New to Android- A few questions.

[PaulJMass]

Hey everyone,

I converted back to the Android world after a few years away. My last Android experience was with the Acer Liquid E. I'm now a One S user, but am not so sure I'm using it to it's full potential, and have mixed volumes of advice so far. So, I'm putting a few questions out to you, the experts. Thanks in advance for your help and advice.
1, I get about 10-12 hours out of a full charge, which includes a bit of gaming, but mostly email and texting. Is that normal? It seems kinda pathetic, in my humble opinion...
2, should I use a Task Killer app? I've heard yes and no, so I don't know...
3, Is Juice Defender a real battery saver? It has told me that it's increasing my battery life by 1.35 times, but that's its opinion, lol.
4, Is the "Power Saver" that is built into 4.1.1 better than a 3rd party app, or is it effective at all?
5, Do widgets (weather, news feeds) drain the battery faster? I'd think that they're running in the background so they would.

I'm sure that most of the above are "dumb" questions, but I need your expert advice to make sure I'm using my phone, which I think is great, to some of its full potential.

Thanks everyone.

 

[NickNick43]

I'm no android expert but here is what I know based on owning multiple android phones over the past 4-5 years.

1-10-12 hours doesn't see too bad. I don't play many games but get around 13-14 average with heavy texting and chat, light calling and email, and some web browsing mixed in.

2,3,and 4- In my friend experience all 3rd party apps are more of a drain on resources than just letting the stock system do its work. May not have been the case back in the early days but I wouldn't use then personally.

5- I think the effect that widgets have on your battery life depends on the refresh rate you have them set up for.

Like I said, not an expert but hope that helps.

 

[RoadWarrior93]

I think 10-12 is decent for a Slim phone. Bigger screens, higher resolutions, and more powerful hardware seems to take more of a toll on batteries now a days than the tank like ancestors you and I used to have. Power Saver apps usually are nothing more than programs that close apps running in the background. You need to look up on how to fully close apps you are no using and that is usually the best way to save the battery. You can set the widgets to update less or more per hour, obviously less updating means more power savings.

 

[PaulJMass]

I turned off the GPS, and holy crap! After 11 hours of standby and a few texts and a bit of browsing, my battery's at 81%. Awesome!

 

[touchthatpad106]

I just got the One S so I am still holding out my battery judgement, but so far its good not great. This is a used phone too so once again its probably not a fair assessment. Also whatever you do don't use a task killer. Task Management is built into android now. I don't know if you know this but when you hit the window(or card?) button you can "flick" apps away by swiping them upwards. That's the easiest way to "kill" tasks.

 

[PaulJMass]

When I told my son, who works at a technical service company, and has a One X, that I turned my GPS off, he said "You had that turned on???" Then he laughed at me for being old... The GPS is the heaviest battery drain on the phone, apparently. I'm pleased with the phone now that it lasts all day. I always close all my apps religiously, which I'm sure helps too. I guess I'm not too old for this tech thing....

Thanks everyone.

 

[FRoStYisGoD]

thats good that ur getting good battery life, cuz with my One S I'm getting 9-13 hours of usage out of it in a day, and thats with majority of the time its web browsing with some gaming, but even still it shouldn't be draining the battery that fast? alot of it is on Wifi to. Also some phone calls but not very long maybe 15 minutes at the max.

My battery seems to be the worst out of everyone and thats with or without juice defender as well, and with no widgets running, or emails syncing at all its all set to manual, as well as nothing is on for the GPS everything is unchecked in the location settings.

anyone know whats going on or is that indeed normal?

posted using Tapatalk 2 for HTC Ons S

 

[ImTheDuke]

Whats your wake time for your screen? Is it set to 1min,2min or 10 minutes until it goes into sleep mode? I find that's the biggest drain .

 

[PaulJMass]

I have it set to 2 minutes, but I always use my power button to put my phone to sleep. Since turning my GPS off, though, my battery life is freaking amazing! 2 days with texts, and a bit of browsing, Facebook and a call or two. I also turn off my WiFi when I'm out of range or not using it. I guess it's all about discipline and remembering to turn off certain antennas.

Sent from my HTC One S using Android Central Forums