What am I doing wrong with this battery on the HTC 10?

[radiogirl83]

So, I got the HTC 10 on Monday. Had a S7 Edge before. I knew the battery life was going to be less stellar than on the Edge, but I'm also not seeing the results I see on this forum. I have way less battery life. I tried it out today and had about 14 hours, with 3 hours screen on time, before the 10 hit 2 % and I plugged it back in. I didn't make it through the day.

What am I doing wrong? I'm a pretty heavy user, I admit. But this phone still seems to drain more than I'm used to, for example on the regular S7 with the same battery capacity. I'm not seeing any apps use unexpected amounts of power in the background. NFC is off. Screen brightness usually only 50%.

I do think I read something in the Android Central review by Phil about the battery life improving over time. Have you had similar experiences? Any tips? What did you do to get this great battery life on your phones? Because I'm not seeing it (so far at least)

 

[radiogirl83]

Oh, I do loooove the design, though. I got in gold. Couldn't resist it. Even made a video about it https://youtu.be/TZoOBVsivR4

 

[dannyar11]

Its one of the main reasons I returned mine. I expected a lot more out of the 3000mah battery that my s7 also had but gave me over 5 hours SOT. Pay no attention to those who are claiming 6 hours SOT. These people either use the phone on 30% brightness with Bluetooth off, NFC off, manual email sync, etc, or are extremely light users. Like you I was barely ever reaching 4 hours of SOT, 4:30 at best on days I was home on wifi all day.

 

[radiogirl83]

Hehe, i indeed noticed some ....very active fans here But I am puzzled how Phil gets this:

"My take on the battery life has changed a little bit. I've gone from "Two days? Where did HTC get that idea?" to something I think is more realistic. This is the first "all-day" phone I've seen from this current generation of devices. Better for my use than the Galaxy S7. Better than the LG G5. From the time I wake up and unplug, to the time I go to bed. We need to have realistic expectations of a 3,000 mAh capacity — two days is pretty generous, and does it really count if the phone is all but shut down while you're sleeping? And if I'm on the run and not on Wi-Fi, I can burn through the HTC 10 battery a good bit faster and need to top up at some point.

But if I'm on Wi-Fi most of the day, and get a little bit of charge back on the commute home, I'm easily getting 15 hours of actual use, with 30 percent or 40 percent of a charge remaining."

I'm like: HOOOOOOW?!

 

[Kr0m]

Hmm, it definitely seems like a mixed bag of results (which was the same for the LG g4 boards I used to follow). Mine has been improving since I got it.
Both the battery life and screen time keep slowly getting better. I'd say medium use, both WiFi & data throughout the day. I'm definitely more confident with its consumption vs the g4 I previously had.

 

[Almeuit]

Radiogirl - Do you happen to have a snapshot (screenshot) of the battery stats from a day of use? That would help us to troubleshoot your issue .

 

[Rukbat]

At a guess it's a combination of full screen brightness (which eats battery), weak signal (which eats battery - tap the battery graph to get to the second page and show us a screenshot of that page too) and letting the battery get TOO low. (Set the shutoff to 10% - but NEVER let it go below 40% after the first 3 cycles or you'll need a new battery in a couple of months - lithium is NOT a deep-discharge chemistry, it's just the lightest one, and you don't want a pocket full of lead.)

 

[radiogirl83]

About screenshot usage >I thought I did but seems I took the wrong screenshot #facepalm
Think I'll get that Gsam app as well since everyone seems to be using that

 

[radiogirl83]

At a guess it's a combination of full screen brightness (which eats battery), weak signal (which eats battery - tap the battery graph to get to the second page and show us a screenshot of that page too) and letting the battery get TOO low. (Set the shutoff to 10% - but NEVER let it go below 40% after the first 3 cycles or you'll need a new battery in a couple of months - lithium is NOT a deep-discharge chemistry, it's just the lightest one, and you don't want a pocket full of lead.)

OK, I'll keep an eye on it and take the correct screenshots next time. I know it's best to charge the battery more frequently and keep it between 40 and 90 or so. But this is real life: I can't be managing my battery all day And I was curious to see how long it would hold.

I rarely use the screen at full brightness, so that's not the cause. Bad reception: could be. But I spend most of my days inside close to the Wifi, so it's not from data. Also live in the city so pretty good reception overall for mobile connections.

And also: I didn't have this problem on other phones since like....the S6 or so Not on recent iPhones, not on the S7, not on the S7 Edge...But now I feel like I'm living in 2013 again :/ (As in: battery anxiety every day

 

[holz75]

(Set the shutoff to 10% - but NEVER let it go below 40% after the first 3 cycles or you'll need a new battery in a couple of months)

NEVER? Isn't that a bit overkill? Don't freak her out if she sees her phone go to 39%. Hahaha. There are so many myths about cell phone batteries now. Yeah, it's not a good idea to let it fully discharge and shut off, but you're not going to need a new battery in 3 months if you consistently let it drop a little below 40%. Just charge and use it and don't worry about it!

 

[VagrantSaint]

There are so many factors. I typically get 6 hrs SOT. Yesterday I was driving in and out of 4G, 3G and no service so I got more like 5.

As with any phone, turn off the services you don't need. And don't be alarmed when you unplug in the morning, it's normal to drop the first 10% pretty quick

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[McDoogie]

I use power saver throughout the work day, and keep my brightness all the way down (I keep it this dim when I'm indoors, and crank it up when i go outside). This screen is pretty bright, my eyes adjusted to having it on the lowest brightness setting. I close all my background apps before I lock my phone. I never have data or Wi-Fi on when I'm not using my phone. I keep Wi-Fi on when my phone is charging. Today was the first time my phone dropped to 40% after my work day, but I used it all day today doing Wi-Fi analyzer, using my phone as a monitor to tweak IP cameras (had weak signal as well because it was a stone house, so that strained the battery) and multiple phone calls to my Co workers. Also took many work photos and uploaded them to dropbox today.
Usually my phone is at 70% at the end of the work day

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Almeuit]

There are so many factors.

This is very true. I am waiting till she can get some time with GSam running and we can see what is chewing through her battery. We just helped someone in the S7 area with a HUGE battery drain problem and it turned out to mainly be her signal (cell). When on wifi it was okay due to not straining as much for data use but man .. That low cell signal was just really hurting her battery when on mobile instead of wifi.

 

[iDrizzy]

Oh, I do loooove the design, though. I got in gold. Couldn't resist it. Even made a video about it https://youtu.be/TZoOBVsivR4

Awww. Great video

 

[BigDinCA]

Think I'll get that Gsam app as well since everyone seems to be using that

When you do, make sure you unplug it at 100% and run it so we all have a baseline. It throws people off if your numbers are based off of unplugging at 80 or 90%, though with the QC3.0 charger, hitting 100% happens pretty quick.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[J R Mtz]

GSAM has me at 10:13 unplugged, with 2:30 screen time.
Was on wifi for about 2 hours of that with the rest on LTE, with both wifi and BT radios turned on in the background the entire time.
Currently sitting at 49% left.

 

[richard dillon1]

I can now say the most battery drain comes from standby. I think when we go to sleep the phone is syncing data. First night I turned data and Wi-Fi off and battery drop from 79% to 78% in a 7 hrs timeframe. Next time I left the data and Wi-Fi on and the phone dropped from 33% to 13% in eight hours of stand by. It is either they have programmed all apps to be sync and backup at sleep time or we have an issue. However standby in the daytime don't drain half as much as the night.

 

[thejesse]

I can now say the most battery drain comes from standby. I think when we go to sleep the phone is syncing data. First night I turned data and Wi-Fi off and battery drop from 79% to 78% in a 7 hrs timeframe. Next time I left the data and Wi-Fi on and the phone dropped from 33% to 13% in eight hours of stand by. It is either they have programmed all apps to be sync and backup at sleep time or we have an issue. However standby in the daytime don't drain half as much as the night.

It shouldn't do that with doze. That sounds like a wake lock problem.

 

[richard dillon1]

It shouldn't do that with doze. That sounds like a wake lock problem.

The drain only does that in the night but in the day time it does quite fine

 

[thejesse]

The drain only does that in the night but in the day time it does quite fine

Doze should be keeping drain down to 1% or less per hour overnight.