 20 hours unplugged.. something is wonky IMHO.. as usual per Motorola..

 

[kil187]

my wife was consistently getting between 24-36 hours of battery life the last 2 months with her phone, after the newest update a day or two ago its down to around 10-12 hours. any ideas? no new apps, no change in usage. just the update.

I've read here somewhere that performing a reset (power + volume down buttons) will remedy it, I did it after the update just because, hope this helps.

 

[fatboy97]

I've read here somewhere that performing a reset (power + volume down buttons) will remedy it, I did it after the update just because, hope this helps.

Pressing the Volume down button and the Power button is the same as doing a battery pull... which is just like powering off and booting up your device... which is just a Reboot.

 

[rbess1965]

I'll have to say that my battery life seems lower also, but truthfully, I'm not positive. I did well with low usage and 3g over the weekend. 1D 6h. But like I said, light use plus over night. For regular daily use it seems lower. It's so hard to gage without doing specific tests before and after. Right now it's just kind of a feeling it's worse and I can't be sure now. With basic use today, it just dropped below 80% after 6hrs. Have I begun to expect too much out of this thing?