Is bump charging an HTC problem or does it exsist with all Android devices

[drumzalicious]

Quite a bit of info in this thread. Has anyone noticed a significant difference using the 1750 battery?

 

[PvilleComp]

Quite a bit of info in this thread. Has anyone noticed a significant difference using the 1750 battery?

I have not tried the 1750 myself, but there are many in the forums use it and really like it. I have a 3500 and use the phone without fear, the way it was meant to be used!

I think an extended battery is a must for any new Android Phone. I council all my clients looking at Android that they just need to start thinking about an extended battery before they buy the phone. I tell them to use the OEM for a week or two, and If it?s not getting them through the day?

The OEM's are looking to cut costs and are shipping light batteries. Sucks, but it's a reality. If you want to use the phone, the way it was meant to be used an extended battery is almost a requirement. The only question is how big is good for the way you use your phone.

I guess the real question is, will 33% more get you through the day? Is keeping the original dimensions a requirement? If 33% more will get you through the day, the 1750 will keep the original size. Otherwise, the 2100 and the 3500 will make the phone bigger.

Hope this helps!

 

[keebz]

I realize the economic costs associated with shipping units with lighter batteries, but really, at this point, given that the 1750 is the same size as the default, it should become the standard.

Now, about the bump charging issue, I don't have my Droid Incredible yet but should be getting it soon. I don't like the idea of bump charging, especially because of the inconvenience (I have other things I need to do rather than babysitting the charger). I also haven't ordered any of the non-stock batteries as I would like to see for myself how the stock battery holds up. Anyway, I remember reading a long time ago the difference between charging a laptop and cell phones. Apparently, for some odd reason, cell phones just don't have the chip built in that "stops" the charging when the battery is at 100%. Instead of running on AC power or cutting charging altogether, it shifts to battery power which lowers the cycle count of the Li-Ion battery (once you reach the maximum allotted amount of cycles for the battery [there are hundreds if not thousands], your battery will "die"). So even if you charge the battery from 85% to 100% again, that counts as 1 cycle charge removed from the total count. This is at least how my laptop and most, if not all, others work. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Finally, if this is entirely a software issue, I don't see why it doesn't have the utmost priority (should have it's own 2.2.x emergency update even...) over other things like changing the appearance of App icons, UI menus, etc. for Gingerbread/2.3. That is, of course, assuming it isn't as simple to fix as everyone is saying and that the ROM fixes are just temporary, inefficient solutions with greater consequences down the line.

 

[papi92]

Bump really messes with me and my day. I need to charge and charge.

 

[jimracing657]

I do own an HTC android phone, thanks. Its battery life does drive me nuts. I also work with the Android source and know what your phone is doing when you think it's idle.

I appreciate your experiences, but these are anecdotes, not data. These anecdotes are not contolled for software behavior, which is the root cause of most battery problems (time w/o signal, background tasks, screen brightness, etc). A before-and-after testimonial is not as effective as side-by-side tests which control for all the other variables.

Have you tried Juice Defender? This app actually does monitor and turn off the software behavior that causes most idle battery drain, and does a good job at it.

Here's a nice primer on exactly why your Li-Ion battery behaves the way it does:

How to prolong lithium-based batteries

And they even talk about how easy it is to screw up the simple "gas gauge" calibration.

Here is exactly what's happening when you charge a Li-Ion battery:

Charging lithium-ion batteries

Short answer: what people are calling "bump charging" is shortening your battery life by tricking the thermal protection and charging circuits. Basically, you are re-setting the baseline measurement the charging circuit uses to measure temperature and internal resistance, the two things that tell it when charging is done. Chargers can't directly measure "FULL" or "EMPTY." They measure temperature and resistance. And voltage, of course.

They know it's "EMPTY" when voltage hits a pre-set low and resistance falls below a baseline. They know "FULL" when voltage and resistance hit a pre-set point and they stop charging when temerature hits a pre-set point.

You are not over-charging or topping off your battery, you are just over-heating it at the end of its charging cycle when it's supposed to be on a cooler trickle charge. You may trick the gauge into showing "fuller."

Let me be clear: "bump charging" is a myth. No good will come of this. You will destroy your battery. Bad battery life is not a myth.

You could make the case that the baseline resistance established by the HTC charging circuit is wrong, and that the battery's thermal protection is too conservative, but not without controlled side-by-side tests. To date, HTC hasn't confirmed this.

The fix is for Google to start migrating the behavior that Juice Defender enforces into the core OS, in particular the radio stack and the display drivers.

If you don't want to use Juice Defender but wouldn't mind rooting your phone, there are several ROMs over at xda-developers that monkey with the radio stack and other idle behavior to prolong battery life. That's the second best bet until Google migrates some of these tricks to the actual OS core. Some of the better software tricks for prolonging battery life are patented by RIM, however.

To answer the OP's question: "Is it a hardware or software issue? If I root my device will that fix it?" It's a software issue. Yes, rooting can fix it if you're willing to flash a new ROM.

Please try Juice Defender first and report back. It beats bricking your phone or setting it on fire

--Qfg

FYI its typically not ROMs that are going to change your battery life much, sure you might get alittle more, but flash a undervolt kernel and then your going to see some real results. I dont bump change my phone, i dont charge with it powered off, i dont pray and do a voodoo dance before unplugging it. Root and try something like the adrynalyne undervolt battery kernel, and no i dont have any connection to him, im just saying i can get a complete day and still have 25% battery left, with moderate to heavy use

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Guys, debating is perfectly acceptable but please make sure we're not taking it to levels unacceptable for the forums. Debating is fine, but make sure we're still respectful to one another. Thanks