How's Batter Life? Plan on getting Desire

[bimmer0978]

I'm planning on getting a desire but have heard the battery is poor on this phone? Thoughts?

 

[eyesparky]

All depends on how you use it and how you set it up. If you manage power (screen brightness, 3G data on, Wi-fi etc, auto sync) depending on needs, then on normal use (calls, some internet surfing and reading news feeds, updating tasks etc) I can get over 30 hours consistently. If you have Wi-fi, GPS, 3G data, screen on full and are constantly running something intensive like Maps with Navigation, then if you are not plugged into a power supply you will kill the battery in 3-4 hours. Personally I don't have any need to use such intensive apps being in constant use unless they are plugged into a car power supply etc.

This is the same with any powerful smartphone. The good thing is if you are going to be using high power drain apps away from a power source you can always swap out the battery if need be. I have a spare and have not actually needed to use it yet, although the peace of mind is liberating .

 

[G_The_One]

Well put @Eyesparky. The battery life suffers from the power of the phone the more apps one has running. And the battery life does improve with several charge-discharge cycles. The first days will be alarming because you will be on the phone constantly, downloading apps from the marketplace, trying out the phone and it won't last very long. After you slip into "normal" usage routines, you will get about 30 hours.

It's an awesome phone by the way. You won't regret it.

 

[SeeK]

My Desire's got no real issues with battery life. The longest I've had it running without charging it is somewhere around 51 hours, and during this time I used it whenever I needed to. I did not actively try to keep it alive. Did some browsing, sent a few texts, even played Crusade of Destiny for some 15 minutes. I go without charging for over 24 hours on a regular basis, and it'll easily get through a day with moderate use (excluding long gaming sessions and navigation)

The one thing that'll really bring your battery down is using the GPS. Using it to find your way in town for an hour or so is fine, but use it any longer and you might want to find a charger. It's mostly a case of setting certain things up in a way that'll save you a few extra minutes here and there. Piece of cake.

 

[pilotcap#AC]

Hi, plugged in my new Desire for the third full charging circle last night, after an uptime of 71hrs and usage time of >3hrs. There are some ways to save battery: Screen set to 30 percent, dark background (no live theme), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS off when not in use. "Background data" switched off. I sync with Exchange, not with Google.
Today, I unplugged it by 7.30h; at the moment the battery shows 95 percent - no charging in between.

 

[Simba?]

If you use the phone like all day long, play games or just surf it will last for a day. I usually charge the battery everyday when I go sleep as I'm a lot on my phone doing stuff.

 

[vandal#AC]

How much does live wallpaper drain battery?

 

[Hanbeeg]

A live wallpaper will take a certain amount of battery when your screen is activated.

Another option to reduce your battery usage is by installing a custom rom on your phone, like Oxygen. Oxygen is based on the Android AOSP rom (Google experience without Sense).

 

[lifelike27]

If you notice bad battery life, you can always get Juice Defender from the market. The free juice defender app seemed to work better for me than the ultimate version.

Sent from my HTC Desire

 

[jason12345]

you have to root and change your stock rom，will improve your battery life

 

[8livesgone]

I find battery life on the Desire to be pretty similar to most smart phones but if it is a problem, you can buy high capacity batteries on Ebay for around ?12 and installing a custom rom is also worth considering as it definitely helps.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[c_elliott83]

Sucks when i had a desire from day 1 i plugged my phone and charged it before bed after taking it off charge battery would be near dead by morning. And thats with multiple batt swaps

 

[appsmz]

On MIUI ROM battery life is a bit longer. Stock ROM isn't battery friendly

 

[staticvex]

I'm overall pretty happy with the battery life I get out of my Desire. If I'm just using it for calls, texts, some web surfing, ect - I can squeeze several days out of the battery. If I'm playing a lot of games (Angry Bird addict here, I know, I know!) then I find myself plugging the phone in to recharge on a daily basis - which is to be expected.

Also, as others mentioned, GPS really drains the battery. Went out for a scenic drive the other day to a nearyby town. Battery was at about 70%. I was snapping pictures like crazy, noticed a bit of battery drain. But then turned on GPS for directions. After about half an hour, I was in need of a charger.

By comparison: my fiance has a Blackberry. He doesn't play any games, uses the web maybe a few times a week to check sports scores. And he needs to charge his phone every day regardless.