Charge time???

[mortalmallard]

Just got my Maxx yesterday and love it so far. I've run into a few issues and wonder what you guys think. first is this thing seems to take forever to charge. How long does a charge usually take you guys? The other issue I hit was that I had a full charge today and by 4:00 I was down to 40%. I only made a few short calls but had major issues with data today(VerizonIssues). Would the battery have drained that quick due to the data issues??

Let me know what you guys think and any suggestions you have. Thanks!!!!!!!

 

[fatboy97]

Battery issues can be a number of different things....

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

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

3) Widgets - Limit widgets. The more widgets you have on your screens the more power they take to refresh data every time you turn on your screen.

4) 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.

5) Wi-Fi on and connected to a Wireless router - Is good on battery life... much better than 4G/LTE.

6) 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.

7) Use Smart Actions - The Sleep sample action is a great example and starting point... mostly just to get a good nights sleep and you can change the Ringer Volume to Silent during the Night Timeframe while your device is charging... adjust the Night time frame and change anything you want to.

As far as your issue with charging... what charger are you using... and how LOW is your battery when you start charging?

 

[mortalmallard]

It was at around 40% today at 4:00 and it just finished t a full charge at 7:50. I am using the charger that came with the phone. I always swap out the old one for the new one when I get a new phone.

Thanks for the other info. I do already follow most of your advice. I could stand to adjust some of the sync times. I don't do a bunch of widgets and I did adjust the brightness down after I saw that it was 43% of my battery usage and I despise task killers!!!

I will make a few tweeks based off of your suggestions and see where it gets me.

Thank you much!!

 

[fatboy97]

One other thing I'd recommend... reboot... hold the Power button, select Power off... wait for it to fully power off... hold the Power button down for about 5-10 seconds until the Red Motorola logo starts up.

 

[B. Diddy]

What do you mean by major data issues? Was your phone having difficulty finding the network? That can drain the battery as well. Where I work, there's a room where there's little to no phone or data reception. With my old Droid Incredible, I noticed that the battery would run down more quickly if I spent a lot of time in that room, presumably because the phone was constantly searching for a signal.

 

[mortalmallard]

I was one of the lucky folks today that got to experience spotty data connections today. I would have a good connection for about 5 minutes at a time. So if I turn my data connection off when this happens will I still be able to make and recieve calls?

 

[fatboy97]

I was one of the lucky folks today that got to experience spotty data connections today. I would have a good connection for about 5 minutes at a time. So if I turn my data connection off when this happens will I still be able to make and recieve calls?

Data and phone are two different ways to communicate... you can turn data sync off at night and still get phone calls and SMS messages.

 

[MA2GA28]

Your charge time also seems like its a bit high. If I get my phone to around 20%, it usually takes about 3 hours, give or take, for a full charge. Less than 20%, and I'm looking at 3.5 hours. From reviews I've read, that seems to be spot on. If you charged yours for close to 4 hours from 40% for a full charge, that sounds like an issue to me.

That is also fast battery drain, especially on a phone like ours (but that depends on when you took it off the charger...I'm assuming 7:30-8). However, as others have said, if you have a not-so-strong connection where you were then that could have killed battery life (especially if you're making phone calls over that spotty connection). The data issues also could have played a role, as if your phone is constantly looking for the data connection and not finding it, that would drain the battery.

I'd give it a couple days, and if you're still experience the same drain rate and charge-up times, I'd go back to Big Red and get a new device.

And one tip to add to fatboy's good list:

- Turn Off wifi and GPS if you don't need them. Some apps use GPS in the background, which can drain battery. And leaving wifi on isn't as bad, but it still means its actively looking for wifi networks to attach to.

 

[mortalmallard]

So I adjusted settings, removed apps, GPS and Wifi are off, and had a beautiful connection last night and today. I recharged lastnight and noticed the phone drops to 90% charge within a half hour or so. I turned it off before I went to bed and it was at 80%.

Today I sent a few texts, two or three five minute phone calls, took a photo, and was on the browser for about 10 minutes. the rest of the time the phone was on my desk. 30% charge when I got home. Oh and when I started the phone thismorning all of my personalized ringtones were set for contacts and notifications other than where I set them.

Stopped at Verizon to complain. Guy looked at it and gave me the it could be your settings and apps routine. Made hie physically look at my setting so he could see they are not all cranked to max (they are very conservative from where I would normally have them). Then he proceeded to tell me that these phones are not known for their good battery life. so I say "what you are telling me is that Verizon and Motorola are lying about the 21 hours talk time they are boasting in their commercials?" Of course I got no response.

So pissed off I came home and put it on the charger at 5:30. It is now 7:40 and I am at 50% charge.

Funny thing is I had a Droid X with the original battery and I streamed Pandora all day at work plus calls etc. and at two years old it held a better charge. I would be at 40% when I got home. I'm scared to do anything with this phone because it will die in less than a day.

I know I have the option to exchange it. So if I exchange it am I going to get handed a refurb or will I get a brand spanking new phone?

 

[fatboy97]

Turning off GPS is good... but I did NOT say to turn off Wifi... Read #5 again. I leave my Wifi ON 24 hrs a day... I've only been unplugged for about 13 hrs, but I'm at 88% battery life right now. ***EDIT: Unless of course you do not have any wireless router to connect to, then it would be good to turn off your Wifi connection.

I'd recommend you go into Settings > Battery information > Battery use... I'd be looking for what apps might be causing your issues... Android OS, Display, Phone idle, Cell standby and even Wi-Fi should be ok for the upper items... look for other items... maybe this will give you an idea of what might be using up your battery.

 

[mortalmallard]

Ok so here is what is using battery:
Voice Calls 26%
Android OS 30%
Display 21%
Android System 9%
Phone Idle 8%
Cell Standby 6%
TweetCaster 4%
com.motorola.home 2%

This is all that it is showing and really does not seem like that much to me. That is on about 15 hours.

 

[thabears23]

What if an app shows and the browser is ahead of a fee those that u mentioned

 

[mortalmallard]

Not sure I understand what you are sying bears??

 

[MA2GA28]

With your low-timed voice calls being so high, I'm willing to bet you don't get good reception wherever you work. So, that will use up some battery, but not as much as you're reporting. But, the more worrisome item is the time it takes to charge.

You seem to have a dud on your hands. Go back in the store and demand a NEW replacement (not a refurb). If they deny you, here's the work around.

Actually return the phone/plan. I think you have to wait a day after that. But, then, go in and order the Maxx again. Yes, you'll have to wait for the backorder, but you'll at least get a device that works, most likely. That's the perk of being within your 14 day return period.

 

[thabears23]

Not sure I understand what you are sying bears??

Like fatboy said. Idle android os. Should be on top my browser is usually in the top 3 and an app like draw something so how can i lower it? Just not go in the browser and play the game I'm assuming

 

[mortalmallard]

From what I am hearing I think you are right about this being a dud.

Is it Verizon's policy to give you a refurb when you return a phone? If so I will throw an absolute fit seeing how I just paid them 300 for a new phone.

 

[MA2GA28]

From what I am hearing I think you are right about this being a dud.

Is it Verizon's policy to give you a refurb when you return a phone? If so I will throw an absolute fit seeing how I just paid them 300 for a new phone.

I just told you what to do. As long as you're in the 14 day return period, you can demand a new replacement. If they say no, they can't do that, just return the phone/plan. I assume you still have your old device, so you can either just activate that for a day or go phoneless for the day. Then, the next day, go back in the store and order a the Maxx. The best part: your 14 days also starts over with this method (as opposed to them getting you a new phone as a replacement and not re-setting your 14 days...so, if you get the replacement on day 7, for example, you only have 7 days left to test the new phone).

 

[Super Turtleman]

Just wondering if this got resolved?

 

[mortalmallard]

I have not done anything about it yet. On day three I noticed significant improvement so I decided to hang on for a few more days trying different things. I have done further research and found others that have had the same issues. I will most likely be swapping it out though as I am still not completely satisfied. Despite the improvement, I did alot more with my Droix x on its ariginal two year old battery and still had better battery life. I have this maxx essentially down to bare bones as far as apps and setting go and I still have to charge everyday or it will die.

I'm going to run it through the ringer over the weekend and discharge the battery completely a few times and see what I come up with. My guy at Big Red said he would swap it out for me no problem but they are still oin back order si I would have to wait of course

 

[case1212]

Mine shows:

Display 71%
Android OS 14%
Cell Standby 5%
Phone Idle 3%
Voice Calls 3%
Bluetooth 2%
K-9 Mail 2%

Now, how do I get my display usage down?