Droid Command Center Battery Drain

[TaiwanTeddy]

Anyone noticed the Command Center impacting the battery life of the phone? Ever since I removed it from the homescreen and installed Nova, I noticed a 10% or more increase in battery life. Has anyone noticed this impact?

 

[B. Diddy]

I don't have the new Maxx, but I've seen other posts discussing this. It would make sense that battery life would improve without the Command Center on the screen, because that widget is probably refreshing the weather information frequently, which means waking the phone up partially and accessing the web. Any widget that behaves like this will contribute to battery use.

 

[russel5150]

I took mine off for a few days and didn't really notice a difference.. Just using the stock digital clock.

I like the command center.. But I wanted to try it without it.. No noticeable difference for me.. But I didn't run any battery check apps either

Using my Moto Droid Maxx

 

[bigv5150]

It doesn't check the weather as much as you think I have opened it up and the weather was from hours before. After I opened the widget it updated the weather.

 

[BRye]

I would have liked to use the command center, but can't with a 3rd party launcher. So I just use a weather/clock widget from HD widgets instead. I'm not sure if there is a ton of difference between the two in regards to battery usage.

 

[GMasonDragonDad]

I have had disappointing battery life with my Maxx. Loaded GSAM battery monitor and removed command center from home screen. The battery still drops 10% in 8 hours while doing nothing. Last night I got a battery use detail page and it had 57% use by com.motorola.widget.circle and GPS was on for 19h 34 minutes. I had GPS and location services turned off, as well as background sync. Most days use 45% battery over 18 hours with mild use.

Last night I disabled Command Center and just use standard clock, GSAM, and Weatherbug. Hopefully this will improve battery life

 

[anon(40376)]

My Maxx drops faster than my Razr Maxx HD. I have not removed the command center, however, I have the weather set to a specific set of cities and I believe it only updates weather info when I swipe the phone On, since it usually resets the temp a few seconds after I swipe the phone On.
However, I have also installed weatherbug and since I installed weatherbug the battery seems to drain faster. So, I'm not blaming the command center, yet. Heck it is basically the same features as on my Razr Maxx HD. I'm blaming weatherbug and the phone itself.
I never saw 60% on my Maxx HD, except when traveling; but 60% is a norm on the Maxx, daily.

 

[18t]

My Maxx drops faster than my Razr Maxx HD. I have not removed the command center, however, I have the weather set to a specific set of cities and I believe it only updates weather info when I swipe the phone On, since it usually resets the temp a few seconds after I swipe the phone On.
However, I have also installed weatherbug and since I installed weatherbug the battery seems to drain faster. So, I'm not blaming the command center, yet. Heck it is basically the same features as on my Razr Maxx HD. I'm blaming weatherbug and the phone itself.
I never saw 60% on my Maxx HD, except when traveling; but 60% is a norm on the Maxx, daily.

Turn off location in weather bug

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Eclipse2K]

Turn off location in weather bug

Posted via Android Central App

This.

Turn Current Location off and select a specified area. Then turn the refresh rate to 6 hours (max it allows) if you like.

Sent from my Motorola Droid Maxx using Tapatalk 4

 

[GMasonDragonDad]

After I disabled command center, I let it run for a few hours. Kept popping up in battery drain even when I killed it in task manager. Finally did a power down/up! Seems to be gone now.

My old Droid X2 would go 18 hours while using 30% of battery with WiFi and weatherbug running. Some days, I use my phone for just a few quick text messages, and short calls. I would like to keep battery down to about 20% daily drain for a true "no worry" experience.

 

[russel5150]

I have taken my command center off because on don't need it, also the temp seems to always be 3 or 4 degrees off what the actual temp is.

I realize that this is not a 48 hour phone with medium to heavy users, and I'm a heavy user.. But i wanted this phone because I loved my original RAZR maxx.

With all the suggestions of turning off this and that, one of the selling points of the phone is that you shouldn't have to turn stuff off that you want.. I charge mine once a day, knowing that w the way I use it I will never get 48 hours, but It can survive a 24 hour day w out having to turn off things that I want.

Something to think about..

Using my Moto Droid Maxx

 

[doogald]

With all the suggestions of turning off this and that, one of the selling points of the phone is that you shouldn't have to turn stuff off that you want.. I charge mine once a day, knowing that w the way I use it I will never get 48 hours, but It can survive a 24 hour day w out having to turn off things that I want.

That's all I want from my phone, though its nice to know that if I lose power at some point my phone will last even longer. But, all I wanted was the ability to get from wake up to back to bed, with the worst possible signal and heaviest use, and not run out of battery.

I'm extremely happy with this phone.

 

[Deron Baker]

It's interesting to read the comments from fellow MAXX users. I've owned the original MAXX, am currently on the Droid Razr MAXX HD, and plan to get the new Droid MAXX. We have become so accustomed to long use times that a 10% battery drain in 8 hours becomes a point of concern. It's almost comical. (and, no, I am not putting down the original poster of this thread. I too am obsessed with battery life)

I was cleaning out my Google Drive (since I install the new QuickOffice and got my free extra 10 GB of Drive storage) and came across my battery tests where I compared Droid X to the Droid Razr. You know, the original Droid Razr with the paltry 1780 mAh battery? Man, we've come a long way since then.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4

 

[Deron Baker]

Here's the link to my post from 2011. I summarized my findings. 3 hours of Netflix would completely kill the battery on those phones.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=138480

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4

 

[GMasonDragonDad]

That's all I want from my phone, though its nice to know that if I lose power at some point my phone will last even longer. But, all I wanted was the ability to get from wake up to back to bed, with the worst possible signal and heaviest use, and not run out of battery.

I'm extremely happy with this phone.

There is a big difference between keeping on what you want for all day and needless drain for what you don't want. Since deactivating command center and rebooting, I went to bed with it fully charged and it was 99% when I woke up 7 hours later. It was 97? around lunch time.. The way it should be!

Sent from Droid Maxx

 

[Chiplg]

Coming from the original Droid RAZR I am incredibly happy. I had to constantly worry about it. Now I don't care. I just checked my battery widget and I never hit 100% charge yesterday. I woke up yesterday with it at 70% and charged it twice in my car dock while driving. I woke up this morning at 60% and hit 100% after being in my car more than usual today. I'm at 90% now and it is 6 inches from my Qi charger. I'm not going to place it on the charger until tomorrow. In the last week I've gotten below 50% twice without bothering to charge it other than driving and occasionally placing it on the Qi charger if it is below 80%.

I run the command center, and other apps that rely on GPS frequently. I don't care. I just use my phone. I don't consciously check the battery. I just notice there is less blue on the indicator, and if I'm at my desk it goes on the Qi. I do use WiFi Auto On to switch to Wi-Fi when I'm at home, but I don't bother to look for hotspots elsewhere. Also, I don't get much of a signal in my bedroom. So, it hits LTE frequently at night.

If you enjoy worrying about every mAH in your battery, then by all means go out of your way to optimize everything. If you are at risk of running low at an inconvenient time, then by all means go out of your way to optimize it. If you don't go below 50% on a typical day, why worry about it? I wouldn't even worry if I didn't get below 30% on a typical day.

I exported my battery monitor widget txt file and created an excel line graph. Over 29 days since installing the battery monitor widget, I have dropped below 50% 6 times. My daily lows are typically between 60% and 80% depending on usage. My first week saw the most use as expected. It is rare that I dip below 60% now that I've stabilized my usage. Only 4 times this month have I gone below 60%.

If I start to notice I'm falling below 30% on a regular basis, I'll re-examine my charging strategy. For now, I just use my phone and let my car dock do the vast majority of my charging with occasional Qi charging during the week, and increased Qi charging during the evening on the weekends if I haven't driven a lot. The battery monitor widget is just to look at every once in a while and see that my trends are static. I don't even use it regularly like I did with the RAZR.

So, I use the command center. I use my GPS. I use whatever I want without concern for the battery. I only dim my display if I'm in a dark room and it hurts my eyes. I'd put the brightness on auto if I liked the way it worked, which I don't.

 

[GMasonDragonDad]

At least I am getting a better idea of what resources use how much battery and I can turn on/off as I prefer. I know recharges are easily within reach, but surprise power outages or sudden changes of schedule can and do occur. (I am just paranoid, and my kid does like to drain my battery from time to time when he gets bored).

Sent from Droid Maxx