[Official] D2 & D2G Battery Life Discussion

[Rev2010]

Is this battery issue mainly confined to the Global? I was thinking of switching from the D2 to the global for international use but I have no issues with my D2 battery life so if the global is worse I'll stick with the D2.

Rev.

 

[aweber1nj]

Don't take my results as "gospel". I'm guessing that as they keep increasing the default speed of the CPU, for the same chip, it's just continuing to shorten battery life proportionally.

But again, I'm really theorizing right now. I love the hardware, love Android and love the ability to go global. Unless I get to handle the Merge in the next two weeks and really think it's "that much better", this will be a keeper. I have no doubt that if I root and underclock (when the display is off), I will have tons better battery life.

Will keep working on it.

 

[Rev2010]

Thanks for the update and info man, truly much appreciated!


Rev.

 

[tscad]

I had the D2 for two weeks and had no issues with battery life. I switched to the D2G while still under the 30 day exchange policy and now my battery life is terribad with the exact same apps and config.

Here's a breakdown of my usage. Granted I have 3 apps that appear in the list at 2% each making for 6% of the drain, which is negligible. Also I could turn off WiFi, but lets be honest, that's not what's causing this terrible battery life.

Battery currently at 50% after 5 hours unplugged with a max of 5 min usage (checked Facebook)

Cell standby - 28%
Phone Idle -19%
Android system - 14%
Display - 10%
WiFi - 5%
com.motorola.service.man - 4%
Data Manager Service - 3%
Watchdog - 2%
LauncherPro - 2%
Android OS - 2%
Weatherbug Elite - 2%

 

[Rev2010]

Wow, thanks for that. I really wanted to know if there's a difference between the D2 and the D2G and you really answered my question there. So it's starting to look like they overclocked the same CPU which is causing more drain huh? As much as I wanted my D2 to be set for international use at this point I've already figured it's easier to get and use a cheap prepaid worldphone. No contract and I don't mind having two devices on my belt, already have a work blackberry on my belt alongside my phone and I don't take that on vacations so

Besides, I only ever need the phone internationally for emergency situations or quick calls home, so it's like a total of 15-20 full minutes talk time for each entire trip. Not really a big deal. Anyhow, thanks again for the info!


Rev.

 

[Papadakis]

This probably true with all smartphones as well as the D2G but the battery life really really depends on the phone's settings and your usage level. I have my backlight all the way down(which isn't bad at all), no email synching, 1 widget running, CDMA network only, and disabled running services im not using. One day ive gone 24+ hours and been at 20-30% battery when i plugged it back in for the night, and another day i've had it last 10 hours max.

 

[Rev2010]

I have my backlight all the way down(which isn't bad at all), no email synching, 1 widget running, CDMA network only, and disabled running services im not using. One day ive gone 24+ hours and been at 20-30% battery when i plugged it back in for the night, and another day i've had it last 10 hours max.

I'm sorry, but this is completely inexcusable! What is the point of a smartphone if you have to baby it as such?? I'm an IT Tech for a living so I get part of your point. I run my D2 with background sync turned off, wifi off unless I need it, auto brightness, battery manager set to maximum battery life etc. But that is because it's a personal device and *I* don't need real-time email updates and all that nor do I sync my calendar or contacts. But in real business world use this would put the Motorola Droid devices completely out of the picture. Comparing it side by side with the Blackberry's battery life would be laughable as that is one area they excel in.

So while I get your point about tweaking the phone you really need to realize not every Droid owner is a tech, and not every Droid owner can live with having all this stuff turned off if they really rely on it. It's just not acceptable to tell people, "Oh the battery if fine but you have to turn off 80-90% of the features and dim the screen all the way too." I mean come on now :-/

With that said, I thought my D2 battery life was poor in the beginning. Since tweaking it though, since I don't need anything real time except phone calls, it now lasts quite long, actually surprising longer than I ever expected even after use online or playing a game. Also, though I didn't think so originally, I'm thinking the quoted improved battery life in the 2.3.2 update might actually be helping as well.

Rev.

 

[Papadakis]

Yeah I get what you're saying but I supposed I'm just trying to straighten things out for people cause there are a lot of conflicting results as far as battery life for this phone goes. And I guess you could say i'm babying it but i'm perfectly fine with how its set up and how i use it

 

[cgull]

I am having zero issues with battery life. Can get through a full day with 30% left. Running touchdown, LP, bw, gtalk, gvoice and sometimes twitter, gowalla and wbug.

I have rooted and removed all bloatware, switched to cdma rather than global, only enable wifi when needed and increased all the update intervals for background apps.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk

 

[ishore99]

Better battery life

If you read my earlier post I did have concern on my battery life. After reading the posts here and using some of them, I have much improved longevity each day. I came from the BBB Storm 2.

 

[lyoko37]

If you read my earlier post I did have concern on my battery life. After reading the posts here and using some of them, I have much improved longevity each day. I came from the BBB Storm 2.

I am also coming from the Storm2 (talk about terrible battery life, ha) One thing I noticed after reading this is Twitdroyd is set to refresh every 5 minutes, I changed that to an hour. I also recently switched the Global to CDMA so I hope to see an improvement.. I'm probably getting about 5 hours right now with heavy texting so we will see if it improves.

Does anyone else have any other battery saving tips?

 

[cwe640]

I had my phone running all day yesterday, made a few calls, nothing too long. I do have the extd battery in it and so between 7am to 8pm it used 10% of the battery. I have WiFi off because I am not using it where I am.

Am I reading that correctly? ... After 13 hours, you've used only 10% of your battery? Or did you mean that after 13 hours, you have 10% left?

 

[cwe640]

How does Droid 2 Global battery life compare to original Droid?

I've read the specs via Motorola and Verizon (edge to D1 on standby time, edge to D2G on talk time), but I wondered about users' actual experience. Thank you in advance!

 

[aweber1nj]

I considered the Extd Battery, but it looks like it adds a lot of bulk to a nicely trim phone. I may still go that route if I can't get the battery life I need out of the stock.

Been messing-around with setCPU and some other settings lately. If I keep all my radios off, I can get a full, 12hr day no problem. But I would prefer to have my WiFi and/or BT on (don't mind leaving GPS off) as well.

Going to look seriously at Tasker (which I will probably buy eventually anyway) to see how it can auto enable/disable my wifi based upon location, but that doesn't solve my BT issue.

Good Luck,
AJ

 

[Grafixx01#AC]

I just picked up the D2G yesterday after trying to move over from using BBs for like 10+ years. I do like the phone but the batter life is killing me. I charged it when I first got it and have not installed anything, made two calls at 5minutes or less, and browsed the web for a little while which totaled at probably 10 minutes.

My battery life went from 100% down to <5% in like 5 or 6 hours. I haven't installed anything so i know it's not that. It has just the bloated bs that is on the device from the factory.

The thing is, with the standard battery in my BB Bold with 3 email accounts on it, and about a dozen games and apps being used all day with push / constant update checking for RSS, News, Weather, I never had this issue. The battery would last me more than an 8 hour work day which is what I need.

I wanted to switch to Droid because of what is available and coming out for it plus the Flash player being available but if the battery cannot last more than 8 hours, this is not going to work.

I know that there are extended batteries for it but do not see the point in it since the battery should last that long already out of the box with nothing installed and next to no use.

I did what is suggested by shutting down the "Global" in signal but living 5 miles away from the U.S. - Mexico border, I'm contantly picking up towers over there so it's necessary.

Any ideas?

 

[geendroid]

I am in the same boat, new DG2, first android device, really like the phone. But, I am tweaking all the time to preserve the battery life. I do have it lasting all day now, but I really have watch it closely. I would love to be able to use more of the "fun" features without worrying about the drain.

Considering buying an extended battery...how much of an improvement is it?

 

[thebizz]

Don't use blur if you want better battery life. Wait more than a day before you make judgments on battery life more like a week. I recently got my droid to were it will make ut through a full days of use running at 1.2. I set my phone to maximum battery saver don't have blur and use the facebook and twitter apps. When I would go to work before I would have to shut my phone down after 6 hours due to it sitting at 30% with almost no use. Now i get home and still have 40-50 percent with the same usage

 

[aweber1nj]

FWIW: Don't know if anyone has seen this (will put a separate post in the forum too), but Motorola has a sale with up-to 60% off batteries and accessories today.

Use Promo Code GIFT4U60 at checkout. I decided I'd try the extended battery, though I'm having somewhat better luck with setCPU lowering my clock when the phone is in my case.

 

[ishore99]

I'm having somewhat better luck with setCPU lowering my clock when the phone is in my case.

How would I setCPU?

 

[dbasham]

You need to root the phone (I used z4Root) and then download the app. Highly worth it and this is the only reason I rooted (no custom ROMs for me).