Epic 4G Touch Battery Life is Terrible

[jazzmanx33]

Slight Wall of Text Warning. TLDR summary: I need to know why the battery on the E4GT is so crappy. If I can't find a fix, than I, too, will be going to the iPhone 4S.

I bought an E4GT the Saturday before the iPhone announcement. I knew the announcement was coming, but I wanted to try out the E4GT for 2 weeks before making a decision either way. I can say now that I am on the verge of switching, thanks to the HORRID battery life I get with this thing. That hang-up alone will send me packing from Android Town.

It's so confusing, too, since almost every review I've read says the battery life on the E4GT is stellar, but in my case, it's anything but. With minimal app installs or widgets, no 4G at all and minimal use overall, the battery would run itself dry in about 8-10 hours. I don't know about you, but I would actually like to use my phone and have it last more than a work day, so I can get home to put it on the charger for the night. Keep in mind, this is with very minimal use; no games, no 4G, no picture taking, not a lot of web surfing, and push emails. Even with the advanced battery saving technology in this thing, it just seems to do what it wants when the screen is off and drain the battery for apparently no reason at all.

Which is part of the reason why I would want to move to iOS5 and the iPhone 4S. I've read many forums, especially ones here, that detail very specific things you can do to increase battery life, but many of the steps involve either going into menus and turning off things until you need them (GPS, WiFi, 4G) or simply not using the phone. If I wanted a paperweight with a 4.5" screen, I would keep my deactivated EVO (which, funny enough, had better battery life for me than the E4GT). As far as I know from using other iOS devices (iPad2 and iPod Touch, 3rd Gen), when the device's screen is off, other than a few email pushs and other network access, it uses very little power, especially the iPad2. Granted, it's WiFi only, but WiFi is on ALL the time, and when it doesn't find a signal, it simply goes to sleep until I get a trusted connection, thus saving the battery. I can go DAYS without charging the iPad2, while still doing stuff like play games, surf the web, get emails and the like. If the iPhone 4S has similar longevity, consider me sold.

I've used PCs most of my life, and I consider Android phones to be the mobile equivalent. I like to be able to have access to the OS in order to get the most I can out of a device, but in the case of Android, it's that very thing that causes many more problems than should exist in a mobile device. You have all these great tools in the E4GT, but if you can't use them for more than 6-8 hours before having to bring out the charger, then why even have them at all? It's just a tease to me.

Before I jump ship, however, I want to give this one last chance. Does anyone out there have any advise to increase the longevity of the E4GT? All I want to be able to do is have push email for my Gmail and Exchange (I need fast access to email, due to my job), be able to play a game or two on the train to/from work, and put the thing in my pocket and not have it lose 10% power/hr while seemingly doing absolutely nothing.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Cobravision]

I responded to you in another thread, but I wanted to reiterate that if battery life is that high up on your list of important features, then Android is not for you. However, there are various workarounds to minimize the issue. But there's no way to workaround a tiny screen.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

I would recommend formatting the phone, and run it with just your exchange email for a day or two to see if the battery is better.

 

[JayWill]

If you're only getting 8-10 hours on minimal use, then you either have something installed that's keeping your phone for going to sleep (wakelock), you live in a weak Sprint area and your phone is constantly bouncing around trying to establish a stronger signal, or you have a defective unit and/or battery and you should exchange it.

Check you battery status and see if you have a large block of "Awake" on the bar while your display was off (assuming you were not playing music). If you do, then you may have something that is wakelocking your phone.

Keep something in mind though. Everyone's usage habits are different. What you call minimal use could be heavy use for others. Still, when I mostly use my device for calls/texts/emails throughout a day, I can get 24 hours out of my battery easy. 8-10 hours is something I get out of what I consider heavy use, where my screen is on all the time.

If you want more help on your battery, post a screen shot after a day of use. It may help identify an issue.

 

[Ricolando]

That is unusual. I would agree with the above posts that you must be in a weak signal area, have an odd runaway app, or have a defective phone/battery. A factory reset wouldn't be a bad idea. I personally use this phone more heavily than I did my original Epic 4G and my battery life is often 20+ hours. I've actually never killed the battery since I usually make it back to a power source before hitting critical levels. Heck I haven't even bought a new car charger since my old one went bad, that's unheard of with Android.

 

[Slingbox]

Slight Wall of Text Warning. TLDR summary: I need to know why the battery on the E4GT is so crappy. If I can't find a fix, than I, too, will be going to the iPhone 4S.

I bought an E4GT the Saturday before the iPhone announcement. I knew the announcement was coming, but I wanted to try out the E4GT for 2 weeks before making a decision either way. I can say now that I am on the verge of switching, thanks to the HORRID battery life I get with this thing. That hang-up alone will send me packing from Android Town.

It's so confusing, too, since almost every review I've read says the battery life on the E4GT is stellar, but in my case, it's anything but. With minimal app installs or widgets, no 4G at all and minimal use overall, the battery would run itself dry in about 8-10 hours. I don't know about you, but I would actually like to use my phone and have it last more than a work day, so I can get home to put it on the charger for the night. Keep in mind, this is with very minimal use; no games, no 4G, no picture taking, not a lot of web surfing, and push emails. Even with the advanced battery saving technology in this thing, it just seems to do what it wants when the screen is off and drain the battery for apparently no reason at all.

Which is part of the reason why I would want to move to iOS5 and the iPhone 4S. I've read many forums, especially ones here, that detail very specific things you can do to increase battery life, but many of the steps involve either going into menus and turning off things until you need them (GPS, WiFi, 4G) or simply not using the phone. If I wanted a paperweight with a 4.5" screen, I would keep my deactivated EVO (which, funny enough, had better battery life for me than the E4GT). As far as I know from using other iOS devices (iPad2 and iPod Touch, 3rd Gen), when the device's screen is off, other than a few email pushs and other network access, it uses very little power, especially the iPad2. Granted, it's WiFi only, but WiFi is on ALL the time, and when it doesn't find a signal, it simply goes to sleep until I get a trusted connection, thus saving the battery. I can go DAYS without charging the iPad2, while still doing stuff like play games, surf the web, get emails and the like. If the iPhone 4S has similar longevity, consider me sold.

I've used PCs most of my life, and I consider Android phones to be the mobile equivalent. I like to be able to have access to the OS in order to get the most I can out of a device, but in the case of Android, it's that very thing that causes many more problems than should exist in a mobile device. You have all these great tools in the E4GT, but if you can't use them for more than 6-8 hours before having to bring out the charger, then why even have them at all? It's just a tease to me.

Before I jump ship, however, I want to give this one last chance. Does anyone out there have any advise to increase the longevity of the E4GT? All I want to be able to do is have push email for my Gmail and Exchange (I need fast access to email, due to my job), be able to play a game or two on the train to/from work, and put the thing in my pocket and not have it lose 10% power/hr while seemingly doing absolutely nothing.

Thank you for your time.

Yeah somethings up if your losing 10% hr device doing nothing.
I charge every other day moderate use losing 7% in 10hr span wile device sleeps at night.
I have GPS enabled , 3G , push mail , Weather app update every 3 hours active during that sleep.

 

[Cobravision]

I think that Exchange Active Sync is the culprit. I will lose 20%-30% overnight without fail (the Evo would sometimes lose 60%).

One person in the company had a Droid Incredible, which had terrible battery life to begin with. After setting up Exchange Active Sync on it, it was unusable and we ended up getting her a separate Blackberry.

 

[jazzmanx33]

If you're only getting 8-10 hours on minimal use, then you either have something installed that's keeping your phone for going to sleep (wakelock), you live in a weak Sprint area and your phone is constantly bouncing around trying to establish a stronger signal, or you have a defective unit and/or battery and you should exchange it.

The issue arises even when I have full bars at work over 3G. The only apps that do any sort of synching are Facebook (3 hrs), Twitter (3 hrs) Gmail and Exchange (Push, with Gmail having only Priority Inbox as a test)

Check you battery status and see if you have a large block of "Awake" on the bar while your display was off (assuming you were not playing music). If you do, then you may have something that is wakelocking your phone.

No huge blocks of "awake". Only slivers and moderate sized blocks when the phone is actually awake during use.

Keep something in mind though. Everyone's usage habits are different. What you call minimal use could be heavy use for others. Still, when I mostly use my device for calls/texts/emails throughout a day, I can get 24 hours out of my battery easy. 8-10 hours is something I get out of what I consider heavy use, where my screen is on all the time.

If you want more help on your battery, post a screen shot after a day of use. It may help identify an issue.

I understand that when I use the phone more, the battery goes down faster, and I accept that. It's just frustrating that I see more battery drain when I'm not actually doing anything, and the phone is just nomming away at itself.

 

[jazzmanx33]

I would recommend formatting the phone, and run it with just your exchange email for a day or two to see if the battery is better.

Did this a few days ago, and after uninstalling the Sprint bloatware, it actually made things worse :-\ The situation I described was after looking at the "30+ hour battery" thread and taking some of that advice.

 

[jazzmanx33]

I responded to you in another thread, but I wanted to reiterate that if battery life is that high up on your list of important features, then Android is not for you. However, there are various workarounds to minimize the issue. But there's no way to workaround a tiny screen.

I'm paying attention to this thread, so I apologize if I didn't see your other response. I've used Android since the Hero, and am accepting of some non-optimal results when it comes to battery life, especially when it comes to games or other things that use the screen and processor intensively. This situation, however, is unacceptable, especially on a device that is lauded for having such great battery life. I don't work this thing to the ground, so I would expect to have above average result, and instead I am way below average.

 

[JayWill]

I understand that when I use the phone more, the battery goes down faster, and I accept that. It's just frustrating that I see more battery drain when I'm not actually doing anything, and the phone is just nomming away at itself.

If you're losing more than 1% per hour, with the screen off and the phone just sitting there, then you have a problem somewhere. This phone doesn't omnomnom your battery when the screen is off and it's working properly. It will however omnomnom battery with the screen on, especially if you're on a lot of white pages. I turn off auto-brightness and set it at about 50%, which works well for me.

 

[jazzmanx33]

I think that Exchange Active Sync is the culprit. I will lose 20%-30% overnight without fail (the Evo would sometimes lose 60%).

One person in the company had a Droid Incredible, which had terrible battery life to begin with. After setting up Exchange Active Sync on it, it was unusable and we ended up getting her a separate Blackberry.

Hrmmm... I will try tweaking the settings for Exchange sync and get back to you. If it is indeed the Exchange mail, is there any alternative to the stock app? I kind of need my exchange mail to follow me around due to my job needs.

 

[jazzmanx33]

Thanks, all, for all of your help.

My phone just completed a new charge, and I will be turning it on shortly and monitoring the battery situation for the rest of the day. I will be tweaking the Exchange sync settings to be a bit less frequent (but still not manual, as the nature of my job requires me to respond to issues quickly, and I'm not always at my desk), continue to sync just the priority inbox for gmail, and keep everything else as is (3G on, no WiFi, no 4G, and minimal use). I will report back here after about 3-4 hours of this.

FYI: My Exchange sync settings are:

Peak days: M-F
Peak hours: 8am-5pm
Peak Sched: Push
Non-Peak Sched: 15 min

I will edit the settings so that during peak hours, it will check every 5 min instead of push, and we'll see how that goes.

 

[dguidry12]

I agree with the OP and it seems the older the phone gets the worse the battery life is ..true story ..I took my phone off the charger at 9am this morning and i am already to 49 percent ..do this test for me ..browse on your phone for 3 minutes straight and i guarantee that the phone will lose 4% in battery charge ..I guarantee it

 

[jazzmanx33]

I agree with the OP and it seems the older the phone gets the worse the battery life is ..true story ..I took my phone off the charger at 9am this morning and i am already to 49 percent ..do this test for me ..browse on your phone for 3 minutes straight and i guarantee that the phone will lose 4% in battery charge ..I guarantee it

I agree with you, but to be honest, this phone is only a week old (more if you count the time on the shelf, but this is my time with the phone). When I first got the phone, I did a full battery drain to 0%, then charged to full overnight. What I am going through, given normal usage, shouldn't be happening to a phone this new.

 

[DAS]

If I were having your experience (I am not by the way), I would simply return the phone to my place of purchase in exchange for another unit.

Based on the forums, battery life on the Epic 4G Touch far exceeds what most people experience using an Android device. In fact, many in the forums have been blown away at how well this phone manages battery life. With many people (like me) upgrading from the HTC Evo which got HORIBLE battery life, this phone is like worlds apart.

I would say that since 85-90% of users are not having battery issues, you should return your phone because something with your device is seriously wrong.

 

[oskar1995]

Jazzmanx - I want to echo the point that you may just have a defective device. This phone sips battery. I took my phone off the charger at 5:45 this morning. Its now 8.5 hours and I've gone through 28% of the battery. That is impacted by some gaming (drag racing), some browsing (checked some scores), reading twitter for 45 minutes during lunch, and some roaming while at lunch (bad sprint area). I have 3 GMail accounts pushing all the time, a couple of widgets on the home screen, and one or two other apps syncing/checking for updates.

Every electronic device produced has a given failure rate. We have all had this happen with something in our lives. With cell phones we tend to notice them more since we use them so much more. If the recent test you are conducting doesn't work out, I would ask them to replace the device. Give that one a shot for a few days and hopefully things improve.

I had the Original iPhone and my first one drained the battery in 4 hours with nothing on it. Just charge it up, die in 4-5 hours, charge it up, die in 4-5 hours. This was before apps, and GMail push. I took it back, got another one and it worked fine. Ended up hating iOS and ditched it within 6 months. Not for the faulty hardware, but for an OS that originally didn't allow MMS, didn't have copy/paste, with a terribly slow browser, and wasn't very polished.

 

[oskar1995]

I agree with the OP and it seems the older the phone gets the worse the battery life is ..true story ..I took my phone off the charger at 9am this morning and i am already to 49 percent ..do this test for me ..browse on your phone for 3 minutes straight and i guarantee that the phone will lose 4% in battery charge ..I guarantee it

dguidry - First of all, do everyone in this forum a favor and take your Epic 4G Touch back to the Sprint store. You clearly have a defective phone and have done nothing but complain in countless threads about it. As noted above I'm at 8.5 hours of use and still 71% of my battery is left. I just browsed on my phone for 3 minutes as you requested and not a single percentage drop. There is clearly a problem with your phone.

Since you guaranteed that my phone would lose 4% I would like to know how you intend to compensate me for this breach of explicit warranty.

 

[dguidry12]

Ok i may have a defective unit and ill he taking it back today ..I'm at only 32 percent batter life now

 

[Slingbox]

Ok i may have a defective unit and ill he taking it back today ..I'm at only 32 percent batter life now

When you get new don't turn it inside out looking for things wrong.
Every device has flaws if you look for them they get under your skin.....I use to do the same thing in my younger years lighting up forums with negativity nothing positive coming from it.


Anyway good luck hope it works out for you.